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Helper Woofers [message #81337]

Fri, 22 May 2015 05:17

Jeff D
Messages: 9
Registered: April 2012
Location: Dorset, UK

Esquire

Hi Wayne

I have an old pair of Peavey FH-1 horns that I was considering the use of as helper woofers in my new home theatre set up. They are quite sensitive at 104db and would go down to about 60hz from the 200hz or so you have suggested in previous posts as a suitable high pass point. However, I worry that putting this type of horn in the front corners would just send bass down the sides of the room to the back and not provide the right reinforcement to the more central mains speakers. They are a fairly compact 'w' horn a bit like the Klipsch La Scala if you are not familiar with them. The front of the room is roughly 13' wide, 7'9" high and 26' long with an open area at the rear with stairs down to the GF. Do you think these could do the job of smoothing out the room response ?

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Re: Helper Woofers [message #81339 is a reply to message #81337]

Fri, 22 May 2015 11:18

Wayne Parham
Messages: 18786
Registered: January 2001

Illuminati (33rd Degree)

I'd definitely give them a try. Just about anything works well as helper woofers, as long as they're flanking the mains, a foot or two beside, behind and below the mains. Run them up to about 150Hz, using a second-order slope at 100Hz for a smooth low-pass with gradual fade to the mains.

My biggest concern isn't the bass lining up along the walls. If that happens, use one or two distributed subs placed further away. You'll probably want that to get deeper bass extension anyway. My biggest concern is qualitative - wondering if that horn going to be smooth enough above 100Hz. It's not going to have to do a lot between 100Hz and 200Hz, but we don't want any nasty peaks in the lower vocal range. I haven't seen many measurements of the FH-1, so I'm just not sure.

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Re: Helper Woofers [message #81340 is a reply to message #81337]

Fri, 22 May 2015 13:44

Jeff D
Messages: 9
Registered: April 2012
Location: Dorset, UK

Esquire

Thanks Wayne. I am not aware of any real nasties in their reproduction. Some people replace the Black Widows with Eminence or Klipsch drivers but I will try them as is first.

As you don't think they will mess up the bass reproduction in conjunction with proper subs I will give them a go as soon as possible. Hopefully these cabs will provide some decent bass punch within their frequency range. Perhaps a bit like your horn subs do lower down.

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