I might be buying a pair of home made Altec VoTT and Peavey

[VolvoHeretic]

OK, just hooked up my new Behringer CX2310 crossover. Right now I am sending >80hz to a 100wpc Sherwood receiver to the Altecs (418-8H II, N501-8A, 32B horn w/ 808-8A/pascalite compression drivers, and one Piezo supertweeter) and <80hz to a Soundcraftsmen pre amp to a Crown DC300A to my pair of Alpine 10" box-O-subs in .75 cu. ft. boxes crossed over at 80hz.

Sounds a lot better than when I was running everything full range and using a graphic EQ to filter down the high frequencies to the subs. I also am not using any EQ and like it.

I have another Sherwood amp lying around and will bypass the N501-8A's after I find some more speaker wire and try tri-amping. Doing so, the Altecs will be receiving a full signal w/ F3 at 44hz.

So, I'm thinking I would like to get a Crown 75wpc D150A and 35wpc D75 for the Altecs and find a sub amp that has either 300wpc @8ohm stereo or 600wpc @4ohm mono.



Does everybody's wiring look like this?

[GM]

Xmax approximation = [Hc-Hg]/2

Where:

Hc = coil height
Hg = magnetic gap height

So assuming a constant Hg, the VC must get shorter to decrease Xmax, ergo the 421 would theoretically have a much shorter Vc than a 416. That said, there may be more at play here WRT each motor's design, but never bothering to learn about any detail differences across a 'family' of drivers or do any re-coning, I've no clue what the reality is.

GM

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Very belated reply

Not nearly belated as me, his post just popped up earlier today in my email, so thought I was making a timely response for a change only to notice yours after I uploaded mine.

GM

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(418-8H II, N501-8A, 32B horn w/ 806-8/pascalite compression drivers...........

Does everybody's wiring look like this?

32B? 800 Hz horn that wants a >1 kHz XO point coupled to a 'textbook' 500 Hz/2nd order? 'Careful with that axe [volume control] Eugene'!

GM

[VolvoHeretic]

Thanks for the explanations guys.

Discovered that I had the Soundcraftsmen pre-amp wired up wrong all along all of this time (no manual) :{, now have the altecs running full range with the bass boosted 12db at 60hz and crossing over the subs at 40hz sounds best. Tomorrow I will hook the Altecs up to the active crossover.

Any recommendations for a cheap/used stereo sub amp with 300 wpc rms at 8 ohms or 600 wpc bridged mono at 4 ohms? Any good cheap Altec amps? Any good cheap Crown amps (too many kinds to choose from and can't decipher any of them)?

Old Guy; Would it be a bad idea to run my Crown DC300A at full power with a 2 ohm load? I don't know or think that I can run that amp bridged mono can I? The DC300A belongs to my A7's and will eventually be married back with them someday.

Cheers.

PS: GM, I have been forcing the Altecs to put out 110db at 30feet for a couple of years now, so they must be tougher than most expect.

[Old Guy]

Most amps are more linear in the middle of their capability. Loading the Crown down to 2 ohms will IMHO lower the audio quality.

[VolvoHeretic]

How much audio quality is there at 40hz?

It won't blow up will it?

[Old Guy]

Probably won't blow up. The DC300A was spec'ed for 2 ohms. May not sound great.

[VolvoHeretic]

So, wired everything up through the crossover, man what a bunch of wires and knobs... the preamp amp and crossover have no manual, so I am flying blind. The only way I can figure out how to wire it all up, I am sending the full signal through the tape loop on the preamp, to the EQ so that sound is what I want through the Altecs, then sending that to the crossover and to the three amps and to the Alpine subs, 418-8H II, 808-8As and Piezoes. I think that to send flat to the subs, and EQ'ed to the Altecs will require two EQ's. Any advise? At 1000hz, the Altecs have never sounded better. Too bad I have to jump up every other second to tweak this stuff, I guess I don't have to get onto the wife's treadmill anytime soon.

PS; after opening up the second Altec speaker, I found a tag that says that the compression drivers are actually 808-8A(802-8D) drivers that have newer Pascalite diaphragms.

Playing a little Weather Report, Return to Forever, Yes, Styx, and even Michael Jackson for the Wifey, and I love it. Can't wait to get a full 300 wpc to the subs.