GM will probably have a different opinion, but my experience is that all those questions "depend".
Sorry, may be slightly O.T.
- What horn?
- What driver?
- What room?
Sorry, may be slightly O.T.
This work is just breathtaking. I bet it sounds excellent.
But, er... sorry for saying this, can't help, it looks a bit odd that the horn on the VOTT is round.
I remember, quite some years ago, I had read an article on Sound Practices about the Exampler. It said, in the process of development, the difference between HF and MB horns with different profile is audible. So the author had to build new HF horn to fit the tractrix MB...
But, er... sorry for saying this, can't help, it looks a bit odd that the horn on the VOTT is round.
I remember, quite some years ago, I had read an article on Sound Practices about the Exampler. It said, in the process of development, the difference between HF and MB horns with different profile is audible. So the author had to build new HF horn to fit the tractrix MB...
i can't hear any advantage on the VOTT over standard BR.
this box costs so much $$$ and to hear what its capable of, i felt underwhelmed.
Actually i do have a question for you GM
, whats the VOTT design purpose? i mean, as you can see there's a broad peak between 115hz to 770hz, which made it very coloured midrange if using it without EQ.is the horn lens intended to increase output for the mid bass? then add lots of subwoofers below 100hz?
Like Pano said, it depends.
At the time I was experimenting and trying to integrate 805 multi-cell/288B + compression horn super tweeter, ‘ring’ radiators were something circling the VCs of woofers to try and get a bit of a blend through the mids to better mate to a whizzer/whatever.
Higher up, there wasn't much for consumers to choose from and they all sounded pretty bad to me since I'd already had the [mis]fortune of auditioning various W.E. tweeter horns.
Bozak’s cone tweeter array used in its Concert Grand had the sort of ‘sweetness’ I desired and since it mimicked a multi-cell’s polar response, etc., it seemed the obvious choice, so made a number of variants, but I failed miserably to get a seamless blend and as I was to learn during later experiments it was the worst possible choice WRT time delay offset.
Anyway, long story short, I wimped out and asked Altec what options might work and they mentioned that an 802 with just a ¾” round over flare made a fine tweeter horn if XO’d > 5 kHz/2nd order and coupled to a matching impedance and they weren’t lying!
Unfortunately for me though, it turned out that I’m one of those relatively rare folks that is very sensitive to time/phase offset, so ultimately I went back to my original 511/802 except used two/channel stacked together to ~ ‘have my cake and eat it too’, getting both the ‘full’ mids of the 805/288 and the 802’s 'good enough for me' HF response. This also yields a little greater power handling over the 805/288 due to a slightly greater total diaphragm area [Sd] and more importantly, a ‘tighter’ polar response in the vertical plane.
If I were to bother today, I’d start with digitally delaying one or more of the better Fostex super tweeter compression horns, but once Tom Danley showed us how to design coherent ‘full range’ horns I lost all interest in ‘old tech’ per se; though recent strides in digital signal manipulation has apparently reached the point where it doesn’t much matter what ‘hardware’ is used as it can be configured to have most any sort of performance one wants with only efficiency being the final arbiter of how loud it plays, so in the scheme of things, even his ‘invention’ seems to be pretty much moot for all but the largest, most extreme HIFI/HT apps.
GM
Indeed it does!
We all hear the same, yet not so much, so for some folks, their hearing acuity is such that having their mids/HF be true to life, so to speak, trumps how the larger WLs sound, but then they distort it far worse with an expo, tractrix/whatever flare and proclaim how ‘accurate’/’true to life’ it sounds……….. to each his own, I say!
FWIW, after much experimentation in my youth, I concluded that not surprisingly, what the pioneers of audio concluded was the best overall compromise was mine too, which in short boiled down to a rectangular polar response = ~1:1.2732 ratio.
GM
I used to have the problem in spades. All tweeters sounded fake to me, not like what I hear in natural sounds. Tweeters do add "something" but at the expense of artificiality.
Fortunately, as I get older, they don't bother me as much.
I currently use Fane bullet tweeters and they hardly bother me at all.
A7 kit? I wouldn’t waste my time on such old tech today and already knew it when I built a pair in ’64 for HIFI because I planned to also use them as outdoor party speakers.
GM
That's why I'm building these (as a kit)...and a high-end product....
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/258842-pics-new-altec-bass-horns-using-cad-cnc.html
Ah! Guess I missed where you mentioned this was more than a 'doing it just because I can' woodworking project.
Do you plan to have a 'wing' kit? These cabs really do need them even in a HIFI/HT app unless XO'd up around 110 Hz and ideally need to be either built in, or flush in, a 'sound wall' like is used these days in cinemas.
http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/altec/specs/pro-speakers/800.htm [horn can be in the top baffle or recessed behind a cutout with an open cell foam or acoustic fiberglass 'horn' extension to bridge the gap]
GM
Do you plan to have a 'wing' kit? These cabs really do need them even in a HIFI/HT app unless XO'd up around 110 Hz and ideally need to be either built in, or flush in, a 'sound wall' like is used these days in cinemas.
http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/altec/specs/pro-speakers/800.htm [horn can be in the top baffle or recessed behind a cutout with an open cell foam or acoustic fiberglass 'horn' extension to bridge the gap]
GM
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Thanks Greg.
No, I wasn't planning to use wings. I'm enjoying playing around with these designs for a 'normal' domestic setting. The A7 is beig enough without extra panels.
With the smaller horn, I've purposely designed this to be a high-end domestic speaker...with a choice of top HF horns...Altec, Azura, Auto-tech etc. I like the look of the bass horn...and the size is quite OK for most medium-large listening rooms. The design gives reasonable loading from 200-500Hz.
In terms of getting a wider response, it is always intended to be used with active xover and EQ. Is this a compromise? I don't think so...why not use the technology available to us...even if it's as cheap as a US$105 MinidDSP app.
When I had the A7, we only needed about 45min of playing around with recordings and mic to get the bass sounding very good. I have the same hopes for the smaller bass horn being developed.
Kindly
Hello. Really nice job. I owning a cinema in sweden and looking for drawings to make a replica of A7 for cinema use. Is there any chance to buy the cad file for making 3 cabinets. And after that scrap the file ?
Best Regards Per Aholainen Rialto cinema. RIALTO BIO VÅRGÅRDA 100% BIO
Best Regards Per Aholainen Rialto cinema. RIALTO BIO VÅRGÅRDA 100% BIO