# Tympany's new compression driver



## danssoslow (Nov 28, 2006)

Tymphany DFM-2535R00-08 1" Compression Horn Driver 2/4-Bolt 8 Ohm

Anyone notice this? More importantly, has anyone used them?


----------



## cajunner (Apr 13, 2007)

wow that looks excellent to slap on a pair of mini-bodies.

40 bucks for the plastic surround/titanium dome, like a Radian or Renkus-Heinz, and response down to 1500 hz, I'll take it! These will likely beat the pants off the CD1-Pro drivers with their mylar diaphragms.

Probably get away with crossing these over at 1.2 Khz if you don't get crazy with the amp juice, right about sweet spot for a mini-horn and these look to fit them all with the reasonably sized motors.

Now if we could just get some Chinese buildhouses to compete on making some tube car amps that are able to push 12W/ch for about a buck fitty on volume pricing, the road to sonic bliss could take a smaller toll on the wallet.


----------



## danssoslow (Nov 28, 2006)

Looking at the frequency response, does it appear realistic to you? I was under the impression that the driver would show two resonance spikes. That, and the driver appears to play extremely low for such a small driver.

With the way bills have been swelling up on me lately, these would be perfect to try out at the price; but I'm scared of throwing good money at something bad.


----------



## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

Technically Radian has aluminum diaphragms .

I saw it, but didn't give it much thought. Doubt anyone has used them yet, they are still really new on the market. But it should be decent.


----------



## cajunner (Apr 13, 2007)

these being designed for the lower crossover point of 2-way operation, using what I would imagine is a hodge-podge of technologies, like the coating on the titanium (Aquaplas?) and the use of polyimide suspension, (Radian drivers popularized this, with aluminum diaphragms being smoother than the JBL titanium diamond-embossed surround) and with the plasticity of the surround, lower frequencies became easier to achieve.

So if you take the dome strength of titanium and add a compound to it for damping, then set it into a surround that can give you better low end response, you treat at least two factors that compromise performance.

I'd like to see the phase plug design, but being it's Tymphany's first foray I wouldn't be surprised if it's done well and prices rise significantly as these become settled into their margin in the market.

Power handling is a bit low but 107 db sensitivity means in a car, you're not going to need all that much juice to enjoy the ride.

The marketing states that these were designed for lower frequency operation and the 1.4" dome/coil, with a 1" exit is not that much compression, I wouldn't be surprised to see the neodymium version come out if these have early success.


----------



## Patrick Bateman (Sep 11, 2006)

cajunner said:


> wow that looks excellent to slap on a pair of mini-bodies.
> 
> 40 bucks for the plastic surround/titanium dome, like a Radian or Renkus-Heinz, and response down to 1500 hz, I'll take it! These will likely beat the pants off the CD1-Pro drivers with their mylar diaphragms.


I did a google search on the CD1-PROs, and they *look* like Radians. Not sure if they are, but if so, they're quite nice. I sold mine simply because I wasn't using them, but I found them to be superior to at least half the compression drivers out there.

As far as mylar goes, keep in mind that JBL is using mylar in their top of the line loudspeaker. They used to use berryllium, and TAD still uses berryllium, but mylar is pretty darn nice too.



cajunner said:


> Probably get away with crossing these over at 1.2 Khz if you don't get crazy with the amp juice, right about sweet spot for a mini-horn and these look to fit them all with the reasonably sized motors.
> 
> Now if we could just get some Chinese buildhouses to compete on making some tube car amps that are able to push 12W/ch for about a buck fitty on volume pricing, the road to sonic bliss could take a smaller toll on the wallet.


Someone should do what Carver did, make a circuit that adds euphonic distortion to a solid state amp. With DSP, you could probably get quite close to the sound of a tube amp. Tubes are kinda fun but I'm not sure if they're worth the hassle in a car. I tinkered with building a tube amp for the car but gave up. But they DO sound different, no doubt.


----------



## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

The CD1 Pros are not Radian. 

The old 1 Pros were DE200s. Only saw one picture of the new ones, and can't quite tell what they are.

Eric's production horns pretty much have used B&C for a number of years. The original CD3 Ultras were Altec. The original 1es were Motorola piezos.


