Help with ideas for Altec mid-bass front horn using 416's

[GM]

Given the depth limitation, don't have one for a single driver unless the XO is higher.

Earlier, I fiddled with Bruce Edgar's old short 80 Hz horn, but at least with the 416 it didn't look doable. For an 800 Hz XO, the early 825 cab's horn is the shortest one to have, but as shown earlier, it needs a ~150 Hz XO.

Adding 3.56" to it to get to 70 cm will only lower it down to around 136 Hz if a bigger mouth is acceptable, though if GPA says the rear cover can be right up next to the motor, then the path-length can be a bit lower assuming an even larger mouth. Both would still be the original's ~112 Hz flare frequency, so that's the limit.

I did some ages ago that performed well down to 80 Hz, but it was close to 4 ft deep since it had the same path-length as the 210/211.

GM

[alancohen]

I am wondering, since we are talking about strick depth limitations, are these speakers going against a wall and we just don't want them sticking out too much? 'Cause if so, the bass response is going to be limited anyway.

Loudspeakers need to be away from the wall, out into the room a bit an allowed to "breathe" for the fullest sound. Unless they are specifically designed as a wall or corner speaker, but that's not we're discussing here.

[atilsley]

I am wondering, since we are talking about strick depth limitations, are these speakers going against a wall and we just don't want them sticking out too much? 'Cause if so, the bass response is going to be limited anyway.

Loudspeakers need to be away from the wall, out into the room a bit an allowed to "breathe" for the fullest sound. Unless they are specifically designed as a wall or corner speaker, but that's not we're discussing here.

Alan, unfortunately, that's also a limitation.

See attached pics of my room...you see it's part of the main house...so a trade-off for me as I don't want to be tucked away in a man cave.

So - back to the challenge, GM, what if my target xover point was increased again to 150? Would this notion of a 'simple' front-loaded mid bass be a suitable speaker for my home listening? I'd then need to reconfigure the subs, as they get a bit rattled around 100Hz.

Oh, also, last night I removed the legs of the current Altec bass cabinets, and reduced the slot by 1/3...bass improved significantly.

On the weekend, I'll test MiniDSP for the bass...adding some EQ and playing with xover points.

All this stuffing around is hardly encouraging...I might just end up keeping the current boxes, aka, Model 19 style.

[GM]

Loudspeakers need to be away from the wall, out into the room a bit an allowed to "breathe" for the fullest sound.

Horns project, so only need long rooms to 'breathe' and near/at a boundary only applies to the BW below its cut off, which benefits by being inside a 1/4 WL away from a wall, corner, floor or all of the above; you just need to account for it in the rear chamber tuning.

GM

[atilsley]

So, GM, a different approach at questions -

If you were in my situation, given constraints discussed, what would you choose?

Kind regards.

Andrew

[GM]

I can't really honestly answer since I haven't/wouldn't put myself in your situation. It's a lovely room, but so ill suited for what I consider 'critical' listening that right off the 'top of my head' I got nothing.

Really, a large mono system in a d?cor complementary furniture cab, or better yet for horn loaded, an early console stereo such as JBL's Paragon seems the best compromise, especially considering your woodworking skills, but adapting it to Altec components would take way more time/effort than I have to devote to it.

GM

[atilsley]

I can't really honestly answer since I haven't/wouldn't put myself in your situation. It's a lovely room, but so ill suited for what I consider 'critical' listening that right off the 'top of my head' I got nothing.

Really, a large mono system in a d?cor complementary furniture cab, or better yet for horn loaded, an early console stereo such as JBL's Paragon seems the best compromise, especially considering your woodworking skills, but adapting it to Altec components would take way more time/effort than I have to devote to it.

GM

Thanks. I guess one person's critical listening requirements is another's general music listening enjoyment in a normal house. I understand the difference..but I'm still trying to build a great system....but perhaps it won't be up to the laboratory/studio 99.99% standard. Hence me looking at Model 19 and similar designs. Thanks for your insights. Kind regards.

[GM]

Understood, but unfortunately, a great system is only as good as the room it's in and where in the room it, and the listener, is located. You can overcome much of it with large horns that control directivity down to ~300-500 Hz, but the trade-off is a large mouth with either a lot of depth or multiple drivers to truncate it.

GM