Cal was pretty close, a 44 in x 6 in deep Cornu will work well with the FF165WK. You get solid 37 Hz extension (-3dB) and about 91 dB sensitivity.
Go for it!
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Cant
to big to get a decent WAF.. 36 inches wont work? it should be able to get high 40 right?
So what is it, $30, $50, or $60 ea? Makes a difference.
A 24 in Cornu has been built with good success using the Tang Band W4-1320SIF's ($37 ea). Some minor mods to driver chamber will be needed to fit magnet in there - make chamber bigger by removing a few inches of the channel. In the same price range is the well-regarded MA CHR-70 that I believe can work well too based on sims - but have yet to hear any reports of anyone making a Cornu with it.
Other alternatives include the Faitail Pro 4FE35 ($25 ea) or 4FE32 ($37 ea). These are 91dB sensitive drivers with a smooth response. The 4FE32 has a Nd magnet so fitting the driver chamber should not be an issue. These drivers look ugly with a stamped steel inverted bezel meant for rearside mounting. That is their downside but they will probably sound very good and you have few other choices in the price with this high sensitivity.
I would go with the 4FE32 and be creative with a glued on grill cloth after the bezel is rebated or has a suprabaffle to smooth it out.
24 in x 4 in deep should do it.
Cant
A 36 in x 5 in deep Cornu will work with FF165WK and get 47 Hz (-3dB). That will sound pretty good for most music.
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Too bad I don't have a 24" or I could give you the results as I have the CHR 70 3rd gen in the Frugalhorn FH-3 and could easily swap them.
No, I'm not gonna build a 24". The bigger you make these things, the better the results so the next one is bound to be HUGE! I'm talking 6 ft here.
hehe
I love my wife and I think I'll keep it that way. No, no 6 footer in the works.
For what it's worth I tried my FF165WK in a large back loaded horn that is built for the FE163EN-S and it sounded bloated in the bass. The Efficiency Bandwidth Product for the FF165WK just isn't high enough to balance out in a BLH, add to that the wide baffle of the spiral horn, I'm not sure this would work out very well.
You fear it will be bass heavy? I have heard that the FF165Wk can use a helper tweeter. It may solved by using stuffing to tame the bass output, or making te cabinet thinner to reduce the horn mouth area - say 4 inches instead of 5 in.
6L6 made a 36 in Cornu for the FF125WK and it was bass heavy too.
I don't doubt that the 165 doesn't work well in a 163 horn (I haven't looked but I'd expect excessive gain through about the ~80Hz - 100Hz region), but that's not to say it can't be horn loaded. It can, quite happily. Remember EBP is at best a 1st order approximation, not a cast in stone rule, has almost zero relevance for back horns, and isn't a whole lot of use for anything else for that matter. GM & I have spent a considerable amount of time (years) trying to consign the fallacy that low Q is required for back horns to the mythological dustbin where it belongs.
Low Q is not required for a back horn. Quite the contrary. It has a value if a high output impedance amplifier is employed, since that artificially raises system Q. Historically speaking that's why early drivers were highly damped -because they were expected to be used with variable / high output impedance amps,. Otherwise, what a back-horn wants, like any other vented box alignment, is a driver suited to such purposes once amplifier output impedance, wire resistance &c. are accounted for.
Low Q is not required for a back horn. Quite the contrary. It has a value if a high output impedance amplifier is employed, since that artificially raises system Q. Historically speaking that's why early drivers were highly damped -because they were expected to be used with variable / high output impedance amps,. Otherwise, what a back-horn wants, like any other vented box alignment, is a driver suited to such purposes once amplifier output impedance, wire resistance &c. are accounted for.
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Cal made a 28 inch one for the 125WK which was bass heavy, i kinda missed someone else making a 36 incher for anything except cal
As for the sim i'd say it doesn't look that bass heavy, doesn't it?
my alternatives would be:
the alpair 10.3 which looks more bassy to me then the 165WK
the FE166EN which looks really nice in the sim, but i'm afraid it'll lack bass like the FE103EN and has a small xmax...
any advice?
or perhaps there's some other driver i missed which would work really well in a 36inch cornu?I've used this quite extensively. It would work well. It would have to be 7-1/8"" deep.
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