High end PA speakers

[The Paulinator]

I want to build some PA speakers that don't have the characteristics of normal PA speakers that I hate so much.... namely, the blaring sound of the horn at high levels, and the muddyness that I think results from assigning too much midrange to something like a 12" woofer.

I would prefer to make these speakers with a larger number of high and mid frequency drivers, something more like a line array, probably with multiple tweeters just to spread the responsibility out a bit, and keep the distortion down at higher levels.

Anybody built PA speakers wwith sound quality in mind and come up with anything interesting?

What about those Bose L1 pole speakers? What's the deal with those? (Jerry Seinfeld voice)

[The Paulinator]

Should I use multiple dome tweeters, or would it be better to use maybe bullet tweeters?

[454Casull]

Blake Paulson?

[phase_accurate]

Should I use multiple dome tweeters, or would it be better to use maybe bullet tweeters?

High power ribbon tweeters.

Regards

Charles

[tech.knockout]

well you can build one of the wilmslow kits

[Nappylady]

JBL makes some really good, low-distortion, high-end PA stuff.

Horns are a great way to increase SPL and reduce distortion. The JBL horns that play down to 1000hz and up to 20k sound really good, even up to high volume levels. The 2226 15" woofer seems to be considered nearly ultimate in high SPL bass.

Midrange? Ah.... I don't know how to help you there. I'm sure someone has made midrange horns to cover the frequencies between 300 and 1000 hz, but I don't know enough about them.

My own PA system consists of a ton of $0.87 full-range speakers from Parts Express (they require tons of corrective EQ to sound good, but boy do they sound good!) supplemented by whatever good woofers I happen to have available to me. I've never been disappointed with their sound... only with their low headroom. :-P 110dB's is not attainable with my setup.

Make sure you post what you decide to go with, as this is something I want to build too!

[Nappylady]

http://www.tempest.nl/phl/phl.htm

Forgot about those. Ultimate midrange drivers? Maybe....

[Centauri]

Originally posted by The Paulinator
I want to build some PA speakers that don't have the characteristics of normal PA speakers that I hate so much.... namely, the blaring sound of the horn at high levels, and the muddyness that I think results from assigning too much midrange to something like a 12" woofer.

That blaring sound you mention usually comes from 2" compression drivers crossing over too low - I hate that. I try to keep main vocal range out of compression drivers, preferring 1" drivers crossed at higher than 3kHz.

The muddyness is usually caused by high harmonic distortion levels in the bass cabinets clouding the lower midrange.

These characteristics were common in older systems, and cheap systems, but there are plenty of "hi fi" PA systems around. If you have the chance, listen to a Martin Wavefront system (still my favourite). These use 1" drivers down to 3.5kHz, horn loaded 6.5" drivers for high mids, 12" drivers for low mids, and long excursion 18" for subs.

Cheers

[macky888]

Hi Graeme

Just wondering if you've done anything yet with the Alpha 6 drivers on the midhorns yet?

Adrian

[Hoffmeyer]

Hi Paulinator.
If You really want high-end mid/high PA, then visit stageaccompany , and check out their ribbon compact drivers .