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I have a pair of 511b horns. I am not at all impressed with the quality of the welding throughout the horns. I wonder what effect, if any, these rough/messy welds might have on the sound quality. Has anyone smoothed out the welds by grinding, bondo, etc and heard an improvment in sound?
Steve
Absolutely! Remove all weld splatter from the throat to the bell lip, smooth out the rough throat surface; also remove the brace just outside of the throat. The before and after improvement is sound quality is blatantly obvious.
What is the easiest way to remove that brace in the throat?
Steve
Quote:
Originally Posted by SD-50
I used a hacksaw blade held flat to the surface and sawed away, you should wear a work glove to protect your hand from the blade and rough surface of the horn. The metal is soft therefore fairly easy to cut.Quote:
Originally Posted by samoore
I cut all the dividers out of my 811's. I used a sawsall with a long blade.
Ditto for that center divider.
Used a sanding block to smooth the areas, then bondo to clean it all up.
Low gloss black paint from DupliColor and you would never know they weren't stock.
Finally, I damped them with layers of latex paint and sand to deaden them completely.
And yes I smoothed out all the casting roughness on the inside.
To my ears, they sound very good!
Ron
Can you briefly describe the differences you heard before and after removing the dividers?Quote:
Originally Posted by RonSSS
Steve
Sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by samoore
I listen in the near field, and to me it enlarged the sweet spot.
The dividers were there to improve dispersion in a large theatre.
I figured why not try it, 811's are cheap. :-)
Ron
I did this for the same reason - they're cheap.Quote:
Originally Posted by RonSSS
I didn't notice any sound difference with just the vanes removed but filling the internal weld fillet with Bondo and smoothing the inside surface afterwards made a positive audible difference that I compared to another pair of stock 811s several times in my 19s. The really important part is making sure the throat is completely smooth after filling. Also, lose the Altec cardboard gasket and replace it with wax paper or similar. The gasket creates a ridge that seems noticeable when misaligned.
I'm using the 902-8A HF drivers.
With the bug screens removed.
So this may also skew the results.
I'm guilty of making more than one change at a time.....