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Consider me another Altec fan!
416/511/802 in onken, 515/804/288 in A5
So....tell us more. Whats your take on onken vs the A5 plus any other thoughts or impressions.
Cal,
I see from your Photobucket page that you have owned and experimented with the Altec 604 duplex drivers. I've got a single NOS UREI/Altec driver and really like it. I am using it as my center dialog channel in my home theater.
What are your thoughts and impressions with the 604 series?
Do you have any experience with the Great Plains 604-8H-III product?
I see from your Photobucket page that you have owned and experimented with the Altec 604 duplex drivers. I've got a single NOS UREI/Altec driver and really like it. I am using it as my center dialog channel in my home theater.
What are your thoughts and impressions with the 604 series?
Do you have any experience with the Great Plains 604-8H-III product?
And another bass horn I've designed/built...this one with 416. The mid horn is Yuichi (also CNC'd), and a wood turned tweeter horn for 4,000Hz. Radian berylium 2 inch driver on Yuichi, and Faital Pro 1 inch on tweeter. Custom passive xover after considerable testing and measurement.
The bass weighed 100Kg (220 pounds).
The last pic is a bit truncated...the cab doesn't look that thin.
I like the bass sound...in fact, much easier to set up than the VOTT.
The bass weighed 100Kg (220 pounds).
The last pic is a bit truncated...the cab doesn't look that thin.
I like the bass sound...in fact, much easier to set up than the VOTT.
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And another bass horn I've designed/built..
You've got good CNC skills! Nice job.
You've got good CNC skills! Nice job.
Thanks. My CNC 'skills' are zero, as I outsource this. My ideas come to mind, then I hand draw them...then this gets converted into CAD, then to CNC. If you can see what you want to achieve, then anything is possible. My Lowther C-Horn is an example.
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So....tell us more. Whats your take on onken vs the A5 plus any other thoughts or impressions.
Well, only if I had the best of both worlds and one design! I love the midrange clarity of A5's, but the onken sounds more hi-fi, with its extended bass and less lively colored sound. I've been working on the A5's to get them tighter sounding: 70sq inch vents, insulation, double wall, and Rock Hard on the inside of the bass horn.


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Also, if someone were to consider a A5 verses Onken, one big thing I found was the seperation between woofer and top horn. The 416 on the onken is decernably seperate sounding when sitting 10-12' away. With the A5 it is completely seamless and impossible to tell where the horn starts and the woofer ends. I attribute this to the 515 being front horn loaded, closer up top, and recessed back in line with the top horn. Also, the 515 has more extended midrange to seamlessly blend with the top horn. The 416 is pushing it above 1000hz, where the 515 seems be very clear and behave almost like an 8". I've tried the 515 in the onkens, and they are down on bass output compared to the 416 by about 10db. This is fine for smaller rooms and dsp can easily fix that. But in my 25x25 garage, the 515 had no bass. I've considered making a new onken baffle to include both 416 abd 515 in a 2.5way, possibly getting the best of both worlds and gaining 3db efficiency too, but let's see how my A5 mods work out. Also, nothing beats the bass of the onkens. Bass is textured and deep.
Thanks. My CNC 'skills' are zero, as I outsource this. My ideas come to mind, then I hand draw them...then this gets converted into CAD, then to CNC. If you can see what you want to achieve, then anything is possible. My Lowther C-Horn is an example.
atilsley, amazing work. Which Yuishi horn is that, a200? How did you get the birch to stain so nice? Do you mid divulging what product it is?
What kind if bass extension are you getting with the 515 in your rear bass reflex design? Did you use hornresp for the front loading?
Also interested in your crossover results. You employing any notch filters?
I'll jump in while Cal is busy.What are your thoughts and impressions with the 604 series?
Do you have any experience with the Great Plains 604-8H-III product?
I love the 604s, but there are different versions thru the years. I prefer the little multicell horn over the later mantaray because it tucks up into the cone better. Even done the 604 (a Urei) with the horn removed. Still, the later 604-8K with the big ferrite magnet is a great driver, very dynamic. Maybe not Alnico, but not missing anything, IMO.
I've used them in a couple of open baffle designs and in a big BR. Mated then with a multicell horn, too. Never used them in an A7/828 bin, but have heard them. Good combo.
The coax is a lovely speaker, but it does not have the amazing size, openess and pure tone of the woofer+multicell.
The 360 liter Onken is a great bass box. It does need a felt curtain behind the driver. That stops the midrange coming out of the vents. Very sturdy box by its very design.
Yes, the A7 bass bin (the 828) does need proper porting. Stock - the port is much too large and doesn't give you anything under ~65Hz. That's low, but properly ported and with the right driver, you can go an octave lower and much flatter. It certainly sounds better.
Most of the 828 boxes need major reinforcement. There is a lot of surface area and it will sing if you let it. Bracing, damping, doubling, whatever you can do to help. Also check the woofer horn flares, they like to sing. 🙂 The need to be braced and damped. I use tar or sand and bitumen paint. Makes a huge difference.
I do love these speakers. 😀
on a more primitive note, here's a cheap Selenium D250 Trio 1" phenolic driver on an unmounted 511b - spl ~91dB 1M indoors
- I like 511b for Klipsch style 3-way setups - in listening to the sine wave, I "heard" harmonics but the mic says
H2 was ~0.1% - so the hearing mechanism must have been making the "harmonics" ;^)
604s are nice in Karlson
- I like 511b for Klipsch style 3-way setups - in listening to the sine wave, I "heard" harmonics but the mic says
H2 was ~0.1% - so the hearing mechanism must have been making the "harmonics" ;^)
604s are nice in Karlson

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Thanks for your kind remarks.atilsley, amazing work. Which Yuishi horn is that, a200? How did you get the birch to stain so nice? Do you mid divulging what product it is?
What kind if bass extension are you getting with the 515 in your rear bass reflex design? Did you use hornresp for the front loading?
Also interested in your crossover results. You employing any notch filters?
See attached sim. I also have plots of completed project, but these are with a friend who built my xovers.
It was a fun project....and the CAD certainly makes building complex speakers like this easier.
The Yuichi is the 290S.
I didn't do the staining of the cabs either, sorry.
Kind regards
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I'll jump in while Cal is busy. ...
Pano,
Do you have any experience with the Great Plains Great Plains 604-8H-III product? I have been lusting to buy a pair ...
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