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Single full range drivers

tuga

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Greetings,

Has any one measured speakers with single "full range" driver? Is there even a theoretical chance they would measure well?

Thanks

A single driver cannot be full-range. You end up wanting to add a tweeter and a sub.
The frequency response tilts steeply upwards from bass to treble.
Beaming at high frequencies is extreme.
The top end is marred with ripples (breakup?).
Intermodulation is a problem as is max SPL.
 
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sophie smith

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Nice to know.

Would be interesting to see Omega, Ohm, or Decware speakers tested.
They are quite popular. Curious to see how they actually measure.

Thanks for the responses.
 

direstraitsfan98

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I want to see the new Voxativ speaker tested and measured which uses DSP but it's ridiculously expensive. Stereophile has had some of their older speakers in for review and you can see measurements of them which I believe have all the flaws of using a driver for full range on clear display.

30e529614963c7ab1b6e415c91dd0ec1.jpg
 

Xulonn

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Although it uses a 15" dual-concentric driver and not a whizzer-cone single driver, I'm still waiting for someone to send Amir a 304 pound Tannoy Westminster Royal to hoist up onto his Klippel testing rig.

Tannoy Westminster Royay.jpg
 

A800

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Arrays are not single speakers.
 

wwenze

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To add on, the drivers in a CBT do not receive the same signal, and hence do not qualify as "identical". I also can have a multi-way system with the same drivers with one handling just bass; some speakers do that.

CBT_directivity.png


The diagram shows a point source (a), line sources (b, c) and various types of CBT (c) through (f). The term ‘shaded’ refers to a design that tapers off the SPL output of drivers towards one end of the line. You can see that designs (e) and (f) are pretty much the same but with one implementation using delay and the other distance to achieve the same effect (delay and distance being interchangeable). Note that JBL have implemented delay in their designs using passive all pass networks (see this tech note for further details).

The amazing directivity control and vertical dispersion of CBTs can be clearly seen in these diagrams. There is a complete lack of lobing in the vertical plane and flat directivity through the whole audio bandwidth! Don Keele has published an extensive collection of measurements in a very interesting comparison of the B&W Matrix 801 and his CBT implementation.
http://www.acousticfrontiers.com/speaker-axis-constant-bandwidth-transducers/
 

somebodyelse

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By that token segmented electrostatics are out too. What counts as "full range" for the purposes of this question? There hasn't been a speaker measured here yet that doesn't benefit from a sub.

Having to probe the limits of the question in search of something that might qualify as a 'yes' is probably a good indication of the answer - nobody's worked out how to do it yet.
 

tuga

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By that token segmented electrostatics are out too. What counts as "full range" for the purposes of this question? There hasn't been a speaker measured here yet that doesn't benefit from a sub.

Having to probe the limits of the question in search of something that might qualify as a 'yes' is probably a good indication of the answer - nobody's worked out how to do it yet.

I've never heard of a full range (20-20,000Hz) driver. Even full range multi-way speakers are rare.

Some implementations of wide-band drivers using whizzer cones and rear-loaded horns try to extend the range somewhat but never enough to cover the full audible spectrum and the result is tainted with problems.
 

Frank Dernie

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The first speakers I built in 1968 used the Wharfedale 8" RS/DD "full range driver. I was super impressed but that was because the best I had heard before that were the door speakers in my parents' radiogram which were certainly smaller "full range " drivers themselves. I wasn't into hifi then, just listening to music and recording.
A couple of years later, with a lot of avid reading of hifi news and wireless world etc. under my belt, I built KEFkit 3s. There were basically the baffle panel of their current Concerto sold with no cabinet.The units were the T27 tweerer, B110 mid (the drivers still being made btw) and B139 bass. I built the biggest volume cabinet they recommended. At 20 years old anything with more bass was more better.
They were obviously more even, wider band and less coloured but lacked a bit of the punch of the old ones, which later I realised was probably created by their resonances.
There are measurements on the net of the too-expensive-for-me super version
http://rutcho.com/speaker_drivers/wharfedale_super_8_rs_dd/wharfedale_super_8_rs_dd.html
http://troelsgravesen.dk/WharfedaleSuper8.htm
a response from a Wharfedale bod:-
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Wharfedale.htm
I know nowt about any of the others, but these are quite interesting reads for anybody into the history of speakers.
Not pretty plots by modern standards :)
 

sergeauckland

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The first speakers I built in 1968 used the Wharfedale 8" RS/DD "full range driver. I was super impressed but that was because the best I had heard before that were the door speakers in my parents' radiogram which were certainly smaller "full range " drivers themselves. I wasn't into hifi then, just listening to music and recording.
A couple of years later, with a lot of avid reading of hifi news and wireless world etc. under my belt, I built KEFkit 3s. There were basically the baffle panel of their current Concerto sold with no cabinet.The units were the T27 tweerer, B110 mid (the drivers still being made btw) and B139 bass. I built the biggest volume cabinet they recommended. At 20 years old anything with more bass was more better.
They were obviously more even, wider band and less coloured but lacked a bit of the punch of the old ones, which later I realised was probably created by their resonances.
There are measurements on the net of the too-expensive-for-me super version
http://rutcho.com/speaker_drivers/wharfedale_super_8_rs_dd/wharfedale_super_8_rs_dd.html
http://troelsgravesen.dk/WharfedaleSuper8.htm
a response from a Wharfedale bod:-
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Wharfedale.htm
I know nowt about any of the others, but these are quite interesting reads for anybody into the history of speakers.
Not pretty plots by modern standards :)

In 1969 I built a pair using the Goodmans Twin Axiom 10, (in those days you were either a Wharfedale man or a Goodmans Man) and likewise I built the biggest recommended cabinets and they lasted me right through university...I could just get them side by side on the back seat of my car to bring them home during the long vacation, as long as I took the top down to get them in as they wouldn't go through the door.

Anyway, pretty impressive for those days but soon replaced with a much more room-friendly (and better quality) Heco P4000s once I started earning.

Never yet heard a single 'full-range' driver that was any good, even the expensive ones like Lowther, which to me always sound as if they're trying too hard.

S.
 

tomtoo

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Although it uses a 15" dual-concentric driver and not a whizzer-cone single driver, I'm still waiting for someone to send Amir a 304 pound Tannoy Westminster Royal to hoist up onto his Klippel testing rig.

View attachment 60919

HaHa if they get missed there, they will start search at @Armirs place.
 

ZolaIII

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There are so called full range driver's & designs but still adding tweerer is more than recommended.
 

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daftcombo

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Once EQ-ed, a single full range speaker can sound good.
Still, there are issues, like SPL limitation and possible beaming.
I would like to see here an EQ-ed to flat full range speaker in terms of directivity & distortion.
 
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