One inch waveguide/horn - which one?

[Defo]

Looking for a waveguide/ horn for an one inch driver crossed at 1200hz to a 12 inch woofer. These two has caught my attension:

18sound XT1086

Stereo-Lab 1000hz

Do anyone know the dispersion of the latter?

Which one would YOU choose?

[TrueSound]

The tractrix horn with it's 1000 HZ flare will not load much below around 1800 HZ, it's dispersion is 60 degrees. You will need the 400 flare horn they sell if you want to go down that low

The 18 Sound horn is a much better choice. They sound quite good and will load much better then the 1000 HZ flare horn in the 1200-2K range.

[ZilchLab]

At the other end of the spectrum, if it's two-way you're doing and you want constant directivity, tractrix is probably not a good option....

[BHTX]

Above those, I'd also consider the DDS ENG 1-90 Pro, if you can get it. Its limitations are directivity down to around 1.4-1.5 KHz and loading down to 800 Hz, but it's 90 degrees conical without any sort of diffraction device, and supposedly sounds very good. I've seen people very happy with it with B&C DE250 and BMS drivers. http://www.ddshorns.com/catalog.php?page=ENG190Pro

[CLS]

It seems DDS got something very good. However, both DDS and Assistance Audio did not response to any of my emails

[ttan98]

Originally posted by CLS
It seems DDS got something very good. However, both DDS and Assistance Audio did not response to any of my emails

you can Buy them from here:

http://www.usspeaker.com/homepage.htm

look under horn.

[Defo]

I thought the flare rate was the frequenzy where the horn stopped loading.. What is good about tractrix horns and what is not? How important is constant coverage as long as the crossover frequenzy matches dispersion with the woofer?

I think I will avoid DDS after reading about several bad experiences concerning production quality lately.

[TrueSound]

Originally posted by Defo
I thought the flare rate was the frequenzy where the horn stopped loading.. What is good about tractrix horns and what is not? How important is constant coverage as long as the crossover frequenzy matches dispersion with the woofer?

I think I will avoid DDS after reading about several bad experiences concerning production quality lately.

It's the rate of expansion. Tractrix horns with compression drivers typically load well to a little under double the flare rate. Cone drivers sometimes can be used straight down to the flare rate in the midrange but require careful loading in the back chamber to get there.

I have seen claims of constant coverage horns but have never seen one work at a constant level. They all fall off off axis. The old multicells even do.

Tractrix horns are supposed to throw a spherical wave front. They tend to beam a bit but are most often noted for their lack of coloration and pin-point imaging.

A CD horn will have a bigger sweet spot but you will hear more of the room reflections. Pick your poison.

[Patrick Bateman]

Originally posted by CLS
It seems DDS got something very good. However, both DDS and Assistance Audio did not response to any of my emails

If I am not mistaken, USSpeaker gets their BMS, Ciare and DDS equipment via Assistance Audio.

I've never had a problem getting in contact with US Speaker, but Assistance Audio has been hit or miss.

[Patrick Bateman]

Originally posted by Defo
Looking for a waveguide/ horn for an one inch driver crossed at 1200hz to a 12 inch woofer. These two has caught my attension:

18sound XT1086

Stereo-Lab 1000hz

Do anyone know the dispersion of the latter?

Which one would YOU choose?

The measurements on the XT1086 are very nice. See the "horn vs waveguide" thread.

The XT1086 has a nasty diffraction device in the throat. I think that I would file it down if I were going to use it. That will make it symmetric. (It's smooth on the Y axis, but there's a "step" in the X axis.)