List of extended range drivers and single driver speaker vendors

JLM · « **on:** 27 Dec 2007, 01:45 pm »

This could be helpful, please contribute.

I'll start with a few:

Extended range drivers -
http://www.madisound.com/index.html
http://partsexpress.com/

Single driver speaker vendors -

http://www.audiomagus.com/index.php?&vmcchk=1
http://www.geocities.com/rbrines1/
http://www.tektondesign.com/

JoshK · « **Reply #1 on:** 27 Dec 2007, 02:11 pm »

www.Solen.ca has a few ERDs.
http://www.supravox.com/
http://www.e-speakers.com/
http://www.hammerdynamics.com/ (quasi single driver)
http://www.spectrumaudio.de/ (for our European members)
http://www.commonsenseaudio.com/
http://www.omegaloudspeakers.com/
http://www.tonetubby.com/speaker.htm (some chat on using these for extended range in a complemented design)
http://home.earthlink.net/~jmarkwart/id19.html (Great Plains Audio, makers of modern Altec remakes) or better yet http://www.greatplainsaudio.com/

without blatant copy/past, have a look at this long list on the Single Driver Website
http://melhuish.org/audio/links.html

richidoo · « **Reply #2 on:** 27 Dec 2007, 02:46 pm »

Feastrex is available from The Lotus Group.

Ed Schilling · « **Reply #3 on:** 27 Dec 2007, 03:49 pm »

Well, since I got this current craze started 8 years ago and introduced the US to the Fostex 108 Sigma (and then the E Sigma) and then the 126. And since The Horns were (for the three years you can stay on the list without a follow up) a Stereophile rated and recommended component (how many others are?) , I think they deserve a little mention here, even if I have to do it myself. A quick google search of "horn speakers" will show we are in the top 10 and have been for years. And I guess while I'm at it......none of the current crop of manufacturers existed when I started 8 years ago........and I'd been fooling with single drivers for decades before that. Of course it makes perfect sense they would appear.......everybody thinks they can improve things. "Thinks" being the key word here.

A succesfull single driver system is a lot more complicated than simply sticking a fancy driver in a box. Or a box shaped like a tube with a hole in one end. Both of those being a bad idea....but hey, it's America and evryone is free to do as they please. I just can't for the life of me see why someone would build a single driver speaker that is severely compromised. A single driver speaker that "can't play Metal" is one example. You can not fix an efficiency problem. A lack of extreme LF is easily fixed however.

Just because a company exists and has a product does not make that product a good idea or even a good product.

Some people think 500 dollar clock radios are a good idea (B*se) but many see how flawed that is. Single driver speakers are seemingly easy to design and build and this has led to a lot of....shall we say......"stuff that should not be made". But many who do not know better will love them anyway....just like that little radio that costs WAY too much money. Which BTW....I have a friend who works for B*se and he thinks it is a HOOT that people actually buy them! He said..."Eddie, it sounds OK but it costs about 400 dollars too much, I can't for the life of me understand why we sell so many".

I know exactly why they do..... because it exists and they advertise it....and it's just good enough to have the public think.."hmmm, it sounds pretty good".

And that is what I think about most single driver designs........and why I only build one and not 20 variations of it. There can only be one best.......20 years of single drivers and I am still looking but have no inkling I may do better given my philosophy and the current technology.

www.thehornshoppe.com

How could you have added Tekton and not me Jeff, I thought we were friends.....
Ed

and no, I don't mind tooting my own horn at all, even if it does come across as advertising........which of course it is.

I modified this....Jeff, not at all, I was teasing and besides you left the door open for me to come up with all this......

JLM · « **Reply #4 on:** 27 Dec 2007, 03:58 pm »

Ed,

Just leaving the door open for others, no hard feelings. Besides The Horns is sooo obvious.

