World's best midranges

[thewas]

In fashion doesn't amount to much. We only have one spin from a small previous gen ATC to go off of. Maybe the scm25, 50, 100 measure better

I for one have never heard it, but the atc mids are the most well known out there. Would love to see how it measures.

German magazines have measured some models of the current generation, linearity and directivity still aren't great, for example:

Source: https://www.connect.de/testbericht/aus-dem-messlabor-1076912-6467.html

Too much "Hifi tuning", for mixing/mastering would recommend using them with EQ.

 

[PKAudio]

I had an opportunity to measure SCM40A. It was measured in normal living room so there was no chance to make good measurement conditions which resulted in mild reflections (the ripples in 1kHz area). Responses below were taken from 1m, mic placed in the mid distance between tweeter and the mid, gating 4ms applied. Despite the reflections it is easy to see that midrange performance and off-axis responses are very nice and consistent. It is just overall tuning that is not optimal. From short listening experience the midrange was nothing special, but this might have been caused by overall sound balance and the fact it was active. I find B&W FST midrange (802D2), Scan Speak 12MU better, though they do not measure that good (I wish 12MU would be more linear on the paper).

 

[thewas]

Despite the reflections it is easy to see that midrange performance and off-axis responses are very nice and consistent. It is just overall tuning that is not optimal.

Exactly, like you show nice drivers but mediocre tuning.

 

[JRS]

Looks like this thread is dead, but just in case anyone came along, the new BlieSMa's dome mids are supposed to be as good, and possibly better than the vaunted ATC 3" dome:
https://hificompass.com/en/reviews/bliesma-m74a-6-m74b-6-m74p-6-and-m74s-6 Gotta love the 97dB efficiency spec, the bandwidth, and pretty much everything else, if not the price.

 

[dfuller]

Looks like this thread is dead, but just in case anyone came along, the new BlieSMa's dome mids are supposed to be as good, and possibly better than the vaunted ATC 3" dome:
https://hificompass.com/en/reviews/bliesma-m74a-6-m74b-6-m74p-6-and-m74s-6 Gotta love the 97dB efficiency spec, the bandwidth, and pretty much everything else, if not the price.

That's damned impressive. Wonder how much they cost?

 

[JRS]

That's damned impressive. Wonder how much they cost?

Not for the faint of wallet--from 500 (paper) to about 650 (Be) per piece. Available thru at least a couple of No American vendors. I'm thinking my next project might be a 3 way Interestingly, the proprietor was a lead engineer at Morel for transducer design, and like the tweeters they do BlieSMa gets everything right when it comes to making a good motor.

 

[tuga]

Satori MD60N-6:
https://hificompass.com/en/speakers/measurements/satori/satori-md60n-6

Where would you high-pass?
The mid-ranges span a range from 250 to ~4,000Hz but that Satori seems more suited to a 4-way and covering only the upper-midrange.

 

[MZKM]

Where would you high-pass?
The mid-ranges span a range from 250 to ~4,000Hz but that Satori seems more suited to a 4-way and covering only the upper-midrange.

Low end extension for me is not exceeding 1% second harmonic (or third if that’s higher) at 100dB (this is just a random parameter I made up). So, I’d say you could use the Satori down to 600Hz-700Hz.

As for what drivers play what frequencies, I just go by dispersion. Since I would cross to subs anyway, that means the woofer driver has to play from around that crossover frequency up to 600Hz-700Hz without beaming, and it’s possible to find such a driver.

 

[JRS]

Low end extension for me is not exceeding 1% second harmonic (or third if that’s higher) at 100dB (this is just a random parameter I made up). So, I’d say you could use the Satori down to 600Hz-700Hz.

As for what drivers play what frequencies, I just go by dispersion. Since I would cross to subs anyway, that means the woofer driver has to play from around that crossover frequency up to 600Hz-700Hz without beaming, and it’s possible to find such a driver.

So a quick question--say I wanted to use the BLieSMa midrange (silk or Be, not sure), could you offer an opinion about mating 15" woofer such as the Audio Elegance TD15H to a 3" mid--it seems like a radical transistion but probaly no more so than a 6.5" midbass to a typical tweeter. IIRC the H series of woofers are the "subbiest" of the bunch with a higher mass and BL product than the rest of the line, but still considered bass/midbass driver. Just happen to have pair already in bass bins. If I were doing the project from scratch, I'd be inclined to use a 10" woofer from 200-700, using the AE woofers for true bass chores. Not sure why but AE seems to have taken down the FR graphs. Been several years but IIRC was passably flat to a KHz. Will be all active in any event. Thanks. PS: Looking at a 500 to 650 range for the XO)

(Boy if I could get this to work I'd have a 95dB efficient system, albeit active and tri-amped; more importantly able to hit 115 dB cleanly for those get your ya-ya's out moments.)

 

[fluid]

So a quick question--say I wanted to use the BLieSMa midrange (silk or Be, not sure), could you offer an opinion about mating 15" woofer such as the Audio Elegance TD15H to a 3" mid--it seems like a radical transistion but probaly no more so than a 6.5" midbass to a typical tweeter.

15" would be a stretch, the difference in directivities would be more like an 8" and 1" dome tweeter, not good.

12" works out OK in this design, but the volt does have a waveguide
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/open-source-monkey-box.327594/

 

[JRS]

15" would be a stretch, the difference in directivities would be more like an 8" and 1" dome tweeter, not good.

12" works out OK in this design, but the volt does have a waveguide
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/open-source-monkey-box.327594/

Lovely speakers. Bet they sound great too.

But yea that was my fear--it's more like a 8"/1" situation--which can sound good, maybe even very good, but as Troel puts it will always sound like an 8"/1" tht once you pick out, can't ever be unheard. Seems like SB acoustics has a really deep catalog of bass drivers, sure I could find something to run with. Just wish I knew somewhere to get the cabinet panels CNC'd.