Hybrid Audio Technologies Legatia Pro User Manual
Legatia Pro-Series Component Speakers
Specifications Library & Car Audio Reference Guide
Contents
Welcome and Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 4
Legatia Pro Speaker Design Considerations ................................................................................................................... 5
Motor .................................................................................................................................................................................. 5
Voice Coil........................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Dome .................................................................................................................................................................................. 5
Suspension ........................................................................................................................................................................ 6
Housing and Tuned Chamber ........................................................................................................................................ 6
Thiele/Small Parameters Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 7
Application to Thiele/Small Parameters to Legatia Pro Designs .............................................................................. 7
Enclosure Recommendations .................................................................................................................................... 7
Legatia L1 Pro Tweeter ....................................................................................................................................................... 8
History ................................................................................................................................................................................ 8
Attributes ............................................................................................................................................................................ 8
Summary ........................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Mechanical Drawing ....................................................................................................................................................... 10
Thiele/Small Parameters ............................................................................................................................................... 11
Frequency Response Graph ........................................................................................................................................ 12
Legatia L3 Pro Wide-Bandwidth Midrange ..................................................................................................................... 13
History .............................................................................................................................................................................. 13
Attributes .......................................................................................................................................................................... 13
Summary ......................................................................................................................................................................... 15
Mechanical Drawing ....................................................................................................................................................... 16
Thiele/Small Parameters ............................................................................................................................................... 17
Frequency Response Graph ........................................................................................................................................ 18
Stage V Legatia L2x Two-Way Vertically-Biamplified Passive Crossover ................................................................ 19
History .............................................................................................................................................................................. 19
Key Issues in Passive Crossover Design ................................................................................................................... 19
Attributes .......................................................................................................................................................................... 20
Summary ......................................................................................................................................................................... 22
Mechanical Drawing ....................................................................................................................................................... 23
Frequency Filter Plot ...................................................................................................................................................... 24
Stage V Legatia L3x Three-Way Vertically-Biamplified Passive Crossover ............................................................. 25
History .............................................................................................................................................................................. 25
Key Issues in Passive Crossover Design ................................................................................................................... 25
Attributes .......................................................................................................................................................................... 26
Summary ......................................................................................................................................................................... 28
Mechanical Drawing ....................................................................................................................................................... 29
Frequency Filter Plot ...................................................................................................................................................... 30
Advanced System Installation .......................................................................................................................................... 31
Lessons Learned ............................................................................................................................................................ 31
Lesson One: Off-Axis Response.................................................................................................................................. 31
Lesson Two: Equalization of Pathlength Differences ............................................................................................... 31
Lesson Three: The Effect of HRTF, ITD, and IID ...................................................................................................... 33
Lesson Four: Point-Sourcing ........................................................................................................................................ 34
Lesson Five: Reference ................................................................................................................................................ 34
Advanced Installation of the Legatia Pro Component Systems .................................................................................. 35
Mounting Baffle Considerations ................................................................................................................................... 35
Crossovers ...................................................................................................................................................................... 36
Time Correction .............................................................................................................................................................. 37
Scenario 1 ................................................................................................................................................................... 37
Scenario 2 ................................................................................................................................................................... 38
Scenario 3 ................................................................................................................................................................... 38
Amplitude Equalization .................................................................................................................................................. 38
Acoustic Treatment ........................................................................................................................................................ 38
Advanced Installation Conclusions .................................................................................................................................. 39
Warranty .............................................................................................................................................................................. 40
Thank You! .......................................................................................................................................................................... 41
References .......................................................................................................................................................................... 42
Welcome and Introduction
Congratulations on your purchase of high performance Legatia Pro-series mobile audio component
loudspeakers, and welcome to the world of Hybrid Audio Technologies, where high-end mobile audio
loudspeaker development is our passion! When installed and set-up properly, the Legatia Pro
component system you have purchased will be the finest loudspeakers you have ever heard and give
years of superior performance.
Thank you for going “on line” to read and download your User’s Manual. Our offices are located
amongst the evergreens in North Georgia USA, and we happen to like trees. Aside from the obvious
aesthetic benefits, trees improve our air, protect our water, save energy, and improve economic
sustainability. Additionally, it is expensive to print and distribute thousands of copies of an owner’s
manual; we’d rather invest our production dollars into an incredible line-up of speaker systems for
your listening pleasure. With online resources becoming the main source of information for more and
more people, we are pleased that you’re here, reading this manual on line, verses having a print copy
which might get read once and put back into the gift box, or worse yet, discarded.
