whats the biggest fullrange speaker available?

[dnewma04]

Diatone made some 60" woofers along with 30". Inevitably, the Richard Clark designed/built (and later MTX sponsored) 60" driver will be shown, as well. But it was a one off prototype that never even worked in any public venue.

 

[RayW]

A lot of money for a single use speaker.

 

[RadShak1251]

Maybe another question would be, what's the largest speaker capable of reproducing music in an "acceptable" manner, where music still sounds pretty much like music?

Since I've only built one set of speakers using a FR driver, the following is mostly just personal conjecture but especially what I have seen others build, but as far as I can tell an 8" driver is about as large as you can get and still experience good bass and reasonably accurate higher frequencies that cover what is contained in most music. This usually means a driver that can make it flat up to @15kHz. FYI: the FM radio format goes from 30Hz to 15kHz - what a coincidence eh? - and those with good tuners know how good that can sound.

 

[Bobby D.]

i saw some images online of 30" papercone woofers.
not sure if they were fullrange or not.
but they got my envy motor turning..

does anybody know where some large fullrange speakers can be bought?

heres what i saw.

Jensen made some 12" full range speakers, they called them "extended range" speakers. I have a pair that sound great. They make treble but probably fall short of 15 KHz (not a problem with my 60 year old ears). These were made in the 50's and 60's, but you can still find them on eBay occasionally.

Bobby Dipole

 

[aidynphoenix]

and to believe i was almost convinced i was done upgrading

 

[frperdurabo]

The limitation is that bigger drivers will beam more at high frequencies. So the spectral balance - the sum of direct and reflected sound - will be too dark. You can compensate - sort of - by giving the driver a rising response on-axis, but that introduces new problems.

My favorite full - rangers have all been in the 5-8" range:

AER MK I
Supravox 215 BiCone
Diatone 610 MA
Jordon JX92 (a little sterile, to my ears, but I respect what it does)

I've only heard the WE 755a once; I liked it, but not at the crazy prices they're going for nowadays.

I spent the period from 1990-2003 looking for the "perfect" full range driver. Having since lived long term with electrostatics, and now, controlled directivity horns, I'm not that crazy about the compromises full-range drivers impose: limited power handling, problems getting deep bass and extended highs, poor off-axis response, potentially high distortion, etc. However, if I had woodworking as a primary hobby I might feel different - full rangers sure are fun to play with. They give you a chance to do seat of the pants engineering...for good and ill.

 

[mhardy6647]

What do you think of the Radio Shack 40-1354 5-1/4" twincones, Fr. P?

Long-time readers know those inexpensive drivers are personal faves of mine (I cannot afford the Diatones, though they are quite nifty).

 

[frperdurabo]

What do you think of the Radio Shack 40-1354 5-1/4" twincones, Fr. P?

Long-time readers know those inexpensive drivers are personal faves of mine (I cannot afford the Diatones, though they are quite nifty).

They're fun. Decent bass and treble, fairly well behaved. I have to keep reminding myself that Econowave, as awesome as it is, represents a full order of magnitude greater expense than cheep n cheerful Ratshack, Pioneer, Goldwood, GRS, etc.

They were even more fun when you could buy them at your local Radio Shack. (sigh) And at the prices Diatones are going for nowadays I can't afford them either. Your Goldwood OB project on another thread (can't find it right now) looks nice, too.

 

[jamisue]

But are they thx certified?

 

[Nat]

I'm with the poster who suggested that a more useful question is what's the largest speaker that produces an acceptable frequency balance. No speaker is actually full range -- the ones that can make it up to 20k can't produce much bass, and the ones that produce deep bass don't pretend to produce the highest frequencies.
That said, there are a surprising number that can produce a satisfying illusion of full ranginess, and at the same time, maintain the homogeneity of image and lively dynamics seem to get sacrificed by multi driver systems. My favorites are the Lowthers, but MRH and a lot of people like the Fostex/Radio Shack drivers, and there is something very nice about some of the '50s 12 inch full range speakers made by a variety of companies -- if you are old as I am, the missing (and it is totally missing, not just a lack of dispersion, which is also AWOL) last half or three quarter octave doesn't bother as it did back when I first got into audio.

