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Is the 2.5 way speaker the ideal home speaker?

Time for what I hope is another fun thread. 

One type of speaker which is actually pretty common but which gets little press / attention here on audiogon is the 2.5 way. 

A 2.5 way speaker is almost a 3-way, but it isn't. It is a speaker with 3 drivers, but instead of a tweeter, midrange and woofer (TMW) it lacks a true midrange. The "midrange" is really a mid-woofer, that shares bass duties with the woofer. Often these two drivers are identical, though in the Focal Profile 918 the midwoofer and woofer were actually different drivers with the same nominal diameter (6"). 

The Monitor Audio 200 is a current example of the concept, but I am sure there are many others. It's also quite popular in kit form. One of the most high-end kits I know of is the Ophelia based on a ScanSpeak Be tweeter and 6" Revelator mid-woofers. I haven't heard them, but I am in eternal love with those mid-woofers. I believe the original plans come from the German speaker building magazine Klan Ton. 

However many other kits are also available

But regardless of kit, or store purchased, are you a 2.5 way fan? Why or why not? 

Best,


Erik 
erik_squires
gnostalgick
88 posts
 
I love my ProAc Studio 148, which I think qualify... 

"The two 6.5 inch units cover bass frequencies but each one has been mechanically tuned to cover mid frequencies. To improve dispersion the upper bass driver has a phase plug whilst the lower unit has a ProAc open weave cap."

So, just idle curiosity, but can a 2.5way have with multiple woofers--that is at least four or more total drivers--or is that a different beast all together? 
tcutter
86 posts
 
I have a pair of Wilson Benesch Vectors. My understanding of their 2.5 way system is 500hz for the woofer, 5khz for the tweeter, and a full range  “midrange”. Seems to work well. 



erik_squires OP
15,640 posts
 
@tcutter

Yep, the Wilson Benesch Vector is a funky beast indeed!

Not only are they using no crossover on the midrange, they are using 1st order slopes on the tweeter and woofer, but wait! There’s more!

They are also porting the mid-range unit. Not unheard of, but rather rare. Only other speaker I can think of with similar dual-porting is from Sonus Faber.

I don’t think calling it a 2.5 way really does it justice since it really has only 2 filter sections, which would normally be for a 2-way speaker. It’s pretty miraculous they are able to do all of this and still maintain a comfortable impedance that they do.

In some ways, this reminds me of the famous Seas A25 speaker, now available as the A26 kit speakers.

http://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/2-way-speaker-kits/seas-a26-10-2-way-kit-pair-based-on-the-clas...

Best,

E
helomech
1,488 posts
 
@grannyring 

I made that point early on and it is one of the best advantages. That is why I also like a simple two way design.  Nice post.  
My apologies, I overlooked it.
helomech
1,488 posts
 
@erik_squires 

I'm not sure I follow, @helomech -

Usually higher tweeter points are achieved with 3-way systems which use a "true" midrange.

That's why I stated, "well designed examples."

I know of quite a few 3-ways that are still crossed over to the tweeter rather low, often in the 2kHz range. Some 2-ways are crossed this low, but it often doesn't work so well IMO. There's no hard rules in any of this, but I rarely come across 3-ways that have the coherency of well designed 2-ways.
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