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Life beyond 1" ? [message #40184] Thu, 06 February 2003 17:41 Go to previous message
bmar is currently offline  bmar
Messages: 346
Registered: May 2009
Grand Master
Hi All

Since this is more or less a self review you'll have to take it for what it's worth! After a few years of listening to various 1" drivers in horns I have now had a change to check out the 2" format in my own cave. I have always thought some of the larger speaker systems sounded very nice at shows and events. Thats never the way things sound at home so the shows are pretty judgmental. I have tested the large 21" horn and it will hold its own to 380hz with a Selenium D405TI The driver is rated for 400-18k. The selenium chart shows good response from 400 to 12K. Thats the range I get a good reading in. -3db @ 400 and -10db @ 12K. Maybe a driver with an extended response in the upper octave would measure better. I will be trying some JBL 2445's in a week and I also have some phenolic 1" drivers to test for low freq 1" results.

I have been listening to 3 cd's primarily. Jimmy McGriff Diana Krall Roger Waters
I choose these because my Kids play Sax and Piano. Along with the organ there is a lot of sax on that cd. I find those two instruments hard to reproduce sounding original. I get a chance to listen to them both frequently. Roger Waters just does some very dynamic music and the low end is always there.

I have listened to a 2way with both a JBL 2226 or a JBL 2245. A different sound from each arrangement. Obviously the 2245 has some balls in the basement. It is not as efficient as the 2226 and the 2226 can be crossed over higher and I think has the edge for smooth.
for gut wrenching low octave. the choice is of course the 18" 2245.

Cross over any where from 400-1600. 400 is a touch too low for my liking but it does have a different sound to itself and is quite enjoyable. 1.6k is standard for a 1" and silly for 2" 500 - 800 is nice. I like 600 best with the 2226 and 500 best with the 2245.

The two way is lacking though, or at least the horn and driver combo I have is. I like a small horn with a 1" driver crossed at 10K. I have been doing all this with an active Xo and I have a little passive unit for the tweeter that I use. It's just a pair of L-pads with a 10K xo that goes to the tweeter side. I generally leave the tweeter un-attenuated, and turn down the main horn 8-10db. the rest
of the attenuation for the horns is done in the active xo.

Maybe with a better 2" driver that has better top end performance a 2way would be great. I'm liking the 3way best of all. In General the 2" format driver I find to be more dynamic than the 1" in the smaller horns. I'm considering taking a new approach to my personal system later this year. I'm really impressed with the way the larger drivers sound.

This is more a review of some new 2" format arrangements and what I have done to hook them up and how they sound together. I'll have some response charts in few days once they get scanned and uploaded.

More things to try in the future will be 1" drivers on the large 400hz horn. 2" drivers on the smaller horns.

Thanks for reading all this,

Bill

 
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