TW horn vs Onken

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#2
What is a TW horn?

An Onken histroically is a low bass shelf tuning in a box with multiple rectangular vents down the sides. Usually couple to a high Rout amplifier.

Lately the same design is used but with a max flat alignment.

And my miniOnken take the shape further and tune very differently.

dave
 
#7
Ah. If it's the Tannoy Westminster, then they're completely different. The Onken as usually described is just a variation on the vented box, with ancestry going back to the Ultraflex and Thuras's original bass reflex, where the massive vent system up each side (usually with a combined CSA somewhere in the region of 0.8Sd - 1.25Sd) is used to promote maximum efficiency at Fb. The Tannoy Westminster is a compound horn, with a much more complex internal structure to create a bass horn about 3.6m / 12ft long, and short front horn designed to boost the lower midrange frequencies.
 
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#8
post-205-049423600%201287778123.jpg


The onesi heard were quite coloured.

dave
 
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#10
Did a minor finish touch up on a pair a few years back, and whatever else could be said about them, the enclosures I worked on were quite nicely put together. As no upgrades to the crossovers were involved, there was no excuse to open them up to investigate the internal details, but the veneering and trim work was daunting to approach - you never know how thick that veneer is that needs sanding out of scratches and stains. BAMF, they were, and certainly highly sensitive, but as Dave commented, rather more coloured than say even the JBL L300 or 4355 in the same owner’s collection.
 
#13
Internally IIRC it's a lightly braced resistance / frictional load type. The external images are a bit deceptive though, as what looks like the slots at first glance aren't actually full-height. They've got a series of short 'real' slots cut through those full-length insets & you can adjust the practical height of them with sliders at the base. From memory, there's seven per inset, so fourteen per side, the uppermost being roughly level with the driver centreline. Even fully open, they aren't huge so something like a Thuras reflex or Ultraflex it ain't.
 
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#14
I know those Westminsters, my ex father in law has those and drives them with the big Manley reference 500 tube amps and Manley preamp and altough they are very coloured, they sounds wonderfull good. I spend hours there listening to classic and jazz music with my ex and her father. My ex has original 1970's Tannoy Arden and they sound cleaner, but less good (still very good) than the Westminsters in my memory.

But the price, yeah, it's ridiculous now. My ex father in law bought them in the 1980's at much cheaper prices altough...
 
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