B&C 5CXN36 – Improve Your Ultra-Compact Build with the Lightest 5″ Coaxial Available

At 650 grams and just 87 mm deep, the B&C 5CXN36 is quite possibly the lightest and shallowest professional coaxial driver ever made. This 5-inch neodymium coaxial delivers full-range two-way performance from 94 Hz to 18 kHz with 70-degree coverage — from a driver that weighs less than a can of soda and sits shallower than a deck of cards stood on end.

The B&C 5CXN36 is part of B&C’s compact transducer lineup alongside the 6CXN36 — sharing the same design philosophy of maximum miniaturisation with professional-grade quality control. If the 5CXN44 is the high-output 5-inch coaxial, the B&C 5CXN36 is the ultra-compact alternative that prioritises absolute minimum size and weight above all else.

For builders designing micro satellites, tiny column array elements, flush-mount ceiling speakers, portable Bluetooth-style enclosures, or any project where the driver needs to be as small and light as physically possible, the B&C 5CXN36 gives you real coaxial quality from a package that barely exists.

Design and Construction of the B&C 5CXN36

The low-frequency section of the B&C 5CXN36 uses a 34 mm (1.3-inch) copper voice coil on a glass fibre former. The glass fibre former is a step up from the Kapton used in the 5CXN44, providing additional rigidity and thermal stability — a meaningful detail for long-term reliability in permanent installations.

The moving mass is a staggering 8.3 g — the absolute lightest in B&C’s entire product catalogue across all driver types and sizes. To put that number in perspective, it’s roughly the weight of three coins. That ultra-low mass gives the B&C 5CXN36 transient response that is essentially instantaneous. Signal becomes sound with virtually zero delay.

You’ll hear the difference in the razor-sharp clarity of speech, the micro-detail in acoustic recordings, and the precise articulation of every note in complex musical passages. For nearfield listening and speech reinforcement, that transient precision makes the 5CXN36 sound remarkably open and present.

An aluminium demodulating ring in the motor structure keeps midrange distortion low — a feature that’s genuinely rare at this driver size and price point. The waterproof-treated paper cone provides moisture protection for outdoor and humid-environment builds. The 5.5 mm linear excursion gives you clean output across the driver’s operating range.

The high-frequency section features a 36 mm (1.4-inch) aluminium voice coil driving an HT Polymer dome diaphragm at 101 dB sensitivity with 1.65 T flux density. HT Polymer delivers smooth, well-damped highs that are free from harshness — perfect for extended nearfield listening and background music applications where fatigue-free sound is essential.

One important design detail: the HF section runs at 16 Ω while the LF section runs at 8 Ω. This impedance mismatch between sections needs to be accounted for in your crossover design. B&C offers the matched FBCXN36 passive crossover that handles this automatically — a straightforward solution if you don’t want to design a custom filter network.

Performance and Applications for the B&C 5CXN36

The B&C 5CXN36 handles 200 W continuous on the LF section and 50 W on the HF. These are modest numbers, but they’re well-matched to the nearfield, distributed, and architectural applications this driver is designed for. Pair it with a small 30–100 W amplifier and you’ll have a speaker that fills a room with clear, balanced sound from a cabinet smaller than a shoebox.

The Thiele–Small parameters are ideally suited for sealed enclosures. A Qts of 0.90 and EBP of 98 Hz make the B&C 5CXN36 a natural fit for closed-box designs — simple to build, predictable in behaviour, and forgiving of minor enclosure tolerances. A small sealed cabinet of 2–4 litres will give you tight, controlled output with a smooth bass rolloff.

The 4.4-litre Vas confirms that genuinely miniature enclosures are perfectly viable. The 70-degree dispersion provides focused, controlled coverage that suits nearfield listening and directional applications — tighter than the 6CXN36’s 90 degrees, which can be an advantage when you want more precise sound placement.

Builders commonly choose the B&C 5CXN36 for:

• Micro satellite speakers where absolute minimum size is the priority
• Ultra-slim column array and line source elements
• Flush-mount ceiling and wall speakers for architectural sound
• Tiny desktop monitors and personal nearfield speakers
• Portable and battery-powered speaker builds where weight is critical
• Multi-channel surround and immersive audio installations

Both drivers share the same acoustic centre for true point-source output with coherent phase alignment. At this driver size, the coaxial format is the only practical way to achieve two-way performance — and the B&C 5CXN36 delivers it from the smallest, lightest package in professional audio.

Specifications – LF Section

• Nominal Diameter: 127 mm (5 in)
• Voice Coil Diameter: 34 mm (1.3 in)
• Continuous Power Handling: 200 W
• Nominal Power Handling: 100 W
• Nominal Impedance: 8 Ω
• Minimum Impedance: 6.5 Ω
• Frequency Range: 94 Hz – 18,000 Hz
• Sensitivity: 89 dB
• Winding Material: Copper
• Former Material: Glass Fibre
• Winding Depth: 11 mm (0.43 in)
• Magnetic Gap Depth: 6 mm (0.24 in)
• Flux Density: 0.74 T
• Cone Treatment: WP Waterproof Front Side

Specifications – HF Section

• Voice Coil Diameter: 36 mm (1.4 in)
• Continuous Power Handling: 50 W
• Nominal Power Handling: 25 W
• Nominal Impedance: 16 Ω
• Minimum Impedance: 10 Ω
• Recommended Crossover: 2 kHz
• Sensitivity: 101 dB
• Winding Material: Aluminium
• Inductance: 0.14 mH
• Flux Density: 1.65 T
• Diaphragm Material: HT Polymer
• Magnet Material: Neodymium Ring

Conclusion

The B&C 5CXN36 is the absolute lightest and shallowest professional coaxial driver available — 650 grams, 87 mm deep, and 150 mm across. It sets a new benchmark for how small a genuine two-way point-source transducer can be while still delivering professional-quality sound.

With an 8.3 g moving mass for the fastest transient response in the B&C catalogue, a glass fibre former for long-term stability, smooth HT Polymer highs at 101 dB, a sealed-enclosure-friendly Qts of 0.90, and the matched FBCXN36 crossover for effortless passive builds, the B&C 5CXN36 is the ultimate building block for micro speakers, column arrays, and architectural installs where the driver must deliver serious sound while occupying almost no space at all.