TBrennan

Mobile---Yes, I've heard a couple of high quality SETs over my horns. At the horn club meeting at my house a fella brought a very nice, custom made, no-holds-barred 45 amp and matching preamp over and we drove my Altec 605s with it. It sounded very nice but not so much better that I had to runout and buy another amp. However hearing the Bean Counter's Edgar Saladbowls mated with my Altec 515-JBL 4560s did make me get some Saladbowls. :-) Mother of Pearl Ludwigs eh? Buddy Rich drums. I owned Gretsch, Rogers and Sonor but I'm drumless now, now I'm thinking of getting some old Rogers, Ludwigs or Slingerlands, unfortunatly what was simply old a few years ago is now "vintage" and prices are going up, even on the Vistalites. I'm also gonna get one of those big old Kustom rolled and pleated jobs for my bass (MIM Jazz, I use an Ampeg B-100R amp), they were SS so many guitarists aren't interested in them but they're good bass amps and prices are still low. And they're great furniture. :-)

Mobile--You gotta understand, lots of us were hornys long before this SET thing got going. All through the 70s I was driving LaScalas and big EVs and JBLs with Crowns, SS Fisher, Dynaco 400s and stuff like that and getting very good sound. Lots of Klipsch guys use Mac amps as Mac and Klipsch were often sold in the same stores and that sounds damned good. Now yeah, I think good tube amps sound better than SS too, (I got interested in tubes and Altec after hearing a friend's mono system with one 1957 "Hollywood" A7 VOT driven by a Knightkit tube integrated amp) I drive the JBL-Edgar Saladbowl top-end of my big rig with a Fisher SA-100 and drive my Altec 605s with an ASL SET, but lots of veteran hornys are getting very satisfying sound with SS. The best sound IMO is bi-amping (real bi-amping, you know, with an active crossover) using SS on the woofs and tubes on the compression drivers, the best of both worlds.

Mobile--I'm glad you like good tube amps, so do I, I'm not against them you know, I even own a few. I've listened to Lowthers in Medallions and Hedlunds (which are, by the way, not fully horn-loaded but are direct-radiators with horn-loading of the lower bass, a case of horn-loading in self-defense one might say) and they are very good speakers but IMO not as robust sounding as a speaker like a Cornwall. The biggest Lowther fanatic I know in Chicago went back to Altec A5s. :-) I too was a drummer in rock bands and I play bass too, wanting to hear a reasonable reproduction of Dual Showmen and my Rogers kit was what drove me to horns many years ago. So if you're looking for another guy who listens to Rock, Soul and Blues with horns and tubes I'm one. I agree with you wholeheartedly on the vapid music many audiophiles listen to, Patricia Barber puts me to sleep, I'd rather listen to Clarence Carter or Social Distortion, the rig has to make the music you like sound good not the music make your rig sound good. As for PA systems, well the Altec and JBL horn stuff was developed for the much more demanding job of motion picture theater sound. These drivers were designed by scientists and engineers with the resources of Ma Bell, RCA and MGM behind them and are precision devices of the highest quality. These same drivers were also put to use in studio monitors, home hi-fi and for sound reinforcement, they were used for PA because they did the job and were available not because they were designed for PA. Tell your friends there's a world of difference between an Altec A7 and a cheap Peavey PA speaker. :-) I think you'll enjoy the Cornwalls, if not good horns are also available in other flavors--Altec, JBL, Tannoy, EV etc.

Mobile---I think the most important thing is to use good horn speakers regardless of the type of amp. I've heard horns sound great with both SS and tubes, I never heard a cone-dome speaker rig I liked regardless of the amplifier used. I wouldn't enjoy listening to your Pro-Acs even if God himself built the amp. :-) My best friend drives his tractrix-mod Cornwalls with a garage sale Yamaha receiver and the rig sounds great. I suppose this depends on what qualities in the music you're listening for; the unmatched dynamics and clarity of a good horn, it's "liveness", are present whatever kind of amp is used.

Deang---Your active crossover won't care what the driver impedances are, it will still crossover wherever you set it. If the drivers are nominal 8 ohm impedance they'll remain such and they probably are. Even if the horn was 16 ohms your tube amp will have plenty of power, I get Hellacious volume from my compression drivers with 12 watts a channel.

Mel---Altec stuff is very good but the company went under and the stuff is only available used or occasionally NOS. Used JBL components are very good as are new ones, new JBL horns and drivers are easily available. Guys like me like the old JBL stuff because it's usually cheaper and it looks cooler than the new stuff but the new stuff performs as well. There are several other brands that make high-efficiency woofers, compression drivers and horns--EV, Radian, TAD, Selenium, Eminence, Beyma and B&C come to mind. IME EV and Radian are very good. Go to the high efficiency board at www.audioasylum.com to participate in discussions on horns, the people there are nice and some are very knowledable and helpful. The web-sites to several makers of high efficiency drivers are linked on my website. Go to www.audioheritage.org for the history of Altec and JBL and lots of info on drivers and cabinets.

Mobile---I recently heard those so-called "The Horns" and they were possibly the worst speakers I ever heard, terrible. It ain't a horn, it's a direct radiator with a little, very little, rear horn-loading of the woofer. These goofy little Voight pipes and rear-loaded Fostexes and Radio Shacks have nothing in common with a manly speaker like the Cornwall with it's 15" woofer and compression driver mids and highs. 4" direct radiators sound bad, putting them in a Voight pipe or midget rear "horn" isn't gonna' make an inherantly bad speaker good. Do it right or not at all, get the Cornwalls or some other good REAL horn rig. Or Lowthers, Lowthers are good, lots of these single-driver guys are trying to do a Lowtherlike thing on the cheap, it don't work. There's a reason Lowthers are expensive and need big cabinets.

