Cornwall with Altec 511b horn

[sidu]

I have bought a pair of Altec 511 horns i i want to put them on the top of my CWs. This is Cornwall E speakers - i think is european version of CW 1. Speaker setup is: K-55-V, K-77 and K-33-P.
Last year i have upgraded caps on the crossover, wich is type B. Do i need new crossover for 511b? I will be greatfull for help and all of sugestions for this upgrade. All changes i want to do it myself.

[Ziggurat]

 

looking forward to responses on this - I have a pair of 511b's looking for a project 🙂

[Seadog]

You my not need to change the crossovers, but you will need an adapter for the K-55-V driver to the 511b horn since the bolt patterns are different.  Even with an adapter, you may need to drill new holes in the flanges of the horns.

 

I switched to 511b horns in my Khorns over 15 years ago and did not change the crossovers (AK-3 crossovers, K-55-M drivers).  They sound great.

 

[henry4841]

Parts express sells the adapter which works great with no drilling. No change of crossover is necessary. When it comes to horns bigger is better. The 511b is one of the few really big horns that will work with 1" drivers.  

[Toz]

I messed around with 511's on top of Cornwalls with the adapters to use the K55 drivers. The throat is much more open, giving a open airy sound but less focused. I didn't change anything in my B2 crossovers for the experiment. I think it sounded balanced enough. I guess the open throat could reduce the efficiency compared to the stock klipsch horn. I tired of the sound after the newness faded and put it all back to stock. It's a fun thing to try and really gives your Cornwalls a taste of the big Altec sound. 

[Toz]

And all I did was lay them on there with some rubber pads. 

[moray james]

bigger is better but bigger is not always better and the Altec 511b (and the 811b) has a very long history of ringing issues which are virtually impossible to make go away 100%. If you want to go bigger use a better horn. Some love them many do not, the 811b was in my first set of purchased loudspeakers Altec A7 and I would never go back to either a 811b or a 511b. I like large format two way loudspeakers. I even like small format two way loudspeakers, I have a set of Tannoy Revolution series XT Mini  (and a pair of XT6 as well) and have owned a lot of other dual concentric Tannoy in the past starting with a pair of 1947 12" silver, monitor gold, HPD in various sizes as well as some non DC Tannoy models and I find the Revolution XT Series to be the best sounding DC the company has ever made at any price.

[sootshe]

I have used the 511 horn in quite a few applications, including with a few Klipsch speakers (Bell, LS) & I found it far superior to the standard factory horns. The 511 is a much better sounding horn than the 811......a lot more open & less fatiguing. I think you will find it to be a big step forward for your CW's. 

 

In terms of the ringing associated with the 511....yes, it does exhibit a fair amount of ringing but can be tamed quite successfully & then it becomes a very smooth & open sounding component. All sorts of things have been tried to reduce the ringing, but I took the advice of one of the old Altec guru's Jim Dickenson, which was paint & sand & I quote below.

 

"Layers of latex paint and sand.

I've done it to all my horns, 511's and 811's and it works beautifully.

 

Best done on a hot day, or with a heat lamp.

Any latex paint will do.

Glop on a layer of paint, then follow with sand. I made a salt shaker out of a jar with holes in the lid.

Let it dry between coats. It takes about 6 coats.

 

Dead like wood when done.

 

And it's cheap!"

 

This process really works well.....you can put on as many coats as you like & by the time you've finished they will be noticeably heavier & as dead as a door nail. 

The only downside is that after this process they won't look very pretty, but usually the horns are mounted inside a box of some sort.

 

If you want an unbiased opinion on the sound of this horn I suggest you visit the Altec Users Board.....https://www.hostboard.com/forums/f700/altec-users-board.html

 

No changes necessary to your crossover....they will work just fine.