What’s a good fullrange driver that is high sensitivity in the range of 98db and above. The objective is to use it with a low wattage tubed SET amp with 3 to 5 watts per channel.
Lowthers as far as drivers are concerned , expensive and I’ve never heard them, and it seems not too many people like them!!! You don’t hear them talked about too often ! I’d like to hear them with my Bottlehead stereomour 45 tube amp , just don’t want to spend that much money ...
I was looking at *stuff* and I noticed madisound has the audax 17LB25ALBC 6.5 inch driver for a good price. It looked to me like a lowther influenced design, though I haven't heard it. 95db. The efficiency makes the Q very low because of the big magnet, which means back loaded horns suit these kinds of drivers, or ported. This is what I've read, I'm a noob.
A driver that efficient will be large and very likely suffer midTop due to that.
Althou some of the Lowthers are rated that efficient, once you deal with the rising top they are much less.
DO you need to listen really loud. In a huge room?
I have 2A3 SE clients that are happy with 87 dB speakers. Althou i recommend 10w.
dave
Althou some of the Lowthers are rated that efficient, once you deal with the rising top they are much less.
DO you need to listen really loud. In a huge room?
I have 2A3 SE clients that are happy with 87 dB speakers. Althou i recommend 10w.
dave
Looks more like 92-93 dB and that is before you deal with the fall-off below 1k. Probably under 90 dB once all sorted. It gets good press from those that have tried it.
dave
An EBS (extended bass shelf?) ported alignment like that Audio Note 10" (8"?) 2-way might be good, up against the wall with a wide front baffle. What do I know though.
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I’m not a big fan of EBS, but one can look for drivers that support low tuning with a slow gentle roll-off.
Fostex FF225wk in 50 litres, tuned to 30/35/40 Hz. Choose the one that is best suited to the room gain in your room.
If you are placing the box against the walls, angled sides do not hurt. Care has to be taken to not have too shallow a box relative to the woofer/FR.
dave
PS: pay attention to F6, F10, mostly the latter considering room gain
Fostex FF225wk in 50 litres, tuned to 30/35/40 Hz. Choose the one that is best suited to the room gain in your room.
If you are placing the box against the walls, angled sides do not hurt. Care has to be taken to not have too shallow a box relative to the woofer/FR.
dave
PS: pay attention to F6, F10, mostly the latter considering room gain
Attachments
Fane Sovereighn 12-250TC is rather good and that sensitive. It’s market as a pa driver for midtop or monitors but on low power you can get low and it sounds rather good, especially for it’s cheap price. A huge 300l ported or a 80l sealed works rather wel. The sealed get’s not that low, but lower than many 2 way bookshelfs. But don’t try to throw more than 15w at this alignments...
I understand the desire for high efficiency, but there are trade-offs (as have been mentioned) and I will also say I am perfectly happy driving 89dB speakers with 4-5 watts of SET power. Honestly, it goes considerably louder than necessary for the average living room.
For "rockin loud parties" ? No. But if you are building such a system I suspect you are not looking for this.
For "rockin loud parties" ? No. But if you are building such a system I suspect you are not looking for this.
Its spec-ced between 99db and 100db.
I have a pair in a sealed box and they sound fine even with my 1 watt USB DAC. Bass isnt earth shaking but top end is good.
Hi Joey,
Please be very careful with claimed or rated efficiency "data". Once you attempt to get a balanced music reproduction you may find that those high numbers vapour in phantasy. Of course an 8" fullrange may do 100dB/2,8V/1m, but only in the treble breakup region. If that is useful or to like is up to you (no offense intended of course!).
Let´s have a look at realistic numbers, what is to be expected from systems with a balanced FR, without boundary reinforcements (walls, corners...) for now:
- a 5" FR driver in an environmental friendly BR of 10-15 liters can be made to reach around 50Hz at -3dB in freefield conditions and will result in around 85-86dB/2,8V/1m. Done right and sensibly corrected for balance, it could represent an easy load for a tube amp and will sing with a few watts, but not very loud. With a BLH a lot bigger 90dB/2,8V/1m are possible, but balance may suffer.
- For an 8" fullrange in a bigger BR of, let´s say 30-40 liters, around 90dB/2,8V/1m are possible, but not with deeper bass. To get around 93-95dB/2,8V/1m, again you´ll need a BLH of considerable size, a few hundred liters, with a wide baffle or a small front horn. This will not reach any deeper, but will play louder.
- To really reach 98dB/2,8V/1m with a tube-friendly loudspeaker system, your efforts will be enormous.
The question which remains is what you´re wanting to achieve? Listening level requirements, speaker position issues, room size, and listening habits including your personal taste and preferences should be more important than efficiency numbers, which are worthless without context.
Sorry if all that may sound a little bit disencouraging... but it is physics in lieu of phantasy...
Best regards
Mattes
Please be very careful with claimed or rated efficiency "data". Once you attempt to get a balanced music reproduction you may find that those high numbers vapour in phantasy. Of course an 8" fullrange may do 100dB/2,8V/1m, but only in the treble breakup region. If that is useful or to like is up to you (no offense intended of course!).
Let´s have a look at realistic numbers, what is to be expected from systems with a balanced FR, without boundary reinforcements (walls, corners...) for now:
- a 5" FR driver in an environmental friendly BR of 10-15 liters can be made to reach around 50Hz at -3dB in freefield conditions and will result in around 85-86dB/2,8V/1m. Done right and sensibly corrected for balance, it could represent an easy load for a tube amp and will sing with a few watts, but not very loud. With a BLH a lot bigger 90dB/2,8V/1m are possible, but balance may suffer.
- For an 8" fullrange in a bigger BR of, let´s say 30-40 liters, around 90dB/2,8V/1m are possible, but not with deeper bass. To get around 93-95dB/2,8V/1m, again you´ll need a BLH of considerable size, a few hundred liters, with a wide baffle or a small front horn. This will not reach any deeper, but will play louder.
- To really reach 98dB/2,8V/1m with a tube-friendly loudspeaker system, your efforts will be enormous.
The question which remains is what you´re wanting to achieve? Listening level requirements, speaker position issues, room size, and listening habits including your personal taste and preferences should be more important than efficiency numbers, which are worthless without context.
Sorry if all that may sound a little bit disencouraging... but it is physics in lieu of phantasy...
Best regards
Mattes
yes, but the 100dB is the resonance peak, in reality it's more 97-98dB efficient. Which is still very loud on 1w.
And i did build an 80L cabinet for someone, to be used with a woofer (Faital 18FH500 in a 350L vented cabinet and and active crossover) in a garden system. And a few months later he asked if i could build the top again, but this time for his house to be used on it's own. He did like it without woofer on low power. That cabinet has a good bass response (F6) in open air to 49Hz, and in room probally a bit lower due to room gain... He uses a diy (own build) 300B SET amp for it.
Well said.
An example. The Visaton B200 is rated at 95 dB. But it as a FR that sloped up heavily (stock). Its real world sensitivity is closer to 90 dB.
Similarily Kilpsch are well know to inflate their sensitiivty numbers by usually some 3 dB
dave
'If wishes were horsepower, bagels would fly'. 😉
The pioneers proved that the only way to get 'full range' performance from a single driver at 'high' efficiency requires a strong motor in a front and back loaded horn cabinet with only the Lowther and similar spec 8" drivers being optimized for it in a recording, radio, monitor playback studio or similar, such as HIFI apps.
Take away the horns and a large array of multiple smaller 'FR' drivers that sum to the two horn's effective mouth areas is ideally required, though normally the driver's Xmax is factored in to reduce its size, driver cost.
Real-world sensitivity looks more like 97-98 dB, but quite flat compared to most of that category.
Won't do low bass, a quick look at the specs suggest it wants to be an OB with a helper woofer.
dave
Won't do low bass, a quick look at the specs suggest it wants to be an OB with a helper woofer.
dave
Don’t know about the 12”, but the 10” Classic had a severe string of cone resonances that made them unlistenable for me.
Also, do not build an SN specified box. They do not optimal suit the drivers. Davis Dicks says he does not believe in T/S.
dave
Also, do not build an SN specified box. They do not optimal suit the drivers. Davis Dicks says he does not believe in T/S.
dave
AN12 Classic. 150 litres 35 Hz gives F10, 40 Hz, with a fairly well damped responsenot particualrily low for a 12 but decent.
Could be squeezed into a small as 90 litres.
Note that real world measures of the Classic 10 sensitivity was some 2dB less than spec, i would expect similar for the 12.
dave
Could be squeezed into a small as 90 litres.
Note that real world measures of the Classic 10 sensitivity was some 2dB less than spec, i would expect similar for the 12.
dave