Cube Audio F10 Neo full range driver, V2

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Cube Audio F10 Neo is a new 10" full-range driver. With ultra-powerful neodymium magnet, motor and new cone geometry new Cube Audio 10 inch flagship driver are now available.

These drivers are featured in Cube Audio's top of the range finished loudspeaker - the Nenuphar, also available from Hi-Fi Collective and partnered dealers - to read more click HERE.

To read about the other finished loudspeakers in the range, click HERE.

Why and how do we do it?

We believe that full-range speakers can create an illusion of live music that multi-way loudspeakers struggle to match. Amazing soundstage, absolute holography, magical midrange, open and direct sound that gives you the most emotional presentation possible of your favourite music. If you have ever heard a good implementation of a full-range speaker, you know exactly what we are talking about. We are very happy with the performance of Cube Audio 8" drivers. Plenty of positive feedback from our happy customers, very enthusiastic reviews, but there still was this ... "we should do more". We knew that if we wanted to go into "even more full range regions", we would have to increase the size of the driver. The answer was 10" design, and it happened to be a very good choice. First of all, the size increase is meaningful enough to make a difference, but on the other hand, we had to overcome plenty of traps placed by mother nature. Physics is heartless, and it really did everything it could to play with us "the hard way".

Magnetic motor

The research and development process of 10" drivers lasted for over a year. The goal was to end up with something completely new, that outperforms our 8" inch drivers in nearly all aspects. To reach our dream performance, one thing was sure, due to increased moving mass, a more powerful motor design was necessary. Two new motors were developed for that purpose. One is mixed ferrite & neodymium magnets assembly, and the second one is constructed completely out of neodymium magnets. The full Neodymium magnet motor contains 81 magnets with a combined weight of 1480 grams and is capable of delivering 2.4 Tesla in the magnetic gap that is 9 mm high.

The voice coil is completely underhung with +- 3 mm excursion in 100% magnetic field strength. The maximum excursion is +- 6 mm. Since the voice coil practically does not leave a magnetic gap, with uniform field strength along all the gap heights, the raw power, linearity, and reduction of distortions are at their best. In order to maintain 0.01 mm tolerance of all elements, magnetic motor components are manufactured using computer-controlled CNC lathes.

The spider

Another unique solution is a lower suspension commonly called the “spider”. After listening to the prototypes with the manifold, even the most advanced spiders available for speaker manufacturers, we agreed that we had to develop our own solution. The issue with the spider is that being a damper dissipates the energy that would otherwise be transferred into the speaker cone. It makes the speaker sound weak and dull, so we knew that it is an unacceptable way to go. We wanted a material that does not absorb energy and only transfers it.

After conducting many tests, the solution was found, and it turned out to be even better than we expected. It is 100 % linear within the maximum excursion of the speakers ( + - 6mm). It behaves like a spring. It does not consume the energy by damping, and it just positions the voice coil in the magnetic gap. The downside of such technology is that each spider has to be milled with the precision of a CNC machine. Nevertheless, the advantages are obvious and totally worth it. In order to measure the actual compliance (amount of excursion under known force) of the suspensions, we designed and custom a specially made device. You can see the graph with measurement comparison of our suspension and classical (resin-soaked cloth) spider below. See the Spider Excursion Graph in the links below.

Cones and wheezers

Once we had the motor ready and capable of controlling heavier moving cones and suspension mass, it was time to do the cones. Plenty of experience experimenting with 8" drivers came in handy. We knew where to start. But that was it. 10" is a completely different beast. For a very long time, we were not satisfied with the sound. There was a time when we didn't have more bass than from an 8" driver, which is basically pointless. Multiple times we had a prototype cone geometry that, on measurements, was absolutely linear and looked amazing to the point that the studio monitor could be really envious, but the sound was dull and boring. Those times were very frustrating. Sometimes we thought that it was impossible to do a really amazingly sounding 10" full range driver. But we never gave up and experimented more and more with even more drive every next day.

It was definitely worth it. The final design consists of 4 cones. One being the main cone and 3 Whizzer cones. The smallest cone is responsible for the highest frequency range. With only one standard Whizzer, we never would never be able to go up to 18 kHz with a driver that, in the proper cabinet, reaches the 30 Hz region. So adding that little Whizzer solved one of the issues that we had. But there were plenty more of them. When you add a Whizzer to the cone, there is additional interference between the cone and the Whizzer. The mini high-frequency Whizzer and the main Whizzer got together really well, and the sound was way better than without it. There was still a geometry issue present, though. Its diameter, height, surface, geometry, stiffness, damping, and coating are all a part of the final sound equation.

To achieve the right amount of sound pressure in the desired frequency region, geometry is the most important of them. There was one geometry that gave us amazing rich, colourful midrange, but on the other hand, it interfered with the main cone in such a way that the mods were pumping up mid frequencies. Since "shouty" vocals were not desired, we had to do something about it. Here's where the third Whizzer comes into play. That is a very elegant solution to change the interference mods of the Whizzer and the cone. Due to changed geometry and distance, the amplitude of the modes decreased. As a result, the overall sound became sweeter, richer and more natural. At that moment, we knew that this was the way to go.

Connecting the dots

Thanks to all the technologies that we developed, we got more control over speaker behaviour, sound character, frequency response and Thiele - Small parameters than ever before. We deeply believe that the drivers we are presenting to you will satisfy your needs and are the full range of drivers you were always looking for.

So as you can see, we are obsessed with pushing boundaries and finding the frontier of what’s possible within the full-range speaker concept. We are driven by our passion, and we will never stop looking for the best sound possible. It is not an 8-hour job for us. We do it because we love it. If you share our passion for full-range speakers, look no further. You deserve them.

All of our speakers, cones and voice coils are made and manually assembled in Poland. We take pride in our products, and we always aim for the highest quality. Each speaker is tested for 24 hours before shipment to ensure the highest quality.

Solutions and technologies used in F10 Neo full-range driver: