WHAT mid-range driver???

[Feanor]

I planning ahead for my 3rd DIY speaker project. I'm thinking of a 3-way system with a ribbon or planar tweeter and a sealed, 8 or 10" woofer (or pair of same). My issue is the mid-range.
Please help me with your suggestions! I've spent 'way too many hours browsing specifications already.

I have a few parameters I should mention:
= Cost under US$125
= "Fast" enough to match with something like a Fountek NeoCD2
= Flat response in the band-pass, at least 400 - 2000 Hz
= No weird resonances close to the band-pass
= Reliable specifications, since I don't have measuring equipment.

Less important to me are power handling and appearance.

[Swerd]

These 5.5" drivers should work well in the 400 - 2000 Hz range.

M-130 (http://www.gr-research.com/drivers/m130.htm) about $24 from GR Research

Seas CA15RLY (http://www.madisound.com/pdf/seas/h1216.pdf) about $47 from Madisound (http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?cart_id=4960708.15508&pid=1044)

Both have been used as midwoofers in 2-ways and as mids in 3-ways. A 3-way with the M-130 combinined with a 10" and a 3/4" tweeter is the excellent MBOW1 3-way (http://murphyblaster.com/content.php?f=MBOW1_3-WAY.html) designed by Dennis Murphy. Probably the M-130 will work fine as a midrange at almost half the cost of the Seas driver which which differs mainly by having a deeper bass response.

[Feanor]

These 5.5" drivers should work well in the 400 - 2000 Hz range.

M-130 (http://www.gr-research.com/drivers/m130.htm) about $24 from GR Research

....
I hadn't heard of GR before. And the M-130 does have impressive specs.

[poneal]

Has low harmonic distortion and is pretty inexpensive.

[kexodusc]

Here' s a few good options from a very knowledgable and widely respected DIY-er.
http://www.zaphaudio.com/surface5test/
http://www.zaphaudio.com/4.5test/

The M130 is good, but I think there's a few better options. You can read for yourself and see if it fits your need.
What about a small mid-range driver? This Usher is highly priased. I'm not sure if your cost is $125 for the pair?

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=276-620

Also, the new Dayton Reference line is getting a lot of good praise, being compared to some much pricier $45-$70mid-woofers...for $21 a pop, can't go wrong:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&PartNumber=295-360&DID=7

So...whatcha buildin'?

[Swerd]

I hadn't heard of GR before. And the M-130 does have impressive specs.I hadn't known about the M-130 before this spring. Apparently, it gained its reputation through Dennis Murphy's 2-way designs that combine it with various tweeters. See his web site for the details. I built his MB20 design combining the M-130 with a Morel MDT-20 tweeter, and now that is my favorite medium price small 2-way DIY speaker.

The M-130 is surprisingly smooth over a very wide range for a 5.25" driver, allowing it to be crossed over at about 2700 Hz with 2nd order acoustic slopes. The GR Research web site claims that the curvilinear cone shape makes for the flat treble response to well above 5 kHz. On top of that it is inexpensive and is available with shielding for $3 more. Yes, the frame is plastic, but who cares so long as it's sturdy enough to do the job. According to Dennis, the M-130 is made by Peerless of India and is marketed in the USA exclusively by GR Research.

Kex, thanks for those good links comparing the 4 and 5" drivers. I hadn't seen them. I hope we haven't given Feanor midrange overload with all this new info.

[kexodusc]

One nice thing about the M-130 is it can be surface mounted with no ill effects, this is useful for making tight, compact MTM alignments with 2 mids crunched around a tweeter.

[Swerd]

One nice thing about the M-130 is it can be surface mounted with no ill effects, this is useful for making tight, compact MTM alignments with 2 mids crunched around a tweeter.Another good point. The M-130 is designed for surface mounting. This allows it to overlap a flush mounted tweeter.

http://users.rcn.com/tbsmith/Finished1.jpg

[Feanor]

Here' s a few good options from a very knowledgable and widely respected DIY-er.
http://www.zaphaudio.com/surface5test/
http://www.zaphaudio.com/4.5test/

....
All three of the surface mounters look pretty good, (not the least the M-130).

Also recommended to me was the Audax 4" "Aerogel" ...

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=296-145
Holy cow!! :D $18.00

[Feanor]

Another good point. The M-130 is designed for surface mounting. This allows it to overlap a flush mounted tweeter.
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As Kex says, could make for a nice MTM. I haven't ruled that out.