Dual Othorn / Dual modified F215AN Build Log Summary

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Hey yall! :) I’ve never posted much on here but I wanted to share a build my buddy and I just completed. Before that I just want to give a huge amount of thanks to the various online DIY audio communities for helping us through this, couldn’t have done it without you all. I’ve learned a lot along the way, I have to give special thanks to these people as they were invaluable to this build.
Josh Ricci – The designer of the “Othorn” (mentoring, guidance, and of course the othorn design)
Jesse Hatcher – of Resonant Sound TX. (Carpentry, co beer drinker & close friend)
Jeff Bailie – of Basscouch CO. (guidance and inspiration)
Bennett Prescott – of B&C speakers (Answered like 10 of my phone calls when needing advice, sometimes even from Italy!)
Tom Danley – of Danley Sound Labs. (Keeping the tapped horn alive, and inspiration)
This build has been exciting and exhausting, but in the end it has been more than worth it. I learned a lot about horns and sound in general during the process. Also a lot about patience and humility!
This little rig consists of two Othorn tapped horn subs and two “souped” up F2152AN tops.
These Othorns use the suggested B&C 21”-152-4ohm driver, (Its freaking enormous!!). They were built out of 18mm / 12mm Baltic birch (as were the F215ANs), and have pocket screws throughout (as do the F215ANs).
I described the F2152AN tops as “souped” up because they use the (B&C) DE880TN compression driver instead of the suggested DE820TN compression driver, and they use the 15NW76 midrange woofer instead of the suggested 15NDL76 midrange woofer. We kept the ME90 horn. Considering the high quality of all B&C products I’m sure this wasnt “that much” of a souping up, but they sound pretty darn good.We also put handles in the F2152AN tops and changed the shape to symmetrical wedge, while keeping the airspace relatively the same. They all have neutrik connectors, and dish plates. All four were sprayed at a local bed-liner shop.
The pair of Othorns are powered by one QSC pl380, and the pair of F215ANs are powered (Bi-amped) by one QSC pl340 (on the four 15NW76s) and one QSC pl325 (on the two DE880tn / ME90s). These three amps are hooked into a drive rack 260.
I’m using a rapco horizon braided shielded “professional” XLR cable, and a GEPCO GSC134 13awg speakon cable. I soldered everything with neutrik connectors to match the dish panels.
Ideally some elements of the system could have been higher end (powersoft, better processor, …) but for the budget it all came together nicely, and sounds great.
I’m thinking of taking some videos of the tapped horns, and some “official” measurements of the whole thing, but wanted to see what yall thought first. Thanks for checking it out!!! :D
 

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$550. A lot of places quoted me $750-$850 but the mainstream linex ameraguard type places seemed to rush me to much and didn't want to listen to my specific needs nor did they appreciate the amount of effort went into them. I called and called so many diff places, and finally found a smaller specialty place. Their stuff seems just as nice as all the other places, and they were patient and were considerate to how paranoid I was about letting someone else work on them. In summary, I would avoid the larger mainstream places for nice speaker cabs.....oh ya..they double coated it pre-bedliner with somthing called "super sealant" :)
 
The dual 15"s have quite a bit of punch. They pair surprisingly well with the othorns. I was expecting tons of eq-ing and delaying but not so much really. Ive yet to apply the eq stuff suggested on data bass for the othorns, I only have the crossover right now. Im excited to get on that this weekend. :)
 
I know for me when weather gets better I hope to have a system like yourself. Then from there I was going to just going to go out to a large field and have GTG's. For me I will be doing this at a basketball court where noise is not a problem. Then down the road I hope to have a few other speakers to finally have a 7.2 setup to show movies on.

Then I wont need to talk about what they can do I can show everyone. I am not a good salesman but feel if you show others a superior product they will see the greatness also.

PLUS I love seeing videos of large systems put together. But I dont consider myself in the norm.:D
 
My friend, you gotta do the tapped horns then. They go soooo low with such little distortion. Its really a pleasure to hear these things. Im kinda shocked after listening to them all weekend. When josh ricci said "neutral sounding" on data-bass, he was being very humble. What that really meant was incredibly beautiful and powerful. They go fast and tight or low and booming, no problem with psytrance to deep dubstep. Just like.... (at least to the ears)zero distortion, zero port noise, zerozero driver noise.ugh...Im in love man.
 
If shipping wasnt so costly I would have made the Othorns already. BUT that 21" driver is amazing and very expensive. For sheer SPL in a "small," package the Othorn is hard to beat. That 21 does everything well.

I just have to figure out what to do for mains. I have about 10 different ideas and now reading the Square Peg thread so now I have more. UUUGGGHHHH
 
xrk971 I am still looking at doing a SH64 clone down the road when I can buy the drivers. BUT after reading about the Paraline I am curious about trying a Paraline SH to make things easier on myself.

PLUS if I knew how to simulate everything, like yourself, I would have already decided on which drivers to stick with instead of changing my mind half the time.
 
Founder of XSA-Labs
Joined 2012
Paid Member
Never too late to learn Akabak :) Start with sample scripts of sealed box, bass reflex, then move to SLBP, TL, FLH, TH, then BLH in that order. I have posted scripts in the "Study of Dipole/Cardioid Bass Horn" thread and other threads you can use as samples. I know that Xoc1, Speakerscott, Bwaslo, and others have posted scripts. Start with the AKabak for Dummies thread on AVS forum - very helpful. Send me a PM if you are interested in a particular alignment and I will get you sample script to play with. First thing you need is a Windows PC that is pre 64-bit. Windows Vista or 7 in 32-bit (or earlier) works. Alternatively, you can have a Virtual Windows XP program running inside Win 7 64-bit. I hear that WINE or similar emulator for Mac/Linux works too. Best thing is to have or buy a very old and cheap XP laptop or netbook (get those for <$50 probably used).
Good luck!
X
 
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Founder of XSA-Labs
Joined 2012
Paid Member
Thanks xrk971!

I was really interested in doing a diy synergy horn, but the task seemed a little daunting. Did they ever release a kit on any of these forums? I looked for awhile but couldnt find it. Modeling one seems like quite the task.

The closest to a "kit" is the build by Bwaslo with full details. However, he used several buyout drivers that are no longer available but could possibly be substituted with some work in refining the XO's. If you tri-amp and use DSP for the XO and EQ you can use many other drivers. I would definitely go the active route if you are not a pro at designing passive XO's.

DIY Synergy/Unity spreadsheet

Here is how bwaslo did it with active via miniDSP:
DIY Synergy/Unity spreadsheet

Another great Synergy build with full details is by Speakerscott:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/244890-synergy-horns-dayton-prv.html

There are some nice Akabak scripts by Soho54 to get you started:
Unity/Synergy'ish DIY AkAbak Scripts - AVS Forum

It is an ambitious and difficult project as it involves the integration of three types of drivers into a single horn. Fun though :)
 
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