With the publication of this specifications library and car audio reference guide, it is our goal to assist
the “do it yourself” enthusiast and professional installer alike in getting the highest level of
performance out of Legatia Pro component speakers and sets using straight-forward installation
advice and practical application of timeless acoustic principles. The first part of this manual is
comprised of a specifications library for all of our available Legatia Pro component speakers, passive
crossover devices, and available accessory hardware. Simply scroll through the library to learn more
about the wide variety of Legatia Pro products. The second part of the manual has been written to be
more or less a miniature mobile audio reference guide that can be used to better any sound system,
and in particular, a system that utilizes the Legatia Pro component speaker systems. It is an
introductory primer to the world of high-end mobile audio; we hope this user’s manual is not only
informative, but motivating. Keep it handy throughout your installation process, and any time you go
to improve your audio system with other Hybrid Audio Technologies products, or perhaps to take
advantage of our lifetime guaranteed value trade-in program. We are confident that if the principles
explained in this manual are exercised in your own installation, you will be ecstatic with the sound
quality outcome!
We realize that you have a choice in loudspeakers, and are thrilled that you have chosen the Legatia
Pro series. For more information about Hybrid Audio Technologies, our philosophies regarding highend mobile audio, to learn more about our lifetime guaranteed value program, and for information
about our other products, please visit us online at www.hybrid-audio.com.
Thank you, and happy listening!
Scott E. Buwalda
Founder – Hybrid Audio Technologies
Legatia Pro User’s Manual ©Hybrid Audio Technologies Page 4 of 43
Legatia Pro Speaker Design Considerations
The Legatia Pro-series component speakers are electrodynamic drivers that are comprised of a dome
diaphragm that is set in motion by a motor system that has both electrical and mechanical
components.
The following design tenets are typical of all Legatia Pro-series midrange drivers:
Motor
The motor of the Legatia Pro midrange transducers are paramount to the performance of the drivers,
providing for a flat and wide BL curve. The BL curve is flat and extended in all models, yielding
exceptional two-way linear excursion, resulting in the Legatia Pro midrange drivers being able to
accurately track the input signal. Reduced distortion and greater dynamics are the immediate sonic
benefits. The motor of the L3 Pro includes a high-grade NdFeB magnet assembly to improve
restorative force, compliance, motor strength, displacement, and power handling, but also to serve a
small diameter form-factor. The voice coil fully surrounds the magnet.
Voice Coil
The voice coil diameter of the Legatia Pro range of midrange drivers represents the optimal balance
of diameter, power handling, and moving mass. The L3 Pro uses a 50.5mm (2-inch) voice coil. The
voice coil diameter serves several key functions: elevated power handling, dissipation of heat
(thereby lowering power compression), and maximizing the size of the magnet assembly for
enhanced motor compliance. The voice coils used in all Legatia Pro designs are copper-coated highpurity aluminum winding, which is superior to a solid copper winding for heat dissipation, as well as
significantly reduced moving mass. The result is an extremely light weight winding with good power
handling and low inductance.
How much amplitude a speaker can reproduce depends on the volume of air it excites without
overheating. The volume of air that a speaker excites is determined by the surface area of the dome
and the excursion capability of the motor system. Xmax is defined as the width of the voice coil that
extends beyond the front plate, and relates to how far the speaker can move in either direction
without appreciable distortion. The Legatia Pro dome midrange designs boast exceptional one-way
linear excursion (Xmax).
Dome
The shape, weight and strength of the Legatia Pro midrange domes relate directly to the extended
frequency response of the Legatia Pro range of drivers. The Legatia Pro domes are convex-shaped
hybrid fine fabric Japanese cotton diaphragms, described below. A considerable effort was allocated
to create a convex diaphragm with exceptional modal damping to have a smooth band-to-band
frequency response, applicable in both on- and off-axis applications.
You will find no composite or metal cone materials used in any Legatia Pro midrange driver. Our
approach to point-sourcing is to allow the Legatia Pro midrange drivers to effectively play into treble
frequencies; having virtually all imaging cues emanating from one set of drivers in an installation
ensures stable stereo imaging across the fundamental frequencies which define image placement
Legatia Pro User’s Manual ©Hybrid Audio Technologies Page 5 of 43
and definition. As noted above, the Legatia Pro midrange drivers include a proprietary hybrid
Japanese cotton fine fabric diaphragm with extremely low moving mass. The fine fabric dome is
widely acknowledged as the best-damping material in the dome geometry format, as it provides the
near optimum balance of strength and weight. The fabric dome is critical to tame unwanted dome
modes, resonances, and the classic “breakup” associated with most composite materials.
