Hello all! Although this is my first post, I've read and learned a lot from this forum so I'd like to thank you all for the info and knowledge you share here... it's gold.
Before going to the synergy horn point, I'll introduce my situation as I'd also appreciate a lot some info and enlighten here, as I am kinda newbie on this topics. I'm actually designing a soundsystem to play mainly reggae (roots/dub) but we'd like to sonorize some other events as we won't want the sound to acumulate dust
In the dub scene the usual way to go for sub bass it's some Scoop variant, but as I want a clear and accurate sound I decided to give them a try and go for Othorns, starting with 2. For bass section I choosed a Martin Audio 215 MKIII as I want a kick that really kicks in the chest. Above the Martin I'd like to try with two made by myself synergy horns. I decided to use two just to gain in height as the boxes will be the same, having as dimensions something like 100x60 cm (just invented the numbers to show the form they'll have). This approach made me decide to go for 4 ways.
First of all, does this build makes sense? I guess yes, but I don't know if having one synergy over the other will make any problem as freq cancelation or whatever. Also I thought on making 2 synergy horns with square form (60x60 for example) and place them one after the other, but I think the first approach makes more sense in order to gain horizontal dispersion, a must in a 1 stack soundsystem, and also gaining more height.
In dub we usually play with the sound killing off frequency ranges like sub, bass, or whatever you like, so about the xover fequencies (that will be set on a DSP) I thought having the othorns playing with something between 60/80hz and the Martins up to 200hz, so when I kill off mids and tops I will ONLY have bass and kick; anyway, I maybe set it up to 250hz depending on the sound.
So, with this set up in mind, seems obvious to me that a simple synergy horn with, for example, a CD and 4 small high mid speakers won't be able to cover from 200hz up to 20khz. This means to me that I MUST add 2 or 4 low mid speakers of, for example, 8 inches. Is this thinking right? Or can I cover the same range with only 4 mids with a wider range?
About the synergy horn build there's a lot of info on the net but I'd like some tips for my case if possible, like approximate dimensions/shape and whatever. That's the reason of this post!
Right now it's coming to my mind the following thought... if, for example, I kill the top freqs, won't it affect the sound of the synergy horn? If I understood it right (didn't wen't on pure technical tings tbh) the point of the synergy is like "adding" all the freqs in one output, right? Taking that in count maybe synergy won't be a nice approach...
A long post for a lot of questions I have, I hope you understand... As I've said any help on this will be very appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Before going to the synergy horn point, I'll introduce my situation as I'd also appreciate a lot some info and enlighten here, as I am kinda newbie on this topics. I'm actually designing a soundsystem to play mainly reggae (roots/dub) but we'd like to sonorize some other events as we won't want the sound to acumulate dust
In the dub scene the usual way to go for sub bass it's some Scoop variant, but as I want a clear and accurate sound I decided to give them a try and go for Othorns, starting with 2. For bass section I choosed a Martin Audio 215 MKIII as I want a kick that really kicks in the chest. Above the Martin I'd like to try with two made by myself synergy horns. I decided to use two just to gain in height as the boxes will be the same, having as dimensions something like 100x60 cm (just invented the numbers to show the form they'll have). This approach made me decide to go for 4 ways.
First of all, does this build makes sense? I guess yes, but I don't know if having one synergy over the other will make any problem as freq cancelation or whatever. Also I thought on making 2 synergy horns with square form (60x60 for example) and place them one after the other, but I think the first approach makes more sense in order to gain horizontal dispersion, a must in a 1 stack soundsystem, and also gaining more height.
In dub we usually play with the sound killing off frequency ranges like sub, bass, or whatever you like, so about the xover fequencies (that will be set on a DSP) I thought having the othorns playing with something between 60/80hz and the Martins up to 200hz, so when I kill off mids and tops I will ONLY have bass and kick; anyway, I maybe set it up to 250hz depending on the sound.
