Okay, yeah... I can see that...
It probably doesn't matter so much at this low frequency. but I have always been told that the higher the compression; the higher the ('horny' sounding) distortion level. That is why I've always tried to "back load" my drivers. Is this true, in your experience?
High compression ratios can stress lightweight cones, they will distort more than if front or back loaded.
If heavy cones are used, distortion won't be a problem with a 3/1 compression ratio when driven at or below Xmax.
You may have heard my old L4 design back in 1992 on the Beastie Boys "check your head" tour. It was an example of a quad "V" load, it sounded clean and we were running it up to 200 Hz back then.
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Uh, no... I'm a disco kind of guy... a DJ in fact, lol. Not big on live music... Go figure.
From your sketch, it's a little hard for me to make out exactly how the throat/mouth of the horn is formed, but I think I have the gist of it. I've seen some sub cabinets that I liked very well (conceptually, never heard them), that placed the drivers in a V shaped mouth, with a vertical vent/port in between them. Looked like a very good compromise between high output/high density, and low distortion, to me.
BTW, I was looking at those DW 4550s again, and I realized that they have widened those boxes in the center enough to preserve the original horn flare while accepting the additional driver width. So those boxes are about 15" wider than the originals. At first, I thought they had just widened the throat.
In order to fit the drivers comfortably in a standard JBL 4550 type cabinet, and in the interest of throat length, what do do think of locating the drivers as per the Martin 215 MK III design?
That would work fine, and the increased horn length would make the horn effective to a lower frequency, though the curved walls of a 4550 just make for more difficult cabinet construction, but I get that you like that "look".
The WS L4 uses a similar "V" loading to the Martin 2x15" straight horn, the 215 MK III splits the "V" into opposite sides of the cabinet. That loading is known as an offset horn, the "V" can be either against a horn wall or an opposing speaker.
I have heard arguments both for, and against, the smooth exponentially curved horns as are inherent in this design. But it makes more sense to me, that the horn should be configured as close to perfect as possible, and... I've built a "million" JBL scoops, horns, etc... so that stuff is old hat to me.
What bothers me more than anything else, is the problem with driver offset, overall. Over the years, I've blown out literally hundreds of high frequency horn voice coils. To try and prevent that problem, I used multiple horns in my setups. The large system that I've talked about here before, used 64 horns!
You've never even experienced real comb filtering, until you've dealt with a bank of horns two high x sixteen wide! I need to come up with a way to accomplish more of a "point source" type of setup, at least on the high end. I am very intrigued by some of Danley's work in that regard.
Wow... look what I found while I was prowling the web.
Lx218 2x18" Bass Reflex Configuration Subwoofer Bass Speakers - Buy Bass Speakers,2x18 Suwoofer Speakers,Bass Subwoofer Product on Alibaba.com
These guys are knocking off top of the line JBL and Funktion One professional speaker systems. Right down to the nameplates...
Lx218 2x18" Bass Reflex Configuration Subwoofer Bass Speakers - Buy Bass Speakers,2x18 Suwoofer Speakers,Bass Subwoofer Product on Alibaba.com
These guys are knocking off top of the line JBL and Funktion One professional speaker systems. Right down to the nameplates...
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