Hi all some more info:
The new Driver will be called Omega RS5 and still made in the U.S.A.
It's been a long while that I started to work on a new 4.5" driver. It all started with the alnico and a redo of the magnet system. Taking the existing driver and converting it to alnico would have ended up costing tons of money and lots of new tooling. What ended up happening was pretty much a redo of the existing driver.
Cost wise this was a better way to go especially now. I rethought the driver and changed all the soft components and the voice coil assembly. Also I have incorporated the dual magnet system with Ferrite and Neodymium.
The end result which took a very long time was way beyond my expectations. What I was looking to do is get the balance as linear as possible without any loss to speed, transparency and top end. The biggest hurdle was getting the deep bass extended and increase the mid-bass. All was accomplished and even raised the sensitivity as a bonus.
What's new:
Redesigned and reformulated cone. I call it Omegacone and it's an all fiber cone. It's designed for full range operation. The cone is ultra light weight for speed, accuracy and detail.
Redesigned the surround. It's now an inverted and still treated fabric. It attaches to the underside of the cone and is very clean. The surround and spider has more give and moves easier. The break in is now reduced to 100 hours max.
The voice coil is 3/4" as before with a new former.
The dustcap is a treated paper/felt assembly.
The frame/basket is the same so retrofitting is easy.
Sensitivity is close to 95dB.
The Super 3 series will keep some models and I will introduce a new model. The bipole will be back and redesigned too.
Well it did take a while, but they are in production right now. I will update with the progress.
Thanks again,
Louis