Mini Corner Horn Sub

[CircleA]

I dont know if anyone has tried this before and had the results Ive gotten, I purchased a Vintage Mid 50s Electro-Voice Baronet speaker of Ebay and modified it into a subwoofer. I always wanted K-horns but where too expensive and to big for my apartment. On the net I found out that there was a series of corner horn speakers that Electro Voice made that were licensed from Klipsch. (I found the Klipsch Shorthorn speakers have the same style back loading horn.) Since I only have one good corner, I thought using a corner horn as a sub with my RB-5s would be the next best thing.

I at first tied it with the original speaker and front panel. Not bad. On most types of music, it caught up with the RB-5s at regular listening levels. But on some DVD,s the speaker would clip, plus there was an issue of rattling from the front panel. After researching 8inch subs on the net, I picked the Kicker 8in square Solo Baric and had a new front panel cut out and had its edges sealed to prevent leakage. Wow. This 8 inch speaker barley had to make any effort to make deep bass. I never heard K-horns before, but the type of sound that comes out of this is similar to the articles Ive read on the K-horn. Tight and natural. Bass drums and Bass guitars sound like Bass drums and Bass guitars, not low thuds. The quality of the lower bass sounds about the same as the upper bass of my RB-5s. This allows my system to sound full at low listening volumes, but it does vibrate the walls at higher volumes. I have not yet varnished the front panel. I might have a cover fitted on the front instead.

[justin_tx_16]

never tried what you did cause all my subs... from teh quintet and teh synergy6 are downfiring but just wanted to say that that jonny cash album is great! i love the ring of fire

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-justin

I am an amateur, if it is professional;

ProMedia help you want email Amy or call her @ 1-888-554-5665

Klipsch Home Audio help you want, email support@klipsch.com or call @ 1-800-KLIPSCH

RA# Fax Number=317-860-9140 / Parts Department Fax Number=317-860-9150

[Mike Lindsey]

I live in Oviedo and would love to see and hear it...

Mike

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My Music Systems

[Colin]

what a great idea, any measurements or crossover?

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Colin's Music System Cornwall 1s & Klipsch subs; lights out & tubes glowing!

[DLUngurait]

CircleA,

Let me state before my questions that I have zero experience w/ speaker building so please excuse any possible ignorance.

It appears your square Kicker woofer is facing outward away from the cabinet and corner thus only corner/horn loading the reflex of the bass (or porting) as oppossed to firing into the cabinet and utilizing the corner to complete/extend the horn...Am I seeing this right?

Is that Kicker (I've only seen them in cars) an 8 ohms or 4 ohms speaker...If 4 ohms how are you drivivng it (w/ a separate amp)?

Good Luck

Dave

PS: I prefer Social Distortion's version of "Ring of Fire" Texts>

This message has been edited by DLUngurait on 12-29-2001 at 12:10 PM

[Q-Man]

My guess, is that cabinet will roll off at 50 to 60Hz at best. Below that you will still need a sub, just like the K-Horns do below 40Hz.

Q.

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Q-Man

[John Warren]

Q-

I still owe you some University lit. Just got back from unanticipated 2 week trip out of country.

Will send info this week.

John

[CircleA]

I wish I have some gear to measure the efficiency and frequency response of the unit accurately. I was able to generate tones at specific frequencies in Sound Forge on my computer. According to my ears, the response seems flat from 100Hz to 50hz the sound is slightly lower at 40Hz. At 30Hz the sound was barley audible. At 20Hz, I cranked it up and was able the see the window blinds move. I did the same test with my RB-5s and the bass drops sharply after 50Hz. The bandwidth that this system covers works fine with most of the material I listen through it anyway, which is punk rock and 1st/ /2nd wave ska (I have the Social Distortion version of Ring of Fire also). Another horn subwoofer solution I was considering before I got this was the CerwinVega T-36/750 which houses an 18in driver and has a cutoff frequency of 32Hz, but that would be too big for my small apartment also.