So, with this set up in mind, seems obvious to me that a simple synergy horn with, for example, a CD and 4 small high mid speakers won't be able to cover from 200hz up to 20khz. This means to me that I MUST add 2 or 4 low mid speakers of, for example, 8 inches. Is this thinking right? Or can I cover the same range with only 4 mids with a wider range?
About the synergy horn build there's a lot of info on the net but I'd like some tips for my case if possible, like approximate dimensions/shape and whatever. That's the reason of this post!
Right now it's coming to my mind the following thought... if, for example, I kill the top freqs, won't it affect the sound of the synergy horn? If I understood it right (didn't wen't on pure technical tings tbh) the point of the synergy is like "adding" all the freqs in one output, right? Taking that in count maybe synergy won't be a nice approach...
A long post for a lot of questions I have, I hope you understand... As I've said any help on this will be very appreciated.
Thanks in advance
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The 4 smaller speakers can easily go down to 200Hz, but they won't do it efficiently. What woofers you put in the multiple-entry horn depends on what SPL you need and then what kind of sensitivity and power handling you can get in a driver to produce that SPL.
I've never attempted anything close to as ambitious as what you're describing, but based on what I've read in specs, I expect it would take a 10" to get good sensitivity at 200-400Hz. The 8" tend to be more efficient around 450Hz and up. But if it's got the power handling (and you are using 4, so that can distribute the load in terms of heat and cone displacement), and you have the amp power, then you can use smaller drivers and EQ.
The SPL output of 3-way multiple entry horns are typically limited by the single compression driver at the apex. So let's say you use a 112dB/1W/1M compression driver. If your woofers have 100dB sensitivity (in the frequencies you need), you only need 4 of them to match with the same level of power. But finding 100dB sensitivity from 200Hz and up is typically only going to be in the bigger woofers, and to match the full output of the compression driver with woofers of only 97dB sensitivity, you'd just need to double the power. So if your compression driver is rated for 45W, you'd want to send 90W to each of the 4 woofers (360W).
So if you can find some small woofers that have 97 dB sensitivity down to 200Hz and handle 90W, that will work. But more likely those will be 10" or 12".
A 6" woofer might only have 93 dB sensitivity at 200Hz, so you'd need to run more than 720W into the four. That's 180W each. It will be harder to find 6" that can handle that power.
But once you get into 8" drivers, it's not hard to find some with greater than 97dB sensitivity at 200Hz and that will handle more than 225W each. So with four of them and 900W you can easily have 127dB SPL. That comes close to the where the compression driver in my example is going to be topping out.
I've never attempted anything close to as ambitious as what you're describing, but based on what I've read in specs, I expect it would take a 10" to get good sensitivity at 200-400Hz. The 8" tend to be more efficient around 450Hz and up. But if it's got the power handling (and you are using 4, so that can distribute the load in terms of heat and cone displacement), and you have the amp power, then you can use smaller drivers and EQ.
The SPL output of 3-way multiple entry horns are typically limited by the single compression driver at the apex. So let's say you use a 112dB/1W/1M compression driver. If your woofers have 100dB sensitivity (in the frequencies you need), you only need 4 of them to match with the same level of power. But finding 100dB sensitivity from 200Hz and up is typically only going to be in the bigger woofers, and to match the full output of the compression driver with woofers of only 97dB sensitivity, you'd just need to double the power. So if your compression driver is rated for 45W, you'd want to send 90W to each of the 4 woofers (360W).
So if you can find some small woofers that have 97 dB sensitivity down to 200Hz and handle 90W, that will work. But more likely those will be 10" or 12".
A 6" woofer might only have 93 dB sensitivity at 200Hz, so you'd need to run more than 720W into the four. That's 180W each. It will be harder to find 6" that can handle that power.
But once you get into 8" drivers, it's not hard to find some with greater than 97dB sensitivity at 200Hz and that will handle more than 225W each. So with four of them and 900W you can easily have 127dB SPL. That comes close to the where the compression driver in my example is going to be topping out.
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