Pretty much all the great 8' full range drivers excell in different ways, cabinet design, folded horn, expotential horn, etc as some like the coral sound great in certain cabinets but like crap in others, as well the coral can't deliver the bass the lowthers can, some think Lowthers are bright but I think they are just right, depends on the.
Full range speakers. By this I mean single transducer drive units that cover the whole audio band, nothing with a separate tweeter (or sub for that matter). I have owned and used full range drive units from Jordan, Elac, Coral, Goodmans, Jordan Watts, Coral, Eagle, Lowther, Fane and many others. Currently I have (as some of you may have seen) just aquired a pair of Chinese 'Aucharm' 6 1/2' single cone, full range Diatone copies. My experiences with the various mentioned drivers varied a lot.
The Jordan Watt modules had great potential, but driver design drawbacks prevented them from achieving what they might have done. The chassis enclosed the cones too much, causing colourations.
I did not get on with the Lowthers (two pairs of Acoustas with square frame PM6 units in), they may have been spectacular, but they were horribly coloured. The best were the Coral Beta 10 units, which were truly fabulous, followed surprisingly maybe, by the little Eagle FR65, a very nice quality twin cone 6 1/2' driver, rumoured to also come from the Coral factory in Japan. I tried the larger 8' Eagle FR8, but it did not sound as good. I've used reflex and horn enclosures with full range units, but don't have a preference, rather, going with what seems to suit each driver at the time.
Has anybody got any experience of these types of drive units and if so what did you use and how? I have a pair of Jordan-Watts Junos sitting downstairs as I type this. They were from my Mother's house as we cleared it post-mortem. Cant quite decide what to do with them, as I seem to remember quite liking their sound and I have an unused Nytech amp up in its box in the loft.
Didn't there used to be a Tannoy single drive unit or was that more of a co-axial unit? My Dad also had a Hartley-Turner full range that I recall had an electromagnet rather than a permanent magnet. But then he did add a Kelly Ribbon tweeter later. The Visatons have a good reputation, but I've not heard any. There are some interesting drive units about these days. Fostex have had some good stuff for donkey's years. Feastrix are making a big impression (at a price).
At more modest cost, Tang Band have some very nice looking units. Not well known, but looking very good are the L Cao 'Diatone' derived units (see eBay), which look beautifully made. Also on eBay are some dinky 4' full range units from Aucharm, which look very cute and well made, a bit like mini Lowthers. I have a pair of Jordan-Watts Junos sitting downstairs as I type this. They were from my Mother's house as we cleared it post-mortem.
Cant quite decide what to do with them, as I seem to remember quite liking their sound and I have an unused Nytech amp up in its box in the loft. Didn't there used to be a Tannoy single drive unit or was that more of a co-axial unit? My Dad also had a Hartley-Turner full range that I recall had an electromagnet rather than a permanent magnet. But then he did add a Kelly Ribbon tweeter later.
Tannoy and Goodmans (Imagio) have marketed ICT full range drive units which I suppose could be argued as being virtually single transducer units, as they have only one voice coil, the tweeter being driven by inductance from the bass coil field. Tannoy also made a 12' driver for their Audiometric system in the sixties, but that was a bass unit to all intents and purposes. I have used the following: Fostex FF225K- Huge dynamics and very very smooth up to 8kHz, needed a supertweeter and a bit coloured (Jericho Horns) but probably would sound great in OB. By, on Flickr Veravox 5s - Unobtainable now, pity at they are brilliant, not too harsh, quite smooth and nice and dynamic for a 5'. Used in a BiB, Ported and OB.
By, on Flickr by, on Flickr Veravox 3/Omnes Audio BB3.AL - Great little 3' driver, similar presentation to the 5S but without the dynamics, limited SPL. By, on Flickr Bandor 50mm - much similar to the Veravox 3, bit more bass. By, on Flickr CSS FR125S - Nice, works well in sealed and ported boxes, decent bass but limited SPL. By, on Flickr. Interesting selection. Are those all your own Rob, or are they stock photos? Amazing how much the Fostex FF225K resembles the vintage JBL LE8 T (another lovely unit).
I've not tried any of the drivers shown except for the tiny Bandor unit, which is nicely made and pretty, but hopeless as a full range speaker really. It just can't generate enough output, not even in a horn.
I found it to bottom out on its suspension before any useful levels were reached regardless of what type of enclosure was tried. Am I correct in thinking the Hoops Audio speakers are in vertical exit 1/4 wave horns cabinets? It certainly looks like it, I was toying with the idea of something along those lines for the Aucharm Diatones. Interesting selection.
Are those all your own Rob, or are they stock photos? Amazing how much the Fostex FF225K resembles the vintage JBL LE8 T (another lovely unit). I've not tried any of the drivers shown except for the tiny Bandor unit, which is nicely made and pretty, but hopeless as a full range speaker really. It just can't generate enough output, not even in a horn.
