trying horns :)

aaah ear horns!

here is Tones with his

 

Hi,

Just thought I'd put a note up for anyone interested -

I've given up on building a pair of horn speakers, and have bought some pre-made ones instead.

The model is Altec Lansing 846B 'Valencia'. Essentially they have the same components in them as the 'Voice of the theatre' speaker, but are in a smaller cabinet.

The picture in the link is black and white. I'll try to find something better

.http://www.lansingheritage.org/images/altec/catalogs/1975-home/page03.jpg

Cheers
Chris

 

What are they like then?

-- Ian

 

large and brown

 

But they sound turdy?



Sorry Chris.

 

turdy?! how dare you sir!!. I will show you turdy tommorow!! (actually I won't, that sounds gross)

I'm still getting used to them to be honest, they are a long way from what I'm used to. Shall report more on the sounds when I've lived with them more.

First impressions are dynamic, powerful, plenty of bass. Very clear. On AV explosions make you jump out of your chair.

Like most speakers, I'm sure they will be much better in a decent acoustic.

I love the cabinets too, which are solid walnut which has been oiled by hand. Nice to have furniture quality instead of a veneered MDF which Ive had before.

Chris

 

They sound like fun, Chris. Enjoy.

 

Warning - Long post!

Whilst I was looking up pictures of my new babies, I happened across the story of Howard Hughes.

I'd heard of Howard Hughes before, but other than the fact he was a famous American I couldnt quite remember his background.

A little digging and I find a really fascinating persons life. In case you havent heard it here's a potted history (which Ive stolen from internet articles)....


Howard Hughes was a movie actor, and in 1930 produced the most expensive film ever made of its time ''Hells Angel''. 'Scarface' and 'The Outlaw caused great controversy because of their violence, and sexual content with busty Jane Russell.

Bizarely,Mr Hughes then invented the 'half cup bra' (?) so gentleman of the world have something to thank him for as well as the ladies!

Next he became a famous pilot and owned his own plane manufacturing company 'Hughes Aircraft Company'. During his time there they made flying boats for the USA in world war II and had a speed record in avionics in 1935.
After the 50's the company manufactured spy satellites for the US.

His company made the Lunar landing module and launched the first satellite to ever reach into space.

At his peak Howard Hughes was said to be worth more than France, Germany and England.

With the growth of his company, the CIA (in paranoid post war America) and organised crime many lines became blurred. Hughes head of staff was implicated in a plot to assassinate Fidel Castro.

In the late 60's he opened a hospital. By putting his billion-dollar-a-year arms plants profits through the hospital he was able to gain tax exempt charitable status.

In the early 70's some articles link Hughes to the Watergate scandal that involved nixon and of course the kennedy brothers discrediting and assassination.

In the late 70's Hughes sold much of his billion dollar empire and became a recluse.

The billion dollar recluse became interested in movies again from the other side of the silver screen. He had a price no object home cinema setup. He was renowned for playing it so loudly that the whole ninth floor of the building shook.

He let his hair grow long and dishevelled, and his clothes became tattered and worn as he became a cinema watching tramp in his own home.

Based on first hand experiences of the time, here is an artists impression of Hughes sitting watching his movies:



So at last we turn to the reason for this potted history.

You see, Mr Hughes equiped his cinema equipment in the late 60's. The speakers that he chose to use were ... ALTEC VALENCIA's !

They were in fact an earlier version of the speaker that I use with similar components, but a more '60's' cabinet:



So there we have it, we will see if I become a beardy music and cinema loving tramp of a recluse...

Who knows..










A list of his films:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0400652/

Other sources:

http://www.bugsweeps.com/info/howard_hughes.html

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Review/Hot-Docs-Howard-Hughes/2005/02/28/1109546795219.html?oneclick=true

http://www.famoustexans.com/howardhughes.htm

 

Excellent stuff.

From the sketch that you posted I'd say you've aged a bit. It's probably just the stress of changing your speakers.

 

cheers!

by the way steve, these horns cut off about 18khz, according to the Altec Lansing brochure I've found from their year of manufacture.

Its sligthly niggling, as the toppermost of the treble isn't there.

I'm going to add either a gauss treble driver or a JBL 2405 (because they are efficient enough and are used by Living Voice on their horns to push the top treble).

What's doing my head in is how to wire the thing in when I get them... the horn has an attenuator to make it fit in different domestic environments/recordings. I'd ideally want the attenuator to be linked to the treble driver too, so that the attenuator does both horn and tweeter.

If I manage to get a plan of the crossover, would you know where to do what so that I can get stuck in?

NB Any other crossover-modifying experts feel free to join in!!

Cheers
Chris

 

I'm no expert on crossovers but I'll certainly help if I can.

My first response is to say why bother? I doubt that we could hear if it's, say, -3dB down at 18kHz. What frequency would the super-tweeter come in at? I wonder if the effects at that crossover point and over the range that the drivers overlap would be more audible over the longer term.

How are the speakers positioned? Do they toe in to fire directly at you?

 

For answers to all your Altec questions, including supertweeters

 

Thanks Markus, Steve.

The speakers actually fire straight at you, but really they need to be angled up by ten/15 degrees, or of course put on stands of approx 1 foot in height.

Im sure this would help, but they have a wide dispersion.

 

Even at 18kHz?

 

quite possibly not!



shows my lack of knowledge of how treble frequencies react when coming out of a horn.

where the hell can I get a solid base with an angle?

I had thought of making an angled trough from matching walnut and pouring concrete into it.