equalization of horn and bass cabinet

[Fitts]

I have A7 cabinets with EV speakers (yes, I already know that is not good) and Altec 311 horns with 291-A16 drivers. I am bi-amping with a crossover point of about 550 hz. The horn is much more efficient than the A7 cabinet so I have put an attenuator on the horn and its amp.

My question is how do I know when the A7 and horn are properly balanced? Having equal power at the crossover point is too much horn. I have tried to balance by ear using music that I think is recorded well but then when I go to some other kind of music I find myself wanting to tweek the horn attenuation.

The difference is most noticable between male and female singers. If I balance for a female singer then the male singers all sound stressed. If I balance for male singers the females sound too husky.

Any suggestions? Should I just use the attenuator like a treble control?

Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions.

Dave

[Steve Burger]

The first thing I would do if you are using the system for hifi (which it sounds like you do) is to swap out the 291 diaphragms for some alumuminum 288's- the sound difference will be highly noticeable. Bill at GPA (check the links on this website) has them at a reasonable price. Save the 291 diaphragms in case you want to use them for a live performance.
Try this out and then come back- that ought to be a phenomenal set-up at that point.

[WV]

I think, another problem may be the EV-woofer. Even if it is an 15B, the output at midrange ain't the same as the 515. There is a big difference.

I had an 15B in my A7, too. In the other A7 I have the 515-8G. The crossover is active and is about 500 cycles. The difference is almost in the midrange, a deep snare for example is good to hear on the 515-8G side, at the other side it seems to be completely absent (mono!).

Try an Altec-woofer; it's the better choice I think.

Merry christmas to all; please be patient about my bad english. It is a really great hostboard.

Wolf