SET amps and crossovers.....?

[rvrazvan]

I love horns, and i love SET amps....but how do i mix them ?

The full range solution is great and a back loaded enclosures rises up the lower end to an acceptable region. But in order to get an impressive sound you need something a little bit more serious.
I want in the not so distant future to have a complete horn loaded system, with no crossovers at all, but that implies a fortune worth of amplifiers, so until i will have that fortune i want to enjoy the sound of only one SET amp...wich of course implies crossovers.

How can i get decent results? Feedback?

[Vinylsavor]

Hi!

What makes you think that you need something more 'serious' ? What do you mean by serious? More power? Lower output impedance? Often that is mixed up.

You can build SE amplifiers as serious as you want to get both in terms of power and output impedance. It is a matter of circuit and expense.

In my experience many people overestimate their need for power.

Horns and SETs go well together. Not sure why you are worried. Don't build an overly complicated crossover which swallows a lot of power.

Best regards

Thomas

[mashaffer]

Yes what are you lacking? Do you need helper tweeter or subwoofer or more power?

[Pano]

No crossovers at all?? How are you going to do that with a multi-way system?
You can build very simple SE amps for most horns, as they need tiny amounts of power for domestic use. I run about 3mW average on my horns. That's right, 3/1000s of a watt. And it's plenty loud. The peaks rarely, if ever, hit 1W.

Woofer, even horn loaded will need more power. Average power on mine is about 1/3 watt. Still, I do like solid state down there.

SE amps are the way to go with horns, but you will need crossovers, unless you have some magic we don't know about!

[rvrazvan]

More serious ...the speakers i mean. Fullrange drivers are lovely but i want a lilttle bit more.

Originally Posted by Pano

No crossovers at all?? How are you going to do that with a multi-way system?
You can build very simple SE amps for most horns, as they need tiny amounts of power for domestic use. I run about 3mW average on my horns. That's right, 3/1000s of a watt. And it's plenty loud. The peaks rarely, if ever, hit 1W.

Woofer, even horn loaded will need more power. Average power on mine is about 1/3 watt. Still, I do like solid state down there.

SE amps are the way to go with horns, but you will need crossovers, unless you have some magic we don't know about!

In the futere i want to have a 3 or 4 way system but for now i will have only two 15W monoblocks. I might use a solid state device for the bottom end, but i will still have to use crossover i want horns all the way.

I will build the horn system around Monacor KU-516 driver (160-6000 hz...probably cross it at 250 and 1500). I am almost done with the mould for the horn(tractrix...similar build to Inlow's paper horn).

I also don't like feedback. So i hope i can have a good impedance curve so i will not use any feedback.

I don't know to much about crossovers...so i will need some ideeas....

[Pano]

15W monoblocks will be more than enough for horns in a normal size room. You might want to use those on the Monacor horn and the horn above it. Put solid state down below 250Hz.

As for crossovers, you can do active, passive or line level passive - or a combination of those. But crossovers are not a subject for the amplifier threads, better to post that in multi-way once you figure out what drivers and horns you will use.

[Vinylsavor]

Hi!

Originally Posted by rvrazvan

More serious ...the speakers i mean. Fullrange drivers are lovely but i want a lilttle bit more....

What makes you think that SETs cannot work with speakers with crossovers ???

I have used my SETs with many different multi way speakers with no problem at all. Yes the speaker needs to fit. As mentioned just don't build an overly complex crossover which swallows a lot of power all by it self.

Thomas