nzlowie Posted June 22, 2017 Posted June 22, 2017 Hi all Just thought it was time to do an update on my horn project now that its approaching its final incarnation. And sounding bloody good! The first real step forward was replacing the minidsp for a passive cross over. Next improvement came when I replaced the mid CD and tweeter for a BMS coaxial CD, this made the crossover and fitment of the tweeter a lot easier. (xover spec’s supplied by BMS) At this stage the mid – HF was sounding really nice, but the mid bass wasn’t right. Everyone who listened thought something wasn’t right, to my ear’s I felt it didn’t have the “Slam or Kick” that it should have had. At one stage along this journey I tried standing up the bass horn to see what happened to the response, in my room they had a real lift from 100-250hz which took a fair bit of eq. My thinking was that if standing them up flattened this response I may be able to use a passive crossover. (These horns were originally designed to lay flat in the room corners.) Standing them up did flatten the response but I didn’t really like the look of them so laid them back down and continued with the minidsp and separate amp for the bass horn and eq’d them flatter. I was thinking about how to improve the mid bass slam and thought I needed a mid bass horn, went very close to ordering a 160hz Azura Horn. Chickened out and brought drivers to build John Inlows 135hz horn. As I can’t get this project out of my head I kept thinking about the mid bass issue. As sound becomes more directional as the frequency increase’s I thought that the mid bass output from the corner horn (laying down at this stage) might be “hugging” the floor as they weren’t pointing directly at me. Stood them back up, built a simple crossover and removed the minidsp. BOOM! Another real step forward. There was one side effect of standing up these horns, lost some for the corner and floor loading which resulted in a reduction of the lowest frequencies, sub needed. Spent a bit of time researching DIY subs and almost pressed the order button for the drivers when I had another thought…… I remembered how Troels Gravensen described the DTQWT’s that I’d built, he called them a 2 way with built in sub woofer! Don’t need to build subs, already have them! So now I have the minidsp and separate amp driving the DTQWT’s to fill in the low end. HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY! Still to do is: Get some better quality caps and do a final build of the mid-HF crossover. Currently using CrossCaps and will upgrade to Superior Z caps. Build a Hi pass filter for the bass horn, acoustically it won’t go below 50hz so we need to stop the electrical signal below this. Finish build bass crossover. So I’m now very happy with the sound quality, sure there are better systems out there but for what I’ve spent I recon its punching well about its weight. I’ve heard a few systems lately but I wouldn't swap them for what I’ve now got. Only problem is the size of this project, I’ll be moving to a smaller house next year and don’t think I’ll have a room large enough for this so I’ll keep looking for floor standers that I like. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk 4
Upfront Posted June 22, 2017 Posted June 22, 2017 Are you still thinking of building the 135hz horn mate?
nzlowie Posted June 22, 2017 Author Posted June 22, 2017 No, not at this stage. This whole project, even though I almost gave up a few times has really tested my patience! Might just sit back and enjoy for a while! If I build the 135 horns it'll mean redoing crossovers and lots more f**king around. A bit over it all for now.....Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk 1
nzlowie Posted June 22, 2017 Author Posted June 22, 2017 You gotta love it when a plan comes together! Plan, what plan?That was my trouble, I didn't have a plan. Just started doing stuff? Must admit, I learnt a fair bit along the way.Also must thank everyone who's helped and offered support. Thanks everyone.Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk 1
Upfront Posted June 22, 2017 Posted June 22, 2017 No, not at this stage. This whole project, even though I almost gave up a few times has really tested my patience! Might just sit back and enjoy for a while! If I build the 135 horns it'll mean redoing crossovers and lots more f**king around. A bit over it all for now.....Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk Know that feeling mate. I've taken the therapeutic route this time with some paper machè horns. Very ralaxing.
acg Posted June 22, 2017 Posted June 22, 2017 11 minutes ago, nzlowie said: Plan, what plan? That was my trouble, I didn't have a plan. Just started doing stuff? Must admit, I learnt a fair bit along the way. Also must thank everyone who's helped and offered support. Thanks everyone. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk Your plan was to build a multi-way horn system to which you would enjoy listening. Mission achieved. I'm doing the same thing. When I started looking at what I should do I noticed that guys take a decade or so to get their bespoke horn system to "finished" stage. I did not want to take so long so I have loosely copied a system but I've still been going for longer than you and am yet to hear a peep from my system despite countless hours building stuff. So congratulations Dave, well done, you should be proud of what you've done. More than that, you can see further ways forward that you may or may not take...
