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La Scala with Altec 511 horn


Croc

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Got 511 horns for my La Scalas - and although i love midrange timbre and clarity and increase in details - they create a new problem.

But first few words about the setup:
- ~1977 La Scalas which AA xover was modified to A by removing diodes and second coil. Caps were refreshed few years ago by Bob's oil caps.
- tweeters i use are JBL 2404
- small braces on bass bins

so what's the problem?
the midbass became slow and wooly - the fast and snappy character of La Scalas has been lost.

i'm thinking to try attennuate squawker.
saw this thread with instructions: http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/t/135666.aspx

any additional ideas?

because imrovements it brought i really like - if i just could solve this midbass issue....

Thx,
Gennady

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I would change the crossover frequency to 500hz and let the bass bin take over the upper mid bass mission.......and after makeing the change....then decide if you need a mid horn level adjustment. use a swamping resistor if your going to change the mid horn tap setting.

post-22082-13819638586836_thumb.png

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make sense.

what to mod to raise xover point to 500hz?

another one - for mid attenuation Al says to use 16 ohm resistor across the output to the mid driver, and dropping to tap #3 :

Type%20AA-3dbmod.jpg

so it needs to be 12 watt or more?

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Using a 16 ohm resistor would probally be OK for Heresy or Cornwalls, but not for LaScala's. the 16 ohm resister changes the crossover frequency to high. For general approximates, you have two choices, one with no soldering which is good just to get a feel of what the sound will be like, the other with soldering to implement the final solution. To change the crossover frequency to 500hz, you need a 9.9uf capacitor to replace the 13uf capacitor. You can test what this will sound like by temporarily a 5 watt 110 ohm resistor across the mid driver terminals. The 110 ohm resistor changes the calculations in a way that results in the 13uf cap being OK for 500hz. These are approximates...you or I do not have the proper tools to do exacting work.

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It says "type a" right on the schematic......doesn't change the fact that if you add a 16 ohm resistor in between the auto-former and the driver your crossover frequency will rise to high. You need to use a parallel resistance program to first get the new resistance of the parallel combination for the driver+the new resister, then you run that new number into a crossover calculator. every time you change the load in between the auto former and the driver the crossover frequency will shift. If you use the 16 ohm resister, you will have a hole between 600hz and 800hz.

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speakerfritz said: "Using a 16 ohm resistor would probally be OK for Heresy or Cornwalls,
but not for LaScala's. the 16 ohm resister changes the crossover
frequency to high."

I am guessing that you did not notice the drawing showing the tap used going to tap 3?

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speakerfritz said: "Using a 16 ohm resistor would probally be OK for Heresy or Cornwalls,

but not for LaScala's. the 16 ohm resister changes the crossover

frequency to high."

I am guessing that you did not notice the drawing showing the tap used going to tap 3?

I saw that. Not going to feed into confusion. If you we move to tap 3, net impedance change would be zero. Net crossover frequency change will also be zero. I'm trying to address the methods used to correct the crossover frequency to what the manufacture of the altec 511 recommends. choices are changes caps, change load. you can change the load to shit the crossover frequency....but if thats the approach...it would not make sense to change the load using resistors and then change it back using a tap setting change. the new frequency change will be zero. Important point...changing the level of the auto-former will not change the crossover frequency if you use the methods described at the link. The original issue was a loss of mid bass. reducing the level of the mid driver in the manner described at the link will not increase mid bass. It sounds like the OP ha pre-decided to do a level change and just wants encouragement....which I am not going to encourage with out first fixing the crossover frequency issues.

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Impedance of the K-55 is about 11 ohms at 500hz. Combination of 16 ohm resistor and 11 ohm driver is 6.52 ohms. Effective impedance then when connected to tap 3 is 26 ohms. I will let you do the rest of the math.

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so what's the verdict?

mit attenuation or xover point move?

resistor or cap?

what wattage/voltage shoud it be?

we were waiting for your report....the resistor seems the easiest...if you're OK with a -3db cut along with the crossover point change.

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  • 1 month later...

an update - abvout a month ago i installed Bob's midrange gaskets and it tamed the mid bass problem.
apperantly the opening of the gasket is smaller than k55 throat - so it's probably a must item to use as it affects sound a lot.

anyway - it looks like i really missing something - 511 horn doesn't get down to 400 Hz as k400 does - so probably i'm having a 100 Hz "whole" (thx to speakerfritz for pointing this out).

and indeed it sounds now like not enoough energy in the mid bass (i hope it's not psychological [;)]).

i don't understand in xovers - so pls tell me is it possible to raise woofer to 500Hz?

or maybe it's just better to go for "drop in" solution such as Dave's Fastrac horn?

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anyway - it looks like i really missing something - 511 horn doesn't get down to 400 Hz as k400 does - so probably i'm having a 100 Hz "whole" (thx to speakerfritz for pointing this out).

remember , you came into the picture already in the middle of a 511 install.....we don't know what problem you were trying to solve?




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what do you mean by that?

the problem currently that it doesn't sound 100% right.

since you enlightened me that 511 and K400 have different frew responce - i think this should be solved.

how? sounds to me that moving xover point from 400 to 500 is required.

but i'm not 100% sure as i'm not speaker design expert.

so expirienced guys' input will be highly appreciated.

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what do you mean by that?

What were you looking to gain by moving to the 511? It's got to be more than getting it to behave like a k-400. What were you told that the 511 would do for you? When you first posted this project, you had already decided to install a 511.

how? sounds to me that moving xover point from 400 to 500 is required.

so you want to know what changes need to be made to your crossover to get a 500HZ xover point? let me see if I can go back and find which xover you have. Ok, if we assume to made the changes that Bob recomended which was to put in a resister and move the squawker to a lower tap, to complete that change, you would need to replace the 2.5mh inductor with a 1.27mh one. Thats what will raise the crossover point into your woofers. You can also just add a second 2.5mh inductor in parallel to the first, which will also result in 1.25mh.




post-22082-13819641543118_thumb.png

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Croc, did you know that the Belle and LaScala shared the same crossover for many years but had a different crossover frequency? The lower order slopes of the A or AA mean you are crossing over where the horn wants ( the electric crossover not the dominating factor, the acoustic crossover is).

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Croc, did you know that the Belle and LaScala shared the same crossover for many years but had a different crossover frequency? The lower order slopes of the A or AA mean you are crossing over where the horn wants ( the electric crossover not the dominating factor, the acoustic crossover is).


absolutely correct. And in the later AB network, more was allowed to go into the woofer by totally eliminating the 2.5mh inductor that was in place during the AA days.



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