I found it to bottom out on its suspension before any useful levels were reached regardless of what type of enclosure was tried. Am I correct in thinking the Hoops Audio speakers are in vertical exit 1/4 wave horns cabinets? It certainly looks like it, I was toying with the idea of something along those lines for the Aucharm Diatones. Yes, they are/were all my own speakers. Yeah the Bandor drivers were perfect for near-field listening.
The Hoops Audio ones are just a simple ported bipole (two drivers, one forward and one back). The ones below are the 1/4 wave / horn hybrid as per the BiB (Bigger is Better) designs over on diyaudio.
My little homage to such a wonderful company. Thanks for many years of wonderful music! Coral Speaker Drivers Clockwise from top left: 8A-40, Flat 8, Flat 6 and Beta 6 I’m sold out on ALL Coral drivers. Whichever driver is still available on sale will be shown in the, so do check out there. You could also find relevant Coral information on. And on the seventh day, God created Coral Speaker Drivers.
Okay, okay, I’m full of bull here but these are, in my unabashedly unashamed opinion, one of the best speaker drivers around. First things first, please stop writing me to enquire about Flat 8 drivers as I have sold all of them. If you missed the boat, don’t be slow again! If you have to ask me about availability of the 8s, give me your address first, so that I could drive to your place, and clobber you to dead with my pair of 8s. As you may still not know this (where have you been?), the Coral Audio Corporation has ceased operation in the mid-80s.
I was told they were bought over by Mitsubishi Corporation. Which must be a sad day for the audio world as these wonderful drivers made more than 25 years ago are not only beating the shit out of MOST contemporary drivers TODAY but also amazes us at how well they withstood the test of time! If you have no idea what how long that was 25+ years ago, consider this: The King of Pop was Black. US of A has a former actor as the President. The British PM wore a skirt. Today, we are not sure of all three!
Considering back then, without the aid of Computer Aided Design, it was really marvellous speaker drivers of such quality was designed and manufactured. I’m sure you must have read all the problems with single drivers on other forums, like lack of bass, thin-hollow sound, rising frequency response, surround needs changing every few years. Plus all sorts of tweaks to improve her performance Well, I don’t find a need for all this work! Though adding a phase plug did bring an improvement. Now isn’t this amazing?! How did they do this back then?
What has 25+ years of technology and R&D later give us? Boy, I sure wish I could talk to a former Coral engineer to learn more about this amazing company! DIY Paradise has been extremely privileged and grateful for the opportunity to discover this warehouse of a former Coral distributor, and as such, have been selling these full range drivers for the last 2 years. To date, I have sold over 50 pairs of Flat 8s and 60 pairs of Flat 6s! Imagine New Old Stock vintage speaker drivers! Differences in cone, whizzer and surround construction.
Left to Right: 8A-40, Flat 6, Flat 8, Beta 6. So grab them while you still could!
NO LONGER AVAILABLE Flat 6. JUST SOLD OUT! Have some B-stocks though. Please write to enquire. 8A-40. RM400 / USD115 a pair Beta 6. RM1600 / USD460 a pair Without a doubt, the Betas are the flagship models.
The basket is diecast, instead of stamped. The ribs reduce reflection and look at the mojo binding posts! Drool, Drool, Drool! Enclosures I have had the privilege to listen to various Corals in bass reflex, sealed box, TQWT, spiral horn and the Hedlund horn cabinets. Out of all these, it is without a doubt the best sound came from the Hedlund horn. The spiral horn is pretty amazing too and it sure doesn’t take up much space!
If you aren’t horny, here’s some. Some of the designs I have played with. Beta 6 in Hedlund horn, Double Flat 6s, Waily’s Flat 8 (i built this too), Flat 6s in Spiral Horn (i fitted a phase plug). Feel free to write me if you want your own spiral horn for your Corals.
Search more info on Coral speaker drivers on the Net. Hi,I have owned a pair of BX1401’s for over 35 yrs.I have to agree with you about how they have survived the test of time.They still perform as good as the day I got them,and they look great.Chest pounding bass,crisp highs,all with less than one watt of equilized power.They just don’t make things like they used to.I am thrilled to own a piece of audio history.I will never give them up.Definitely the best purchase I ever made.I only wish Coral Audio was in business today.With today’s technology,the Coral engineers would be on top of the game.Hats off to Coral Audio Corp!! Hi I am looking for a pair of Coral full-range Beta 6″ or 8″ (I think I would prefer the 8″). I am a music lover (cannot live without it) and I have built my own DIY Open Baffle speakers my wife and I love our OB’s (Deborah loves music at least as much as I do and she really loves our OB’s played by a re-vamped EL-84 Heathkit 151A from the 1950’s). We are currently using a Visaton B200, 8″ wide-range driver that is not able to deliver the expressiveness and the nuances of the musical instrumental and voice sound-space the way I am certain the exquisitely designed Corals can. If you have a pair for sale I would be deeply grateful if I could purchase them from you if not, perhaps you could direct me to a source for them.
I love your website which is extremely informative and helpful in getting a sense of the genius that went into the design of the coral speakers. I deeply appreciate your kind attention. With Warmest Friendship and Regards Richard Waxberg / 805.640.0532.