How important is the size of drivers?

[thecoolguy11]

I am considering buying one of two speaker systems. The choice is between Energy Act 6 and the Athena Point 5 MK II system. They cost pretty much the same and are both from the same company, Audio Products international. The Athena speakers, though, have bigger drivers. The tweeter is 1" on the Ahten and is only 1/2" on the Energy. The woofer on the Ahtena is 4" and the one of Energy is 3 1/2". The center channel on the Athena has two woofers whereas the one of Energy has one. As a general rule, does this put things in favor of the Athena speakers, or are there other factors to consider?

The Athena specs are available on http://athenaspeakers.com/c5specs.htm
The energy specs are available on http://www.goodguys.com/adtemplate.asp?invky=38750&catky=

 

[av_phile]

The voicing of speakers is largely a sum total of many design factors. A 1/2" difference in woofer cone diameter may not really matter a great deal as such other factors as the crossover points as well as its coupling with the box dimensions/matererial/shape and port size/location synergize with one another to deliver the frequency response the totality of the design was meant to deliver.

In general, however, taking into account some accepted principles in the physics of sound, the smaller the cone, the more inefficient it is to deliver lower frequencies. Conversely, the larger the cone, the more inefficient it is to deliver higher frequencies. There are, however, compensating design factors that can overcome such inefficiencies, like making a smaller woofer more excursive, or making a larger tweeter more rigid. There are 8" or 10" sub woofers that can sound as deep or even deeper than some 12" woofers, though the physics of sound requires that a larger cone diameter is needed to move a larger rmass of air the lower the frequency is. If I recall right, some dispersion trait will also change with frequencies as their wavelengths exceed driver diameter, but these can be overcome with the proper crossover points. In short, driver size can determine to some extent what the driver can deliver, but may not be a determining factor when choosing a speaker with other factors that went into its overall design. I couldn't make a recommendation either way, unless I hear them, as speakers are meant to when choosing. Just my thoughts.

 

[Orionvr6]

Yeah, what he said.

Personally I would put more stock into a larger driver than in the engineering behind the enclosure on a smaller one. It's the safer bet in my opinion. So my advice would be go with the 4" Athena's. I've always preferred the sound of 4" drivers over 3.5", as a full range speaker. The 3.5" would sound more detailed but sound bad as a full range speaker (namely reproducing deep voices or upper midbass material).

 

[markw]

You can't judge a book by it's cover.

... or a speaker system by it's numbers. These are both excellent systems and each have it's proponents and detractors, although almost everybody says they're both pretty durn good.

To really make an honest judgment between these two closely matched units, you really have to listem to them. IMNSHO, I'd give the nod to the Athena simply because the center channel "appears" to be a little more capable of more sound by virtue of the dual woofers.

 

[Rob Babcock]

In theoretical terms, the smaller tweeter may handle less power than the slightly larger one. And it may have to be crossed over a bit higher than the larger one (NOTE: the latter is only an issue to the designer, not the end user). On the other hand, it will have better dispersion at some frequencies (a tweeter will start to beam as the wavelength of the sound gets close to the diameter of the driver).

The size of the woofer isn't that huge of a deal- in truth, even a 4" driver will have trouble going low enough to get a seamless match with a bass module without localization. In practical terms both are pretty nice systems, but will be much better for HT than music. The "hole in the middle" effect caused by the bass module and the sats not quite overlapping is seldom a fatal flaw with movies, although it can rob music of life & "punch."