All Legatia Pro designs offer an outstanding extended frequency response; the usable frequency
range of the Legatia Pro midrange drivers is at least six full octaves with proper installation, aiming,
set-up, and tuning. And because of the employed dome technology which boasts exceptional off-axis
response, described above, all Legatia Pro drivers offer exceptional off-axis bandwidth as well,
exceeding five octaves for all designs.
The Legatia L1 Pro tweeter utilizes a fine silk dome for the ultimate in music reproduction.
Suspension
All Legatia Pro midrange drivers include a reverse-roll fine treated cloth surround terminated in one
piece to the diaphragm, which is highly consistent, and does not suffer the variance of natural
rubbers. The surround and diaphragm in concert terminate mechanical vibrations well, having a low
stiffness for positive damping of resonances. The surround termination of the dome diaphragm,
which acts as an air seal between the dome and the tuned chamber, is the predominant mechanical
restoring force of the speaker. Another function of the surround-terminated diaphragm is to absorb
dome flexure waves as they are transferred up the diaphragm. You'll also know a Legatia Pro
midrange design by its integrated acoustically-transparent grille.
Housing and Tuned Chamber
All Legatia Pro-series products boast a fully machined aluminum body; the body is machined
aluminum, not cast aluminum. The dense metal structure of the tweeter and midrange housing helps
to reduce resonances within the body of the driver for effective reproduction of extremely low music
tones. The dome topology better approximates a true monopole than a similarly-sized cone midrange,
especially in the lower one third of its frequency response. Notably, what also makes the L3 Pro a
very good approximation of a true monopole is the fact that the flange/body of the driver is solid
machined aluminum, void of interstitial spaces, which terminates resonances well. Hybrid Audio
Technologies is likely the only company to produce a super high-end dome midrange, paying
attention to the critical function of the housing in modal damping.
In addition to the aluminum body of the Pro-series drivers, all Pro-series drivers include a cast
polypropylene tuned and damped chamber at the rear of the motor assembly; the chamber helps to
reduce backwave distortion and significantly lower the Pro-series driver’s resonance frequency to
allow it to be used to play tones near its resonance frequency. A machined aluminum knurled
attachment nut at the base of the Pro-series product provides optimized clamping strength to the
mounting media, and important feature for terminating modal distortion at the mounting baffle.
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Thiele/Small Parameters Introduction
Acoustics pioneers Neville Thiele and Richard Small developed a way to predict speaker
performance and frequency response. These parameters are known collectively as “Thiele/Small
Parameters”, and are divided into physical characteristics and response parameters:
The Physical Characteristics of a speaker are:
Re: The D.C. resistance of the voice coil measured in Ohms.
Sd: The surface area of the speaker’s cone.
BL: The magnetic strength of the motor structure.
Mms: The total moving mass of the speaker including the small amount of air in front of and behind
the cone.
Cms: The stiffness of the driver’s suspension.
Rms: The losses due to the suspension.
The Thiele/Small Response parameters are:
Re: The D.C. resistance of the voice coil measured in Ohms.
Sd: The surface area of the speaker.
Fs: The resonant frequency of the speaker.
Qes: The electrical “Q” of the speaker.
Qms: The mechanical “Q” of the speaker.
Qts: The total "Q" of the speaker.
Vas: The volume of air having the same acoustic compliance as the speaker’s suspension.
Application to Thiele/Small Parameters to Legatia Pro Designs
Enclosure Recommendations
All Legatia Pro-series drivers include a sealed-back tuned chamber, and therefore do not require
being mounted in an enclosure. In a typical installation, Legatia Pro midrange and tweeter products
should be mounted in a solid mounting baffle to abate resonance (details on baffle recommendations
are presented on page 37).