Down the road I may try different things like mounting the driver with the front of the cone facing in, ex. Right now its wired with the polarity reversed so its firing into the horn. The horn actually starts at a port instead of the driver so my guess the sound feeding the throat comes from the change of air pressure in the cabinet instead of the radiating surface of the cone. The amplifier driving it at the moment is an 8 year old Kenwood 100 watt per channel at 8ohms. The Kicker driver is wired at 8 ohms. (It can be set at 2 Ohms also) The signal comes from the sub output of my Yamaha RS V596 crossovered at 100 Hz.

In case if anyone is interested, there is now a pair of Baronet speakers up on Ebay if anyone has the time and money to experiment with this ideal. I have to go now, theres an early local Hardcore show for me to attend and then a New Years Party. Happy New Year everyone.

[CircleA]

I finally got a chance to do more experimenting with the modified vintage corner horn. I bought some longer wood screws so that I can mount the sub facing into the cabinet. This made switching the ohms from 4 and 2 easier. I have noticed an improvement of the lower end. It dropped the useful low end to 35hz and the frequencies below that became even more audible when driven harder. The efficiency of the unit became challenged when I brought it to work. I rigged up an audio setup with a pair of Altec Lansing computer speakers with it?s sub_out going into a vintage Kenwood amp that has around 25 to 30 watts per channel. I was able to clear out a corner along the wall were an X-box was projected on to. People at work who stayed for the X-box/ Wolfenstein party was amazed on how good the bass sounded and how loud it was coming from such a small speaker.

Saturday, the next day, I took the sub, my RB-5s, my Yamaha amp and CD player to my band?s practice space for some real fun. The PA head there can put out 350 watts at 2 ohms which is what the sub can handle. I had sub woofer out hooked up to that and CRANKED IT UP. I had to stand next to the building across the street to hear how clear and full the system sounded cause it was distorting my ears when I stood next to it. To really work the sub, I put in a bass/ tecno track with lots of low sub base. That sub can move some air. The really low base was very audible, but unfortunately the cabinet was to light to handle the high excursions cause the whole thing was visibly shaking. With the music I listen to normally, Punk Rock and Ska, it made enough clean bass to vibrate the concrete floor. I could literally fell the air vibrating out the sides of the cabinet and see the dirt and beer caps move around in that horn path. When one of the other band members showed up, he thought I had the 15 inch PA speakers hooked up.

After playing with this, I think Klipsch should make corner horn subs. All a person needs is just one corner and it could be made small. I?m sure it would have a high wife approval factor. I?ve seen Klipchorns being sold on Ebay because of the Wife issue. I still would love to here this thing next to an actual Klipschorn for comparison.

[Cornwalled]

Does anyone think this idea could be done with an Electro-voice Aristocrat? It looks to be a similar enclosure but larger than the Baronet. I think the Aristocrat has a cutout for a 12 inch driver. There are 2 up on eBay, that's why I was curious: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1347867463

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1347868110

If anyone has any thoughts, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,

Jon

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markvi82@hotmail.com

1981 Cornwall I's

Yamaha DSP-A1000 integrated amp

Acoustic Research AR3A's for Pro-Logic rears

(Music only setup)

Marantz CD Player

Pioneer turntable with Audio Technica cartridge

[Cornwalled]

sorry, it didn't post the first time originally

Jon

This message has been edited by Cornwalled on 04-26-2002 at 03:29 PM

[CircleA]

I highly think it would work. I would suggest getting the cabinet first, then attempt to measure its cubic inches, (pain in the butt cause the shape inside is no cube) then get a high performance driver that can work with that space. I found a brochure of the EV speaker line in the mid 50s and that cabinet can go down to 35Hz.

[CircleA]

This post is a continuation to the one about the corner horn sub being tried out at the warehouse. Heres a pic of the corner horn sub and my RB-5s being used during a mixdown of some digital 16 track recordings. Thats the bass player squatting between the monitors, focusing on the sound of the mix. I havent got to posting the corner horn sub with the latest modification so there it is(on the left corner.). The PA speakers seen in the photo are only being used as speaker stands. On the night before, the drum set was at the same spot and the RB-5s were stacked up higher over the set to be used as playback monitors. The loudness and accuracy of that monitor setup was very useful during the recording session.