Horn recommendation

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Originally Posted by Ronald Lee

How come you just don't settle for the more common small format drivers and a either a 511 or 811 horn? I've seen these in small auditoriums. These drivers are more than adequate for a home or even a decent sized room.

Being a "wise guy," is that AUS, NZ, or USA dollars?

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I've tried the 902's but they won't cope with the 400 Hz crossover.
....and that's $AUS, which is pretty much the same as $US these days.

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Originally Posted by Altec Best

Hey John $1197 is actually cheap for a pair of 311-90's all the pairs I have seen usually sell for $1400-$1800 it's always the shipping that's the killer.I figured they being in California on the west coast that the shipping is a short trip over the big pond and for a few hundred, maybe doable.;)

Did you get a qoute for them ?

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Hi AB,
No, I didn't get a quote....this whole midrange thing is getting a bit out of hand. I mean, do I really need to spend $3000 to get listenable mid range? ($2000 for horns & $1000 for drivers).

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Originally Posted by Old Guy

Yeah, but not with a Klipsch bottom made on an island named No Midrange Atoll....:D

Or did you miss the La Scala part?

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Quote: Ronald lee: "The La Scala mid K91 horn & driver was supposed to have been the "tour de force" of Klipsch R&D engineering."

The standard La Scala uses a Klipsch K400 horn mated to an Atlas driver (Klipsch K55) & yes, Old Guy, I agree it sounds pretty horrible. Got rid of that horn from the get go.
The K55 isn't as bad as you might think, especially when mated to the favoured timber tractrix horn & driven by the right electronics. It's one of the very few 1" drivers that will cope with the 400 Hz crossover.

As a guide I just picked up an Ayre Acoustics power amp & it sounds beautiful with the La Scala's, yet makes my 19's sound pretty ordinary. On the flip side, the 19's make great music driven by Audio Research electronics, in fact, that's the best I've ever heard them.

Believe it or not, the modded LS sound better than the 19's when driven by the Ayre, even in the midrange!!

Having said that, understand that my LS hardly resemble the originals anymore. In fact, I couldn't listen to them when I first got them home......but now it's a whole different ball game.

Well the pattern is kinda tight....

(9)Altec horn 299-8AT driver will consider sell1@a time - eBay (item 280571540159 end time Oct-15-10 18:32:34 PDT)

This guy, has issues. Seems to be a nice enough fellow but thinks he is sitting on a gold mine. he isn't. A fair price for these is about 700-750 a pair, and that is what I would offer. About 650 for drivers, and 100 for the big horns that often have to be given away.

He has a few with 290-4G.

If you buy those don't pay a lot. The horns have little resale, and shipping is gonna be rough.

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Originally Posted by J Henry

I've tried the 902's but they won't cope with the 400 Hz crossover.
....and that's $AUS, which is pretty much the same as $US these days.

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The 902/802s are xover at => 500 Hz.

J Henry: Thanks, I stand corrected. It has been a number of years since I even thought about those old Klipsches. Old age is setting in.

All I know is you've alluded to modded lascalas. I'm assuming they don't get up high enough to afford a reasonable sized mid horn to sit in properly. I'd like to see a frequency response curve of the mid bass...if it's in a small room power is not an issue and going lower is possible with a smaller horn if done right...as far as expense is concerned...you can always build yer own! ;)

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Originally Posted by Old Guy

Worth a mention, is the 329

Can often be bought cheaper than the 311, but not as common.

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Oh really?! I didn't mention it as I assumed that its rarity these days meant mega $$. For HIFI apps, I prefer its lower throat distortion over the 311's better pattern control.

GM

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Originally Posted by Earl K

Hate to go negative here, but I dunno , I just don't see any of these big radials ( sectorals ) offering solid performance down to 400hz ( without a bit of EQ ) .

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While I agree with you in principle, it's no worse than an 802 on a 511 at 500 Hz............

GM

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Originally Posted by J Henry

Hi AB,
No, I didn't get a quote....this whole midrange thing is getting a bit out of hand. I mean, do I really need to spend $3000 to get listenable mid range? ($2000 for horns & $1000 for drivers).

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Don't know about pricing 'down under', but way back before digital TD I was in a similar situation of wanting to 'have my cake and eat it too' WRT big multi-cell mids and 511 HF, so some quick figuring showed that two stacked 802/511 combos had slightly more piston, mouth area than a 288/805 with more even pattern control. Its axial length turned out to be long enough to use it with a 350 Hz/2nd order XO at high SPL, so 400 Hz would be no problem. Around here all these parts would cost 'only' ~ $1 k and you'll have better highs to boot.

GM

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Originally Posted by GM

Don't know about pricing 'down under', but way back before digital TD I was in a similar situation of wanting to 'have my cake and eat it too' WRT big multi-cell mids and 511 HF, so some quick figuring showed that two stacked 802/511 combos had slightly more piston, mouth area than a 288/805 with more even pattern control. Its axial length turned out to be long enough to use it with a 350 Hz/2nd order XO at high SPL, so 400 Hz would be no problem. Around here all these parts would cost 'only' ~ $1 k and you'll have better highs to boot.

GM

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Interesting.....are you saying that 2 stacked 802/511's will handle a 400Hz crossover, power wise, at high levels. Surely the power handling of the drivers cannot change, nor their ability to play cleanly at the lower frequency.....so is it the fact that the load is now being shared by the 2 drivers that will allow it to operate down lower safely?