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Coaxial Ribbon Midrange/tweeter - Can a small midrange ribbon actually do midrange well?

Fellow Members: my apologies if you may have caught a similar discussion under Piega 511 Coax Loudspeakers. That title may not reflect the general interest I am hoping for.  

I am wondering, from a technical standpoint, how the Piega 511/711 Coax loudspeakers use a relatively small coaxial ribbon mid/ tweeter array driver to cover the entire midrange.  I always thought of smaller ribbons as excellent tweeters only.  If it does cover the entire midrange, can it move enough air to make
an impactful presentation for large orchestra or rock music, for example. Reviews praise the speaker’s agility, resolution and accuracy. It sounds like a most worthy competitor in its price range but I want a loudspeaker that can do most genres well.....not just vocals, chamber music and jazz.  Thank you in advance for your input. 
audiobrian
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,333 posts
 
I would be more concerned about ringing. The grill housing of the midrange tweeter system is all metal. This is going to want to vibrate big time.

The crossover is around 400Hz so the ribbons are going to have to work hard. Indeed your concern about maximum SPL is a valid one. Ribbons are not known for high SPL capability except when used in tweeters. The lower the operating range the greater the excursion required.

If you want a speaker that does everything well (rock and large orchestral) and covers the entire midrange with a single driver then look no further than ATC. 


bdp24's avatar
bdp24
4,908 posts
 
The Eminent Technology LFT-8b uses a pair of magnetic-planar drivers to cover 180Hz to 10kHz, crossover free within that frequency range. I ribbon tweeter takes over at 10k, and an 8" dynamic woofer at 180Hz. The 2014 Robert Greene review of the speaker in TAS is worth a read.
erik_squires
5,268 posts
 
Interesting. I'd say there's a lot to consider.

This is a rather large ribbon. The larger the surface area, the less it must move to achieve a given sound pressure.

I will say that the masurements from the C8 LTS are encouraging. The impulse and waterfall displays show an uncommonly good time domain pattern.
The off center isn't great, and hte impedance plot is VERY interesting.

I would not say it is impossible. I am using a pair of AMT's down to about 1.8kHz and the dynamic range and power handling is amazing.
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