Best woofer for Belle

[MookieStl]

I currently have two pair of Belles and two pair of LaScalas and have one pair with K-33, one K-43, one Crites 1526C, and one with Kappa 15c. All 4 have the same bolt pattern and I like the sound of all 4. When I try real hard to pick a favorite or hear a difference, I still can't. Critical listening must not be my strong suit, but I do know crap when I hear it! Good luck with your build, they look great so far.

[longdrive03]

Thanks Mookie.  I may try out the "no number" 15" Eminence I referred to above and maybe compare to the 15C which Claude highly endorses.

[MookieStl]

Claude's endorsement was one of the main reasons I tried the 15c, and I like them very much. With all of the various models I've tried, they are all very good drivers. I have used some dogs over the years, but the four I mentioned earlier are all very fine drivers and work well the folded horn design in the LS and Belle. You'll be please with either.

[longdrive03]

 Right now I installed the 11-15-046 15" woofer in the one Belle I've finished and love the sound.  I haven't compared it to a K-33 which I have on hand and will do later.  The 046 is a massive speaker with cast frame and 3" vc and large gauge voice coil leads.  Here are the specs I just measured two days ago.

 

 

15 INCH EMINENCE 11-15-046 WOOFER 1.docx

[ClaudeJ1]

On 9/14/2016 at 1:36 PM, John Albright said:

 

That's not exactly untrue, but a little skewed.  A 4 ohm woofer places the woofer's impedance closer to the 8 ohm industry standard. 

 

The bass horn loads the cone so that the woofer's impedance is 6+ ohms in a La Scala and Belle (and something similar in the K-horn), pretty close to the nominal 8 ohms of any speaker.  Horn loading raises the efficiency to the 104 dB level.  And, the autoformer increases the impedance of the 107 dB squawker to attenuate its output to line up with the woofer.  The K-77s of the last 40 or more years have an impedance of 7.5-ish ohms and an output of 105 dB, pretty well in line with the other drivers. 

 

Pedantic?  Well,  ........  yeah. 

I agree with your extrapolation of my oversimplification here. In the same way, if you use an 8 ohm woofer, the horn loading will "push back" the dynamic electrical impedance via it's acoustic loading in the same manner (10 ohms?), thereby necessitating even further impedance increase to mate with the treble section while requiring more voltage swing from the amplifier driving the load. 

[ClaudeJ1]

On 9/19/2016 at 8:03 PM, MookieStl said:

I currently have two pair of Belles and two pair of LaScalas and have one pair with K-33, one K-43, one Crites 1526C, and one with Kappa 15c. All 4 have the same bolt pattern and I like the sound of all 4. When I try real hard to pick a favorite or hear a difference, I still can't. Critical listening must not be my strong suit, but I do know crap when I hear it! Good luck with your build, they look great so far.

If you used those woofers in my 5.5 ft long Quarter Pie design, you would clearly hear the difference in the lower bass. But using them in a 2.6 ft. horn with a 104 Hz. cutoff, you are missing an extra octave or more, regardless of the woofer.

[Speakerfritz]

I do not believe their is a "best" woofer for the LaScala or Belle.  Both are mid range horns.   You will undoubtedly need a sub woofer reguardless of the woofer you use.   Klipsch marrys the lascala with the kp-480 and family of subwoofers.

 

folks are adding ports, slots, cutting out the top of the bass bin to extend the dog house into the sealed crossover area, and god only know s what else to try to make these mid bass horns perform like horn loaded woofers.

 

 

 

[longdrive03]

Retired, so far haven't done any unwanted cutting. I finished the bass bin and am trying to get a good match between bass and EV ND6X mid/tw crossing around 500HZ.  Anyone have any crossover schemes  that I might view?  Bass RTA graph shows rise at 125-150.  Anyone us a SNF to tame that down???

[Outrider 6]

Now that the 4 ohm Kappalite 15C is out of production and the inventory all run out…. What other good choices are there for a Belle/LaScala/Cornwall?

[Edgar]

35 minutes ago, Outrider 6 said:

Now that the 4 ohm Kappalite 15C is out of production and the inventory all run out…. What other good choices are there for a Belle/LaScala/Cornwall?

Here's an ancient thread that might serve as a starting point: https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/topic/103773-analysis-of-klipschorn-and-la-scala-cabinets-with-several-drivers/

[jimjimbo]

1 hour ago, Outrider 6 said:

Now that the 4 ohm Kappalite 15C is out of production and the inventory all run out…. What other good choices are there for a Belle/LaScala/Cornwall?

K33/43 for Belle, LS