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I’m thinking up a small sized, high quality speaker project. A tweeter with a small flange would be helpful here. It looks like the much-loved D26NC55 is listed by Vifa as discontinued:
I called Madisound and they still have ~60 of them left but no idea of what the current status really is. So for those of you looking to build Jed’s Lineup or Jon Marsh’s Modula NeoD CC you might want to start placing your orders.
If I come up with a new speaker, I want the design to be accessible to people here in the DIY community, on the off chance that someone else might want to build it. A little give back for all the help I’ve received. So I’ll restrict my driver choices to those that are still in production and from relatively large, stable companies.
In case it helps anyone, here is what I found when looking for a low distortion and generally high quality tweeter with a small flange. All judgments are pretty subjective. When, for example, looking at distortion one type may be higher for one tweeter than another, but a second type of distortion may be lower. So you’ve got to pick something. I don't claim to be good at this.
Looking at Zaph’s measurements, there are a fair number of tested small tweeters:
-The Vifa XT25SC50 looks like a decent performer but, near as I can tell, is also discontinued.
-Seas has 3 interesting looking ones: the 27TAFNCG, 27TFFNCG, and the 27TFFNC-CG (What marketing genius named these?)
-The Vifa D26NC55 performs well but is soon to be unavailable
-There are cheaper ones as well (Tangband 25-1414 and 25-1166, Dayton ND28F, etc.) but leave those out because they perform worse that the 5 mentioned above.
-Scanspeak makes a small flanged tweeter, the D2904/6000. Mark K tested it here:
So let’s compare these tweeters and see which ones might be best to use. Mark K measured the Seas Millenium, as did Zaph. So we can have some very rough comparison of measurements from these 2 helpful guys.
Of the 3 small Seas, they are all similar, so we’ll pick the best of the 3.
-The 27TAFNCG and 27TFFNCG are close, but the CSD and distortion look a little better with the 27TFFNCG (or it’s also called the 27TFFNC/G).
-For the 27TFFNCG and 27TFFNC-CG, the former has a teeny bit better CSD and the latter might have a teeny bit better distortion. Tough call. Let’s stick with the 27TFFNCG partly by flipping a coin and partly because it has an circle-shaped flange that will be easier to mount.
-Compare the Seas 27TFFNCG with the Vifa D26NC55 and the D26 has a teeny bit better CSD and a small edge in distortion. Oh well.
-Compare the Seas 27TFFNCG with the Seas Millenium. CSD is about the same and distortion is a teeny bit better for the 27TFFNCG.
-Compare Mark K’s measurements of the Millenium to the Scanspeak D2904/6000. CSD is about the same. For distortion, the Millenium is a little better for nonlinear and it’s a tossup for the linear (if I’m reading the graphs correctly).
-By inference we can say that the Scansspeak is no better than the Millenium. And the 27TFFNCG is better than the Millenium. So the 27TFFNCG is likely better than the Millenium. The Millenium then provides a useful baseline for comparisons with other tweeters that Zaph tested.
-For calibration’s sake, compare the 27TFFNCG to the popular Dayton RS28a. CSD is close with a possible edge going to the Dayton. For distortion the Dayton looks a little better. But the Dayton is a large/regular sized flange so not good for the current application.
Put it all together and I’m thinking that the Seas 27TFFNCG may be the best small flanged tweeter for which third party measurements are available and is still in production. Pros are that it’s small, cheap ($32), has a protective grid, and the round flange looks like it will be an easy install with a press fit into a simple drilled hole. The con is that the performance is solid but nothing too special.
Of course, there are lots of personal judgment calls here that may be iffy. Thought and comments are welcome.
I called Madisound and they still have ~60 of them left but no idea of what the current status really is. So for those of you looking to build Jed’s Lineup or Jon Marsh’s Modula NeoD CC you might want to start placing your orders.
If I come up with a new speaker, I want the design to be accessible to people here in the DIY community, on the off chance that someone else might want to build it. A little give back for all the help I’ve received. So I’ll restrict my driver choices to those that are still in production and from relatively large, stable companies.
In case it helps anyone, here is what I found when looking for a low distortion and generally high quality tweeter with a small flange. All judgments are pretty subjective. When, for example, looking at distortion one type may be higher for one tweeter than another, but a second type of distortion may be lower. So you’ve got to pick something. I don't claim to be good at this.
Looking at Zaph’s measurements, there are a fair number of tested small tweeters:
-The Vifa XT25SC50 looks like a decent performer but, near as I can tell, is also discontinued.
-Seas has 3 interesting looking ones: the 27TAFNCG, 27TFFNCG, and the 27TFFNC-CG (What marketing genius named these?)
-The Vifa D26NC55 performs well but is soon to be unavailable
-There are cheaper ones as well (Tangband 25-1414 and 25-1166, Dayton ND28F, etc.) but leave those out because they perform worse that the 5 mentioned above.
-Scanspeak makes a small flanged tweeter, the D2904/6000. Mark K tested it here:
So let’s compare these tweeters and see which ones might be best to use. Mark K measured the Seas Millenium, as did Zaph. So we can have some very rough comparison of measurements from these 2 helpful guys.
Of the 3 small Seas, they are all similar, so we’ll pick the best of the 3.
-The 27TAFNCG and 27TFFNCG are close, but the CSD and distortion look a little better with the 27TFFNCG (or it’s also called the 27TFFNC/G).
-For the 27TFFNCG and 27TFFNC-CG, the former has a teeny bit better CSD and the latter might have a teeny bit better distortion. Tough call. Let’s stick with the 27TFFNCG partly by flipping a coin and partly because it has an circle-shaped flange that will be easier to mount.
-Compare the Seas 27TFFNCG with the Vifa D26NC55 and the D26 has a teeny bit better CSD and a small edge in distortion. Oh well.
-Compare the Seas 27TFFNCG with the Seas Millenium. CSD is about the same and distortion is a teeny bit better for the 27TFFNCG.
-Compare Mark K’s measurements of the Millenium to the Scanspeak D2904/6000. CSD is about the same. For distortion, the Millenium is a little better for nonlinear and it’s a tossup for the linear (if I’m reading the graphs correctly).
-By inference we can say that the Scansspeak is no better than the Millenium. And the 27TFFNCG is better than the Millenium. So the 27TFFNCG is likely better than the Millenium. The Millenium then provides a useful baseline for comparisons with other tweeters that Zaph tested.
-For calibration’s sake, compare the 27TFFNCG to the popular Dayton RS28a. CSD is close with a possible edge going to the Dayton. For distortion the Dayton looks a little better. But the Dayton is a large/regular sized flange so not good for the current application.
Put it all together and I’m thinking that the Seas 27TFFNCG may be the best small flanged tweeter for which third party measurements are available and is still in production. Pros are that it’s small, cheap ($32), has a protective grid, and the round flange looks like it will be an easy install with a press fit into a simple drilled hole. The con is that the performance is solid but nothing too special.
Of course, there are lots of personal judgment calls here that may be iffy. Thought and comments are welcome.
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