Interesting University tweet to try out

[ben.]

I've been thinking about tweeters lately, and thought I'd see if the tweeters in the old 50's University cornerhorn I've had for while were easily pulled. They were. I remembered the dual tweeters had assymetric horn flares but had never seriously evaluated them. I got them out and found they were seperable - thinking of using singly with the assymetry in the vertical plane rather than horizontal, coverage tilted downward.

These thumbnails are clickable...

I'm thinking of these over an as yet undetermined mid- or large-format phenolic mid run from 300-350Hz on up to wherever. Preferably above 6K. I was seriously thinking of ribbons, but these are on hand and might sound good. The geometry makes sense for my room and set up. I've liked downward oriented assymetric horns in the past in reinforcement applications. Specifically the little EV QRx 112/75 and sorta old school Sx500.

[stereohermit]

Yes, those do look interesting. Ive run assymetric tweeters for years now and i love em. I tried every compression tweeter on the market, practically, and i ended up with a "transylvania tube" mounted to a JBL 2420 with titanium diaphrams. I have a university tweeter from 1959...looks like a diffraction lens.. i will try to j-peg it to the group soon. Give those a whirl and tell us all how they work out.

[stereohermit]

Here they are....The gold one is the '59 university, the lens with the tapered slot is my "gold standard".

[stereohermit]

and...heres the university... 9you guys werent kidding, this is hard to upload...)

[TBrennan]

Is that you Freddy?

[ClaudeJ1]

I would love to see a twin pair of modified K79-K tweeters on modern Khorns and LaScala II's. K77's completely ignore the last 1/2 Octave between 15-20Khz and the K79's get there, but with about 3 db less efficiency, so why not twin them up and get the extra volume AND better dispersion. I don't think cost would be an issue, just "tradition."

Claude

[mungkiman]

I am also a fan of University tweets, especially the HF-206. I
currently use 4401's placed in the mouth of Altec 511B's (with SAHF mid
drivers) and love the sound. This set up is employed on top of Khorn
bass bins.

I have always wanted to try the 4402's...

[Guest " "]

I have a set of HF-206, new in boxes. One box I opened personally, The other came to me open. The paper work in these claim 25khz. Considering how old they are, thats a startling claim.

[DrWho]

These are called asymmetrical because the vertical polars aren't mirror images about the axis of propagation? I believe Roy calls these "skew horns" and has been playing with some modern versions for quite some time now. I believe the new reference in-walls are using them too. I've always been intrigued with the idea, but always thought they were designed for special coverage situations...not saying they wouldn't work in the home, I just don't see the advantage (unless it's just the removal of reflections with the ceiling?).

I had no idea they were building these things that long ago...mega cool [Y]

[stereohermit]

Actually, the vertical polar radiation IS biased upward, for fewer cabinet reflections, less comingling of wavefronts, plus the nodal randomization of that type of lens , to me dissappears into the soundfield, more rea.dily Also in my case the tweeter is open air mount , which works out great.

[ben.]

Pretty cool stuff, there stereohermit. These are only speced to 15K. We'll see how they sound.

Who- every coverage situation is special! One could just tilt the horns down a bit and get similar results, but these have cool threaded stand-offs on what will now be the side of the horn. A couple brackets and nice thumbscrews will be slick for aiming.

BTW, check out the QRx some time. Great as a wedge, too.

[DrWho]

Who- every coverage situation is special!

lol, maybe I shouldn't be so vague [] I was thinking of something obnoxious like a single speaker firing down a hallway...pointing a tweeter down isn't going to give you equal amplitude down the length of the hallway.

Looks like those QRx's are rather similar to the Macke SAz/SRz series [Y]

http://www.mackie.com/technology/3wayadvantage.html

I was under the impression that the performance wasn't identical to that of just tilting the tweeter down. Instead, the speaker exhibits a slower roll-off with distance (loosely speaking) because the amplitude increases as the angle gets closer to the "axis of propagation" (which is horizontal in the pictures). All I know is that EASE makes life infinitely easier when coverage issues are being addressed []

[ben.]

Oh- these are the same drivers used in the 4401. The 8 ohm 6W phenolic Mid-T. Differnt horn, though obviously.

[stereohermit]

ring mode decoupling, perhaps. Tend to see it alot in theatre applications

[ben.]

I was under the impression that the performance wasn't identical to that of just tilting the tweeter down. Instead, the speaker exhibits a slower roll-off with distance (loosely speaking) because the amplitude increases as the angle gets closer to the "axis of propagation" (which is horizontal in the pictures). All I know is that EASE makes life infinitely easier when coverage issues are being addressed []

Well, that's right. I just said "similar". At my monitoring distance of about 18' it probably doesn't amount to a whole lot. In real world rooms it works out really well sometimes. The Nexo PS boxes & a bunch of EV (QRx and EVI) stuff can all really do a lot with very few boxes and modest power. Not talking concert levels, but for a lot of installed sustems they shine. If it's big stuff, I'm all about symmetry and precision.

[stereohermit]

Heres a 12" "triaxial University"

[ben.]

Catalog page - 1950 http://www.hifilit.com/hifilit/University/1950-3.jpg