My DIY 5 Way Active Horn System

[KCCT82]

Hello all,

I was asking for power amp suggestions over at the Pass Labs forum and I thought I should open another thread here for discussions other than amps. If you have knowledge in small Class A amps driving compression drivers then please post at my amp thread: Choosing Amps for a 5 Way Active Horn System

Let me introduce our (my dad and I) system a bit:

The room is 21' wide x 32' long x 12'6" ceiling. The horns are placed 10' away from the front wall, listening position is another 10' away from the horns which leaves about 12' behind the listening position.

The source is currently PC digital out > Drawmer digital pre > 2x Behringer DCX 2496 (XO and DA duties) > 5x C-Audio 100W pro amps. (We will be building a complete PC XO solution with RME Fireface 800 sound card in the near future)

Drivers...
TAD ET-703 compression driver <12k-20k> (107db 8 ohms)
TAD TD-4002 compression driver on 400hz tractrix <1.9k-12k> (110db 16 ohms)
GOTO 505TT compression driver on GOTO 150hz hypex <250-1.9k> (110db 16 ohms)
TAD TL-1101H cone driver on DIY 1/2 space 53hz hypex with 5" throat <58-250> (around 103db if not more... 16 ohms)
TAD TL-1603 cone driver on DIY tapped horn <20-58> (around 95db... 8 ohms)

I welcome all comments, suggestions, and questions

Thanks


*Photo credit goes to whoever snapped it during his/her visit...

[gainphile]

Originally posted by KCCT82

Drivers...
TAD ET-703 compression driver <12k-20k> (107db 8 ohms)

AWESOME

[KCCT82]

Thanks Gainphile

WALTER BURKHARD asked me about constrution drawings from the midbass horn, I'll be answering here...

I used Hornresp to design my 1/2 space 53hz hypex (m=0.6) with 5" throat, the mouth is about 40" x 64" (102cm x 164cm), and length is 8' 8" (264cm). I can't say that I was super accurate when I made this horn but I did my best with the tools available. Construction drawing would be the exported file from hornresp and the paper template I made (see picture).

[KCCT82]

A better view of the midbass horns... you can also see the tapped horns on the right.

[CLS]

But why are the tapped horns not at the corners? I thought they should perform better if corner loaded. Or, do they excite strong room modes?

In addition, this space seem large enough to accomondate a pair of "real" bass horns, so why tapped horn?

[KCCT82]

Hello CLS,

The driver part of the midbass horn is in the corner, that's the only way I could toe-in my midbass horns. The tapped horns were next to the corners (about a foot away) and did excite room modes, the current position is much better.

The room response with a 16" in bass reflex cab was -10db at 40hz, +11 at 50hz, and -10db at 60hz and that's with EQ! Now that we have horn loaded the lower frequencies we don't notice strong room modes, I'm guessing +/- 7db without any EQ (pure guessing here through listening, haven't got the time to measure hz by hz). We have treated the ceiling with rigid fiberglass panels and will tackle the sidewalls/backwall after my power amp crisis

If by "real bass horns" you mean straight front loaded than this space is not really enough, we wouldn't have any space behind the listening position after the 20ft bass horn.

Regards

[CLS]

No, I didn't mean "all the way staight bass horn". Folded is OK.

Say, what's behind the speakers? It looks like a 'half floor' with hand rail on top?! (is that a section of spiral stair on the top right?)

If it's "hollow", then some folded bass horns could be stuffed into it

[KCCT82]

Reasons why i didn't go folded bass horn... umm... was reading about tapped horn at the time and liked the idea... less costly... TAD 1603 modeled nicely... didn't want to take up more space... and time was tight.

You're absolutely correct, it is a half floor and spiral staircase behind the speakers. The lower level is "hollow" but meant to be the "storage room". I'll leave the bass horn idea for later since the room is essentially new (just finished remodeling last summer)

[AdamZuf]

Freakin' awesome
The most impressive looking system I've ever seen. Does it sound any good?

[Dr.EM]

An impressive looking setup

Bet it has killer dynamics!