Is it possible to cover the whole spectrum, high SPL, low distortion with a 2-way?

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AllenB, yes, I like the horn. The profile looks like it has some smoothly connected flat/conical parts. I think I could easily make this profile or similar in Fusion360. Can you recommend some equation for the expansion curve?
It looks to be doing the constant directivity thing, so straight walls with roundovers. To illustrate what I was talking about here are two horns, along with plots of their beamwidth.

One is a characteristic finite conical. It has some kinks, and usually it is not used too far past where it narrows (the 2-3kHz region in this case). By rounding the profile, the severity of this can be reduced and it brought back near flat. The shown example is Hyp/Ex, with the same basic dimensions as the conical.
 

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Interesting! Could you elaborate on this? I always thought that such cabinets are similar to bass reflex. What about Altec 816/817. Are these also no bass reflex cabinets?

The Altecs are frontloaded-bassreflex enclosures. To be precise: the Altec 825, 828, 816, 817 cabinets are bass-horns to around 160Hz and then bass-reflex down to 50Hz.

More info on the Hiraga Onken in the attached document, here and here.
 

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I have never experienced Function One system other than the large venue installation, do you prefer it over ATC mid dome for domestic listening?

I'm going to have to offer a counter opinion on this and say that Funktion one systems are not high fidelity. The only time I heard one sounding good I had a look at the processing that was applied (in addition to the factory recommended). The processing that was making the system sound good consisted of sharp notch filters at all the crossover points and any cabinet resonances and also a 'tube effect' EQ that combined boosting the highs with compression. They have exceptional efficiency and maximum output for the size of cabinet which leads to good dynamics but get them playing music with stringed instruments or vocals and they normally sound bad.
 
How would you define "high fidelity" and how/when does this apply to PA?

I won't contest your opinion, because I've heard more crappy F1 setups/installs than decent, let alone good ones.
Moreover, even though Tony Andrews would disagree, in my opinion F1 works best for electronic music.
Some would argue: but that's not "real music". They may be right.

You probably also know that a system that's objectively superior, doesn't always provide the best subjective experience. PA is very "circumstantial".

I've become a Danley proponent lately and I've also heard more Danley Pure Groove systems over the last 10 months than F1. Still, I had the best experience in a club that hosts a (latest generation) F1 4-point installation.
Specifically the bass and mid bass solutions of F1 are very hard to beat. As stated earlier: F1 requires headroom to sound good, which also implies investing considerable amounts of money. A system design engineer who knows what's required for a specific room/event is also an obvious necessity.
But this comment is pretty useless, because it's just a one man's opinion without any (objective) data to proof anything ;)
 
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OK so this is a strange question to ask, but here we are lol! In one hand I have a TL enclosure with low efficiency but the impedance is lower than a normal sized TL...

In the other hand, a more efficient sealed box or a even more efficient ported box.

Either way power is fine. I'm wondering how does impedance play a role in thermal compression and if it make sense to build this inefficent TL for everything else it gains...
 
OK so this is a strange question to ask, but here we are lol! In one hand I have a TL enclosure with low efficiency but the impedance is lower than a normal sized TL...

In the other hand, a more efficient sealed box or a even more efficient ported box.

Either way power is fine. I'm wondering how does impedance play a role in thermal compression and if it make sense to build this inefficent TL for everything else it gains...

So far as I understand your current intention is to use a quite narrow radiating horn. IMHO the best combination with this is dipole LF part with it's radiation character like an 8. So, either an H-frame, U-frame, Y-frame dipole or something similar like WE 7331A which is lifted somewhat from the floor. I heard the WE 7331A in Munich at high end fair and was really really surprised how much bass substance it is able to reproduce. Even too much for some people.

Or as I already stated a front loaded woofer with an U-frame chamber at the back or even a straight Karlson tube at the back. Your compression driver need to be highly tamed in the MF region to have equal levels up to 10k-20k. So, you will not need such a high efficient LF part. A TL is a quite complex thing and you cannot calculate everything in advance because the stuffing is difficult. The sound of a bass reflex is not my cup of tea.
 
OK so this is a strange question to ask, but here we are lol! In one hand I have a TL enclosure with low efficiency but the impedance is lower than a normal sized TL...

In the other hand, a more efficient sealed box or a even more efficient ported box.

Either way power is fine. I'm wondering how does impedance play a role in thermal compression and if it make sense to build this inefficent TL for everything else it gains...


Based on sims in hornresp?
A TL with a (considerably) lower efficiency than either a sealed or ported cab for the same driver is propably overstuffed.
Did you read the short thread I referred to a few days ago?


Impedance in itself doesn't affect thermal compression.
Thermal power compression is the result of the rise in voice coil resistance which accompanies coil heating due to inefficiency of power transfer.
Efficiency is always a good thing, but modern, less efficient (mostly subwoofer) drivers feature specific cooling solutions in their magnet structure.

The TH18+ isn't comparable to such airpumps.
 
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Overdamped, gotcha.


So far as I understand your current intention is to use a quite narrow radiating horn. IMHO the best combination with this is dipole LF part with it's radiation character like an 8. So, either an H-frame, U-frame, Y-frame dipole or something similar like WE 7331A which is lifted somewhat from the floor. I heard the WE 7331A in Munich at high end fair and was really really surprised how much bass substance it is able to reproduce. Even too much for some people.

Or as I already stated a front loaded woofer with an U-frame chamber at the back or even a straight Karlson tube at the back. Your compression driver need to be highly tamed in the MF region to have equal levels up to 10k-20k. So, you will not need such a high efficient LF part. A TL is a quite complex thing and you cannot calculate everything in advance because the stuffing is difficult. The sound of a bass reflex is not my cup of tea.

I'm not an expert but I will look into the topic. I've started here Dipole vs Monopole woofer