Altec 803B Multicell Horn in home use??

**Jonas@Psychedelic** · November 17th, 2009, 06:05 PM

Hello dear Altec-users,

this is my first here.
My name is Jonas and I'm from Germany, I'm 19 years old and I'm going to build up my own Voice Of The Theatre system pretty soon.
Because there was a chance to get the 803B Multicell horns I bought them and I also have Altec 288D drivers.
The other part of my A5 consists of original American 828B cabinets with a A416WVL woofer. This is a field coil speaker manufactured by the German Wolf von Langa.
My first crossover will by like the Hiraga A5 for the start and will maybe improved.

My taste of music is blues and psychedelic of the 60's and I hardly listen to anything else but records.

My question:
My room has sth about 23m?, sorry I will compare it to inch etc later..

The listening distance is ca. 3 meters.
Will this work with the 803B horn? Or would a 805 or 1005 horn do a better job on that?

Best of luck,
Jonas

**Panomaniac** · November 17th, 2009, 07:14 PM

Welcome to the forum - and congratulations on your rig. You're starting out right!

I am listening to the 803B horns right now at about 3m distance and they are fine. The 803 is a very directional horn, very tight - so it does not splash off the wall much. The 1505 that Hiraga uses is much wider - and I think a bit flatter at the top end. The 803B will play lower, but drops off at the top end. so the crossover for the 1505 is not ideal for the 803, although it is a good place to start.

Anyhow, the 803 is a great start and is often much cheaper than the 1005 or the 1505.

just FYI - I'm the guy who helped Mr. Hiraga rebuild those A5s. See my avatar. Of course that was a few years before you were born! =)

**Altec Best** · November 18th, 2009, 03:10 AM

Welcome Jonas there are alot of knowledgeable guys here that will help you at the Altec site.Your starting off with a very nice project good luck with it and have fun.

**Jonas@Psychedelic** · November 18th, 2009, 08:26 AM

Hello,

thank you for your answers.
Do you may have a solution for the crossover?
I heared somewhere that there is the possibility to raise the treble of the speaker.
Or should I better look for a tweeter?
Which tweeter is recommended for Altec use?

**Panomaniac** · November 18th, 2009, 09:56 AM

Hi Jonas,
Hiraga used JBL tweeters. The bullet or the slot type. Seemed to work well.
With the 300Hz horn you won't get a lot of high end, that's why the 500Hz horns are more popular. The 1005 seems the most popular for home use.
The published Hiraga A5 crossover has a high freq. boost for the horn.

Nothing wrong with adding a tweeter. Look for the JBL 2402, 2404 or 2405.
I'm sure the guys here can give Altec suggestions.

**Jonas@Psychedelic** · November 18th, 2009, 03:13 PM

Originally Posted by Panomaniac

With the 300Hz horn you won't get a lot of high end, that's why the 500Hz horns are more popular

What does that mean?
Does it mean it doesn't sound good or it is not popular in home use?

**Jonas@Psychedelic** · January 31st, 2011, 04:09 PM

Hello again,
some time has passed and I've got to know my speakers much better now.
I also build two 825 cabinets myself and use them now instead of the originals, but I'm still not sure on the damping material, since fiberglass isn't the material of choice for the domestic use, I think.

I still have the 803 Horns, because in Germany it's hard to find any 500cycle horn and shipping a 1005 from the States to Germany is obviously a difficult topic.

I also have an A7 lineup with 802-8G drivers and a 511B horn, that sounds very nice at the top end with very detailed sound and much more focus than the A5 with the Hiraga crossover. But the A7 lacks the natural sound of the A5 and the relaxed feeling that a multicell horn gives you.

BUT I still don't have a super tweeter and I think now it's time to change that, you already recommended the JBL alnico tweeters and I have a friend who uses a radial tweeter with a 1505+288-16G + 515B with an active crossover. That sounds nice.
But what is the price range for an original tweeter?

And how do I connect it to my Hiraga crossover?
Could somebody help me? Because I lack knowledge about crossover techniques, I just can read plans and solder.

I will also add some pictures of my system later.

GM · January 31st, 2011, 06:17 PM

There's nothing wrong with using fiberglass as long as you use a vent screen to keep any dust from exiting the cab. Regardless, you should cover the vent anyway using however much density is required to critically damp it when tightly stretched across it, i.e. remove any hollow box sound and echoes from the back side of the driver that the wall damping may not have attenuated enough.

FWIW, I had the same issues WRT small Vs large format horns and found that two 511/802 combos stacked on top of each other yielded the 'full' mids of the larger with the 'sweet' HF of the smaller plus a bit better overall polar response.

GM

**Jonas@Psychedelic** · January 31st, 2011, 06:44 PM

I will try to cover the vent, never thought that this could make a difference in sound, I'll try, thank you for your input.
I'm also interested in bracing the cabinet, since I have built my cabinet from 15mm birch plywood according to the original plans. I'll read on that issue in this forum, nice to see that there have been so many discussions about that.

**Jonas@Psychedelic** · February 2nd, 2011, 01:23 PM

Does anybody know the Hiraga crossover for the 3-way-system? He recommends a tweeter, I think, but I just know his 2 way 8 and 16 ohm schematic, that I use myself.