Home » Audio » Speaker » Throat size for woofer
Throat size for woofer [message #18734] Sun, 30 April 2006 15:22 Go to next message
On Tilt is currently offline  On Tilt
Messages: 5
Registered: May 2009
Esquire
I want to horn load a 15" inch woofer. Think Altec a-7 with flat sides to the horn flare. Can someone run the math by me for determining a proper throat size?

Thanks...

Re: Throat size for woofer [message #18735 is a reply to message #18734] Tue, 02 May 2006 17:41 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Wayne Parham is currently offline  Wayne Parham
Messages: 18682
Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)

The best choices depend on a lot of stuff. Many things come into play - desired application, frequency range, power requirements, size requirements, etc. Have you tried modeling a horn with Hornresp?

Re: Throat size for woofer [message #18736 is a reply to message #18735] Tue, 02 May 2006 20:41 Go to previous messageGo to next message
On Tilt is currently offline  On Tilt
Messages: 5
Registered: May 2009
Esquire
Horn resp are you kidding? I can barely run win isd. I am working on horn resp but it will be a while...

Re: Throat size for woofer [message #18737 is a reply to message #18736] Tue, 02 May 2006 21:49 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Wayne Parham is currently offline  Wayne Parham
Messages: 18682
Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)

It's really not too bad once you get the hang of it. It's definitely better than cutting a bunch of randomly sized and shaped horns in a purely empirical approach. You can make a few dozen models and tweak them in the time it takes to make one physical model, so you stand a better chance of making a good horn that way.


Re: Throat size for woofer [message #18754 is a reply to message #18734] Tue, 30 May 2006 19:00 Go to previous message
DMoore is currently offline  DMoore
Messages: 58
Registered: May 2009
Location: Seattle
Baron
The old-school rule-of-thumb was a 2:1 ratio (available cone to throat opening size) or about 70% maximum of the available cone area.

Modern calculations like Don Keele's workk use a variety of T/S specs to derive the size for maximum EFFICIENCY for a particular driver IN A GIVEN HORN. The throat size in turn effects the length of the horn.

Without specifics, in general, if you are indeed talking about an Altec A7-ish horn, try 8 or 9" wide for a 15" driver suitable for horn loading. It also depends on the horn itself, however, for very short (14" long) straight horns (A7) with an Fc of 80Hz, 9" is right in the ball park. Again, it DEPENDS!

There are exeptions of course, most of the B&W drivers would be most efficient with smaller throat openings, etc. Download D.B Keele's T/S Horn design paper from his website and do the math manually. It's somewhat tedious, but it's fairly simple to do.

DM



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