Tweeter Orientation

[Mr Tech]

Okay ,

My ALK Trachorns are soon too arrive .

Should the tweeters go on the outside or inside?

[Daddy Dee]

My opinion: tweeters on outside.

[gaspr]

You could try them either way before you put them completely back together. Probably not much of a noticeable difference.

Be sure to let us know what you think of this mod.

Garth

[Coytee]

My opinion: tweeters on outside.

Not having one yet (but acquiring some of the parts), this is also on my mind.

While contemplating it, some prior comments came to me, primarily "It's all about the midrange" and something akin to "you don't hear much of the tweeter"

I'm not terribly sure on the tweeter comment, I think the gist of it was, the midrange is the meat & potatoes of what you hear & the tweeter is just the icing.

If that's the case, wouldn't the soundstage be an inch wider if the midranges went on the outside if they do most of the work?? Would you not want them as far apart as possible?

I'm not arguing, I'm just asking outloud, what has been going through my head.

When it was going through my head, I finally told myself it probably doesn't matter a GREAT deal...that if there was any difference at all, it would be hardly noticable.

None the less, that if there WAS any difference at all, I then presumed it'd be more noticable with the midrange wider than the tweeter wider.

??

[Mr Tech]

If that's the case, wouldn't the soundstage be an inch wider if the

midranges went on the outside if they do most of the work?? Would

you not want them as far apart as possible?

Thanks for the response Coytee,

Those are my thoughts exactly. I have been pondering this for awhile now.

I have just installed my first trachorn & currently have the tweeter on the outside.

I will install the second one in the next couple of days and do some listening tests.

In my case, I also have false corners so there is not an easy way to

just swap these things around and listen to it both ways. Not to

mention that by the time I swapped them around I would probably not be

able to accurately remember how it sounded the other way unless there

was a radical difference.

I was really hoping somebody with experience on this matter would chime in and offer some guidance.

[mikebse2a3]

Okay ,

My ALK Trachorns are soon too arrive .

Should the tweeters go on the outside or inside?

The answer to this question is a little more complicated than it first appears.

Where the Tweeter's and Squawker's output levels are close to the same around the area of the acoustical crossover frequency both drivers in the case of Khorn, Belles and LaScala as well as other models will not be in phase. Since they will be mounted horizontally to each other that means there will be lobing (due to reinforcement and cancelation effects) in the Horizontal Plane so where you sit or how you angle the speakers in relation to your listening area could become an important factor in which direction (ie: Tweeter In or Out) might work best for you. The Slope of the crossover that you use could also determine which you prefer since a Steeper Slope(Like AL's Extreme Slope Networks) would exhibit a narrower Band of interferance than say a Type A Crossover. So different crossover networks, different brands of tweeters and as in the case of the Khorn which if located in a corner and thus no ability to alter the angle of the speakers in relation to the listening location makes this a case of you will need to try it both ways to see what works best in your individual listening situation. Another factor that makes this a need to try both situation is how the different tweeters people are using will have different dispersion characteristics along with the varying crossovers being used all affecting the way the speaker will disperse it's sound especially toward the side walls of the listening area.

This lobing in the Horizontal Plane is one of the main reasons why most speakers have their drivers mounted in the Vertical Plane (which then will exhibit lobing in the vertical direction but during the design stage hopefully this was taken into account so that most seated listeners will hear what the speaker Designer intended for it to sound like) so that the sound of the speakers will exhibit it's best/smoothest dispersion/frequency response in what for most situations would be the critical ability to move from side to side in the intended listening area.

To Sum It Up "Try It Both Ways and Use What Works Best In Your Situation"

mike[]

[Daddy Dee]

Yeh, certainly listening to the two orientations, inside and outside, would be reasonable.

My thought simply comes from the impression I have in observing other speakers. For example, in a vertical Cornwall, which has a L and R orientation, didn't Klipsch assume that the tweeters would be oriented in the outside position?

That is an assumption on my part, and may not be correct.

In other speakers I've seen, when the drivers are not located on the vertical axis, the ones I recall have the tweeters outside.

On perception of soundstage, or impact on that issue, it would seem to me that the tweeter sounds would be well placed on the outside.

Now, what would really be cool is folks who do the listening in both orientations and then report their impressions.

[consistent]

I did some tesing across the motor board (top off) in the vertical and horizontal planes and found (for me) that the inside vertical sounded better as it appeared that the 'top end' had greater focus and seemed to be better positioned along the sound stage. It will depend on your room characteristics and listening position.

Just a humble opinion

Cheers

[cjgeraci]

I prefer the tweeters on the outside with the Trachorn mod.

Carl.

[rplace]

Just for my own curiosity. If you were not trying to keep the origin look/dimensions of the khorn wouldn't the best solution be to keep the tweeter centered above the new horn just like it was with the original K400 horn?

That is; if looks were not an issue woudn't the best option be a centered trachorn or 511B with the k77/BEC/JBL tweeter centered above it? If not why?

[Mr Tech]

Just for my own curiosity. If you were not

trying to keep the origin look/dimensions of the khorn wouldn't the

best solution be to keep the tweeter centered above the new horn

just like it was with the original K400 horn?

That is; if looks were not an issue woudn't the best option be a

centered trachorn or 511B with the k77/BEC/JBL tweeter centered above

it? If not why?

For me, looks are definately an issue. The wife would never allow me to stick tweeters on top of the speaker cabinet.

The trachorn motor board, which is built to the original Klipsch

/ k400 motorboard size & dimensions, only allows you to mount

the tweeter to the side of the trachorn.

[rplace]

For me, looks are definately an issue. The wife would never allow me to stick tweeters on top of the speaker cabinet.

The trachorn motor board, which is built to the original Klipsch / k400 motorboard size & dimensions, only allows you to mount the tweeter to the side of the trachorn.

Thanks for the heads up on your wife's likes and your set up. []

I know how Al's trachhorn frames are built. But what I am really wanting to know is if you could wave a magic wand and make everything fit (or if looks did not matter) is there any reason to consider inside/outside mounting of the tweeter over the standard khorn set up?

I've got 511b horns, BEC tweetes and getting ready to make a test HF section. that I can pivot. My plan was to build the test motorboard such that I could test inside and outside mounting of the tweeter...as well as vert/horz mounting. But if those are all compromises and the *best* method is horizontal, centered then I won't expend that extra effort. I will just make my HF section a bit taller but have the tweeter located like a stock khorn.

The majority (not all, but most) of 3-way speakers I have seen have all the drivers centered and stacked one above the other. That makes me guess that is the preferred method...but I don't know much about speaker physics maybe it is just for looks or ease of construction. I don't know...thus my question.