Wanted - full range 8" drivers

[Dylanthecat]

Hi 8" full range drivers wanted for Classic 400 boxes. All suggestions considered. Thanks Martin

[walpurgis]

Available from Farnell. Visaton BG20. Good spec and nice quality. Very reasonable price too. You can also find these on ebay.

m/visaton/bg20-8ohm/loudspeaker-fullrange-8-ohm-8/dp/LS04210

[Dylanthecat]

Thank you Geoff. These are very reasonably priced indeed. I can get 4 delivered incl. tax for under £100! Have you heard these in horns? Martin

[walpurgis]

Have you heard these in horns? Martin

Not personally, but I know they have been. Do some Googling and you'll see.

Just noticed the original link I posted is dead. This one should be OK.

http://cpc.farnell.com/visaton/bg20-8ohm/loudspeaker-fullrange-8-ohm-8/dp/LS04210

[walpurgis]

Here's a horn design that uses them.

http://i67.tinypic.com/amwls0.jpg

[Ninanina]

I only have experience of two full range drivers.. the first were Fostex used in a pair of home made 6' Voigt Pipes, I think they were 206's, and I quite liked them, however the Lowther's I used in a Acousta cabinet were something else..

I would highly recommend the Lowther drivers and if you can get a cheap broken pair I believe Lowther will still fix them which would work out much cheaper than buying a new pair of Lowther's

I ran my Lowthers with just 1.5w of SET amp and they sounded lovely

Those drivers Geoff linked to seem to be an absolute bargain though

[walpurgis]

Those drivers Goeff linked to seem to be an absolute bargain though

Who's Goeff? :lol:

[Ninanina]

Who's Goeff? :lol:

I don't know but I've corrected it now... :doh:

[Monty]

I have a pair of Hemp audio FR8c drive units available.

http://oi66.tinypic.com/2ikqhap.jpg

http://oi68.tinypic.com/r8gqzb.jpg

[Ninanina]

I have a pair of Hemp audio FR8c drive units available.

They look lovely Paul...

[Dylanthecat]

Still looking - though initially going to try the Coral 8" in the front and the Hemp Acoustics FR8C in the rear. Martin

[moodybuilder]

Have you looked at mark audio alpair range, really good especially in the super pencil 12 cabinet,

[Dylanthecat]

Hi Phil, I have been tempted to use the Markaudio Alpair 12P on a front loaded TL/horn that I have designed with a flared trumpet. Currently saving up for the £1000 for the material/ 3D CNC costs. 70kg a speaker + the driver. The 12P is good match in my instance and a cracking price. Martin

[walpurgis]

Have you ever see these?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/L-Cao-alnico-matched-full-range-speaker-8-inches-pair/221922939698?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.M BE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D50543%26meid%3D7d537f2b7ed04bb 9a6976e143ac37ac8%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D 12%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D322505764526%26itm%3D221922 939698&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

They have been used in horn systems.

[moodybuilder]

Hi Martin, my advise is to put the money your going to spend towards your ultimate goal that way you reach it quicker, they are very good drivers, I'm just ordering new boxes for mine as I'm pretty sure these will be my main speakers for many years to come.

[gerlando]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Blumenstein-Orca-Revival-Full-Range-Fostex-Bookshelf-Speakers/152997122398?hash=item239f56d15e:g:I4IAAOSwoKRamq1 B

[Si74]

I almost didn't buy my speakers as I was rather underwhelmed but given a very nice seller and if you don't like them, I'll have them back, gave it go.
Thought I'd made a mistake but then realised that 3 watts on breadboard built amp had probably never ran the Sigmas in.
Tied to 30 watt Audiopax monoblocks and a couple of REL subwoofers, I doubt very much if I will ever replace them! Very fortunate as I had almost decided to keep a 6.5K pair of well known speakers I had on extended loan:-)

[ianlenco]

.......Personally, I'm not convinced by the "full-range" driver concept. It's simply asking too much of a single driver. The concept seems to be very appealing to the DIY community but I wonder if that's mainly due to many DIYer's inability to design a crossover.
I wouldn't mind having a dabble at the price of the Visaton drivers, but I wouldn't want to chuck £700 at drivers that could be bettered by a cheap bass/mid + cheap tweeter.
Anyway, that's just my opinion. I'm sure others would disagree.

