[Mike B.]

I have a existing array using 8 Silver Flute/Dayton planer tweeters per speaker. I have never really liked their performance. I want to try replacing them with 7 Neo 8 drivers per side. Why 7? I am trying to adapt them to a existing space. They are a 4 ohm driver. Would wiring the top two and bottom two in series and the center three series and paralleling the three groups be the correct way to go? Thanks

[Attila]

That would give you a lower sensitivity in the center of the line than towards the top and bottom - not a good idea. A better idea is to make 1 series of the top and bottom 2 (4 drivers) and parallel this with the center series of 3 drivers for a mild power tapering effect.

Sensitivity will be reduced as impedance goes up to 7ohm with only 2 groups. If you are using a passive x-over this could be a problem (depending on the sensitivity of the rest of your setup), but with an active x-over you should be fine.

-Atle

[Mike B.]

maybe using six would be the best option?

[Danny Richie]

That would give you a lower sensitivity in the center of the line than towards the top and bottom - not a good idea. A better idea is to make 1 series of the top and bottom 2 (4 drivers) and parallel this with the center series of 3 drivers for a mild power tapering effect.

What he suggested will work fine.

I have a better solution than the stock Neo 8 though. PM or e-mail me if you are interested.

[FredT300B]

That would give you a lower sensitivity in the center of the line than towards the top and bottom - not a good idea. A better idea is to make 1 series of the top and bottom 2 (4 drivers) and parallel this with the center series of 3 drivers for a mild power tapering effect.

What he suggested will work fine.

I have a better solution than the stock Neo 8 though. PM or e-mail me if you are interested.

Danny, hope I'm not asking for proprietary information, but how are the special Neo 8's used in the LS array series different from the standard version? Impedance, sensitivity, dispersion, etc.?  I recall you spent quite a bit of time getting them just the way you wanted. 

[Danny Richie]

Yea, quite a bit about it is different than the two stock versions. In a way it kind of took the best things from both of them.

First I had them do an 8 ohm diaphragm with a DCR averaging 6.5 ohms. This allowed for more units to be paralleled keeping output levels high rather than having to run more in series. I was shooting for keeping the impedance of the two models in the 6 to 8 ohm ranges.

I also experimented with different densities of felt over the two outer rows of openings then had BG replicate what I was getting. It uses a dense felt material on the front side only, similar to the pdr version. This allows the playing surface to play through only a 5/8" wide opening (the two inner rows). This gave it good horizontal dispersion. The back of the diaphragm was left wide open just like the standard version.

On BG's pdr versions they drop out the two outer rows of magnets. This lowers sensitivity. I had them leave in all five rows of magnets just like the standard version to keep the sensitivity high.

The result was just what I was shooting for.