Pros and cons of a cabinet with 6 woofers in a line array

[MMMarciNNN]

Since Sica 5.5 coaxials get a lot of praise on this forum, and since Sica produces almost identical visually 5.5 woofers I'd like to ask you if this kind of a 3-way active speaker has any sense. If we stack 6 woofers one on another and put the coax on top, tweeter will be at optimal listening height. First woofer should be as low as possible to couple acoustically the whole bass array with the floor (am I correct here?). Six 5.5 woofers have cone area that is an equivalent of a 13.5 inch woofer, but they will provide much better impulse response and will allow for a very narrow baffle. It won't be a cost effective solution, but maybe something for people who prefer narrow cabinets and minimalistic look. What are the main drawbacks of this concept? Here is a quick sketch and a photo of these drivers:

 

[MMMarciNNN]

No replies...
Bad idea?

Now I think it should rather be 3.5 or 4 way. Coaxial needs to be rolled-off quite high to remain minimal excursion of the cone, so woofer below him will have to play from around 600 Hz. Still 5 woofers remain for the lowest end..

 

[Devnull]

Off the top of my head
1. Limited Xmax and power handling
2. 6 5.5 woofers don't have the Sd of a 13.5, probably not even a 12
3. 5.5 inch drivers are at best a midwoofer

 

[JohnnyNG]

Not very helpful but that guy looks really worried. Maybe over his apparent recent weight loss.

 

[Duke]

There would be no radiation pattern mis-match in the horizontal plane, but there would be one in the vertical plane, which might be worth mitigating with a 3.5 way topology or shading or something like that.

Do the modelling and/or math to make sure the midwoofer array can meet your low-end SPL and extension targets.

I'm not a fan of ultra-narrow baffle speakers in general, but a lot of people are, and this looks to me like a good way to do it.

 

[MMMarciNNN]

Off the top of my head
1. Limited Xmax and power handling
2. 6 5.5 woofers don't have the Sd of a 13.5, probably not even a 12
3. 5.5 inch drivers are at best a midwoofer

So maybe instead of using only Sica drivers, 5 at the bottom could be high excursion woofers with similar diameter, like Dayton Epique E150HE-44? It won't be visually coherent anymore, but still very narrow baffle. After all Daytons can be covered with acoustic cloth with only Sicas visible.

 

[Yasuo]

What if you put a larger woofer on the side? Keep the box slim and tall just enough to allow you a proper woofer on the side. You still get keep the looks if aesthetics is your main goal.