Gauss 4080 horn driver info

[hobie1dog]

Anyone ever heard the big 50 pound driver from Gauss? I read where it is compared to the JBL driver with very similar sound quality.

This is an Audiogon link with some great pictures of it. Might work on a 402 horn really well, and a lot more cost effective. This ad wants 1300.00 for the pair...another ad on Audiogon had a pair for 900.00

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1232550299&/Gauss-4080-Reference-Horn-D

[Deang]

http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/p/55384/534893.aspx#534893

I'm trying to figure out how these are "cost effective". You have to buy the K-402 horn with the K-69-A driver attached -- you can't just buy the horn. I guess it's cost effective compared to the TAD some of the guys are using, but then you have to design a crossover for the system from scratch -- you'd save some money at the expense of an optimized design.

[hobie1dog]

I didn't know that you could not buy the 402 horn by itself.[]

You would not have to design a crossover when you are bi-amping already.[Y]

[Deang]

You still need to know the proper low shelf, high shelf, and peq settings -- which are specific to the horn/driver combination you're using -- settings you aren't going to be able to determine without measuring (properly).

[colterphoto1]

I've heard the Gauss driver. They're pretty toppy for such a large driver but we have no specs on them. Besides, you can't get replacment diaphragms anymore. They are all long gone.

[djk]

GAUSS	1502	HF	DK-1502	Aluminum	8 ohms
GAUSS	2080	HF	DK-2080	Aluminum	8 ohms
GAUSS	2081	HF	DK-2081	Phenolic	8 ohms
GAUSS	4060	HF	DK-4060	Aluminum	16 ohms
GAUSS	4061	HF	DK-4061	Phenolic	16 ohms
GAUSS	4080	HF	DK-4080	Aluminum	8 ohms
GAUSS	4081	HF	DK-4081	Phenolic	8 ohms

"Besides, you can't get replacment diaphragms anymore. They are all long gone. "

http://www.greatplainsaudio.com/parts.html

This is, of course, the place that makes the K77 diaphragms that BEC sells.

The Gauss 40xx series was designed by Ed May (ex-JBL), and was a pretty straight-up copy of the JBL375/2440. As such they have no real high end, and have a peak around 9Khz. The dual-spider Gauss woofers were a JBL design for Fender. When JBL refused to make them anymore, May just went arcoss the street, started Gauss, and made the same drivers with some cosmetic changes.

The TAD products have a similar story, except the ex-JBL engineer was Bart Locanthi. He duplicated the JBL375/2440 but with one more slot in the phase plug (the TAD 4001). The woofers were varients of his JBL LE15/2215 designs. The first 1" drivers had the Be diaphragms (made with the same process Yamaha developed for the Be drivers in their NS1000M), but they tried a Mylar edge (Yamaha used cloth), and these Be diaphragms actually would fit Altec/JBL 44mm voice-coil drivers. The 2" drivers used a variable density all Be diaphragm (and don't go as low as the 1" models, as they can shatter).

That Gauss price seems high to me, I sold a pair in new shape a while back for $400. The guy that owns them would probably sell them (he sold his MCM 1900s).

Just to make everyone ill, here is a pair of Gauss HF4000 in good shape that went for (almost) free:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEDWX:IT&item=270298830085

I guess you could have used the horns with the Jubilee, although they are a bit bigger than the K402.

[colterphoto1]

Yikes, Illinois, that's right next door!

Thanks for the source, I'll pass that along to Kevin Harmon, who bought my MCM/Gauss system last summer. My info on the unobtainability of the replacements comes from a Klipsch engineer. I'll stand corrected.