Yet Anothert Heritage Horn Upgrade ?

[Guest " "]

Smaller driver/horn combinations supposedly have better dispersion characteristics. The majority of big drivers have an upper end response as haggard as the K-55 -- and I have yet to see any that really do any better in the 400-500Hz range. Experimentation at this level is expensive, and I'm inclined to believe that unless the room is huge, or one listens at the highest of SPLs -- the best sound is going to come from stretching as many octaves across the middle as possible and then topping off with some sparkle. Klipschorn users are really bottled in, though there is some wiggle room for LaScala and Belle Klipsch users. Fact is, regardless of the cut-off of any big horn -- there just isn't much of anything out there that's flat at 400Hz. The big Altecs are nice when they show up in good shape -- but they don't come up often. The ones that usually show up look like hell, and they still want an arm and a leg for them. The new 399 from Great Plains looks hopeful, but until someone tries it on a 2" horn and takes some measurements ...  

I am with you on a single diaphram implementation...but want to try a multiple diaphram implementation on a 2 inch horn.

I have a pair of 4-to-1 klipsch adapters that combine 4 k-55's onto a small radius attachment that bolts up to a 2 inch throat. My thinking is along your line of thought, however, I think with 4 k-55 drivers, some opportunity for cleaner sound may be prossible at the lower end due to the law of averages that prevents harmonics to be generated across multiple drivers at the exact same frequency.

I have the drivers ready to go. Right now I am on a hunt for a 2 inch horn. I may buy something cheap just to test out the concept and later move to a wood trackhorn.

[D-MAN]

I have to disagree with Dean on that one.

Small throated drivers (and their attendant small size voice coils) and small throat horns have a physical limitation imposed by the size of the throat cross-section - only so much air can move through it at a time. So overdriving causes throat overload distortion (horn), and may lead to potential voice coil overheating, and of course, increased distortion.

Also the dispersion pattern is determined by the flare and design of the horn itself and its particular dimensions which has nothing to do with the size of the throat or driver.

However, I think what Dean is referring to is that for a given size horn mouth, a small throat GENERALLY means a longer horn pathway, but that depends on a lot of specifics... but again, the horn flare rates and dispersion angles have little to do with the size of the throat.

Dana