Russell Dawkins · « **Reply #5 on:** 27 Dec 2007, 04:54 pm »

and soon, it would seem SEAS:

http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/widebanders/widebanders.html

http://www.seas.no/

SET Man · « **Reply #6 on:** 27 Dec 2007, 05:11 pm »

Quote from: Russell Dawkins on 27 Dec 2007, 04:54 pm

and soon, it would seem SEAS:

http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/widebanders/widebanders.html

http://www.seas.no/

Hey!

Wow!

I can't wait to see that big company like SEAS will make of this long considered inferior way of making speaker by many.

With modern techs and material on their hands I can't wait to see their twist on this fullrange driver!

Take care,
Buddy

Ed Schilling · « **Reply #7 on:** 27 Dec 2007, 07:08 pm »

"low mass foam surrounds and proprietary spiders".....it sounds like like they are serious. I wonder by what magic they'll get 30 hz and high spls.....high " (measured) sensitivity" does not mean that music will actually sound good at high levels.

It's the cone excursion that really hurts a single driver speaker's ability to sound clean and clear, especially at high level. Extreme excursion doesn't mean much in a single driver speaker....the trick is to lower it (the driver excursion) as much as possible while raising system efficiency. An inch of excursion in a single driver speaker, if possible, would be of little practical advantage. High excursion works great for sub woofers and multi way speakers though. Of course this is only my opinion and I'm sure Seas knows what they are doing.

Good find Russell. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

Ed

DaveC113 · « **Reply #8 on:** 27 Dec 2007, 10:24 pm »

Quote from: Ed Schilling on 27 Dec 2007, 07:08 pm

It's the cone excursion that really hurts a single driver speaker's ability to sound clean and clear, especially at high level.

Ed

Excursion or non-linearity because the driver is pushed past the x-max it was designed for?

The Omega 4" hempcone drivers have A LOT of excursion compared to a normal sd, and theres no problems with playing them loud and clear, while watching them ... um...excurt quite a bit). 105 dB is the spec, and metal can sound great. I was just playing some Tool earlier, at very high spls. I don't know the specs, but it looked like the Feastrex drivers are built to have relatively high excursion too. I heard both the 5" and 9" Feastrex at RMAF, and the d5nf in Maxxhorn cabinets was very good. The Feastrex and Omegas certainly top anything I've heard from Fostex, or Lowther (in my limited exposure to their speakers), despite having a lot of xmax.

Dave

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #9 on:** 27 Dec 2007, 11:22 pm »

Must add Jordan to the list...

http://www.ejjordan.co.uk/

On becoming a crossover less single fullrange driver convert, it was early 2003 when I first heard the HornShoppe Horns and was very impressed. A short time later the owner called me up and sold me his pair.

Two years later I began to experiment with the Jordan JX92s. Not as efficient as the Fostex but smoother with much greater frequency extension and more refined to my ear. The 4" Jordan can go surprisingly low. Having tried it in various recommended enclosures I took a chance and made some stainless steel enclosures. The end result was very good. So good that someone who builds a commercial design with the same Jordan driver thought I was crazy for selling them. (He also owns HornShoppe Horns)

As good as the Jordan's in stainless steel are, the Visaton B200 in OB is in an entirely different league. At that point I became not merely a crossover less single fullrange driver convert, but an open baffle convert. Enclosed speakers, box shaped or otherwise, as diverse and as good as they may be have a signature sound that doesn’t allow them to present the music as natural as that of an open baffle.

Even a hybrid open baffle (i.e. RAW OB2X and GR Research OB-5) where just the midrange is allowed to work in free air will present the music in a way that doesn’t contain the obvious box signature of that of an enclosed design.

A good three way system even with a complex crossover might not be as efficient as a single driver, but can easily trounce it in every other respect.

