Mix and Match Parts- Recommendations

[TubesNhorns]

I have a nice unmodified set of Santiagos. Additional parts include: N501-8A crossover set, 511B horns, 808-8A drivers, 421-8H woofers. I also have an active crossover, 500Hz, 1st order slope.

I want to go for a more efficient speaker and I play my music at fairly loud volumes. My thoughts are to:
Swap the 411 woofers with the 421's. I will damp the 421's with some rubber cement.
Pull the 811B's and drivers out of the cabinets. Configure their opening as a tuned port.
Swap the 811 CD's onto the 511B and mount them on top of the cabinets.
Swap the crossover to the N501.

• What is the best way to configure the newly created port?
• How should I phase the horn?
• Thoughts

regarding active (bi-amp) versus passive crossover?

How would you mix and match these parts?

[GM]

FWIW, 421s play louder, but at much higher distortion once you can visibly see the cone moving due to having very little mechanical power handling capability [Xmax].

511 horns/N801-8A ? horn loads lower, higher XO combined allows much greater horn driver power handling.

Best to get a new active adjustable XO, preferably with adjustable time delay, and probably wind up at 1 ? 1.2 kHz, 2^nd or 4^th order depending on just how loud you listen at. Unless you sit along ways away and still need 4^th order, odds are we won?t be hearing from you much longer and neither will you unless you routinely listen through good ear protection. Then again, some folks just like the sharp cut-off of higher order XOs.

Turn cabs upside down to get horns closer to the woofers. Tuning will depend on lowest note your system is likely to ?feel? the need to reproduce at high amplitude [SPL]. Otherwise, I?ll assume the prosound industry?s ~42 Hz to keep the mid bass strong and you?ll need to use high pass EQ to protect them below this point.

I don?t remember, and can?t find ATM, the cab?s internal net volume [Vb], so will need this also to calculate a port.

GM

[TubesNhorns]

Cab internal dimension look like about 5.5 cubic feet and the 515 volume is 0.3 cubic feet, so actual volume is around 5.2. I do have a Rane active crossover I can throw into the mix. I have a couple of those DIY subs made from 5 gallon buckets, if you are familiar with those, they are actually quite respectable, so I will cross those over somewhere around 50 Hz. Roger that on flipping the cabinets. I appreciate the concern regarding my hearing. Been listening to loud music for 40+ years but still test out excellent on my annual physicals. What can I say?

[GM]

Interesting! My memory was that it was the same as the studio monitor’s 6 ft^3.

Well, I’ve read about them here. Anyway, a 6” dia. x 4” long vent should make it around 40 Hz to give adequate protection with a 50 Hz XO point.

Lucky you, >120 dB in the mids/HF made my ears break-up so bad when young that even basic ear plugs wasn’t enough. Even later on after my ears trailed off to ~14 kHz from racing unmuffled 2 stroke karts and being close to too many top fuel & alcohol dragsters at WFO, I had to leave the Fabulous Fox theater to get away from Deep Purple’s finale that at that time set a new indoor concert SPL record. Made Ted Nugent’s Fox Concert seem like a ‘boy with guitar’ in comparison.

GM

[bowtie427ss]

I had to leave the Fabulous Fox theater to get away from Deep Purple’s finale that at that time set a new indoor concert SPL record.

I remember hearing talk of this in the past.

I think my most intense "too freekin loud" experience was at a Foghat/ZZ Top show. Not unlike top alcohol and top fuel, some frequencies actually blurred your vision, one of the few concerts i could not enjoy in it's entirety.

[Phil-G]

a buddy of mines house was like that. we used to sit out in the front yard. I just couldn't take it.

[Altec Best]

I think my most intense "too freekin loud" experience was at a Foghat/ZZ Top show.One of the few concerts i could not enjoy in it's entirety.

I have a similar experience with a Rush show at the Tweeter Center as it was called back then.I had 3rd row seats in the pit off to the side right in front of a line array that wasn't hoisted very high..It was actually pretty close to the ground.It was so freakin loud I couldn't turn my head a certain way or it just rattled my eardrum to pain..I wanted to leave after the first 15 minutes as I couldn't even enjoy it.