The M3D features a remarkable new high-power 15-inch cone driver manufactured by Meyer Sound. The new driver was developed in the course of Meyer’s research in conjunction with the University of California that resulted in the ground-breaking X-10 Control Room Monitor – one goal of which was to produce a low-frequency component capable of twice the output of Meyer’s proven MS-15. Satisfying that goal posed several design challenges.

First, it required that the new driver have double the power handling of the MS-15, which accommodates 150 watts continuous and 600 watts peak. That meant the new driver had to handle a prodigious 300 watts continuous and 1200 watts peak. Meyer Sound addressed this challenge by using a four-inch voice coil capable of dissipating more heat than the three-inch coil of the MS-15.

Doubling the MS-15’s output also meant increasing the flux strength of the magnet structure. The four-inch coil required a larger gap to accommodate it, however, needing so much flux to bridge it that the magnet assembly alone would weigh over thirty pounds if made using conventional ceramic technology. Accordingly, Meyer turned to neodymium magnets capable of providing high flux with reasonable weight. This move reduced the total driver weight to about sixteen pounds.

Finally, the new driver had to achieve a half inch of linear excursion. Satisfying this requirement meant carefully balancing the suspension’s compliance with the magnetic field in the gap to preserve linearity.

The combination of all these developments has produced a driver that enables the M3D to reach very high levels more easily achieved with horns, yet in a vented, direct-radiating enclosure of smaller dimensions than low-frequency horns allow. Being capable of long excursion, the new driver also affords the M3D low-frequency performance that far exceeds that of any other line array system: full-power response down to 40 Hz.