horns and crossover slope

[JimRoy]

With modern electronic crossovers of 24, 36, or 48db/octave can the crossover point of say the 811B be lowered?? ie: When Altec choose 800 Hz (with 808 drivers for instance) as the "lowest recommended crossover frequency" for the 811 did they plan for a 6 or 12 db/octave crossover slope with "well behaved" horn audio output well below crossover?

[Old Guy]

The 811 is beginnning to get marginal at 800 as is. I wouldn't try it. If you need a lower crossover why not just use the 511?

You might gain 10% or so on either horn by using a steeper crossover. I just don't think it's worth it.
The horns were designed for 12db/octave crossovers BTW.

[JimRoy]

I prototyped a center channel using a 511B and a 12 inch woofer to see if it was enough of an improvement over a phantom center to make a permanent one. (My left and right channels use the 511B horn so it was an easy choice to maintain tonal balance). I've used the prototype for a few weeks and like the change for 5.1 Dolby and DTS but am looking to make the actual center speaker lower. The prototype is 29 1/4 high and I'm looking to keep the final under 25 1/2. Hence the interest in trying to save some height by swapping in an 811 for the 511.