Our friend @bikinpunk recently reviewed the KEF Blade 2 Meta
Really not much to complain about that speaker. Well, other than the price, that's a bit of stretch goal.
What's interesting is that it answers a question that is posed on sometimes- what happens when we use multiple woofers.
Here's the Reference 1 Meta, which uses a single 6.5" woofer.
Here's the Blade 2 Meta, which uses FOUR 6.5" woofers.
Now what happens at 96dB @1m.
Again, first the Reference 1 Meta:
Blade 2 Meta:
Let's also look at the dynamic range compression tests:
The Reference 1 Meta:
Blade 2 Meta:
How does this compare to a single large woofer?
Here's the JBL 4367, with a single 15" woofer...
www.erinsaudiocorner.com is a treasure trove of hard data like this, and if someone wanted to do a study to see if there was a correlation between distortion and dynamic range compression, there are almost 200 speakers on that website...
Really not much to complain about that speaker. Well, other than the price, that's a bit of stretch goal.
What's interesting is that it answers a question that is posed on sometimes- what happens when we use multiple woofers.
Here's the Reference 1 Meta, which uses a single 6.5" woofer.
Here's the Blade 2 Meta, which uses FOUR 6.5" woofers.
Now what happens at 96dB @1m.
Again, first the Reference 1 Meta:
Blade 2 Meta:
Let's also look at the dynamic range compression tests:
The Reference 1 Meta:
Blade 2 Meta:
How does this compare to a single large woofer?
Here's the JBL 4367, with a single 15" woofer...
www.erinsaudiocorner.com is a treasure trove of hard data like this, and if someone wanted to do a study to see if there was a correlation between distortion and dynamic range compression, there are almost 200 speakers on that website...
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The 2216nd woofer uses a special VC wire that reduces resistance low TCR and reduces power compression. It also has dual 3" edge wound coils. You might want to look for a more conventional 15" driver to use as a comparison. It's an exception not the norm.
Rob
In my humble opinion, it is about the size. With the size comes lower distortion.
See, small woofer will have higher distortion, even if you use multiples of them. Multiples of crappy woofers does not create better woofer.
I have heard blades on two shows, never liked the sound. Guy demonstrating them was appologizing for poor acoustics of the room, but that was not the case.
See, small woofer will have higher distortion, even if you use multiples of them. Multiples of crappy woofers does not create better woofer.
I have heard blades on two shows, never liked the sound. Guy demonstrating them was appologizing for poor acoustics of the room, but that was not the case.
Wrong.
True.
But why do you use crappy small woofers? Use GREAT small woofers.
It's about over all membrane size and LINEAR excursion. Use a bunch of Purifys ... no big membrane speaker will compete. It's just very expensive ...
There are speakers with great performance in every size - and plenty of bad ones too.
Twice you've made the apples to oranges comparison. I could argue that 4 state of the art smaller woofers are better than one large crappy woofer, which is also unfair.
But I don't think you even need to add "crappy woofer" to make your point. I assume you think 1 large excellent woofer is better than 4 excellent smaller woofers? (I don't disagree with you, I just think you are underselling your point.)
Edit: LOL IanJF best me by a few seconds.
Distortion can be caused by the voice coil moving out of the magnetic field. And one would assume that a larger woofer would need less cone movement than a smaller one for the same sound level, which is somewhat true, therefore less distortion. My other opinion is that the larger the speaker the more higher order ripple exists on the cone and hence higher distortion. I remember the KEF B139 the cone was solid and acoustically inert claiming lower distortion.
On the other hand Bose 901 had 9 small woofer and could only reach the lower bass with massive amounts of equalisation to force the bass out of them, so Adison's point is valid, even if the small woofer is not crappy.
On the other hand Bose 901 had 9 small woofer and could only reach the lower bass with massive amounts of equalisation to force the bass out of them, so Adison's point is valid, even if the small woofer is not crappy.
Taken to extremes, a single 21" driver with, say 14mm Xmax has a displacement volume of about 2.3l. A typical 6.5" driver has an Xmax of about about half this, so straight away we need double the cone area - about 28 drivers in total. If nothing else, larger drivers certainly give more bang for your buck!
Hi, Iarge diameter does not translate into quality suspension & motor design. Big crappy woofer can distort a lot & sound rough, and it does not matter what is it's diameter.
Regards
Read the first post and look at jbl distortion vs blade woofers distortion. Chill. Ok?
That has been known for many many years
Even what Purifi and others are trying to sell is cute.
But just using a single driver by itself is basically the same thing as saying you have a very good performing 10W amplifier.
Great, but it won't give you a lot of dynamic range or headroom.
Besides the fact that there are plenty of bigger woofers that will give you similar performance.
That being said, I would much rather have a bunch of smaller subwoofers vs one single big woofer.
Btw, I wasn't really impressed by the KEF review at all.
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