The Othorn tapped horn

Just to prove that I'm not lying...:snail:







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Have you experimented with hollow-ing out the bracing? Many report the lf dropping a bit w/solid braces.

Looking great!

Nah. I am highly dubious that it will make much difference at all. I could be wrong but I would have to see some hard data on it.

Previous experience with very high power tapped horns and conversation with others with more experience than I has taught me that extensive reinforcement and bracing is an absolute must even with solid construction and the best build materials. Otherwise the cabinet itself will start to make a lot of noise from panel flex at high power.

I'm sure that the guy actually building these is already cursing me as these are a pretty challenging cab design. If I had skeletonized bracing as well he would probably quit on it altogether!
 
Wow looks awesome!

I checked back on the first page and didn't see the 18sound 21lw1400 listed as acceptable drivers...how does that do in this cabinet?

4 of the 18sound drivers cost less than 2 b&c drivers. And you'd have some $ left over for the Baltic birch...

Josh if you don't mind, I'm just curious how much your cabinet shop charges to build something like this? Either material and labor cost or just labor? Thanks!

Also I'm not saying the 18sound is on the same level as the beastly b&c driver, I know it can't compare to the b&c's 60mm peak to peak travel. That's insane!!
 
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RCF 21 doesn't play nice in this cab...I don't recall how the ferrite 18Sounders do. I know that the 21NLW9600 and 9000 look good as do the 18" versions. So does the B&C 18SW115. TC Sounds Pro5100, etc. One of the PD drivers looked ok and I think the Fi BTL N2 18D2. Unfortunately I usually design for maximum output power from minimum space or a specified form factor, so budget sort of gets thrown out of the window in the meantime and all of the drivers are high displacement, power handling and super strong motor'd. IOW expensive.

Easiest way to figure out if a driver will work is to take the HR params from the beginning of the thread, save it into your library and start plugging drivers that you are curious about into it. It's simple. If the response curve looks terrible it's a no go. If it looks good it's worth a shot. I haven't tried everything out there.

Let's say that the material costs for the cabinets are very reasonable due to getting them at the cabinet shops prices, which are for bulk 13ply BB. Labor is a bigger chunk but not unreasonable considering the man hours and complexity of the cabs. I simply don't have the time to build these myself and I highly doubt that I would have done as good of a job. These guys are professional cabinet makers, so I consider it money well spent. If you have the time to do the cabs yourself then you could do them for a couple of hundred dollars each. If you have to comission a shop then that is going to add at-least a couple of hundred more in labor for each cab. Still considering the cost of buying a single cab in the same ball park from a manufacturer you would still be far ahead monetarily.
 
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By the way the piece in a couple of photos is the adaptor plate to switch between 21" and 18" drivers. It is a ring that the 18" mounts to that fits down into the 21" driver cutout and the main square piece bolts into the 21" driver's threaded inserts and also has a couple of additional inserts to bolt into at the corners of the original baffle. It will slightly restrict the horn path by one extra thickness of wood but I doubt that it will have major consequences. If I were using 18" drivers from the get go I wouldn't have bothered with it, but I'm using the 21's and also have an 18" Pro5100 I want to try in the cab, hence the adapter plates. I have a short video showing how they mount but I'm not sure how to attach it.
 
And that makes sense about your design goals. (the maximum output per space requirement) but I, as I'm sure with many others on here, am a cheap bastard!:p
Using the best, highest Xmax drivers can be a cost savings in the long run.

Building, hauling and storing 4 boxes that do the work of two is no fun.

This last week I have been using a pair of TH cabinets loaded with B&C18SW115-4 in a 55 x 150 foot room, and the hip hop and reggea guys were impressed, no DJs have asked for more LF, and the sound FX on the movie All I Can made the garage doors shake and rattle.

Good speakers are an investment that can last decades, go for the best and you won't be dumping them later.

Art