That was the most clever thread title I could come up with...but I think it fits. I love horns. I love their size, their presence, the dynamics, and even their patience testing fussiness.
So, this thread will document some of my bad ideas, over-engineered executions, rambling thoughts. The whole lot of my insanity.
First things first, I am a lucky man. My wife is accommodating and understanding, and even supportive of my endeavors of mathematical expansion formulae.* I have a very large living room, and it's going to get a bit bigger when I knock out a wall and add on to the house. The wife gets a 'quiet' spot to read and relax, and I get room to build ~8-9' long mid-bass horns (more on this later).** I will even get to build a ~1200sq/ft studio to build, test and enjoy my creations in the next few years.
For now, I'm focusing on the long game, planning and piecing together, one piece at a time.***
The real driving force behind this is my drive to experiment, measure, test, listen, build, build, build and build.
Current living room system:
Sources:
Raspberry Pi
- HIfiBerry DAC+ PRO
Technics SL-Q3
- Ortofon 2M Red
- Inexpensive phono pre currently, almost done w/ EAR 834p clone.
Onkyo C-7030 CDP
Source Selection/Volume control:
First Watt B1 clone
- with some nice Clarity caps, and DACT clone attenuator
Amplifiers:
Crown D75
- powering the LF currently
First Watt F5 clone
- powers the mf and hf horns
Horns/Drivers/etc:
LF:
- JBL 2225
- ~5cu ft ported boxes tuned to ~40hz
MF:
- JBL 2360 giant elephant butt horns
- JBL 2445 drivers with new 16ohm diaphragms
HF:
- RCF HF101
- B&C DE-250, currently with poly diaphragms, also have titanium.
Amplifier thoughts:
I've used a 'Chubby' Clementine, 6L6 ~6w tube amplifier for the MF/HF as well, but I wasn't totally satisfied with the sound, so I stashed the good parts from that build and am building a 4P1L PSE amplifier of Ale Moglia's design, driven by 6E5Ps. I have just about everything I need for this build, waiting to buy a pair of Monolith S9's, then I'll have it all ready to make the chassis' for and build.
Ultimately I would like to build a GM-70 or similar amp for the LF/mid-bass, I've actually been slowly buying some iron that would work for such an amp. No solid plans yet, I'll do more thinking on this down the road.
Source thoughts:
I like the B1 clone, but I know I can do better. I think my wife is buying me a pair of Slagle autoformers for our anniversary this year, so I'm going to build a nice box for them and a source selection switch.
I've been working on another Ale Moglia design, his 01A line amp. I'm building a new audio rack, and moving the rack a bit further away from the system, so I'll need something to drive long interconnects. I'll likely put the avc in front of that, and put the amps between the horns.
EAR 834p clone, almost done testing that one, just need to wrap that up and build some nice chassis for it. Very excited about that.
Lenco L75. I've heard a few of these now and really like them. Fairly certain I'll end up buying a project L75 some night after a few too many glasses of whisky and ebay bidding madness. I love my SL-Q3, but the L75s I've heard are quite something.
Horns:
Too many thoughts to type here, but I'll try to ramble in some discernible direction...
I would like to build some Yuichi 290fl's. I have a nice workshop, plenty of tools, and hopefully ample skill to do so, so why not?!
I have a good friend is who is a professional wood turner, and very, very talented. He and I have discussed modifying one of his lathes to turn large horns, so I may commission him to build some round horns at some point. All future prognostication at this point of course...
I built some Inlow mid-bass horns, 135hz, with B&C 8PE21s a few years ago, they are so damn good they were allowed in my living room in very much 'prototype' finish. I'm considering building another pair this winter, and actually make them look nicer than the previous versions. Did I mention how damn good these are?!
So that would make the horns look something like:
2225s in ~5cu/ft ported cabs: ~40-150
8PE21s in Inlow's ~135hz mid-bass horns: ~150-500/600
Elephant Butts: ~500/600-4000
DE-250s on HF-101 horns: ~4000 on up
In fact, the more I think about it, the more I like that idea.... hmm
Drivers:
I would like to get a pair of 2450's, or 2441s/2482s to try in the big butts. The 2445s are nice enough, but I've heard better.
** We're knocking out the wall that's behind the horns, and adding on to the house in that direction. This will enable me to build in some ~7-9' long mid-bass horns so that they sit in the current living room ~5-6' and through the divider into the new space by a few feet. Hopefully 2019 or early 2020.
