Jump to content

Help Me Choose a Tweeter


tagger

Recommended Posts

As the title suggests, I'm looking for help choosing a tweeter.  I built a pair of two-way Cornscalas with Crites 15" cast woofers and Altec 288 / MR594 horn mid-tweeters.  I started another thread asking about the merits of changing it to a three-way by adding a tweeter to cover the very high frequencies.  I'm now looking for suggestions on which tweeters I should consider.  Chris A suggested the Beyma CP25 would mate well with the manta-ray mid horn crossing somewhere between 2.5 - 4 kHz.  I currently have a pair of Altec 902's I could try, keeping the top section all Altec.  I am also considering the B&C DE250 and B&C DE10.  I'd like to hear opinions on these and any others I should consider.  Also, is there a rule of thumb in matching dispersion patterns of horns covering different frequency ranges in the same system?

 

Joe

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beyma cp25 is my favorite but way too hot for a stock crossover.  Needs to be attenuated a bit as does the DE10.  The DE10 is a good deal.  I liked the Beyma better but I never tried the DE10 with anything but the stock horn... it would be interesting to compare with the Contrac-T horn from Fastlane.  

 

I'd also like to hear from those more knowledgeable about dispersion patterns.  I would think your goals would matter... are you looking for a one seat sweet spot or trying to make it a larger area?  Also, varying dispersion patterns at different frequencies and the resulting reflections... what is the end result going to be where you are sitting?  I've worried less about dispersion and more about aligning drivers I suppose.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Joe: you might want to play with some 25 - 35 PPI open cell foam in the throats of your Altec horns and or the drivers for that matter. If you like to play loud the horn you have (MR594) is going to spit and sound like eggs frying eggs, that's a result of the diffraction design of the horn. If you don't play loud it probably won't be an issue for you but you still might like the foam as it will reduce reflections. Good luck with the tweeter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I should have mentioned, I'm using ALK gentle slope 700 Hz for the low cross and will use ALK extreme slope networks at either 4000 Hz or 5800 Hz for the tweeter.  I will be able to attenuate both the squawker and tweeter to taste.  These are being used in my basement theater room which is set up for both 2-channel listening and watching movies in 5.1.  I'm probably the only one who listens to music on this system, but a one seat sweet spot is never one of my goals.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Joe: you might want to play with some 25 - 35 PPI open cell foam in the throats of your Altec horns and or the drivers for that matter. If you like to play loud the horn you have (MR594) is going to spit and sound like eggs frying eggs, that's a result of the diffraction design of the horn. If you don't play loud it probably won't be an issue for you but you still might like the foam as it will reduce reflections. Good luck with the tweeter.

 

Would you add the foam to the throat slot only, or cut it to fill the entire horn?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Joe: you might want to play with some 25 - 35 PPI open cell foam in the throats of your Altec horns and or the drivers for that matter. If you like to play loud the horn you have (MR594) is going to spit and sound like eggs frying eggs, that's a result of the diffraction design of the horn. If you don't play loud it probably won't be an issue for you but you still might like the foam as it will reduce reflections. Good luck with the tweeter.

 

Would you add the foam to the throat slot only, or cut it to fill the entire horn?

 

well I would extend the foam past the slot into the open part of the horn a half inch to catch the air there but just in the slot out to stop the frying eggs sound. You can use the foam  to fill the entire horn which is what Geddes does in his horns but that gets expensive. Start with the slot and the throats of your drivers first. see link http://www.gedlee.com/summa_.htm

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Has anyone here ever used a small format horn with a 902 driver?  I also posed this question at the Lansing Heritage forum with no responses, so perhaps it's just not used in this application.  I don't see why it couldn't though since the 902 (on paper) goes up to 20 kHz.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have considered the JBL 2404 -- it's a very nice sounding HF driver.  It's not at the top of my list due to availability, cost and especially the 100 x 100 dispersion pattern.  Perhaps I'm wrong, but I thought it best to more closely match the 90 x 40 pattern of the mid horn.  In addition, my basement only has a 7.5 ft ceiling, and the tweeter will be approximately 4 ft from the ground.  I'd think keeping the vertical pattern tighter would be preferable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would add to the Beyma suggestions as I've run them with a similar set up.  Same woofers, fastrac midhorns and the Beyma's and sounded great but Dean built my crossovers specific to the build so I can't answer as to what adjustments were  made for that combination.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What is an appropriate horn to use with the Altec 902 as a tweeter above 4000 Hz? Typically with horns I go with bigger is better but I'm not sure that's necessary with the higher frequencies.

902 on Altec 511b horn. Cross at 500hz

Edited by IB Slammin
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've tested a dozen of horn tweeters from CT125, K77 (EV T-35), CP-25, DE250, D32 and alot more. the best horn tweeter I've heard so far (under 500$) is Faital Pro HF108 with a STH-100 Elliptical horn. it's drop-dead gorgeous. CP-25 was my favorite before I heard HF108. Greg Roberts uses this driver with 18Sound XT120 on his horn speakers. 18Sound XT120 is very similar to Faital Pro STH-100 horn

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beyma cp25 is my favorite but way too hot for a stock crossover.

 

The spec sheet below shows the CP 25 sensitivity as 104 db.  I haven't heard it, but wonder why it would be too hot? 

http://www.usspeaker.com/beyma%20CP25-1.htm

 

 

I have a DE-10 (approx. 107 db) with the stock horn and it needs attenuation.

http://www.usspeaker.com/B&C-DE10-1.htm

Link to comment
Share on other sites

CP-25 was my favorite before I heard HF108. Greg Roberts uses this driver with 18Sound XT120 on his horn speakers. 18Sound XT120 is very similar to Faital Pro STH-100 horn

 

The coverage of the Beyma still looks better to my eyes.  I'm wondering what the listening differences are? 

 

I found that I had to EQ the Beyma CP25 around 5 kHz and 12.4 kHz to remove two peaks (using a Dx38...see the "Out3" settings here).  After that, the tweeter/horn assembly sounds much better.  It handles crossing as low as 2.5 kHz with ease.

 

Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...