Midrange

[Welder]

I’m about to build another set of loudspeakers for someone.
Is it my imagination or is the choice decent quality mid-range units declining?
Has this, if true, got anything to do with the popularity of two driver array loudspeakers?

[Reid Malenfant]

I can't say i have looked for quite a while but you may well be right ;) In answer to the other bit - possibly, maybe probably :eyebrows:

Focal make some excellent though admittedly not cheap midrange units. You might take a look at Peerless & Seas while you are at it... The last two you probably have anyway :)

[DSJR]

Wouldn't a bass-mid driver do as well, crossong over to the bass unit in upper bass rather than right in the middle of the midrange (100Hz instead of 300 - 500Hz)?

[Reid Malenfant]

Trouble is Dave they only tend to have a usual upper limit of about 3.5KHz before they start breaking up. What i think John is after is something that'll be happy up to over 7KHz, which will allow a 5KHz crossover frequency ;)

I may be wrong, but to me midrange covers the entire band where our ears are most sensitive, so from below 1KHz to 5KHz in my book :)

[DSJR]

If you look at the Scan site, there are some paperish cone bass-mid drivers that seem to go to well over 5kHz before gently rolling away with no nasties. Avoid the metal cone ones, as these take off BADLY at 5 - 10K.

[WOStantonCS100]

Ever considered these?

B&G RD40 (http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=264-706)

As of now, I'm trying to figure out how well these would work, covering the lion's share of the audio spectrum and then just adding a tweeter/super tweeter and a driver or two to cover the really low end stuff. If the B&G's have really fast transients, it might require a woofer(s) that could keep up.

If I remember correctly, my dad's University's had 6 inch midranges :stalks: and sounded glorious. I pretty much never see dedicated midranges that size.

[MartinT]

I like SEAS midrange drivers:

http://www.seas.no/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=102&Itemid=124

[DSJR]

Trouble is Dave they only tend to have a usual upper limit of about 3.5KHz before they start breaking up. What i think John is after is something that'll be happy up to over 7KHz, which will allow a 5KHz crossover frequency ;)

I may be wrong, but to me midrange covers the entire band where our ears are most sensitive, so from below 1KHz to 5KHz in my book :)

I sort of thought of this family of drivers. I haven't a clue if any of these would be worth loooking at?

http://www.scan-speak.dk/datasheet/pdf/15w-4531g00.pdf

[Welder]

Ideally I try to keep the crossover points as far out of the midrange as practicable for the reasons Mark suggests. It saves a lot of messing about tuning after the initial build.
I also tend to favour higher order crossovers with gentle slopes from mid to high and something a bit simpler at the low end and that adds limitation :eyebrows:

I wasn’t really after advice about which drivers to use as such (thanks anyway) I’ve been building speakers for long enough to have my own preferences and methods. It’s just that there does seem to be a marked reduction in the more affordable mid range drivers.

Okay if you can afford something like these
http://www.wilmslow-audio.co.uk/scanspeak-12m-4631g00-revelator-690-p.asp
or these
http://www.wilmslow-audio.co.uk/morel-supreme-scm634-512-p.asp
which tick all the spec boxes but don’t do an awful lot for the wallet.

But companies like Vifa and Seas for example who used to have quite a range of midrange drivers seem to have gone over to mid/bass units which just don’t hack it imo because they dump the crossover point right were you’re most likely to notice it. In my experience this means a more complex crossover to iron out the kinks and once again it’s in the region where most peoples hearing is most sensitive.

Maybe I’m just fussy and most people are quite happy with two array driver loudspeaker.
It’s always been three for me. While not having that extra crossover point looks to be a great idea in theory I think you probably pay for it with extra complexity at that crossover point and more expensive drivers to cover the range.

@Biff
I’ve not built a planar style loudspeaker before, mainly because I’m fond of a bit of deep bass. I grant that many give a lovely mid range but imo they all fall short at the frequency extremes. I’m sure lots will disagree.

[Ali Tait]

Certainly agree about moving the crossover out of the mid, though my preference is to use a full or wide range driver crossed over at about 200hz to a bass helper. Currently I'm using a Visaton B200 and 15 inch Eminence Alphas, though I'm going to try these Mark Audio Alpair 12's in place of the B200's-

http://www.markaudio.com/

I have it on good authority these drivers are rather nice.

[Stratmangler]

Certainly agree about moving the crossover out of the mid, though my preference is to use a full or wide range driver crossed over at about 200hz to a bass helper. Currently I'm using a Visaton B200 and 15 inch Eminence Alphas, though I'm going to try these Mark Audio Alpair 12's in place of the B200's-

http://www.markaudio.com/

I have it on good authority these drivers are rather nice.

Haven't heard the A12 Ali, but the MarkAudio drivers I have heard all sound good.
The only question I have is this - is the A12 going to be sensitive enough ?

[Ali Tait]

Well if you look at the specs, it's above 90db over virtually all the range above 200hz, and as Scott has told me, the B200's sensitivity is well overstated by Visaton, and he reckons the 12's are at least as sensitive, if not more so.