The Aries15 -a dual horn design original

[djfoundation]

Hey gang,


I haven't been too active on here since joining, so I thought I'd share my latest project.


backstory: musical childhood, ex-raver kid, turned DJ/producer, turned nightclub promoter, turned audio engineer, all while living the day life of electronics engineer in medical, then physics, now music software.

I was commissioned by my favorite local club to build the new sub cabinets and after a year or two of reading everything I could get my hands on regarding horn design (which is surprisingly obscure on the internet) and making a modest one that turned out pretty decent, I decided to make one for the big show. My girlfriend and her math professor mom wrote me a simple algorithm to calculate my flare rate, and I picked an arbitrary value for the throat and mouth based on the volume of the internal chamber and the pressure I guessed the speaker might be comfortable with. I'm sure that's absolute sacrilege here, but I just cannot find anything on the web that breaks it down in any simple fashion. Quarter-wave, Leach, even Davids program is beyond me for some reason -though I'll admit to having a bit of a stubborn side when it comes to learning math, something I've never been fluent in. Interesting paradox, no? Also, after two weeks of them waffling over my proposal, I had just 7 days to build and deliver them.



before this gets too long (too late):

It took more hours than I'm willing to admit and more of my heart went into this than probably should have, but I guess that's the nature of great art, right? For three weeks my life (and those unfortunate enough to be stuck with me) became little more than bringing these speakers into the world.



Original order:

(2) Vented Subwoofer Cabinet(s)
featuring:

(2) Selenium 15SWS800 15" pro subwoofers
1,600 watts RMS / 3,200 watts max total power handling
-3dB @ 33.57Hz
Neutrik 4 pole Speakon connections
18mm Birch AC plywood construction
approx. 22"w x 20"d x 34"h
(I used winISD for this one, even though the cabs are trapezoidal)

(1) Dual Folded Horn Subwoofer
featuring:

(2) Eminence Omega Pro-15A 15" Cast Frame Driver
1,600 watts RMS / 3,200 watts max total power handling
Extended response to 35Hz, high SPL capacity, ultra-high efficiency
Neutrik 4 pole Speakon connections
Frame mounted casters for easy transport
18mm Birch AC plywood construction
approx. 78"w x 30"d x 24"h



here's the link to the set: Flickr




A truly heartfelt thanks goes out to: Yamakaze (for enabling production of the entire horn kit), Paulie and Becca (for their skills in master woodworking), Tronathan (for documentation, assistance and beer) and SanDiego (for everything that she does for me, which is everything), without them this would have been an epic fail on many, many levels.


The Aries15



The vented




My first horn

[FlipC]

Well first
Congrats on your baby. Shes a beauty!

Second.
I am baffled. You say you couldn't find literature about horns on the internet yet it abounds with such information. So much that it is well a life time of reading to take it all in. There are ungodly amounts of plans available online.



Got any response graphs? Theoretical or real world?

[djfoundation]

Thanks!

Response curves should be coming tonight. It's running off an Electro-Voice DC 1 processor to a Cerwin Vega CV-2800 amp. I'm going to bring a nice mic (AT 3035) in and hook up an FFT analyzer plug-in I have on my laptop. Then I figure I can EQ the room from there.


I guess with the horn modeling I'm just always looking for that one simple formula that states: "if your 15" sub is has a Qts of .37, make your throat like 2" by 17" by 24" or something". Y'know, someone/thing that really spells it out.

I'm unclear how the throat area is determined. cross sectional? and that in turn confuses measuring the horn width when I get down close to the mouth and I can either stay perpendicular with the back wall, or go at an angle for the longest distance between planes.

As soon as I find out where they hide all the free time I can sit down and devote some time to learning the proper teachings.. hopefully one day I'll hear that ol' click in my head.

[barossi]

Hi,

the horn looks like the famous HD15.

KR

Hauke

[Taterworks]

Neither horn looks anything like a Rog Mogale HD15. The HD15 is a horn/bandpass hybrid - the very compromised horn flare acts more and more like a damped reflex vent near the bottom of the enclosure's effective passband. The defining characteristic of a bandpass horn is a large decoupling chamber between the driver and the horn. Both of the designs showcased in this thread look like quarter-wave horns.

[wg_ski]

Originally Posted by Taterworks

Both of the designs showcased in this thread look like quarter-wave horns.

Yeah, the smaller single unit looks good for about 60 Hz based on quarter wave path length, the double about 45 Hz.

For future reference, the Kappa P15LF2 and the 3015LF are both slightly better for horn loading than the Omega Pro.

[jbell]

post a few dimensions of your 78" baby and I'm sure some enterprising person will post up the hornresp inputs, as well as your simulated output, including displacement.

If nothing else, maybe that'll help you out know where the 'danger zone' is and how much power you should limit to.

[jbell]

Here's my guesstimate, based on measuring your picture. Since it wasn't exactly 'on axis' my measurements are off, I'm sure.

However, this will get you an approximation.
You need to 48db high pass at 40hz, and limit to 100watts per driver input to prevent exceeding xmax.

I sim'd as a 'half' of the cabinet, and then used 1.0 pi to simulate both halves.

hopefully this is helpful.

[djfoundation]

Originally Posted by wg_ski

Yeah, the smaller single unit looks good for about 60 Hz based on quarter wave path length, the double about 45 Hz.

For future reference, the Kappa P15LF2 and the 3015LF are both slightly better for horn loading than the Omega Pro.

Good to know, thanks.

Originally Posted by jbell

However, this will get you an approximation.
You need to 48db high pass at 40hz, and limit to 100watts per driver input to prevent exceeding xmax.

Holy balls I hope I didn't do any major damage.

When we tested it, I band-passed it using 12db Linkwitzes programmed from 27Hz to 90Hz. We wired both subs in parallel and hooked them to a Mackie something or other, so there had to be something around 1000W available.

Then we pounded it for a few minutes. Sounded amazing -God, I hope I didn't tear them. I really don't want to have to take it apart..

[jbell]

You are hopefully fine, xlim (when damage is done) is 12mm. However, 30hz@100watts is right at the breaking point.

You should be commended on the smooth response that you achieved with just a little intuition. It is a very nice response.

Now, if you'd trade that omega driver for the 3015lf, with a steep 40hz high pass filter, you can get several db more out of it, and be safe up to 400watts.

If you'll post a couple critical dimensions of your box, someone could get you better than a 'guesstimate.'

again, my commendations to you. I would not have had the courage to make sawdust, with no real idea of the outcome.