----------



## Eric Stevens (Dec 29, 2007)

thehatedguy said:


> The CD1 Pros are not Radian.
> 
> The old 1 Pros were DE200s. Only saw one picture of the new ones, and can't quite tell what they are.
> 
> Eric's production horns pretty much have used B&C for a number of years. The original CD3 Ultras were Altec. The original 1es were Motorola piezos.


You're sharing all my secrets 

First HLCD sets I sold as the CD-1 used a Radian driver, then we used some Renkus Heinz as the first CD-2Comp when there was some issues with Radian.


----------



## cajunner (Apr 13, 2007)

Patrick Bateman said:


> I did a google search on the CD1-PROs, and they *look* like Radians. Not sure if they are, but if so, they're quite nice. I sold mine simply because I wasn't using them, but I found them to be superior to at least half the compression drivers out there.
> 
> As far as mylar goes, keep in mind that JBL is using mylar in their top of the line loudspeaker. They used to use berryllium, and TAD still uses berryllium, but mylar is pretty darn nice too.
> 
> ...


a circuit that sounds like a tube amp?


hmm...


makes me feel a little soiled, I think I'd rather get my dirty tones out of a transformer than off a DSP modeling even if I can't tell the difference in a blind test.

I want that exclusivity of being in the tube room, invitation at a buck fitty is fine by me.

If I were a guitar player I wouldn't turn up my nose at an Epiphone Valve Junior if it were sitting beside an old Fender Champ, I mean there's a point to being in the room, if not at the head of the class.


so it goes with the tube obsession, I don't want to substitute actual glass for a menu-driven LCD, if I'm being honest.

others may abhor the aesthetic of a glowing orange hue riding the photons of my slave drive's contents, all things considered, but I find it rather pleasing as a visual representation of how far one must go before the euphonics turn euphoric.


----------



## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

That's old news...we want the OnCore compression drivers. Maybe a diaphragm option between mylar/polyester, aluminum, and for the high end, beryllium . Maybe a back chamber spacer to get a little more low end at the expense of the top end...dunno if that's how it works or not.

I remembered you saying that you had some 2" Radians in your Sable for a little it.

But I don't remember a CD1 that wasn't a 1e or 1 Pro...must have been before my time. RH is a similar flavor to Radian I would think and Emilar since they all have common genealogy. 



Eric Stevens said:


> You're sharing all my secrets
> 
> First HLCD sets I sold as the CD-1 used a Radian driver, then we used some Renkus Heinz as the first CD-2Comp when there was some issues with Radian.


----------



## SQram (Aug 17, 2007)

thehatedguy said:


> That's old news...we want the OnCore compression drivers. Maybe a diaphragm option between mylar/polyester, aluminum, and for the high end, beryllium . Maybe a back chamber spacer to get a little more low end at the expense of the top end...dunno if that's how it works or not.
> 
> I remembered you saying that you had some 2" Radians in your Sable for a little it.
> 
> But I don't remember a CD1 that wasn't a 1e or 1 Pro...must have been before my time. RH is a similar flavor to Radian I would think and Emilar since they all have common genealogy.



You know, I've been thinking the same thing...I was going to post up a thread asking if enlarging the rear chamber of a compression driver would have any sonic benefits. Would be really easy with 3D printing now the mainstream. I have no idea if this is how it really works or not, but I thought I'd ask Eric. You could also get a set of Truextent Beryllium diaphrams and have a pretty custom driver (assuming the Radian diaphrams made it to production). 

If Eric were to sell new drivers for his horns, I'd be all over that. Until then, I need to find a set of TAD's for sale. Or perhaps a pair of JBL D2's, the motors are reasonably small and the horn would be slightly shorter due to the 1.5" throat...


----------



## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

I thought the D2s were 2" exits...hmm, been passing on them because of that.

Been trying to bend Eric's ear on some Be stuff when he gets his drivers made. I just don't know how well the Radians would fit a small new drivers.


----------



## SQram (Aug 17, 2007)

thehatedguy said:


> I thought the D2s were 2" exits...hmm, been passing on them because of that.


