2027 Iron Driver Poll

Like @Hobi I won’t be attending in person. My vote is for a woofer AND tweeter: the SB17BAC35-8-Coax. It’s slightly better than the SB15BAC- a larger VC enabled them to put in a SB21SDCN-derived tweeter as the HF element-

… though stock may not arrive in time for the Iron Driver comp.

A second option is the Newark MP011860, a black cone version of the Lyeco LW150AWR-8P_FULL RANGE

I tried to drop ship a pair to Yevgeniy at Hificompass.com to take comprehensive measurements, but Newark aren’t shipping to Ukraine. So it’s enroute to me to stick in front of some low distortion mics.

I vote for one of (any of) the MAC woofers.

Seems like a LOT of people like this option…

The value is unbeatable, great drivers at a very low cost.

What budget are people thinking (driver only budgets)

A: $200

B: $300

C: No budget

I just checked JF Component’s website. Seems Brad only has limited stock left of the three different MAC drivers. Don’t know if he plans another run of those drivers or not. You should check with him about that.

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I have a few feelers out to a couple of places. If there was an option for a group buy that would be nice as well.

Don’t expect anything finale for a week or two.

Here’s just another suggestion for the Iron woofer:

Keeping costs down could attract more participants.

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B) $300

Or

D) $400

The SB16PFC would be a good option too..

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There’s plenty of MAC drivers. I don’t put them all in inventory because of eBay.

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Ah! I didn’t think about that.

OK I still vote for one of the MAC drivers then. I think they deserve the moment in the sun. And I don’t think anyone participating would be worse off compared to another driver.

For challenge sake, I think aluminum cones present more of a fight than other more damped materials.

Sorry for the noob question, but what does ‘Iron Driver’ mean in this context?

Everyone has to use the “iron driver” and stay within the rules so that we can have a “compitition” bassed on who implemented the driver the best.

So if it is a woofer everone must use that woofer. Its like the Iron Chef from the early 2000’s where every cook had to use the Iron Chef’s chosen ingredient.

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I vote for the MAC 06 but the Re and Fs are too high, wish there was a 4 ohm version.

Fs too high, Have you modeled it?

As far as Re: I’d always prefer more sensitivity, but a higher output amp will make that back up.

I think if you model the Mac06 you will see it does quite well. Its a really good driver for the price. I have used it twice and really like it.

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@KenRhodes - something to consider if you setup an official poll… if the choice is something like the SBxxPFC line or some of the others that come in a 4-ohm and 8-ohm variant, do we choose ONE of those specifically or let the user decide the impedance they prefer? My thought process is that for a TM someone might want the 4-ohm version but someone else might want to do an MTM with two 8-ohms in parallel.

I had considered this. Part of it will depend on the driver.

I hope to hear back from a vendor or 2 this next week and see what they have to say.

Kinda bummed I have a ton of drivers but none of them are good candidates for the Iron driver.

I guess I just need to build more speakers.

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Iron driver reminds me of a rusty robot speaker.