ATC has been hand building a very wide band device for a long time, the 3 inch mid dome. 380 to 3500Hz. I believe its the widest band mid device of its kind and gets around some of the typical midrange narrowing issues by using a dome instead of a cone. A clever piece of well thought out engineering. The incredibly powerful motor and dual suspension avoid some of the "deal killer" issues of earlier wide domes.
There is a very good engineering reason to get the crossover points away from the 750-2500 area where so much is happening musically. Wherever there are two drivers in different locations producing the same sound at the same level you have an measurable/audible artifact in level (the dip at crossover) and dispersion (the narrowing at crossover). Polars always reveal these artifacts while audible issues with "sweet spot narrowing" are typically traced to this same issue. Having these artifacts show up at 1K or 1500 is a significant problem. Speaker designs with 5 or 10 drivers in one speaker doing the same thing is a dispersion disaster; the live industry (where multiple drivers are required to meet SPL demands) have been working on this very issue for a long time. Its logical that some of this digital steering and pattern control they have been applying over the last 10 years will make it's way into consumer at some point.
A wide band discussion cant be had without mentioning the Manger driver, probably the best known wide band driver. I’ve heard one only a few times, and it didn’t compete sonically with a properly executed multiway loudspeaker in my experience. But there are many who love it so there is something there. It sure is interesting and one has the feeling that additional drivers operating at the extremes of the Manger could be a fun test to do.
Brad
There is a very good engineering reason to get the crossover points away from the 750-2500 area where so much is happening musically. Wherever there are two drivers in different locations producing the same sound at the same level you have an measurable/audible artifact in level (the dip at crossover) and dispersion (the narrowing at crossover). Polars always reveal these artifacts while audible issues with "sweet spot narrowing" are typically traced to this same issue. Having these artifacts show up at 1K or 1500 is a significant problem. Speaker designs with 5 or 10 drivers in one speaker doing the same thing is a dispersion disaster; the live industry (where multiple drivers are required to meet SPL demands) have been working on this very issue for a long time. Its logical that some of this digital steering and pattern control they have been applying over the last 10 years will make it's way into consumer at some point.
A wide band discussion cant be had without mentioning the Manger driver, probably the best known wide band driver. I’ve heard one only a few times, and it didn’t compete sonically with a properly executed multiway loudspeaker in my experience. But there are many who love it so there is something there. It sure is interesting and one has the feeling that additional drivers operating at the extremes of the Manger could be a fun test to do.
Brad