Are you wondering what drivers the High End speaker manufactures are using?

I always think it is quite fun and also to some degree an inspiration to see what makes up some og the most expensive or most innovative speakers in the market.

Some would be thinking of cloning the construction and getting the same performance for a tenth of the cost, but without exact drawings of the enclosure, and the Xover schematics this is not really possible. Also some of the manufactures are using quite elaborate materials for the enclosure, none more so than Wilson Audio.

Also even though you would be able to pick the drivers available in normal stores, the big companies are of course getting the standard models tweaked a bit to suit their design. But anyway for education and inspiration here we go.

One thing we must assume is that these companies have spend quite some time picking out the drivers, through long periods of listening and measuring, so if you like the sound of their products, I think there is a god chance you’ll ile the drivers they use, and you could use these in your own implementation.

Wilson Audio makes some of the most expensive and sought after Speakers in the world. I have heard them on many occasions at Audio Shows, and in particular I remember an audition of the Sasha at a show in a smaller room. Simply incredible and engaging sound. Really accurate and airy mids and high, and a weight to the low end matched by few.

So lets take a look at the Yvette a 3 way, 1″ dome tweeter, 7″ mid and 10 inch woofer.

Tweeter is a bit hard to judge, but have read somewhere they are provided by Scan Speak. Looking at the back chamber I highly doubt it’s a neodymium motor … why would they use such a big chamber if it was? More likely a double ferrite magnet construction.

Very best guess is Scan Speak D2604/833000 which also matches the look of dome and surround as well, and it’s a dam good driver … though also quite inexpensive. It cost something like 55 €. The Peerless DX25BG60-04 is essentially the same driver, and the price is also very similar. The Peerless unit is actually the original. When Scan Speak was again split out from Tymphany, they seem to have gotten a number of designs to take a long. These are now part of the Discovery line. Besides some of the tweeters, also the Peerless XLS subs has been inherited (and modified).

The mid is much easier. Maybe not really visible on this photo, but on others it clear that the basket is a match to SB Acoustics range of drivers.

Even though they call it a 7” (but also specs it at 17,78 mm) driver I think we can be sure it is one of the SB17xxx35-x units with an Sd  of 118 cm2. But the cone sure looks to be same material as for the Satori units, called GYPTIAN PAPYRUS™. A SB17xxx35-x is Ø 17.1 mm but it is also clear that the ring is a bit different, with the WA logo.

The price of a SB17 depends a bit of the cone material, but around 80 €.

The woofer is no doubt a Scan Speak 26W/xxxxTxx unit

A bit hard to determine the cone material used, but it looks to be paper, so likely something like the 26W/8861T00

But it is likely a 4 ohm version like the Alu cone version 26W/4867T00

A Scan Speak W26 is around 350 – 400 €