Why no waveguide for the M series' tweeters

[Bart001]

I attended a Rockport demo this past weekend, and the rep spoke a bit about the tweeter waveguide.

A and S series Magicos incorporate a waveguide, but it looks like M do not.

Has the company spoken about this? Just curious!

 

[brodricj]

Why they do the things they do discussed recently here:

https://mailchi.mp/282a0dd12cf3/magico_fall_newsletter_2019#why

 

[Bart001]

There's no mention of waveguides in there as far as I can see -- which is why I've asked here.

 

[Mike]

There’s more of a waveguide on the M3, than the A3 or S3 Mk2. Are you simply confusing the front plate on those as a wave guide?


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[Bart001]

Perhaps I'm confused -- but the Rockport guy did refer to the geometry of the front plate that surrounds their tweeter as a 'waveguide'

 

[Mike]

Perhaps I'm confused -- but the Rockport guy did refer to the geometry of the front plate that surrounds their tweeter as a 'waveguide'

Surrounds, correct, so if you look at the M3 tweeter closely, you will see the wave guide. It’s indented, whereas the plate of the A3 is at the center of the tweeter, with an ever so slight guide (to my eye).

A fascinating wave guide is the Revel Studio 2/Salon 2 tweeter:

 

[NekoAudio]

I think the general term waveguide is used to describe making choices in the geometry of the surface into which a driver is mounted. From that perspective, there is a design to the M-series tweeter's surrounding surface. And it's very different from that of the S-series or A-series design. Same for the mid-range and woofer in the different series speakers.

I could speculate on why Magico chose to make some of those changes, but I'd probably be mistaken as the overall situation involves the choice of drivers plus the enclosure and crossover design. What I can say is that based on my own measurements, the design goal of the M2's tweeter seems to be different when compared to the S5 MkII or S3 MkII, in terms of on-axis and off-axis frequency response.

 

[Bart001]

I think the general term waveguide is used to describe making choices in the geometry of the surface into which a driver is mounted. From that perspective, there is a design to the M-series tweeter's surrounding surface. And it's very different from that of the S-series or A-series design. Same for the mid-range and woofer in the different series speakers.

I could speculate on why Magico chose to make some of those changes, but I'd probably be mistaken as the overall situation involves the choice of drivers plus the enclosure and crossover design. What I can say is that based on my own measurements, the design goal of the M2's tweeter seems to be different when compared to the S5 MkII or S3 MkII, in terms of on-axis and off-axis frequency response.

Thanks -- indeed I was riffing off of what I heard the Rockport guy say, which generically referred to 'waveguide' as the geometry of the front surface, surrounding the tweeter. Of course Magico were thoughtful throughout their range. The tweeters themselves must be significantly different, leading to a significantly different look to that geometry.