Loudspeakers

ELAC’s previous coaxial drivers – the X-JET and X-JET II – comprised a planar or almost-planar annular midrange diaphragm surrounding one of ELAC’s pleated-diaphragm Air Motion Transformer JET tweeters. The first ELAC cone/dome coincident driver appeared in the 2016 Uni-Fi series, and the 5.25in Adante variant is similar in that it too combines an aluminium alloy cone with a soft-dome tweeter, located where the former’s dust cap would otherwise be. Here, though, the midrange voice coil diameter is increased to 2in. The cone is flared and combines with the fixed ring around the tweeter, the shape of the cone surround and the continuation of the waveguide into the bonded aluminium front baffle, to achieve a smooth expansion which delivers well-controlled responses both on- and off-axis. The first cone breakup mode occurs at about 6.5kHz, 1.7 octaves above the 2kHz crossover to the tweeter. This lower-than-typical crossover point is partly achieved by fitting the tweeter dome – formed of fabric with a coating to optimise its vibrational behaviour – with a large surround. A soft dome was chosen as more appropriate in this application than a metal dome alternative. KH