1st Order Xovers....A question of absolute volume.


...I spent a couple of nights with a friend's Green Mountain Audio Europas this weekend. I was very impressed with much of what they do, especially for what is really a small speaker. My only concern was with the ability to play loud. Now I don't expect them to match my larger Montanas in output, but what about larger full range 1st order designs? Do they have absolute volume issues because of the type of xover? I am looking at a larger pair of Roy's speakers, the Imagos from the 90s. But I don't want to give up the dynamics and ease of presentation of my SPXs, which have become quite addictive. Any thoughts?

Oz
128x128ozzy62
A first order crossover will let more LF signal into the tweeter, and so might limit volume to a lower level than what the same drivers could deliver using a steeper crossover. However, if you use a first order crossover the crossover frequency can be increased so as to avoid this problem. Of course, the woofer must now reproduce higher frequency, which is another problem. (This is why higher order crossovers were invented).
After speaker with Roy, it sounds like the Europas have a bad tweeter, more than likely caused by the previous owner underpowering them. Since I have no way of confirming/denying that I caused the damage, I have offered to pay for new tweeters. So this is the answer to the mystery of why they seemed to have limited volume capability, which in a way makes me feel better now.

Oz
>> After speaker with Roy, it sounds like the Europas have
>> a bad tweeter,.........
>> So this is the answer to the mystery of why they seemed
>> to have limited volume capability, which in a way makes
>> me feel better now

& me too! whew! that was good mystery solved by you!
too bad that the bad tweeter was discovered on your watch.

>> Since I have no way of confirming/denying that I caused
>> the damage, I have offered to pay for new tweeters.
that is indeed very nice of you!