KLH full range driver in zigahornet?

[mjatabor]

I have an idea I've been thinking about and wanted some more experienced opinions on this project.

I have four 4" KLH full range drivers in excellent condition (from a pair of KLH Model 15 dual driver ported speakers). The speakers are very efficient and clear sounding.

I'm thinking of building a pair of Zigmahornet cabinets to install the KLH full range drivers into. The Ziggys just look like a ported box in a tall thin floorstanding shape. The internal volume of the Ziggys for the Fostex 103 drivers are very close to Fostex's recommendation of a ported box for those drivers.
Zigmahornet Speakers with Fostex FE103E

If I build these cabinets can I then assume that the volume of a Ziggy cabinet should be the same as the KLH 15's internal volume when using the KLH drivers, with the ports free air space the same on the Ziggys as it is in the Model 15s?

I'm thinking of using 2 drivers per cabinet because I have 4 drivers from the KLH Model 15's they came from, or should I make 4 cabinets w/ one driver each. And if I make a cabinet w/ one driver each should I use half the volume of the Model 15 and half the port free space volume?

Attached are photos of all four KLH full range drivers made in 1966. They are well made with a stout fiberglass suspension. The magnet is substantial and I could not put them any closer in the photo of all 4, without the magnets pulling the drivers to each other.

[planet10]

Zigmahornet is not a BR,but a (poorly designed) ML-TL.

dave

[mjatabor]

Originally Posted by planet10

Zigmahornet is not a BR,but a (poorly designed) ML-TL.

dave

What is br and ml-tl?

[chrisb]

Originally Posted by mjatabor

What is br and ml-tl?

BR= Bass Reflex
MLTL= Mass Loaded Transmission Line

There's a veritable alphabet soup of acronyms, knick-names and misnomers in not only the DIY speaker world, but even among commercial manufacturers

Re the "Ziggies" - I heard a pair of these a few years back, and quite frankly there are any number of less compromised enclosure designs suitable for "full-range" / wideband drivers of this size class.

More important to selection of an appropriate family of enclosure design for these particular units than the stout construction and substantial magnetic flux would be T/S parameters. Unfortunately, those can be notoriously hard to find for OEM drivers of any vintage, and even if available, with drivers that are 45yrs old would need to be field measured.

[mjatabor]

I'm not familiar with the acronyms because I don't live in the DIY world or I'm not a manufacturer. Thanks for comments on the Ziggies, that is why I thought to ask here. I only chose the Ziggies because I don't have specs on my vintage drivers (nor the ability to test them...I think) so I thought I might be able to build a simple cabinet. Seems like I may have to put the KLH driver back into the factory enclosures. Thanks all.

[mjatabor]

Actually I may just build a tower speaker similarly looking to the Ziggie as a bass reflex with 2 KLH/cabinet, using the factory volume as a guide. That would look cool w/ the orange drivers.

[jimbro]

Why not try a Frugal Horn 3 (FH3)?

[chrisb]

Originally Posted by jimbro

Why not try a Frugal Horn 3 (FH3)?

This one could turn out to be a more "universal" design than originally proposed, but keep in mind that particularly with drivers of unknown parameters that adjustment to stuffing/fill levels below the driver may be necessary - temporarily screwing the second side panel would be my suggestion (clamps, etc will add mass and torsion to the cabinet that will change its resonant characteristics)

[phivates]

Could we scale the old Jensen standard box approach circa 1966 to get in the ballpark on these old drivers? The Badmaieff/Davis pre T/S enclosure book specs test boxes for 8,12 and 15 inch drivers. Too old school? Still requires a signal generator and meter to measure resonance.