new member---loudspeakers

[Fredh]

Hi, My name is Fred, I am a gezzer who is computor inept, please be patient. I have fooled with this hobby for 40+ yrs. on and off. I like very big sound with large dynamic range and tight bass. Had been searching for this from 1960 -- 1975 (didn't really know what I was searching for) and then heard a pair of Altec VOT's in a friends basement---now I had direction, this was the type of sound I was looking for but I felt the bass was a little loose. I got hooked up with Hank (not his real name) who owned Audio Mart in Kansas City. Hank was (retired now) a very dedicated profectionist, in the late 60's he bought a frequency analyst ($8,000, before computors) so he could build monitors and measure results. Hank used altec components, 515b's, 802's, 511's in the 1st monitors and very quickly abandoned ported enclosures as he felt (and measured) that they did not reproduce nearly as accurately as sealed boxes. He experimented with dozens of drivers and many enclosures. Altec engineers came to his store because they heard but couldn't believe what he was able to do. The cabinets were 1&1/2 in HDF (only MDF made now) with heavy damping inside, he used 1 in thick cotton type padding on all interior surfaces and a blanket of it stapled (tented) over back of woofers, in early 80's when Altec quit he used Gauss 4583's, Audax PR170 and large Heil, x's woofers at 500 and mid to high at 1200. I had also upgraded to these drivers. These monitors are long gone and I have been trying to reproduce them the last couple years (with improvements, the old monitors had a harshness in 4-5k region that was hard to live with.) My biggest problem is a room that is garbage, 13x22 with 7ft. ceiling so I am stopped for now. The old room was 22x26 with 9ft. ceiling- marvelous. I am retired now and will move/build next year, I am planning 30x40 with cathedral ceiling for combined kitchen, living, listening room. I have been playing with 4 Jbl 2235h's in 9 cu. ft. boxes, your thoughts please on vented versus sealed, what to do for mids and highs, have tried double LE8T's large Heil but am not happy, not enough zing, punch, LE8T's only 86db efficient, that may be problem. Using active 3 way xover. One suggestion I had was let the 2235's run up as high as they can and use a Lowther for mids highs and forget any xover---intrigueing? All patient and kind feedback greatly appreciated. Thanks, Fred

[SY]

Welcome! It's amazing what you can do with the tools we have these days. $8K analyzers? We've got $90 sound cards that will blow them away.

I'm a big fan of the JBL pro woofers, too. I'm using some modified 2245H's (accelerometer attached to the coil under the dust cap) in a sealed box. Room gain is a marvelous thing.