https://josephcrowe.com/ is working with a friend and me to design and build a two or three way horn system for me. My midwoofer which plays down to 70Hz.
Horn will most likely be https://www.athosaudio.com/2021/01/01/tad-th-4001/
The Xilica products you mentioned are presumably for actively crossed speakers.
https://www.proaudiosolutions.com/Xilica-XP-4080-4-in-8-out-Loudspeaker-Controller-p/xp-4080.htm My speakers will passively crossed. All my music sources are digital and room/speaker correction and subwoofer management will be via https://www.merging.com/products/interfaces/hapi and using the JRiver or other convolver.
But along with use of restoration solutions https://www.izotope.com/en/products/rx/getting-started.html , for less than pristine content, which, if any, EQ
plug-ins or other software might you recommend, as most and certainly better horn speakers are the least forgiving of flawed recordings?
So many compression drivers (most?) have elevated response around 1-3kHz, which translates to unforgiving presentation of many recordings, especially if the mastering itself was "hot" in this region. Some choose to knock it flatter with passive crossover filters, dsp/EQ, mechanical manipulation, "synergistic" amps/cables, etc, but i do wonder if any of these approaches completely preserve the immediacy and "live" sound of good compression drivers..
In the days when I partook in audiophile circles, a friend had a Bryston stack drving a pair of La Scalas. They were 3-way horn loaded speakers.
To my ears, they sounded awful. Obnoxious, colored, no deep bass or no ultra highs, no detail. Just loud. The sound was a lot like the movie hall, which was also just a loud noise.
To my ears, they sounded awful. Obnoxious, colored, no deep bass or no ultra highs, no detail. Just loud. The sound was a lot like the movie hall, which was also just a loud noise.
I recall reading this like 35 years ago. A guy in the DEC Audio forum said he and his buddy used to laugh over how bad they sounded.
I had a pair of Altec Valencias at the time, which I worked on the horns some to eliminate ring in the metal; I understood the bigger Altec horns were sand filled? I put some silicone goop about the outside periphery in an attempt to reduce any mechanical ringing. I recall taking the caps off the back of the drivers, but not doing anything there, where I observed a small disc of fiberglass material, which I suppose served a similar function to cabinet stuffing. Pretty small cabinet, that cap.
There were certain notes of a particular Billy Cobham "Warning" song where they'd grate-on - as in driving a cheese grater across the eardrum - when played loud-ish. They sure handled PA duty well at my girlfriend's party, driven by a Phase Linear 400 amp, for both the band and CD player background music. That's an occasion where I heard the grating. Normal listening level was ~ a Watt, where they were perhaps better behaved.
I sold them and bought a pair of Polk SDA 1As. Lately I read here that the Valencia was the worst box you could put the bass driver into, so all-round gem I suppose between the eardrum-grating horns and purportedly crappy bass enclosures. Go for big $ these days
Tar filled....... It takes a lot more than a bit of silicone goop around the cast 511/811 horns to damp them, i.e. you need to fill the top recess full of sand, cement or similar or mount them to a decent size baffle/cab using all mounting holes. The driver's specs/BP4 design renders them as if in an infinite baffle even with the rear cover on, so the little pad is strictly for damping any reflections from the backside of the diaphragm.
As for the cab design, officially known as the Lansing Iconic regardless of later names was intentionally 'voiced' same as the original simply because it's what the studios, bands wanted up till the 846 'B', which was just a 'filler' product to the more refined M19 studio monitor, so technically designed for tube systems with the Lansing/Altec/JBL thumping 'West Coast Sound' to differentiate them from the East Coast's so called 'HIFI' presentation led by the AR1.
As for the cab design, officially known as the Lansing Iconic regardless of later names was intentionally 'voiced' same as the original simply because it's what the studios, bands wanted up till the 846 'B', which was just a 'filler' product to the more refined M19 studio monitor, so technically designed for tube systems with the Lansing/Altec/JBL thumping 'West Coast Sound' to differentiate them from the East Coast's so called 'HIFI' presentation led by the AR1.
Heard vintage La scala pretty recently again . Exactly like you described . Lump of muddled sound. The same opinion regarding Valencia - only for roofers moderating this forum ; ) . Even more entertaining is home Vott. That focker deserves an honorable mention among the biggest turds in vintage speakers.
I often wonder about people using 416 and 414 woofers below 100hz and over 300hz what's their motivation is ? Heard touted Altec 19 in some garage of audio designer hahaha . We had a good laugh of people paying any money to acquire that junk.
Having said that I removed " rubber throat" from k-horn and put in that marvel of a driver 803a substituting dead sounding k33 and it's a killer. I would use it as direct radiator for its magnificent tone but it's too fragile.
I reconned one pair with modern paper cones keeping original spider and coil but it's simply a different driver now . It dies at 300 hz even if microphone shows full output well past 2kHz . Low pass coil or not it doesn't matter. What a drag.
I often wonder about people using 416 and 414 woofers below 100hz and over 300hz what's their motivation is ? Heard touted Altec 19 in some garage of audio designer hahaha . We had a good laugh of people paying any money to acquire that junk.
Having said that I removed " rubber throat" from k-horn and put in that marvel of a driver 803a substituting dead sounding k33 and it's a killer. I would use it as direct radiator for its magnificent tone but it's too fragile.
I reconned one pair with modern paper cones keeping original spider and coil but it's simply a different driver now . It dies at 300 hz even if microphone shows full output well past 2kHz . Low pass coil or not it doesn't matter. What a drag.
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Compression drivers - especially metal ones - usually have a few more resonance peaks compared to conventional tweeters. They might not be as visible in smoothed fr, but they show really well in impedance curves.
They might need a few notch filters to sound good. Same thing goes for many alu cone mid woofers.