Compression drivers are the linchpin of a PA system: operating at wavelengths too small to readily couple with other drivers, they alone have to fight distance and atmospheric losses to deliver concert sound pressure levels to ever larger audiences.
Enter the DCX464 coaxial ring radiator, designed from scratch to advance the state of the art. The DCX464’s midrange diaphragm covers frequencies from 300Hz to 5.5kHz with 110dB sensitivity, and its 100mm (4”) voice coil handles 220 watts. The 64mm (2.5”) coil high-frequency diaphragm covers the range from 3 – 18kHz with 112.5dB sensitivity and handles 160 watts. A patent pending midrange integrator allows both diaphragms to work in harmony over a wide bandwidth, for greater combined output and crossover flexibility.
All this energy arrives at a 1.4” throat, from the most compact package that can be designed today. According to Andrea Casadei, B&C Speakers’ R&D Engineer who was responsible for the DCX464 project, brand new materials and thousands of hours of computer simulation, modeling and testing have resulted in lower distortion at higher SPL than has ever been possible before.
As Casadei explains, the project evolved from the wish to perfect an existing compression driver in B&C Speakers’ catalog, and to extend its bandwidth. Starting by improving the design on the lower frequencies, the team soon discovered the advantages of combining a larger HF subsystem with an acoustic filter that would allow a better management of the interactions, while also providing increased flexibility in the adjustment of the crossover frequencies with a much wider latitude. The research, consolidated with extensive use of the latest simulation tools allowed creating the technology at the foundation of the DCX464 coaxial ring radiator, and will lead to further developments.
The new DCX464 was launched at Prolight+Sound 2019 in Frankfurt and is now ready to power the audio industry’s next-generation designs, delivering what the Florence-based company believes to be a new standard in fidelity, with the reliability and consistency you expect from the brand.
One of the largest manufacturers of professional transducers in the world, B&C Speakers meets the needs of the world’s most demanding OEM loudspeaker brands with a complete range of woofers from 2” to 21”, coaxials from 4” to 15”, and compression drivers from 1” to 4” voice coil diameter. B&C Speakers was founded in 1946, and now operates out of a nearly 14,000 square meter, state of the art production and R&D facility in Bagno a Ripoli (Florence), Italy. 10% of its workforce is exclusively dedicated to research and development. Since 2007, B&C has been publicly traded on Borsa Italiana.
www.bcspeakers.com