They might be, been a while since I've looked into it. Some doccuments list multiple throat sizes.


----------



## Patrick Bateman (Sep 11, 2006)

SQram said:


> They might be, been a while since I've looked into it. Some doccuments list multiple throat sizes.


That's correct. From what I've read, JBL hired some genius from Cerwin Vega, and he proceeded to come out with a number of new designs. The 2408H-2 is basically an evolution of the BMS compression drivers that JBL had been quietly selling (re-badged) for a few years.

But the D2 was a real step forward; it has double the diaphragms. (They operate face-to-face.) In the press release, they talked about using the technology in a number of different sizes.

AFAIK, this hasn't happened yet. I personally bought one of the 2408H-2s, and I had high hopes for it, but it didn't really perform much differently than the BMS that it evolved from (4540ND) and there's no way I could ever tell them apart without a microphone.

I'm not saying that it's bad; in fact it's great. But when you're trying to improve on something that already works pretty well, there's limited returns I think.



There was someone over on avsforum who said that the new JBL studio monitors, which feature a lot of 'trickle down' technology from the M2, actually sound better than the M2. This is kind of interesting, and not entirely surprising, as an 8" woofer is better suited to midrange duty than a 15" woofer. The fact that the speaker costs something like 20% is a nice bonus!


----------



## Patrick Bateman (Sep 11, 2006)

SQram said:


> You know, I've been thinking the same thing...I was going to post up a thread asking if enlarging the rear chamber of a compression driver would have any sonic benefits. Would be really easy with 3D printing now the mainstream. I have no idea if this is how it really works or not, but I thought I'd ask Eric. You could also get a set of Truextent Beryllium diaphrams and have a pretty custom driver (assuming the Radian diaphrams made it to production).
> 
> If Eric were to sell new drivers for his horns, I'd be all over that. Until then, I need to find a set of TAD's for sale. Or perhaps a pair of JBL D2's, the motors are reasonably small and the horn would be slightly shorter due to the 1.5" throat...


Yep, you can do that. Distortion will be affected dramatically and so will power handling.










The Bastanis Prometheus runs with no back chamber whatsoever. It's kind of a clever way to have a rear-firing tweeter without paying for a rear-firing tweeter. Snell used rear firing tweeters on a bunch of their speakers in the 90s.


----------



## oabeieo (Feb 22, 2015)

Now I have posted in every new hlcd thread all at once. Lol 

My take and I've been listening to what folks say and buying a LOT of drivers lately . 

Cd1ev3- a selenium phelonic cloth 1" dome = amazing sounding 15$ driver 
Cd2- de45 and de25 both I love and are still my favorite to date 
Bms 4550-Super nice sounding but didn't do much for my eq was all over the place 
Beyma cd10nd - great sounding at low volumes, maybe a bit too efficient . Sounded kinda crappy up loud imho.
B&C de10 - amazing above 3k I like to go lower tho, awesome for 2 sets of HLCDS in car system 
Celestion cdx1-1425 one of my favorites actually , easy to blow IMO 
Jbl 2408h - I'm running now , I absolutely love this driver, has no break up modes compared to a dome , it's small and plays low enough at 1.2k . 

I have yet to try a be diaphragm or a radian . I'm going to buy this tymphany at the price why not! What's wierd is the lower efficient drivers sound better! Call me crazy but it's true. The cd1ev3 I don't know it's numbers but I had to gain that thing up as much as a direct radiator speaker after eq and it sounded awesome. Seems once it goes past 109db they just get poop sounding , I could be wrong about this but the bms and the Beyma weren't all that to me. Seems B&C has the edge on what I think sounds good , and the jbl of course . I wasn't pleased with the Beyma and the polyamide vocals sounded like singer had plastic vocal cords. I can't wait to see what Eric has lined up next. Everything he has released in recent years sounded awesome on his horns. And I think his horns need a certain driver to sound right because the same drivers That weren't all that on his horns sound fantastic on a waveguide like the Pyle. If a 1st time buyer was to want to buy HLCDS , I would strongly suggest starting with a driver Eric supply's and not to venture out and try a bunch of compression motors. He knows his horns and knows what sounds good on them and learn how they work that way 1st.


----------

