511-E Horns

[Charles Chance]

Just thought I'd let everyone know who might have an interest - a pair of 511-E horns came up on eBay yesterday. Located in Berkley, CA. I mention this because they are fairly rare. BTW, I am not affiliated with seller, I live in the southeast.

[cclark65]

yea, they don't come up very often! I think I saw one set in the past couple years. They are a specially made 1.4" throat 511 horn, designed for the larger 288/291 and similar series drivers.

[Charles Chance]

These are much too pricy for me but I may have a chance for a pair of 311-90's soon. How do they sound compared to the 511E's, assuming the same drivers on both

[Fitts]

Hi Charles,

I have a pair of 311-60 horns. I think the 311 series are by far the best of any horns I have heard. I have listened to 511B and 811B horns as well as Altec wannabes and none I have heard even compare to the 311 series. I suspect a lot of it has to do with the coating on the horn. My 311 horns have a thick coating that makes them sound like lead when you tap on them. No ringinig whatsoever.

If you can get a pair of 311-90 horns you should do it in my opinion.

Happy Holidays,

[stratsrus]

I have 32-B, 811-B, 511-B and two pairs of 511-E's. The 511-E's like the 311-90's have a coating on the outside to eliminate ring. 511-E like the 311-90 also are designed for the large format (1.4 or three bolt) drivers. I love the sound of 511-E horns with 288-16G drivers. I use these for a p.a. system for a blues/rock band. The midrange and highs are very crisp and articulate. I have never heard 311-90 horns. From the pictures, they look very much like the 511-E. The 511-E's cross over at 500hz. Where do the 311-90's cross over. I have noticed that 311-90's usually go for quite a bit more money on eBay. I always thought that was because the 511-E was much less common and people were not as familiar. Has anyone every compared the two horns side by side?

[thevott]

The 311's cutoff is 300 Hz according to Altec's literature. I do not have any 311's but I do have a number of 511B and 811B 1" horns about (dime a dozen). I prefer the larger 511B (be it a cow bell or not) over the 811B. As I recall, the 1.4" version of the 511 horn simply has a shorter throat. a good TIG welder could probably modify a 511B without to much trouble.

[thevott]

Perhaps the larger 311 horn supports the rolloff frequencies (that are below the 500 Hz crossover frequency) better due to the horns lower cutoff. For instance, is this one reason that the 811B is crossed over at 1200 Hz on the Model Nineteen? Another bit of food for thought, does this make a steeper 24 dB per octave network more suitable for a smaller horn?

[dhook17322]

But aren't you limitted some on the high end with the larger format drivers (appears so from the specs, esp. with the 291's)? Maybe this isn't apparent from actual performance though. Other than power handling, anyone compare the large format models for best high end? Thanks.