 

[vinyldavid]

Hey Aidyn, I got rid of JBL 4311's (almost the same as your L100's) when I got Advents. YMMV, but I haven't really regretted it since.


EDIT: WOW I JUST BUTCHERED THAT. See next post.

 

[aidynphoenix]

Hey Aidyn, I got rid of JBL 4311's (almost the same as your Advents) when I got Advents. YMMV, but I haven't really regretted it since.

really?? wow.. i have been under the impression that jbl's kick alotta ass..

i dont know what to believe anymore :tears:
haha..
to be honest.. im not really too impressed with my advents anymore.
i got some sony MDR-V600 headphones for $20 at a pawn shop about a week ago.. and my advents are nowhere near as detailed.
idk if that is normal or not.

there is a pair of

i got a idea,, maybe someday i should bring my advents over to your place and we A/B them??

 

[vinyldavid]

so i completely butchered that post. I got rid of 4311's when I got Advents.

Bring them over! I am fully aware of what the limitations of the Advent are, and as I hear nicer and nicer gear, their limitations become almost unbearable for most listening. So I don't really use mine anymore.

The V600's IIRC are the colored DJ ones...super bassy and supposedly not all that great sounding....my MDR-V6 are fairly neutral, as are the MDR-7506 and 7509's.

 

[Bobby D.]

I'm with the poster who suggested that a more useful question is what's the largest speaker that produces an acceptable frequency balance. No speaker is actually full range -- the ones that can make it up to 20k can't produce much bass, and the ones that produce deep bass don't pretend to produce the highest frequencies.
That said, there are a surprising number that can produce a satisfying illusion of full ranginess, and at the same time, maintain the homogeneity of image and lively dynamics seem to get sacrificed by multi driver systems.

If you're an over the hill male, you probably can't hear much above 12 KHz anyway. I know my 12" full rangers aren't making ultra high frequencies, but I can't hear the treble difference anyway. (I've A/B them with speakers that have dome tweeters.)

Bobby Dipole

 

[dnewma04]

really?? wow.. i have been under the impression that jbl's kick alotta ass..

i dont know what to believe anymore :tears:
haha..
to be honest.. im not really too impressed with my advents anymore.
i got some sony MDR-V600 headphones for $20 at a pawn shop about a week ago.. and my advents are nowhere near as detailed.
idk if that is normal or not.

there is a pair of

i got a idea,, maybe someday i should bring my advents over to your place and we A/B them??

Both the large advents and L100s are great test beds for modifications. With a little effort, both can be made into something very nice.

 

[aidynphoenix]

sorry.. never finished my sentence

there is a pair of Altec Madrid 872b speakers i am trying to trade somebody for right now.
would those possibly be better than my advents?

 

[Nat]

I think that there is some misunderstanding here -- some of the posts use 'full range' to mean a single driver reproducing the full audio spectrum (more or less, and actually, less), but other posters clearly mean full range systems -- presumably not sub/sat systems.
There is a big difference in the two interpretations, and in the expected performance possible.

 

[Tom Brennan]

Maybe another question would be, what's the largest speaker capable of reproducing music in an "acceptable" manner, where music still sounds pretty much like music?

Taking that you mean a "one-way" it's like eurasian said, it would probably be a large fullrange electrostat such as the big Soundlabs, the old Martin Logan CLS, old Acoustats or some of the Quads. Pictured below are Soundlabs; each panel is a single full range driver.

 

[aidynphoenix]

how tall are those?
also is that huge black thing that the equipment is sitting on a subwoofer?
if so.... holy bejesus

lastly.. where is the television screen

 

[4343]

Here's a better picture of the OP's picture.. With a person in the picture to give a true sense of size.

As a note, I've got the same JBL horn and 15" double woofer boxes just to the right of her.. and those alone put out a hell of a lot of sound and bass... I can't imagine what 6 EV 30" drivers add to the sound..

I've seen that picture dozens of times, but this is the first time I noticed the L100T in the picture. Wonder what it's for, checking to see if you can still hear?