Yet another mid-horn question

[dubai2000]

Hi all,

having rediscovered my Khorns I have also been trying the different horns in my possession: Altec 511, Cobreflex and EV SM120A. Don't ask which I like best as I honestly don't know....yet(?)....[:^)] .

Anyway, one kind of horn I haven't tried yet are multicells. Now they are kind of difficult to get in Europe but there seems to be a gentleman in the UK who offers 10 or 15 cell horns (Altec replicas I guess). He makes them out of mdf which might have the advantage of being accoustically 'dead'.

But here my questions:

Is mdf really a good material for horns? I seem to recall that for common box designs mdf is often called 'grey' sounding?

Has anybody compared multicells to either the cobreflex or EV? People who have changed over from the 511 to an Altec multicell seem to be quite happy.

Any feedback will be useful as I'd rather not buy something that I know nothing about.

Wolfram

[Guest David H]

Is mdf really a good material for horns?

Generally speaking, the material used to build the horn makes little difference as long as the finished product doesn't resonate and color the sound.

I build several of my horns with MDF because it is dense, and easy to machine.

I would be far more concerned about the horns design an application.

Good luck....Have fun....

Dave

[dubai2000]

Thanks for the input, Dave. Now that the MDF Question has been answered, I guess I'd have to decide between 10 or 1 cells. Any suggestions?

Wolfram

[coolhandjjl]

I have a gut feeling that folks like the multi-cellular Altecs because the dividers help dampen the the horn's ringing rather than any acoustic benefits of multi cells. On their plain ones, some were dipped in tar, some people coat them in bondo, set them in sand, every trick in the book to knock out ringing. They look cool, but IMO, that's where it ends. (Hopefully I don't start WWIII here.)

There's a gazillion horn makes out there, some simple, and some with complicated veneering and lathing. And 99.999999% are not multicellular. I'd say they are all un-multi-cellular, but that one guy here will find one custom made one that is multi cellular and post it here.

Dave's Eliptrac 400 is a 2" tractric design horn, 400~20K. Lots of folks here have them are they are the real deal.

[dubai2000]

John,

I am certainly not trying to promote anybody's product here! Yes, I believe multicells so look 'cool', but what I am after is not looks, but a 'bigger' sound. If multicell is a way to achive that - I don't know - but postings here and on the net seem to suggest something along the line.

I should add that I used to own a horn similar to a WE66a and I suppose due to opening of the horn (1 sq metre !) it sound unlike any horn I had heard before (large, devoid of any(!!) harshness, very colourful - in a positive/realistic way).

Now in my current room there'd be no place for such a large horn, but I am hoping to get a bit closer to that experience.

Wolfram

[Islander]

I've read that multicell horns have issues with lobing and other kinds of interference between cells. They may have been originally built for huge outdoor PA systems. There's no need to scale down a design like that for home use.

A single horn would likely sound better in your home or other typical-sized listening area.