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Yamaha S4115H Horns


nu2toobs

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We have seen a similar speaker on the bass horn before. A guy came to the forum asking if it was a Klipsch product. Somebody knew who made it too as I recall.

Those are nice looking speakers but that top side horn not too impressive imho.

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I've got a pair and they sound terrible. However, they were overdriven and the crossovers probably need to be reworked. It's a 1200Hz horn. The compression driver is rated 20watts 800-20kHz. The horn is cast aluminum (thick).

The woofer has a white paper cone.

They weigh too much...

Bruce

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I've got a pair and they sound terrible. However, they were overdriven and the crossovers probably need to be reworked. It's a 1200Hz horn. The compression driver is rated 20watts 800-20kHz. The horn is cast aluminum (thick).

The woofer has a white paper cone.

They weigh too much...

Bruce

That's too bad...... They definitely look cool.......

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Maybe I am being a bit too harsh. I had them hooked up to some SS equip. that probably was not optimal, and didn't have any tube gear available at the time. I've pretty much dismantled everything, so I can't try them again. I have plans for the compression drivers, though on another horn, but most of my projects are dreams and life is too busy to follow through... [:|]

Since the speakers were free to me (our school was going to toss them), I'm not out anything. I've not been

Bruce

ps... this is from GordonW on AK...

That's a Yamaha S4115H... made from between about 1976 and 1982 or so.
Has a Yamaha JA-3881 15" driver (shallow-basket woofer with a 2 5/8"
diameter voice coil and a white cone- other than the cosmetics, sort of
similar to a Peavey Scorpion 15, BTW), and a Yamaha JA-4201 horn driver
on the back of that horn. You can tell, since it's got a silver-color
horn... the later models used a black-painted horn.



You can tell that I've rebuilt a few of them, over the years... biggrin.gif



Nice system, in any case. It's Yamaha's version of the Perkins-type
cabinet, similar to the JBL 4560 or Altec A7, only a bit smaller.
Definitely not much for low bass (it was good from around 50-60 Hz and
up, though), so you oftentimes see these in use with subwoofers (W-bin,
anyone? thumbsup.gif )



BTW: The S115, versions 1 through 4, was a later model version of the
same cabinet. Along the way, more and more of the parts were made by
Eminence for Yamaha, instead of by Yamaha themselves. Still a popular
cabinet... for good reason, IMHO...



As a note: For a while, it was hard to service the original parts in
these S4115H cabinets, since until recently, there wasn't a proper
recone kit for that 15" woofer, or a replacement aftermarket diaphragm
for the horn driver. As a result, many of these cabinets were
retrofitted with other components... such as the Eminence drivers, used
in the later model versions of this same type cabinet. However, both of
those issues are no longer the case, and it's readily possible to
rebuild anything inside of one of these systems. If you find one that's
still all original, I'd recommend KEEPING it all original... just
rebuild anything that's not working.



Regards,

Gordon.

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"though on another horn,"

Not too many horns with a four-bolt 3/4" throat.

These horns ring more than any horn I have ever heard, some sort of damping is a must.

OCS has aftermarket diaphragms for these that are pretty good and reasonably priced too.

The white woofers are fragile, and the magnets tend to shift if you look at them cross-eyed.

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Dennis - Have you seen any response graphs for the 4201 driver?

I could make new holes on a horn to mount the driver and the OCS prices for the aftermarket diaphragm are reasonable. I would have to cross these pretty high, but they seem to be in good shape. They were owned by the college where I work, and I have had them in storage for a few years.

Bruce

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  • 10 months later...

I used a pair of these on the road with my top 40 club band with a pair of Gause horn loaded cabs on the bottom for 7 years of playing 6 nights a week! They were very dependable and rugged. The 1" horns were a little weak in that in bigger clubs, I fried the drivers a couple of times. I carried a couple of spare drivers I got from Orange County Speaker (still there!) just in case! They project very well and are great for vocal ranges and guitars but lacked a little on the bottom end. (that's why the Gause speakers). We played to crowds of 250 to 600 people and they did a good job stacked on top of the Gause speakers. I heard it was possible to use higher power drivers but there was some issue with mounting them. I think the 1" drivers were about 50 watts and had good dispersion. I used a pair of the Yamaha 2115s monitors with the same horns also which worked very well. The only drawback was there size and weight, which back then was normal. They make good side fills or keyboard cabs too. What are you going to use them for?

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  • 4 years later...

I still have a pair of the cast aluminum horns and the JA-4201 drivers. The cabinets and woofers are long gone. I've seen the S4115H for sale once in a while. They are usually price fairly low as the are a rather heavy system to move around.

 

Bruce

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  • 1 year later...

I have the Yamaha s4115hII and use it has my center channel speaker in my 7.1 setup I sanded all the ruff black color off of it and painted it with automotive grade high gloss black and use it as my tv stand.   I found it outside by a dumpster and took it home and went to work on it.  6 coats of paint and 4 coats of clear and it is one H of a center channel speaker. 

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  • 2 years later...

I used the Yamaha 4115 back in the mid  to late 70's as DJ speakers and they sounded great in that day. It took my DJ system to a whole new level as everyone else in my area were using Peavey speakers.When they later changed the horn from metal to plastic the sound was not as good. They only problem I encountered with these speakers were blown diaphragms. I had to change these about twice per year, however, I was playing them extremely loud in night clubs. They had a very warm and natural sound. I'm sorry that I sold them. 

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