Midrange driver

TL;DR

A midrange driver is the speaker driver dedicated to reproducing the middle frequency range (typically 300 Hz - 4 kHz). Used in 3-way and larger speakers to keep the woofer from handling vocals and the tweeter from being pushed too low.

A midrange driver is a speaker driver optimized for the midrange band – roughly 300 Hz to 4 kHz – where human voice and most instrumental fundamentals sit.

Why a dedicated midrange

In a 2-way speaker, the woofer handles bass AND midrange up to the crossover point (~2 kHz), and the tweeter handles high frequencies. This works fine but has trade-offs: the woofer’s large cone struggles with fast midrange transients; the tweeter can’t reach very low without distortion.

A 3-way design splits the load: woofer (bass), midrange (vocals), tweeter (highs). Each driver operates in its ideal range.

Where you’ll find them

3-way bookshelves: Sony SS-CS5M2, HiVi H6, HiVi M300 MKII. Larger towers commonly have dedicated midranges.

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