Midrange dome drivers banned ?

[Deleted member 16502]

I think most manufacturers have given up on them since the ATC midrange domes are so good. Right @Ilkless
Sorry, I could not resist!

 

[AverageJoeAudiophile]

Swan is still making 3 ways with dome mids.

 

[AverageJoeAudiophile]

HTD Level Three Towers: https://www.htd.com/Level-THREE-Tower-Speakers

Swans M3A: https://swanspeakers.com/product/m3a/

I notice Swans is replacing the dome midrange with a 2" metal midrange.

I love swan but they seem to just make new iterations none stop. And since they removed a vast majority of their products from the US market, they are pretty hard to find. Or you pay huge premiums on places like AliExpress.

The DIY 3.1 is still available i believe.

 

[North_Sky]

I thought I've read ... Midrange drone drivers banned ?"

 

[yahrightthere]

I love swan but they seem to just make new iterations none stop. And since they removed a vast majority of their products from the US market, they are pretty hard to find. Or you pay huge premiums on places like AliExpress.

The DIY 3.1 is still available i believe.

There are the Swans M3A on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0732N6FPZ/? coliid=I2G4GJQEIWZ1BJ&colid=Z6IY4LNLDFRM&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
Though I believe they have a dome midrange. Otherwise agree that Swans/HIVI speakers are hard to come by in the USA

 

[escape2]

Wharfedale Evo 4.2/4.3/4.4 series uses a soft-dome midrange, FWIW.

 

[Katji]

I thought I've read ... Midrange drone drivers banned ?"

That's why I'm here now. One of the oddest thread titles i've ever seen. ...RSS reader doesn't show when threads were created.

They're not so scarce? I saw a thread on Canton speakers today - dome midrange - and there's ATC, for a start.

 

[Sphinx]

Dynaudio Contour IV had them.
ESOTAR, 52 mm soft dome.

 

[Blaspheme]

And the Yamaha NS5000, ATC SCM40.

Deserves pix:

... after all, it's made of newfangledium.

 

[valerianf]

What is the black metal device place behind the 2 dome speakers from Yamaha?

 

[headshake]

Bliesma domes should be out this year.

 

[Blaspheme]

What is the black metal device place behind the 2 dome speakers from Yamaha?

"Resonance suppression chambers" per Yamaha:

Mounted on the back of the tweeter and midrange speaker units are newly developed R.S. Chambers that suppress unnecessary tube resonance generated behind the diaphragm. Two specially shaped tubes installed in accordance with our proprietary acoustic analysis cancel tube resonance. These R.S. Chambers achieve higher-resolution audio reproduction by eliminating the need for a large quantity of sound-absorbing material inside the enclosure that tends to smooth the frequency response of each speaker unit and might degrade minute nuances of the sound.

... in other words—discarding some marketing guff—something akin to KEF's LS50 Meta, but via a different implementation.

Not specific to that detail, but I nearly bought a pair of NS-1000M when they were introduced years ago, so I get nostalgic when I see these, the way some people do for JBL L100. I haven't heard them though.

 

[peanuts]

swans and wharfedale are not really midrange, more like lower treble.

 

[restorer-john]

There's really only one truly great dome midrange.

The Yamaha NS-1000M Beryllium, JA051300.

 

[headshake]

There's really only one truly great dome midrange.

The Yamaha NS-1000M Beryllium, JA051300.

http://www.magnat.tv/yamaha_ns1000M.shtml

http://nedlab.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/NS-1000-JA0801-midrange-data.pdf

I was sooo tempted to buy a used mid for my 1st speaker. That sucker can play low!

 

[restorer-john]

I was sooo tempted to buy a used mid for my 1st speaker.

The Yamaha midrange in the NS-1000 is nothing like any midrange I have ever heard. Quite simply, there's nothing to touch it. Whenever I forget what real midrange performance is about, I go down to my Dad's place and fire up his Anniversary NS-1000M Japanese home market pair and just revel in the glorious presentation.

The NS-1000X midranges were even better, as was the overall speaker, but they are as rare as rocking-horse chit now.

 

[thewas]

Here are some German measurements and comments on the NS-1000 and its fabulous mid dome
https://www.hifi-selbstbau.de/bauvorschl-mainmenu-36/umbauten/483-yamaha-ns-1000
https://www.hifi-selbstbau.de/service-a-tools/weblinks/79-holzhandel-vertriebe-hersteller/484

 

[Ericglo]

Bliesma domes should be out this year.

That looks really interesting. I see Rick Craig has designed some speakers with their tweeter. I am sure he is looking at these mid-domes as well.

There's really only one truly great dome midrange.

The Yamaha NS-1000M Beryllium, JA051300.

Have you heard the NS5000?

I keep forgetting that their is a dealer in Miami. Now that Covid has subsided a bit, I will make a more concerted effort to go listen.

I should also note that Troels measured and redid the crossover in the NS1000.

 

[Frank Dernie]

I still have my NS1000M they have unusually low distortion and were way better than 99% of speakers when they first came out.
I also have ProAc EBS speakers which use the ATC mid dome which are very much to my taste as well, though I have read a paper by K&H showing better breakup performance on their new mid dome now in the Neumann KH 310 and KH 420.

I am sure the motor for a dome mid is very much more expensive than that for a cone simply because of its size and the precision needed. That alone will be enough for its demise if acceptable performance can be wrung from a much less expensive cone driver I would have thought.

 

[Savi]

The weird thing about dome mids is most of them are rather large in overall size compared to the radiating surface. For example, the ATC is somewhere around the physical size of a 6-7" midwoofer but it's closer to a 3.5" radiating surface.

Their large physical diameter means further spacing between it and the tweeter. And most of these dome mids (IME) are crossed somewhere in the 3kHz region. That doesn't leave much room for a proper blending at the crossover point between it and the tweeter relative to the physical center-to-center spacing. I don't recall seeing measurements but I imagine there's a discontinuity there; especially vertically.

Simulations with VituixCAD seem to show that the closest spacing may not provide the best overall power response. According to VituixCAD developer something between 1.2 and 1.5 fc wavelength appears to provide the best power response while 0.5 to 0.7 provides the worst case result.
With your assumption of 3000hz, 15cm (11.5cm x 1.3) should be a preliminary target, hence large physical diameter is not necessary a issue even if small diameter means more spacing freedom.