Upfront Posted June 22, 2017 Posted June 22, 2017 When I started looking at what I should do I noticed that guys take a decade or so to get their bespoke horn system to "finished" stage. A decade! ?!? I must be done then! Bahahahahahaha 2
nzlowie Posted June 22, 2017 Author Posted June 22, 2017 Yes you're right really, that was the overall plan to make a horn system that sounds great. So job done???? Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
Guest Posted June 22, 2017 Posted June 22, 2017 35 minutes ago, Upfront said: Know that feeling mate. I've taken the therapeutic route this time with some paper machè horns. Very ralaxing. Linc has done very well with the Azura Horn arrangement in a new room after an epic house move in a year.
Guest Posted June 22, 2017 Posted June 22, 2017 (edited) 2 hours ago, nzlowie said: Hi all Just thought it was time to do an update on my horn project now that its approaching its final incarnation. And sounding bloody good! The first real step forward was replacing the minidsp for a passive cross over. Next improvement came when I replaced the mid CD and tweeter for a BMS coaxial CD, this made the crossover and fitment of the tweeter a lot easier. (xover spec’s supplied by BMS) At this stage the mid – HF was sounding really nice, but the mid bass wasn’t right. Everyone who listened thought something wasn’t right, to my ear’s I felt it didn’t have the “Slam or Kick” that it should have had. At one stage along this journey I tried standing up the bass horn to see what happened to the response, in my room they had a real lift from 100-250hz which took a fair bit of eq. My thinking was that if standing them up flattened this response I may be able to use a passive crossover. (These horns were originally designed to lay flat in the room corners.) Standing them up did flatten the response but I didn’t really like the look of them so laid them back down and continued with the minidsp and separate amp for the bass horn and eq’d them flatter. I was thinking about how to improve the mid bass slam and thought I needed a mid bass horn, went very close to ordering a 160hz Azura Horn. Chickened out and brought drivers to build John Inlows 135hz horn. As I can’t get this project out of my head I kept thinking about the mid bass issue. As sound becomes more directional as the frequency increase’s I thought that the mid bass output from the corner horn (laying down at this stage) might be “hugging” the floor as they weren’t pointing directly at me. Stood them back up, built a simple crossover and removed the minidsp. BOOM! Another real step forward. There was one side effect of standing up these horns, lost some for the corner and floor loading which resulted in a reduction of the lowest frequencies, sub needed. Spent a bit of time researching DIY subs and almost pressed the order button for the drivers when I had another thought…… I remembered how Troels Gravensen described the DTQWT’s that I’d built, he called them a 2 way with built in sub woofer! Don’t need to build subs, already have them! So now I have the minidsp and separate amp driving the DTQWT’s to fill in the low end. HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY! Still to do is: Get some better quality caps and do a final build of the mid-HF crossover. Currently using CrossCaps and will upgrade to Superior Z caps. Build a Hi pass filter for the bass horn, acoustically it won’t go below 50hz so we need to stop the electrical signal below this. Finish build bass crossover. So I’m now very happy with the sound quality, sure there are better systems out there but for what I’ve spent I recon its punching well about its weight. I’ve heard a few systems lately but I wouldn't swap them for what I’ve now got. Only problem is the size of this project, I’ll be moving to a smaller house next year and don’t think I’ll have a room large enough for this so I’ll keep looking for floor standers that I like. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk Nice work Mate EDIT, a tip. the mid bass problem just may be solved by reversing polarity of the subs or the mid bass units. Similar problem was solved at a GTG here one afternoon with my 4 way PSE144 horn rig. Reversing the phase on the low mids solved a few humps in the response curve and sounded better, stayed the same ever since. Keep playing it's fun Edited June 22, 2017 by Guest
nzlowie Posted June 22, 2017 Author Posted June 22, 2017 Thanks Dave, as this is only a 3 way (apart from sub) so changing the polarity screws things up.Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
kroozzy Posted October 19, 2017 Posted October 19, 2017 @nzlowiehave you seen these from fastlane audio , the diy JWC Mini Punch 1/4 bass horn: http://www.fastlaneaudio.com/new-project---jwc-mini-punch.html 76.2cm wide, 67.5cm high, 50.8cm deep They run two 12 inchs woofers . . . . . just thought i would give them a mention in case you have come across them Chris :-)
Guest Posted October 19, 2017 Posted October 19, 2017 17 hours ago, kroozzy said: @nzlowiehave you seen these from fastlane audio , the diy JWC Mini Punch 1/4 bass horn: http://www.fastlaneaudio.com/new-project---jwc-mini-punch.html 76.2cm wide, 67.5cm high, 50.8cm deep They run two 12 inchs woofers . . . . . just thought i would give them a mention in case you have come across them Chris :-) Cool, interesting stuff
nzlowie Posted October 19, 2017 Author Posted October 19, 2017 Thanks for the link @kroozzy. Looks interesting but not planning to build any more speakers. Mounting the Azura's on top of my DTQWT has been a real win. Pretty happy now.... But still thinking about some Osborne Grand Epitome Reference speakers that have come up for sale locally. (Just a bit hard to get them side by side for a listen...) 1
Recommended Posts