DaveC113 · « **Reply #10 on:** 27 Dec 2007, 11:39 pm »

OB can work very well in the right room... if the room is too small I think its best to have a direct radiator with a controlled dispersion pattern, and nearfield listening position. Nothing does this better than a single driver, IMO. Also, OB bass can lack extension and especially impact. If I can't feel the bass when I'm supposed to, the system is a failure. If it doesn't go down to at least the mid 20 hz range it is likewise a failure. Also, I think the implementation of such a system is best done in as a 3 way with a sealed sub and active x-over, which is too complicated and expensive for my tastes. The only reason I can see going with such a system would be in a very large room, and for those reasons I would prefer a room big enough that dipole is an asset, but small enough that I don't have to resort to x-overs and multiple drivers to fill the room (with the exception of the subwoofer). As far as single drivers in OBs, they usually don't extend low enough to blend with a sub, the lower you can x-over the better in my experience.

Derockster · « **Reply #11 on:** 28 Dec 2007, 12:19 am »

Hey Ed,what are your thoughts on the 208 sigma in the Jericho Horns?Just curious Derockster

JLM · « **Reply #12 on:** 28 Dec 2007, 11:35 am »

Here's another vendor of single driver speakers:

http://www.tbisound.com/

Check out their very small Majestic Diamond I.

Ed Schilling · « **Reply #13 on:** 28 Dec 2007, 11:12 pm »

Rockster,
You know I'm the wrong person to ask! I never heard them and probably never will. I don't think you're surprised to hear I'm not really interested in drivers that large or blh's that vent to the front or correction networks, But that's just me. Thanks for pretending my opinion matters (we all know it doesn't!)! Happy New Year.
Ed

planet10 · « **Reply #14 on:** 29 Dec 2007, 07:21 am »

Hey you guys forgot me

At the moment (besides R&D units), i sell 4 FRs (and soon a FR that is probably better termed a mid-tweeter). All drivers are at a minimum fully EnABLed.

FE126eN
FE127eN
Visaton B200
CSS FR125SR

The 1st 2 can be used as a fairly universal upgrade to loudspeakers -- commercial (Hornshoppe, Unity Audio, Gemme and a growing number of vendors) or diy -- that have more or less stock Fostex units in them.

dave

jrebman · « **Reply #15 on:** 29 Jan 2008, 05:51 pm »

I have split off and moved the entirety of this thread from this point on to the IGWB as it was way off topic, very unproductive, and unecessarily harsh. It was not aimed at any one person or point of view, as I believe in amongst the BS, there was some useful stuff, but the point of this thread is really as a reference, which will eventually be made a sticky, and that "train wreck" that the thread went off on was doing nobody any good and served no useful purpose.

People, please again refer to my introductory post in which I said something about respecting everybody's listening and gear preferences, and if there is known bad blood between two or more of you, just try to avoid pushing those buttons, please. You can talk about your own thing without having to take a shot at another, or otherwise involve that other person.

Let's be gentlemen about all this.

Thanks,

Jim, the reluctant referee.

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #16 on:** 29 Jan 2008, 07:19 pm »

Some babies got thrown out with the bath water...

Here's a few more care of Scottmoose

Fertin: http://www.fertin-acoustic.com/
Monacor: http://www.monacor.de/
Beyma: http://www.beyma.com/
Cantare: http://www.cantare-as.de/
Fane: http://www.fane-acoustics.com/
Lyeco: http://www.lyeco.com.tw/index.htm
Omnes: http://www.lautsprechershop.de/hifi/index.htm?/hifi/omnesaudio.htm

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #17 on:** 29 Jan 2008, 07:21 pm »

Also, zipidachimp asked the following question...

anyone know the name of the lyeco dealer? canada?

planet10 · « **Reply #18 on:** 29 Jan 2008, 07:32 pm »

This is all the info i have.

http://fullrangedriver.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1057

I can't recommend the 4" (have a pair here). The John Blue miniSpeaker uses what looks like a variation (better basket. more magnet, but same from the front). It gets consistently good reviews.

dave

Ed Schilling · « **Reply #19 on:** 29 Jan 2008, 07:42 pm »

Much better. Thanks Jim.
Ed