If someone espouses something you don't think is right you have to reply, you can't just let BS go unanswered all the time. If this leads to conflict such is life, I've been around too long to just laydown.

Mel---Put the 075s on Ebay, they'll probably fetch about $400. Then if you want JBL tweets get the 076 "catseye" or the 077 "slot". These are much better sounding and performing tweets than the 075. The 075 has a narrow 40 degree dispersion pattern that gives it a fierce sound, the thing gives me earwire. Nor is the high end very extended. The 076 and 077 use the same motor as the 075 but with lighter diaphragms for better highs and different horns giving much wider dispersion. These and the 2404 "buttcheek" are very good horn tweeters. Of course you can easily enough wire the 075s into your speakers and see what you think. Don't expect optimum performence of the 075 with your crossover, not that it matters, the 075 will probably burn your ears raw anyway. I had the things and simply could not make them sound good, now 076s, those are easy.

cc--Try the Altec 414, best sounding 12" woofer I ever heard. High efficiency, about 98db, and very high quality--3" edgewound voicecoil, cast frame etc. Not in production anymore, find used ones on ebay.

Shock---Oh yeah, the T-35 was most certainly intended for use with the horn's long axis vertical, it was used like that in the EV speakers that used it and the old EV spec sheets I have on the T-35 state that it was meant for vertical use. It seems that for some reason PWK didn't want the horn's maximum horizontal dispersion, perhaps to match the narrow dispersion of his exponential mid horns or maybe just to make the KHorn cabinet a little shorter, I'm just guessing. Some say the dispersion varies little either way the T-35 is mounted anyway, I dunno.

Shock---Don't feel bad, once some of us start foolin' with this stuff we never stop! Over the past 30 years I've had EVs, JBLs, Altecs, LaScalas, Cornwalls-all kinds of horns. I never stop fiddlin' around. This week I'll receive a pair of EdgarHorn Saladbowls, like I don't have enough horns already. I'll try Altec 806s and 802s and JBL 2420 and LE-175s on them, see what sounds best, or best for awhile. :-)

George--You can see the tractrix Cornwall mod on my website, just click the little house icon. I think the mod gave the CWs a smoother more natural sound. How much of this was due to the "tractrixness" of the new horn and how much was due to the new horn's different dispersion pattern and larger entrance I don't know. The supporters of tractrix horns claim a smoother sound for them and the tractrix horns I've heard sound good but then so do many of the non-tractrix horns I've heard and used. This week I'll be receiving a pair of Bruce Edgar's "saladbowl" round tractrix horns to use with my JBL and Altec compression drivers, the results should be interesting. It might be beneficial to mount the tweeter vertically, it was intended to be used that way, but leaving it horizontal makes the cabinet work of the mod much easier. Actually vertical mounting might make the tweeter dispersion too wide compared to the mids and be a bad thing, just thinking.

Colin--To get philosophical that sloppy boom is the way the bassist chooses his rig to sound, the point is can the B&W reproduce it? :-)

Shock---Not all K-55Vs exhibit the 9kz flare, a friend's testing showed it in about 20% of the units tested.

Slon--About 25 years ago I drummed in a punk-power trio and we used my LaScalas as PA speakers for jobs in bars, only vocals and drums were fed them. They heldup well. But if I was buying something today I'd go real prosound, JBL or EV, more rugged.

B&W---I don't mean just sound like in the room but sounding like the actual instruments, you know, to sound like an actual SVT, Hammond and Leslie or a Dynasonic. I've heard B&Ws big guns and they can't do that. No B&W ever made me think I was in the presence of a Marshall 1959 and a double stack. To me that comes first, imaging and such is way down my list.

gjp--Look at the photos of the Peavey FH-1 basshorns on my website. You will clearly see the shelf-brace and corner reflectors. The shelf-brace would be the more useful of the 2 mods, it's an old idea going back at least to the Shearer Horns of the mid 1930s. As the LS basshorn only has to respond to 400 cycles I wouldn't worry much about the reflectors.

B&W---What's a soundstage? I never heard one. I do have experience listening to and playing drums, guitar, electric bass, sax, organ and piano but I never jammed with someone who played a soundstage. Now the Klipschs can sound like those insteruments are right in the room with you but no B&W ever sounded to me like a Fender Jazz played though an Ampeg SVT was right there with me. But maybe they do sound like a soundstage, can I hear one at Guitar Center or Sam Ash?

The dented centercap doesn't matter, not with a sub, but you can probably suck it back out with a vacuum cleaner hose. If you have trouble getting it back out don't worry about it.

With the KHorns you are locked into one "firing pattern", you can aim the Belles as you please which might be of benefit. Try pulling the KHorns out from the corners and experiment with the aiming, if you get better sound thusly then the Belles would be a good way to go providing you don't mind the lack of low bass compared to the KHorns. Experiment before you commit.

Fini---You could use a guitar amplifier cover, there are outfits that make them in custom sizes. Or you could simply dust them once in a while. :-)

Shock---Given how bad you say your rig sounds I doubt very much that changing mid drivers will help, that is unless the ones you have now are not working. IME changing one competent compression driver for another has never made a dramatic difference and certainly not as change as drastic as going from bad to good.

Al---I've a good memory and my views call for no apology. If open-minded means to say that what I think is bad is good, well yes, call me narrow minded.

Al K---Wrong about what? What have I ever been wrong about here? Have I ever passed off false information? And don't I quality my preferences as just that? OK, wait---in MY OPINION high-end audio is a scam, a morass of overpriced, bad-sounding junk sold in precious boutiques. MY PREFERENCE is that I'd rather listen mono to a beater 1957 Hollywood A7 driven by a 1955 Knightkit amp (and sometimes I do) than to any high-end rig I've ever heard. OK Al? Am I wrong?