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Legatia L1 Pro Tweeter
History
The Legatia SE L1 Pro’s topology is an enhanced “low resonance” version of the massively
successful Legatia L1V2. The purpose of the L1 Pro topology was to build upon the success and
efficacy of the Stage V Legatia L1V2, but offer it in a package with considerably lower resonance
frequency for potential use in two-way applications, or where a tweeter with low resonance was
needed. The L1 Pro was launched in February 2008, and was the first product developed and
released in the Legatia Special Edition and Pro Series. In the years since its inception, the L1 Pro
has been used successfully in organized car audio sound quality competition, notably including twotime Canadian and IASCA North American championship competitor John “Fozz” Myers’ vehicle. The
Legatia SE L1 Pro is the reference soft-dome tweeter driver in Hybrid Audio’s product category
known collectively as the Legatia SE Series.
Attributes
The Legatia SE L1 Pro is a 58mm (2.3-inch) O.D. “low resonance” wide-bandwidth tweeter driver.
Continuing on in the tradition of exceptional tweeter design and manufacturing by Hybrid Audio
Technologies, the Legatia Pro L1 is an articulate, detailed, and tonally-correct tweeter in a slightly
larger diaphragm than its sibling, the Legatia L1V2. The Pro L1 is a light and transiently fast tweeter
in a 25mm body that doesn’t suffer from typical “heaviness” in tonal quality, typically associated with
damped, large-diameter dome tweeters; the L1 Pro can be used for the reproduction of treble
frequencies in dedicated two-, three-, and four-way front stage systems. The Pro L1 has exceptional
polar response, and remains small enough to install in typical locations within a vehicular
environment.
At the onset of the Special Edition and Pro-Series Legatia program, we wanted to be sure that the
Pro-Series tweeter could be listened to for long listening sessions with no noticeable listener fatigue,
and the Pro L1 answers the call. The Pro L1 does an immaculate job of recreating tones well into the
vocal midrange frequencies, should the user decide to employ an exceptionally low crossover
frequency. The Pro L1 sets the new benchmark for car audio tweeters; it is the best soft-dome car
audio tweeter available today, irrespective of price. The L1 Pro is available in two finishes: brushed
(natural) aluminum and anodized black.
Dome
The Pro L1 starts with an impregnated fine cloth silk dome diaphragm for a linear, smooth frequency
response, with a treated silk surround to damp edge modes and resonances. The Pro L1 is efficient,
exhibits low distortion, and has a wide dispersion; the dome is of exceptionally low mass and has an
extremely high power handling with proper filtering. The Pro L1 dome design is much less
susceptible to mechanical deformation than other designs, and yet yields a smooth response over the
extent of its range.
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Motor
The motor assembly is conventional dynamic, with a Φ24.5 × 3 H NdFeB neodymium magnet
structure to ensure a relatively small footprint size and shallow depth. A perforated grille protects the
dome. The Pro L1 boasts a fully machined aluminum body; the body is machined aluminum, not cast
aluminum. The dense metal structure of the tweeter housing helps to reduce resonances within the
body of the tweeter for effective reproduction of extremely low music tones. Additionally, the Pro L1
has a polypropylene tuned and damped chamber at the rear of the motor assembly; the chamber
helps to reduce backwave distortion and significantly lower the tweeter’s resonance frequency to
allow it to be used to play tones in the vocal spectrum, if desired. A machined aluminum Φ47.5mm
knurled attachment nut at the base of the tweeter provides optimized clamping strength to the
mounting media.
Mounting Flange and Dimensions
The 58mm wide mounting flange, only 3mm larger than the Legatia L1V2 tweeter, provides a solidaluminum mounting surface for the tweeter without the necessity of mounting cups or external
hardware. The overall dimensions of the driver are very amenable for use in the car audio
environment, boasting an exceptional depth of just 30mm (nearly unheard of in a tuned-chamber
tweeter).
Terminals Cap and Spring-Loaded Terminals
The L1 Pro includes an extruded polypropylene tuned chamber with integrated high-end nickel-plated
spring-loaded push terminals at the rear of the tweeter’s motor assembly. The spring-loaded
terminals give the end-user flexibility in direct connection with large-gauge tinned wiring, without the
need for crimp terminals.
Summary
The Legatia SE L1 Pro tweeter is an excellent step-up in performance over the Legatia L1V2 tweeter
driver offered in the Stage V Legatia series, and is the bench-mark low-resonance soft-dome tweeter
in Hybrid Audio’s complete product offering. Equally at home in two-way configuration paired with a
midrange or midbass, or as the dedicated tweeter transducer in a three-way application, the Legatia
SE L1 Pro is an exemplary performer, and is eclipsed in performance by only the Stage VI Legatia SE
L1 Pro Ring Radiator (R2) tweeter.
