Guitar players spend years to find the right mix of 2 or even 4 speakers in their cab.... Like a cook blending spices.
I was looking at compression drivers and suddenly thought "what about mixing 2 or even 4 different ones on one horn (with a manifold). Obviously ones with similar sensitivity and impedance....
My rationale is: Every driver has different artifacts, resonances, diffracions and breakup modes.
A single driver that has a +2 db spike somewhere along the frequency plot would only show up as a 0.5db hump in the combined output of 4 different drivers. Also it would be interesting how a titanium and phenolic driver sound together on a single horn.
Is this a silly idea?
Has it been done before?
Are there any obvious negatives?
I am interested to hear what others think of this.
I was looking at compression drivers and suddenly thought "what about mixing 2 or even 4 different ones on one horn (with a manifold). Obviously ones with similar sensitivity and impedance....
My rationale is: Every driver has different artifacts, resonances, diffracions and breakup modes.
A single driver that has a +2 db spike somewhere along the frequency plot would only show up as a 0.5db hump in the combined output of 4 different drivers. Also it would be interesting how a titanium and phenolic driver sound together on a single horn.
Is this a silly idea?
Has it been done before?
Are there any obvious negatives?
I am interested to hear what others think of this.
If you look at SR line arrays as an example it's not uncommon for them to use multiples. Same drivers but I would think the manifolds would be hard to do so you don't get destructive interference. Might want to look around for availability, Obviously will limit to one throat size and physical driver size could also be an issue. Food for thought!
Don't forget about the old Y with 2 on a common horn. I wouldn't go that way. The one linked is for 3 threaded drivers
I have never tried it always used singles could be a fun experiment especially phenolic with a Ti or Al to extend the highs. Just use a crossover similar to Dual diaphragm compression drivers.
Rob
https://reconingspeakers.com/products-page/jbl-vrx932la-1-horn-assembly-364432-001/
https://jblpro.com/en-US/products/vla901i
https://jblpro.com/en-US/product_families/vtx-v-series-performance-tour-line-array
Don't forget about the old Y with 2 on a common horn. I wouldn't go that way. The one linked is for 3 threaded drivers
I have never tried it always used singles could be a fun experiment especially phenolic with a Ti or Al to extend the highs. Just use a crossover similar to Dual diaphragm compression drivers.
Rob
https://reconingspeakers.com/products-page/jbl-vrx932la-1-horn-assembly-364432-001/
https://jblpro.com/en-US/products/vla901i
https://jblpro.com/en-US/product_families/vtx-v-series-performance-tour-line-array
Last edited:
I have seen people claim the same and people that claim a properly designed manifold doesn't negatively impact performance.
Does anyone have experience with manifolds or information that is not pure heresay?
P audio pc-70 4x1" to 2"
My idea is to try it with two different titanium drivers combined with 2 different phenolic ones.........if it is not an obviously flawed idea.
Not necessarily me I am happy with one that said there is no reason you can't try it.
The one I linked have them feeding a common horn not literally aimed at each other. Find measurements on the one you have in the photo. You could look up measurements for the one I linked by looking at the overall system response in the cabinets where it is used. If you are hell bent on 4 obviously 3 won't work.
It's not going to be plug and play. You are going to need a crossover to do it right. You won't know until you measure the combo individually, in pairs and in total on whatever your horn is. You will find out quickly if there is destructive interference going on by comparing singles to pairs.
The phenolic are rugged as hell but have no or limited top end. Back in the day they could add a tweeter above a phenolic in an SR cabinet.
If you get your target curve with a single driver? The multiples in the Line Arrays are strictly for max SPL.
Rob
Last edited:
That's a significant investment in drivers, why not invest the money in a better driver to begin with. You can apply some EQ via DSP or even with passive EQ networks at the driver level.
I don't have any sense whether or not this would work, but combining them would be a challenge.
Interesting idea nonetheless.
I don't have any sense whether or not this would work, but combining them would be a challenge.
Interesting idea nonetheless.
One of the reasons is that it is for a very large room....300m2. It will be either a line array or multiple drivers on a large horn. No replacement for displacement.... I live in Thailand and decent compression drivers are a dime a dozen.
Not sure but typically a central CD with mid's and woofers on the horn sidewalls. Might have issues with multiple CD's mounted on the horn sides. Speculation on my part I am sure someone in the know will chime in.
Rob
I'm thinking the Unity/Synergy as suggested earlier might be a good solution.
I could make my own manifold by shaping the channels in EPS foam, casting it in concrete and then dissolve the foam.
Then another maybe silly thought entered my mind. If four different drivers have 4 channels morphing from round to square coming together as one larger square at the square entrance of a horn will they be properly mixed or would you hear separate driver characteristics depending where you are in the room? In other words if we represented the driver characteristics as colors and you mixed blue and red drivers........would it come out purple or more like a marble cake?
I don't really expect anybody to know the answer but who knows.....
Then another maybe silly thought entered my mind. If four different drivers have 4 channels morphing from round to square coming together as one larger square at the square entrance of a horn will they be properly mixed or would you hear separate driver characteristics depending where you are in the room? In other words if we represented the driver characteristics as colors and you mixed blue and red drivers........would it come out purple or more like a marble cake?
I don't really expect anybody to know the answer but who knows.....
I was actually also thinking about the possibility of a Synergy line array. But the shortest line array manifolds are around 11 cm and due to curving and CD depth the distance between membrane and horn entry would be something like 15cm.... Would it still couple with the midrange? Would you delay the midrange with dsp? (I use mini DSP flex 8)......
Last edited:
I'm honestly not sure, there are threads here on diy Synergy horns which are meant for use in large spaces, the original Danley series is certainly used in large spaces so a appropriately scaled diy version seems feasible, and based on what you have already said it seems likely that there are suitable drivers available.
I'll be learning something as you journey through this project.
I'll be learning something as you journey through this project.
Not really.
Yes, some experiments were done with an Altec 1505 multicell, 288 drivers with alum, Symbiotic diaphragms yielding more low end similar to the PA 730C (strictly 300-3 kHz telephone BW) with the alum's HF extension.
None I'm aware of ATM.