Hi Andrew,
Yep, others will disagree :)
I've owned a number of respectable speakers over the years including several Proac Response and Dynaudio contour models but I wouldn't swap any of them for my twin Jordan Eikona DCR's. Sure, the "concept" is appealing to the DIY community given the relative simple build but one of the main reasons for using full range drivers is the lack of a crossover, not the inability to build one. With no crossover there is an immediacy to the sound that I've not heard with any other speaker and there is certainly no lack of top or bottom that is sometimes suggested as a criticism of full rangers. I've also built speakers using the Alpair drivers (7p,10p, and 12p) and they all sounded good although in my opinion the Eikonas are in a different league. If ever you get down this way you are more than welcome to come and have a listen to see if reality is better than concept :)

Mark of Ming Da UK visited recently and made this comment on another forum after his visit. (His normal speakers are very big, very expensive and have plenty of drivers)


First question I asked myself, how on earth do these work?i
Answer..quite staggeringly well actually!
With full range speakers one expects some top end roll off and due in part to the the small cone size, a lack of bass..Well neither was obvious at all....
The cabinets are beautifully made, giving an elegant style.....
We listened to everything from delicate female vocals through to some of the hard stuff and to be honest, nothing seemed to phase them(no pun intended)..
There is a sweet treble with no metallic hardness.. The bass is more than expected , with no boom or overhang, just tight and accurate.. Yes they are not hitting 20Hz, but anyone expecting that would be daft!
Of course not having the burden of "cross overs" they really image nicely...

[struth]

quite happy with my current ones. not perfect but what is at lower price levels? twin 10" drivers works pretty well.

[struth]

10" seems quite big (oo'er missus) unless they have a whizzer cone. Is that what yours have?

nope... fast and light paper with alnico mags. old but very good. early 60,s i think. about 98 db but only 3ohm and 8/10 watt a piece. hence this time i used 2 to get 6 ohm and maybe up to 20 watts. dont need much up em tho

[struth]

nope... fast and light paper with alnico mags. old but very good. early 60,s i think. about 98 db but only 3ohm and 8/10 watt a piece. hence this time i used 2 to get 6 ohm and maybe up to 20 watts. dont need much up em tho

was 2 sold on bay recently for 120 inc post, which imo is still cheap

[Dylanthecat]

Well the Lowther Classic 400 are up and running with the Coral Flat 8 in the front and the Hemp Acoustic FR8c in the rear. Will let them play for an hour or two then will have a listen. Will let you know. Martin

[walpurgis]

Some might argue that using dissimilar drivers in the same acoustic cavity is not a good idea, however, I suspect it may work well enough here, Horns are funny things :). The Coral is a lovely drive unit, rare too. Dunno about the Hemp, not heard those.

[ianlenco]

Agree about the Corals. Flat 8's were my first venture into full rangers. Sweet and very easy to listen to which suited me fine for most music but not so great with the likes of Massive Attack :lol:

[walpurgis]

Agree about the Corals. Flat 8's were my first venture into full rangers. Sweet and very easy to listen to which suited me fine for most music but not so great with the likes of Massive Attack :lol:

Bet they would be in a decent transmission line box.

[Dylanthecat]

Hi All, I must say I am pleased with the results, very engaging speakers. Martin

[walpurgis]

Have you checked the DC resistance at terminals? Just to make sure you're not running your amp into silly low impedance. I'm assuming you have the drivers wired in parallel.

[Dylanthecat]

Hi Geoff, all checked and OK. Thanks Martin

[aquapiranha]

I can recommend the Visaton B200. I built a pair of OBs with them and 2 x Eminence Alpha 15A each side and they were awesome. In fact Ali Tait may still have them.