Neo3 PDR and the Neo8...(two threads merged)

[fjhuerta]

Hi!

I've been thinking a bit about the Neo drivers lately.

I've yet to be happy with a design with the Neo3 (I've done 3 by now). But this last weekend I went to a friends' house, who now owns one of my Neo3 designs. He was crazy about it - and I must agree, after all these months, I thought the speakers sounded pretty good.

I've also heard the MartinLogan designs using the 3 and the 8, and I love their sound.

On the other hand, threads like these

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread/t-74891.html

make me think an RS28 and an RS52 are by far a best choice, sound and value-wise.

I'm intrigued by the Neos, though. Does anyone know any link (besides the Cryolites) of proven designs for the Neo3+Neo8? Also, how are you supposed to mount a Neo8?

(Yes, I bought a pair on an impulse, thinking I could make them sing. Now, I'm not so sure).

[Jim Holtz]

Hi!

I've been thinking a bit about the Neo drivers lately.

I've yet to be happy with a design with the Neo3 (I've done 3 by now). But this last weekend I went to a friends' house, who now owns one of my Neo3 designs. He was crazy about it - and I must agree, after all these months, I thought the speakers sounded pretty good.

I've also heard the MartinLogan designs using the 3 and the 8, and I love their sound.

On the other hand, threads like these

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread/t-74891.html

make me think an RS28 and an RS52 are by far a best choice, sound and value-wise.

I'm intrigued by the Neos, though. Does anyone know any link (besides the Cryolites) of proven designs for the Neo3+Neo8? Also, how are you supposed to mount a Neo8?

(Yes, I bought a pair on an impulse, thinking I could make them sing. Now, I'm not so sure).

Dennis has a design with the Neo3's that has gotten good feedback. Here's a link. http://murphyblaster.com/content.php?f=newplop.html

If nothing else it might give you an idea or two that'll help with your crossover design.

HTH

Jim

[aprilia88]

I wanted to try an open baffle mtm with neo8 and rs 270's. In hope of being able to get low enough to use a monople sub. I know this wrong, but I still want to do it.

[fjhuerta]

Combining a Neo8 PDR with a Neo3 PDR - vertical integration is quite difficult!

Since I have those two drivers, I've been thinking about ways to use them as a mid-tweeter combination.

I was planning on stacking them vertically (Neo3 on top, Neo8 bottom). I used EDGE to model baffle diffraction, and something surprising (to me) happened.

I always wondered why on earth MartinLogan used these two drivers as they did. Their wall-mounted speaker uses the Neo8 and the Neo3 side by side, not vertically. I assumed the reason was to make the speaker as short as possible. Likewise, one of their towers (Sorry, I simply can't remember their names!) had the Neo3 on a vertical position, and the Neo8 below it, but in a horizontal position. What about horizontal dispersion? Hmm. I didn't get their designs.

Now I understand. The Neo8 has a very poor vertical dispersion pattern. There's no way I can think of that it can be integrated with a tweeter on top of it... I suppose that's why ThomasW said on some other threads the driver is mostly useful for line arrays. With that kind of vertical dispersion, I can see no other way... unless I use them as nearfield monitors, or in a situation where listener height does not vary at all.

So... I suppose MartinLogan's horizontal Neo8 / vertical Neo3 will heavily suffer from off-axis imbalance, but, does their side-by-side configuration have any merits? I'd think so - it's the only way I can think of integrating those two drivers by now!