DIY Synergy horn

[paulspencer]

Thought some of you might be interested in some Synergy horns that I've been building - two of them so far, S1 and S2. Both prototypes, before I build one that I will actually paint and install flush in some corner bass traps.

You can read about the whole thing on my blog:
Red Spade Audio: DIY Synergy horn

S1, my first prototype:



This is a 60 x 60 degree horn, it has a B&C DE250 compression driver at the throat and four 5" closed back mids loading the same horn, at the mouth it's half a metre wide. I use DCX for the crossover then it crosses to an Eminence Magnum 18LF 18" woofer with Rythmik subs below. S1 was my first attempt, when I wasn't entirely sure my hornresp sim would work, so I kept it simple.

It measures very nicely!



You can see it controls directivity down to about 500 Hz. It took some time to adjust to the different sound. It's very clear and detailed, clean at very high levels, very dynamic. The narrower dispersion seems to be part of the clarity, being a bit more dry and free from room sound. Ideal for a really bright difficult room.

S2, was the next step, about twice the size - now 1m wide, 45 x 90 degree dispersion with 6 drivers (much harder to mount) and a second flare angle, which prevents beaming. Here it is on my polar measurement rig:



And it measures even better than S1:



At this point the main question in my mind is "what's next?" The final horn will probably get made out of ply and be spray painted glossy red, set flush into a big corner bass trap. But before that, I just might build some more ...

[dantheman]

Looks great Paul! That's a serious project.

Dan

[Helmuth]

Amazing Paul nice result. Are that the very cheap mid cone drivers on the horn picture.

I would like to see the MLS pulse and the burst decay if that is possible.

[paulspencer]

I don't have access to the data shown there unfortunately.

[NYCOne]

Originally Posted by paulspencer

Thought some of you might be interested in some Synergy horns that I've been building - two of them so far, S1 and S2. Both prototypes, before I build one that I will actually paint and install flush in some corner bass traps.

You can read about the whole thing on my blog:
Red Spade Audio: DIY Synergy horn

S1, my first prototype:



This is a 60 x 60 degree horn, it has a B&C DE250 compression driver at the throat and four 5" closed back mids loading the same horn, at the mouth it's half a metre wide. I use DCX for the crossover then it crosses to an Eminence Magnum 18LF 18" woofer with Rythmik subs below. S1 was my first attempt, when I wasn't entirely sure my hornresp sim would work, so I kept it simple.

It measures very nicely!



You can see it controls directivity down to about 500 Hz. It took some time to adjust to the different sound. It's very clear and detailed, clean at very high levels, very dynamic. The narrower dispersion seems to be part of the clarity, being a bit more dry and free from room sound. Ideal for a really bright difficult room.

S2, was the next step, about twice the size - now 1m wide, 45 x 90 degree dispersion with 6 drivers (much harder to mount) and a second flare angle, which prevents beaming. Here it is on my polar measurement rig:



And it measures even better than S1:



At this point the main question in my mind is "what's next?" The final horn will probably get made out of ply and be spray painted glossy red, set flush into a big corner bass trap. But before that, I just might build some more ...

The 90 degree look killer.

What did you do for the XO on those?

[paulspencer]

BTW the image with the S2 on the pole is stretched, you have to click it to see the right aspect ratio.

Crossover is active with DCX, crossing at 230 and 900 Hz and the tweeter is delayed. A couple of filters needed - CD EQ for the tweeter and a broad notch on the mid. Easily done.

[michelvandebeek]

Which slopes did you use ? Do you have any phase, group delay measurements?

Just curious

[paulspencer]

I've used LR4 and LR8 slopes, channels aligned with DCX.

None that I can show right now.

[SunRa]

great stuff here, congratulations!

Did you observed any measurement artifacts from the abrupt change of slope in the profile of the horn?

[keyser]

Thanks for sharing! Keep the good stuff coming .