288G or 288H...?

[aauwen]

This is my first post to the forum. I've searched for the answer to this, but didn't really find it. I have a pair of khorns that I want to try diferent mid horns and tweets on. So far I have collected pairs of 288Ks, 299s, 802Ds, 902As, 902Bs, 909s and the following horns, 803Bs, 1005Bs, 511Bs, 511Es and a single 311-90 (missed the auction for the second of the pair). I'm using vintage McIntosh amps, MC30s, MC40s, MC225s and MC240s. I have a chance to pick up a pair of either 288Gs or 288Hs. My fiancee has convinced me to limit my purchase to one pair or the other (a whole other story). Soooooh, the question is, if you had to make the choice, which pair would you choose... the Gs or the Hs?

[Old Guy]

The 288G gets all the glory. It's the one everybody seems to want. Essentially the culmination of the original design, still has the original type phase plug.

In both listening and RTA tests I could tell very little difference- not enough that I would recommend one over the other.

I would go with which set you can get the best price on. In an equal situation, I would probably choose the G's due to they tend to sell better on FeePay.

An aside- the above is with aluminum phragms.
The 288H seemed to be a slight winner with Pascalite. I suspect the H model may have been optimized for Pascalite, but have zero proof. This is a notion of my own creation, and is opinion only.

[bigjunglejim]

For many years the 288-H was the hot ticket because it has the alnico magnet and the tangerine phase plug. So much so, Stan Miller called me to see if I had a pair I'd be willing to a friend of his. At the time 288-G's were between $200-$350 a pair. The 288-H's were between $1,000-$1500 a pair.

[Old Guy]

Interesting. With Hi-Fi guys the G pair brings $1200 or so I've seen much higher. The H tends to bring less. By several hundred usually. Don't see much of either in Pro Audio anymore. I do still use 299's on a lot of small and mid sized systems.

I'm not convinced the Tangerine is as much of an improvement in the large format as it is in the little guys.

[bigjunglejim]

Old Guy
I find it interesting how things have changed over the last decade or two. Almost all my large drivers are 288 and 291 G's. I have never been in a situation where I can compare the G's and H's. You use 299's on a lot of small and mid sized systems. What do you use for larger system?

I'd love to set up a horn system with 4 399's (288 G's with Pascalite phragms), all though a common horn similar to the 1505 with 4 288's on fee pay not long ago. Goofy? Perhaps.

[bfish]

Originally posted by Jammin Jungle Jim:
... 399's (288 G's with Pascalite phragms)

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Clueless or shoeless... ...either way, there's a lotta difference if you drop one on your toe.

[jnorv]

You might try poking around on the Klipsch forum. There was a guy down in Florida that did the same with his Khorns. I don't remeber which driver he sued but he swore by the 311-90 horns.

Jim N

[bigjunglejim]

Old Guy
I'd love to set up a pair of single horn systems, each having four 399's OR four 288-G's with Pascalite diaphragms. In other words, one horn per side with four drivers on each horn.

Take a look at the following pictures.

[bigjunglejim]

I should have mentioned above... GREAT PLAINS AUDIO's 399's

[Old Guy]

I'm aware of all that. I sas confused by your description of the 399's- they are a pancake version of the last model ceramic Altec. I doubt they sound as good as the last Altecs- they are not going to sound much like the G or H.