2 1/2 way speaker?


Can anyone explain  the difference between a 2 1/2 way speaker and a 3 way speaker? Both have two xover points. I just purchased a Spendor that is a 2 1/2 way and the xovers are 900 HZ and 3.2 HZ.
Thanks much!

 
128x128yogiboy
Think of a crossover point as actually being 2 filters:

1 - High Pass
2 - Low pass

So, in a traditional 3 way there are 2 crossover points but 4 filters. Got it?
With a 2.5 way, there is a missing filter. The driver that would otherwise be the midrange misses a low pass filter. That is, you have two drivers playing all the bass.


The benefits are better efficiency than a 3-way using the same woofer size, in the smallest possible footprint for that woofer.

They are very good choices for modest to medium sized listening rooms.


Eric nice explanation and Yogi which Spendor? I am a big Spendor fan myself so congrats!
Thanks Eric.
jond, thanks, the Spendor is the A5r. I have owned Spendors before and I would like to give these a try.
Normally, the two drivers are the same, but they cover different frequency ranges, as explained above, i.e. one of the two is rolled off earlier than the other.  So it's not a true 3-way, and not a true 2-way.  Hence....
yogiboy
2 1/2 way speaker?

You have three drivers in D’Appolito arrangement, where tweeter is in the middle and top and bottom drivers are the same "usually" and handle the same bass to 900hz. But the top driver also goes out to 3.2khz, and from there the tweeter takes over.

Here if you understand it, is a xover circuit for a 2.5 way speaker using 4th order HP on the tweeter 2nd order LP on the top mid/bass and 1st order LP on the lower bass https://ibb.co/r5zYyKs

Cheers George