Salk Song 3 Midrange - Question for Dennis Murphy

[Beave]

I noticed that Dennis's Phil Slim Jrs used a titanium Tang Band 4" midrange, but the Salk Song 3's used the bamboo version of the 4" Tang Band midrange.

I saw some pictures yesterday of a pair of Song 3s for sale and noticed they appeared to have the titanium midrange cones.

So today I looked at Salk's website and saw that they have changed from the bamboo mid to the titanium mid on the Song 3.

Can you tell us why they changed, and what the pros/cons of each midrange are?

Thanks in advance for any info/explanation you can provide.

 

[Dennis Murphy]

The explanation for the switch is pretty simple--Tang Band discontinued the bamboo version. They were very similar over the frequency range used in both speakers, and I'm sure i would flunk a blind ABX test of the bamboo vs. the titanium. The main difference is that the titanium can be used as a full-range driver once the rising top end (above 10 kHz) is tamed, while the bamboo rolls off above 7 kHz.

 

[Beave]

Thanks! That sure explains it - I didn't know the bamboo version had been discontinued.

I'm not surprised the differences are minimal in the in-band region and instead are mostly at the highs, but thanks for confirming that's the case.

 

[Dennis Murphy]

Thanks! That sure explains it - I didn't know the bamboo version had been discontinued.

I'm not surprised the differences are minimal in the in-band region and instead are mostly at the highs, but thanks for confirming that's the case.

Actually, I think the bamboo is still in production, but TB will only sell in very large lots (hundreds).