Re: "How far up can I take them in frequency at 24 DB per octave before interference patterns become severe?"Is this a three way? At 54 inches apart you cannot cross any higher than 251, and if you want to be 24 db down, then one octave below that which would entail a crossover of 125hz.
But you'll be 18db down at 160 or so. Will you be able to actually hear comb filter distortion that low? I don't know.
Its like the argument for using 20 Aurum Cantus mid ranges rather than 20 Dayton midranges. When you've cut the quantity of sound that the speaker has to play to only 5% of the total, will you actually be able to hear a difference between the two? I doubt it. Manu a Manu, no question; 20 vs 20, fat chance!
Thylantyr and I agree. The world of line arrays is very different than the world of individual speakers with have to deal with thermal compression, mechanical compression, and other issues that the line array eliminates.
If you are going with an array of woofers, I'd go for 5 12 inchers like Parts Express has on buyout now(http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=299-776). For $200) Now you have a 17 inch c-to-c. You can cross at 300-500 without any comb filter distortion issues at all.
Marlboro