No-Holds-Barred Lowther design?

[Jon Ver Halen]

With the corners open, the rules change. Now we can settle on a reasonable sized horn set in the corner

The Opus 1, like the Klipshorn, has the bass exit in the corner, and uses the room walls as part of the horn path. If you have thin, modern construction plasterboard walls the bass will go through it, rather than be guided into the room. You should have at least a double thickness of plaster board to use this design. The real advantage is that your room becomes part of the horn, and you get powerful, fast bass down to the 30's.

The TP1 sits in the corner, but has the bass out the front and does not utilize the walls of the room. TP1 should have bass to around 40 hz. Thin walls have no effect though.

If you truly want the ultimate, go with one of these. By horn loading a PM4A you get the speed and dynamics of the DX series, but with the low level information of the alnico magnet. Best of both worlds. As much as I like the Beauhorn and a properly set up Big Fun Horn, neither can do delicacy like the PM4A.

Just to even it out a bit, some people do not like front loaded horns. They add dynamics and impact, as well as some colorations. Using a PM5A or DX4 in a Big Fun Horn will not have these colorations. It is very important to properly treat the side and rear walls when using the Big Fun Horn to prevent early reflections that smear the sound (one of the reasons why these speakers have mixed reviews). I have not directly compared the PM5A to a DX4 in this type of situation. My gut says that the DX4 will still be a bit more dynamic, and the PM5A will have more information, but the overall winner would be the PM5A for pure realism, lacking only in that last little bit of "fun factor" with big and bold music. Call this an educated guess, not a real opinion.

The Bueahorn is a great system. Rumors indicate that they have stopped production, but the web site is still up and active. Maybe someone else knows the truth.

[hornophile]

Hello,

You can have a look too at those following "bulgarian" design :

-helix 5000
-horn for driver ether 6

You can easily find them making a search on this forum. They are not speacilly designed for lowther (but for driver with more or less similar spec; so with some changes to the compression chamber they should work). those designs offer a very long path and are supposed to offer great bass.

They are impressive and beautifull design too in my opinion ; more beautifull (still in my opinion) than the lowther TP1 , OPUS or big fun horn.

Just my 2 cents...

[hornophile]

http://momchil.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/img_3461.jpg

here is some pictures of those bulgarian design...

[berm]

I'm not familiar with Lowthers, but this has gotten me curious. Don't know how it compares with the other candidates, but it seemed to be the hot ticket in its day. There was someone selling plans for the cabinet on eBay a couple of years ago, but I don't think they included a plan for the plaster of paris horn on top. Worth thinking about?

http://www.lowthervoigtmuseum.org.uk...erHegeman.html

[leadsinger]

Martin Seddon's 204 front horns have been mentioned, but not his push pull horns which use those front horns and his 50hz back horns which have only one right angle fold. You may see his plans, which are free, for said horns at the link below.

A friend from Hong Kong who has heard Beauhorns on several occasions thinks the Martin's horns he heard at my home are superior in most ways. I haven't heard the Beauhorns myself but you should note Martin horns are at least 3 sizes bigger. Size does matter when trying to squeeze performance out of a single Lowther driver.

Contact Martin to hear his experience.

http://azurahorn.com/azurahorn_horns.html

[serenechaos]

good point leadsinger...
I was thinking Ronmeister nixed FLHs, but it was additional drivers he didn't want.
And what Martin calls a "push-pull" could be seen as many of the back loaded horns with front horns already shown...

--My Opinion only, YMMV, but easily the best/most high-end/most desirable Lowther implementations I've heard have been with Azurahorns. Done right, the LeCleach gets rid of so much of the coloration present in other expansions, and room treatment helps the rest. I'll never forget RMAF 2007, Lowthers in Azurahorns in one room, and in open baffles across the hall.
I was expecting the OBs to sound great, went back at least a half-dozen times. They hurt my ears, gave me a headache every time, my wife ask me why i kept going to that room that sounded so... And across the hall the music was beautiful, with the best soundstage and imaging I'd ever heard.
Caveat--very narrow sweet spot.
And that system had a woofer, wasn't PP.

Haven't heard one in a PP configuratin; may have some of the problems of backloaded horns from different soundpath lengths?
That sure is audible in the longer path horns, and really bugs some of us...
Or the PP Azurahorn may be a better compromise?
Not as long as most BLHs, but tuned low enough to work with one driver?
And being "sound is round," the round shape causes less distortion than most other (squared off) designs...
Just more thoughts.

[Ronmeister]

Leadsinger, Serenechaos,

Brilliant! I've attached a small photograph for all to see what (I believe) you're referring to. When I first posted this thread, and called it no-holds-barred - which we soon found out was 'over-shooting' a little - this is the kind of design suggestion I was hoping for. Real food for thought, something outside my personal comfort-zone, and a, for me, new area to explore.

With regards to the initial discussion, where Opus 1 was the front-runner, the TP1-Isis has nudged ahead due to the type of wall in one of the two corners. The guy I'm building them for is partial to both designs so the less troublesome may as well go to the top spot...

We're not done though... Cue the Azurahorns...

[serenechaos]

Originally posted by Ronmeister
...due to the type of wall in one of the two corners...

If adding thickness to walls is out, filling them with sand might be an option? Worked for me, makes walls very inert.

[Jon Ver Halen]

The Azurahorns have less horn coloration than any other system that I have heard, and are a distinct notch up from the TP1 or OPUS 1 in that aspect. A clear winner for least horn coloration, most musical sound.

It would be fun to throw these in front of a pair of Big Fun Horns and have push-pull with full range, deep bass. Keep in mind that a certain amount of re-engineering would be required to make this balanced. The front horn would increase the efficiency of the front wave, and you will need to adjust the back horn for similar efficiency. The compression chamber on the Big Fun Horn is normally too large, but you want the crossover between the front horn and the rear horn as low as possible, and the large compression chamber may work here. A slightly larger throat may be required to increase the efficiency of the bass horn a bit.

hornresponse is a great program to simulate the response of various horns. Have some fun in your spare time, this is a great way to model a lot of horns without having to build them. Results are fairly accurate.

[serenechaos]

Isn't that what Dave Slagle was using a few years ago...

Yeah, here's a pict: http://www.arduman.com/aa/Sayfalar/slagle/slagle.htm
big fun horn for bass, and 160hz Azura horn on top, with the natural roll-off as crossover @ 80 Hz.
Don't know what he's using now, last i heard he'd converted the Lowthers to field coil drivers?