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Mechanical Drawing
Legatia Pro User’s Manual ©Hybrid Audio Technologies Page 10 of 43
8mm thick knurled thread aluminum adapter to
secure the
tweeter body from the rear
Overall Diameter
Thiele/Small Parameters
Φ58 mm
Mounting Depth
Mounting Methodology
Construction
Distortion
Magnet Diameter and Construction
Recommended Minimum Crossover Frequency
P
Rated Power Input (No Crossover)
nom
P
Rated Power Input (No Crossover)
max
P
(With Recommended Minimum Crossover)
max
Resonance Frequency (Fs)
Frequency Range
Sensitivity
Impedance
30 mm
Surface-mount tweeter with standard-pitch M47.5 X
Solid machined aluminum with integrated
polypropylene rear cap and push terminals
<5% max at rated power input, no crossover
Φ24.5 × 3 H NdFeB
2,000 Hz at 24 dB/octave highpass
20 watts (AES Standard)
40 watts (AES Standard)
100 watts
700 Hz
700 Hz – 32,000 Hz, +/- 3 dB
93.5 dB at 2.83V/1meter
4Ω
DC Resistance
Voice Coil Diameter
Qms
Qes
Qts
Krm
Erm
Kxm
Exm
3.6Ω
25.5 mm (1-inch)
2.842
2.113
1.212
175.5 nΩ
1.325
14.545 µH
1.004
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Frequency Response Graph
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Legatia L3 Pro Wide-Bandwidth Midrange
History
The Legatia L3 Pro’s topology is a departure from the typical cone-type midrange drivers in the same
size category as produced by Hybrid Audio Technologies. The L3 Pro was intended to be used in
approximately the same fashion as the Legatia L3V2 and Legatia L3SE, both cone midrange devices,
to give the end-user more choices for a high-end midrange solution to fit a variety of potential system
designs and mounting strategy. Naturally, the efficacy of the L3 Pro, as compared to its sibling cone
midrange drivers, is its sensitivity and ability to be used without a sealed baffle since the L3 Pro is a
tuned rear-chamber midrange.
By early Spring 2012, a beta prototype pair of Legatia L3 Pro’s had been refined after hundreds of
hours of testing and development; these highly-evolved drivers were sent to Hajji Grape of Hybrid
Audio Technologies’ Team Hybrids program; Hajji is a renowned car audiophile and former IASCA®
champion. The L3 Pro were tested in various configurations and at various cross-points, and the final
verdict was given that the first dome midrange from Hybrid Audio Technologies would be a massive
success, as this design clearly out-performed other similar models in the same price and perceived
categories.
Production refinements were mid-Spring 2012, to incorporate features inclusive and proprietary to the
Legatia Pro line, and final production commenced July 2012 (with several pre-production sets
delivered in June 2012). The Legatia L3 Pro is the reference 3.9-inch driver in Hybrid Audio’s product
category known collectively as the Legatia Pro Series.
Attributes
The Legatia L3 Pro is a 99mm (3.9-inch) “small format” wide-bandwidth midrange/full-range driver to
compliment both two-way and three-way system designs, where a point-source midrange and/or fullrange driver is required. The L3 Pro is only 6mm (0.2-inch) larger than the Stage V Legatia L3V2,
and the Stage VI Legatia L3SE, for many potential drop-in replacement options.
Body and Flange
The body and flange of the L3 Pro is a similar design topology and geometry to the L1 Pro tweeter.
The body is an extremely high-quality machined aluminum design (machined from a solid block of
aircraft-grade 6061 aluminum), and contains a 99mm flange providing for the surface-mounting of the
driver via Hybrid Audio Technologies’ unique knurled attachment nut technology. The dense metal
structure of the L3 Pro housing helps to reduce resonances within the body of the driver for effective
reproduction of extremely low music tones. One main mechanical reason the L3 Pro approximates a
true monopole is the fact that the flange/body of the driver is solid machined aluminum, void of
interstitial spaces, which terminates resonances well.
The overall dimensions of the driver are very amenable for use in the car audio environment, and in
locations typical of the standard “3-inch” and “4-inch” drivers, or in custom locations at the discretion
of the end-user, boasting a depth of just 44mm (1.7-inch) (the same depth as the Stage VI Legatia
L3SE and only 1mm deeper than its Legatia L3V2 counterpart). The body features an integrated
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