Posted by Wayne Parham [ 64.216.177.70 ] on May 02, 2004 at 06:07:36:

In Reply to: Re: midhorn kit? and some design choices posted by Adrian Mack on May 02, 2004 at 05:25:44:

The eight π speaker acts as a direct radiator at low frequencies so maximum safe output below 100Hz is just over 110dB. In this frequency range, the speaker is excursion limited, having a small dip in maximum safe output between 50Hz and 70Hz - Not that response has the dip but power handling has a small dip of about 2dB. It rises again below 50Hz down to 35Hz where it falls rapidly.

From 200Hz up, maximum SPL is about 10dB louder. Output over most of the audio range can safely reach 120dB, which is pretty loud for a 100 watt loudspeaker system. From 200Hz up, the horns increase maximum safe output and decrease distortion, but bottom octave excursion and IMD are the weakest points of a design like this.

I think most people that are attracted to the eight π speaker will be using it with tube amps so excursion isn't an issue. It will be very nice with a little 30 watt Class A transistor amp too, or with a simple chip amp or a receiver up to 100 watts per channel. Those are some of the systems I would recommend for use with the eight π loudspeaker.

Replies: