Wood to Aluminum MAHL V2 tweeters

[Panelhead]

  Then maybe only oil wood from the Middle East has the tight grain. The Spanish, Greek, and Italian olive groves are in a more temperate climate. 

  The desire for tight grain is driven by the machining done. Noticed Dave has given in to helicoils or wood inserts. These are usually a very course thread on the outside and a machine thread on the inside. 

[Dave A]

2 hours ago, glens said:

Something tangential which I really, really wonder about is when it became customary to call a "horn" a "lens."

When you find out let me know but so many here do this I went along with it and will not be changing the name to MAL. It's like motorboard. I go to the klipsch forum and this is what I read that it is called and everyone here knows what it means. You go elsewhere and the grammar cops regale you with correct versions.

[Dave A]

1 hour ago, Panelhead said:

  Then maybe only oil wood from the Middle East has the tight grain. The Spanish, Greek, and Italian olive groves are in a more temperate climate. 

  The desire for tight grain is driven by the machining done. Noticed Dave has given in to helicoils or wood inserts. These are usually a very course thread on the outside and a machine thread on the inside. 

All kinds of wood have tight grain but you have to go up north for most of it. Now here locally there is very dense wood with small pores and the tightness of grain is not so important with these types. Not commonly available like Red Oak and Walnut though.

[Marvel]

5 hours ago, Panelhead said:

  I think this is olive wood. 

 

Olive wood finishes very nicely.

[glens]

7 hours ago, Dave A said:

so many here do this I went along with it and will not be changing the name to MAL

 

Not so many that I've noticed; rather more just a handful.  I've never before this site encountered the term "horn lens" apart from the acoustic lenses for horns which (at least) JBL used back in the '70s.  But if a horn is a lens, then it's especially illogical to call it a "horn lens".  Might as well call it a horn horn or a lens lens!

 

I've wondered about the derivation of MAHL anyway.  Maybe "machined aluminum horn lens" or something?

 

If that's the case, you beautiful creations in wood couldn't rightfully be MAHLs anyway, right?

[Dave A]

1 hour ago, glens said:

 

Not so many that I've noticed; rather more just a handful.  I've never before this site encountered the term "horn lens" apart from the acoustic lenses for horns which (at least) JBL used back in the '70s.  But if a horn is a lens, then it's especially illogical to call it a "horn lens".  Might as well call it a horn horn or a lens lens!

 

I've wondered about the derivation of MAHL anyway.  Maybe "machined aluminum horn lens" or something?

 

If that's the case, you beautiful creations in wood couldn't rightfully be MAHLs anyway, right?

Well look I could have ten different names or just stick with one that is well known and let others be word cops.   It just does not pay to keep switching things around.

[MechEngVic]

4 minutes ago, Dave A said:

Well look I could have ten different names or just stick with one that is well known and let others be word cops.   It just does not pay to keep switching things around.

Yeah, MAHL is a brand now.

[glens]

What does "MAHL" stand for?

[Budman]

MAHL - machined aluminum horn lens

[glens]

That's what I'd guessed.  So really what we have here is MAH and MWH.  I'll leave it at that...

[Dave A]

53 minutes ago, glens said:

That's what I'd guessed.  So really what we have here is MAH and MWH.  I'll leave it at that...

 I will consult my marketing director and see if he can be swayed. Model "T". Hmmm, Model Terrific? Model Transport? Model Twidledee? What could Ford have been thinking anyway?

[Panelhead]

18 hours ago, Marvel said:

 

Olive wood finishes very nicely.

  The picture is the unfinished back to the crucifix. The finish looks to be a high gloss clear. I like the grain pattern that runs through some of the wood. 

  The wood is very stable and tough. They machine 10 mmm round beads and somehow orient to center bore with the the grain. All the holes are centered. Never had one crack. 

  I am worse off than the worry about naming. The looks of the horn is important to me. Never see it again after installation. 

[Dave A]

35 minutes ago, Panelhead said:

They machine 10 mmm round beads and somehow orient to center bore with the the grain. All the holes are centered. Never had one crack. 

This is the problem with large sections of wood. Small ones are far less likely to crack over time. Even kiln dried lumber can crack when you start having pieces 4" thick unless you layer it and glue boards together to get there. Once you do the consistent grain pattern is gone.

[Coytee]

In case this helps...

 

I bought this Olive Wood chess set back in 1984 when I was in  Bethlehem.  One side is carved out of dark Olive Wood and the other side is carved out of lighter Olive Wood.  

 

(you could instead have bought some that were noticeably stained to make the light/dark contrast)

 

Anyway, so these are what, pushing 36 years old.  They've been played with but you can still see (what I think would be) their stability.

 

They even have pupils.....

 

Me personally, I tend to fall into the camp of I don't care what something looks like.  Many of these speakers, the drivers would likely be behind a grill....  so that makes this irrelevant.

 

However, for those that show it, I think it is nice that they could have matching Walnut....  or, something exotic.  

 

Heck, for those who sit their tweeter on top (of their LaScala for example), you could make (in this case) an Olive Wood stand that would hold the matching exotic tweeter....

 

Not ganging up...  but wanted to show some of the detail this has and how stable they've been for me during my ownership.

 

Oh, and I paid an whopping $100 for the entire chess set (32 pieces) AND a matching Olive Wood roughly 20x20 inch board with again, matching light/dark pieces instead of stained.

 

 

[glens]

2 hours ago, Dave A said:

What could Ford have been thinking anyway?

 

I believe he was merely iterating through the alphabet with successive model designations, not using the letters as a form of descriptive shorthand.

 

At any rate, I've been contemplating a new thread exploring the relatively recent use of "lens" for "horn" anyway, and was prompted to bring it up in this thread instead, for some forgotten reason (probably related to whiskey).  I do recall that performing an Internet search for the question "is an acoustic horn a lens?" returns a couple of sales listings and content from this very forum site.  Apart from that, anything actually technically-oriented is almost completely information about devices (lenses) to control dispersion of sound waves - placed in front of the mouths of circular horns.

 

This whole thing was never intended as a thread-crap, and as the maker you're entitled to call them whatever you want.  I was merely seeking some history of the novel nomenclature "horn lens" (or even "lens" by itself) referring to just horns.  It would appear upon quite casual investigation that it's source is primarily some few visitors to this very site, which is interesting if true.  

 

------

 

That's a lovely chess set!

[MechEngVic]

5 hours ago, glens said:

That's what I'd guessed.  So really what we have here is MAH and MWH.  I'll leave it at that...

A thought: IF a horn is the assembly, then the horn has two parts, the driver and the lens.

[glens]

The assembly is the driver and the horn connected together from where I'm standing.

 

I guess if the horn does specific things with the pattern it might could be thought of as a "lens horn" but that's a real stretch because all horns have dispersion characteristics.

 

Can you think of a situation where a lens is used other than to manipulate the focus or transmission of something which already exists (as in fully formed)?

 

Really, I'll start a thread for this maybe some time yet this coming week.

 

 

[MechEngVic]

6 hours ago, glens said:

The assembly is the driver and the horn connected together from where I'm standing.

 

I guess if the horn does specific things with the pattern it might could be thought of as a "lens horn" but that's a real stretch because all horns have dispersion characteristics.

 

Can you think of a situation where a lens is used other than to manipulate the focus or transmission of something which already exists (as in fully formed)?

I can't. After a bit of research I am beginning to see your point. Specifically: Horn vs. Lens vs. Waveguide.

[Dave A]

Say you guys know it is SMAHL and LMAHL so your life has just become more difficult and then add in the V2  I just don't know where you will end up.

[glens]

Still grinning at the terminology...