TBrennan

Shawn----There's been quite a bit of talk about the 2435s on the Lansing forum. I think they're best worth pursuing if one wants to do the 2-way thing, if using tweeters I see little advantage. I'd get a pair myself but recently I bought these absolutely gorgeous sounding 902s..........

"My brother has since modded the Cornwalls to a 2-way design with Altec horns/drivers, active crossovers, and biamplification (Crown and Technics) in a much larger room, and the Cornwalls sound superior without any harshness" No wonder, they're no longer Cornwalls and barely Klipsch speakers at all, one could as soon call them Altec VOTS with Klipsch woofers. One can hardly expect to get an idea of how good Khorns may sound in one room from how Altec speakers sound in another, it's apples and oranges.

I built A7-500 crossovers about 30 years ago, wound the coils myself around wooden bobbins, used the info in "How To Build Loudspeaker Enclosures" by Altec honchos Badmaieff and Davis. Nowadays there are many sources for crossover parts----Madisound, Parts Express, Meniscus and others. Many Altec fans are keen on the Dayton brand film caps from Parts Express. Good sound and decent price. They have good iron-core inductors too, iron core works good with Altecs. Or you can spend more and try large gauge air cores. Or wind your own, do you have the Badmaieff-Davis book? A must for all Altechies.

Shawn---Yup, 3" BE diaphragm, neo magnet, 1.5" exit. Used in the Vertec arrays. There are a couple of guys that sell them used on ebay once in a while for about $200-250 each, a bargain I think. That's where my pal got his. And Jammin Jeresy has them too but their price is dearer. If I wanted to go large format they're the way I'd go,no doubt in my mind.

Dave----I'd go to a LE175DLH 1" compression driver and horn-lens crossed at 1200hz. Check out the rig at the bottom of the photo. I know the drivers, they sound very good.

Have you heard Khorns before that sounded good to you? In my experience Khorns sound good with all the amps I've heard them with including such things as the audiophile pariah Crown DC-300s. But I like Khorns. I'm thinking that better amps might make your Khorns sound better but I've never heard any amp make a speaker I thought was bad sound good. In other words are the Khorns really the speakers for you? Not everyone likes them you know. If you have heard Khorns you like it's one thing but if you haven't you're on dangerous ground thinking you can throw money at them and get a sound you like. You're as likely to go backward as forward. Better in general to find a speaker you like than to try to find amps that compensate for a speaker you don't like. My opinions ya understand.

Best large format driver I've heard is the JBL 2435---better than the 4001, better than 2440-whatevers---even better than the 288. A pal uses them on old Community radial horns. Top end to die for.

"Yes, some tequilas are better than others and are actually very enjoyable." They're ALL enjoyable, I didn't say they weren't. They're also all crap. One can enjoy crap, just don't gild it. "Give it a try, it may lighten you up a bit." I drink not to get light but to get tight. "You seem to have a problem with our 'decadent society'" You're Goddam right I do.

Premium tequila? The very concept makes the head swim, only a decadent society could entertain such a notion. Just throw the crap down the hatch and get your load on. Premium tequila indeed.

Mine measured pretty good down to 50 cycles when placed tight into the corner. Mine were loaded with Klipsch K-33 woofers. I thought they were measuring flat down to 30hz, I scratched my head and then turned the furnace off. Not a LaScala clone, sturdier build for one and the folding scheme is common. Both the FH-1 and LaScala bassbins owe heavily to the MGM Shearer horn of the 1930s.

Chops----So now you should replace the K-33s with 416s and retune the boxes. Set your crossover at 1200, keep your top end EQ and in effect you'll have..........Model Nineteens!!! ;-) You see where the modding leads. ;-) But seriously,I think you should consider 416s, the upper bass and midrange is just magic. IMO.

"In perspective if Klipsch are close enough to awesome that a little tweaking is even better for some, which is ultimately the better design?" Yeah but some of the people around here end up using nothing Klipsch but the bassbin, they simply aren't Klipsch speakers anymore. By the time a fella is using Khorn bassbins with 902s on 511s and Fostex tweeters........that's more than a little tweaking, that's designing and making a custom speaker. Why I moddded my Klipschs right away from being any Klipsch at all. ;-)

Nah, I drink whiskey. VO or Jim Beam. With an Old Style chaser when I can get it.

McCauley made horn-lenses too, I used the ones pictured with an 800hz crossover with JBL drivers. They were 130 degree jobs, too wide a pattern to work wellas front speakers in my room but excellent for surrounds, as shown. Though I must admit the main thing was that they looked cool.

Shawn---Most compression drivers have an inside flare rate of 200hz or so, it goes back to WE days. Thus most horn-drivers combinations will have a flare rate discontinuity at the driver to horn junction. Experience seems to show that such discontinuity is a minor problem if one at all. Not if one is necking down though, only when expanding, necking down causes serious response errors. The adapters I've used (and those I've examined) seem to follow the driver flare rate so the discontinuity would come at the adapter to horn junction rather than the driver to adapter one.

"The K55 is a 1.4" throat and the K510 is 2"." I think the K-55 is 1" screw-on. 1.4" is the 4-bolt large format Altec, the 288 and such.

The elements sans lenses

Why not build your own lenses? The slats can be made of stiff cardboard, Janszen put cardboard slat lenses in front of their electrostatic elements.

Some Bose speakers are OK, I've been caught unaware thinking they sounded OK before I knew they were Bose. Besides, ALL small speakers are only OK at best, it's not like Bose is alone in making small mediocre speakers. And if you want to talk overpriced lousy speakers look at "high end" garbage like Totem, Sonus-Faber yada-yada. You know, the crap that new-age audiophiles who don't know a 604 or 4435 from a hole in the ground call "monitors".

Doc----I don't know the 850 but the Radian 475 sounds as good to me as any 1" driver. I heard 475s at Tom Danley's house on his Unity horns and they were all one could want. Danley said the Radians measured very well. I presume you respect his judgement. As Radian is an outgrowth of the old "real" Altec and Emilar companies I'd expect the 850 to perform about as well as any other good driver of the type. There's an interesting recent thread on the Lansing site about the relationship between Altec, Emilar, Radian and Renkus-Heinz.

Stan White eh? I met him at a hi-fi shop where he was touting his little shotglass speakers, they weren't bad at all. Figures that John would know him. ;-)

You're being conned.

Ringgold Gap, where ole Pat Cleburne gave Fightin' Joe Hooker a bloody nose back in 18and63.

These things sound pretty good and might go cheap. I'd drive down to Ringgold myself and get them but I'm all speakered up. http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Peavey-Sp1-concert-speakers-Pair-in-great-shape_W0QQitemZ140069178504QQihZ004QQcategoryZ47094QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem I once had a set of those Peavey basshorns, FH-1s, with K-33s in them, pretty good. John Albright can go after these.

Shawn----How much did the driver cost? And the horn? You should post this at the Lansing site and give Giskard a heart attack.