I'll add a few quick pics of the system:
More thoughts and the next stage of adventure soon enough...
Cheers,
Gable
So, this thread will document some of my bad ideas, over-engineered executions, rambling thoughts. The whole lot of my insanity.
First things first, I am a lucky man. My wife is accommodating and understanding, and even supportive of my endeavors of mathematical expansion formulae.* I have a very large living room, and it's going to get a bit bigger when I knock out a wall and add on to the house. The wife gets a 'quiet' spot to read and relax, and I get room to build ~8-9' long mid-bass horns (more on this later).** I will even get to build a ~1200sq/ft studio to build, test and enjoy my creations in the next few years.
For now, I'm focusing on the long game, planning and piecing together, one piece at a time.***
The real driving force behind this is my drive to experiment, measure, test, listen, build, build, build and build.
Current living room system:
Sources:
Raspberry Pi
- HIfiBerry DAC+ PRO
Technics SL-Q3
- Ortofon 2M Red
- Inexpensive phono pre currently, almost done w/ EAR 834p clone.
Onkyo C-7030 CDP
Source Selection/Volume control:
First Watt B1 clone
- with some nice Clarity caps, and DACT clone attenuator
Amplifiers:
Crown D75
- powering the LF currently
First Watt F5 clone
- powers the mf and hf horns
Horns/Drivers/etc:
LF:
- JBL 2225
- ~5cu ft ported boxes tuned to ~40hz
MF:
- JBL 2360 giant elephant butt horns
- JBL 2445 drivers with new 16ohm diaphragms
HF:
- RCF HF101
- B&C DE-250, currently with poly diaphragms, also have titanium.
Amplifier thoughts:
I've used a 'Chubby' Clementine, 6L6 ~6w tube amplifier for the MF/HF as well, but I wasn't totally satisfied with the sound, so I stashed the good parts from that build and am building a 4P1L PSE amplifier of Ale Moglia's design, driven by 6E5Ps. I have just about everything I need for this build, waiting to buy a pair of Monolith S9's, then I'll have it all ready to make the chassis' for and build.
Ultimately I would like to build a GM-70 or similar amp for the LF/mid-bass, I've actually been slowly buying some iron that would work for such an amp. No solid plans yet, I'll do more thinking on this down the road.
Source thoughts:
I like the B1 clone, but I know I can do better. I think my wife is buying me a pair of Slagle autoformers for our anniversary this year, so I'm going to build a nice box for them and a source selection switch.
I've been working on another Ale Moglia design, his 01A line amp. I'm building a new audio rack, and moving the rack a bit further away from the system, so I'll need something to drive long interconnects. I'll likely put the avc in front of that, and put the amps between the horns.
EAR 834p clone, almost done testing that one, just need to wrap that up and build some nice chassis for it. Very excited about that.
Lenco L75. I've heard a few of these now and really like them. Fairly certain I'll end up buying a project L75 some night after a few too many glasses of whisky and ebay bidding madness. I love my SL-Q3, but the L75s I've heard are quite something.
Horns:
Too many thoughts to type here, but I'll try to ramble in some discernible direction...
I would like to build some Yuichi 290fl's. I have a nice workshop, plenty of tools, and hopefully ample skill to do so, so why not?!
I have a good friend is who is a professional wood turner, and very, very talented. He and I have discussed modifying one of his lathes to turn large horns, so I may commission him to build some round horns at some point. All future prognostication at this point of course...
I built some Inlow mid-bass horns, 135hz, with B&C 8PE21s a few years ago, they are so damn good they were allowed in my living room in very much 'prototype' finish. I'm considering building another pair this winter, and actually make them look nicer than the previous versions. Did I mention how damn good these are?!
So that would make the horns look something like:
2225s in ~5cu/ft ported cabs: ~40-150
8PE21s in Inlow's ~135hz mid-bass horns: ~150-500/600
Elephant Butts: ~500/600-4000
DE-250s on HF-101 horns: ~4000 on up
In fact, the more I think about it, the more I like that idea.... hmm
Drivers:
I would like to get a pair of 2450's, or 2441s/2482s to try in the big butts. The 2445s are nice enough, but I've heard better.
** We're knocking out the wall that's behind the horns, and adding on to the house in that direction. This will enable me to build in some ~7-9' long mid-bass horns so that they sit in the current living room ~5-6' and through the divider into the new space by a few feet. Hopefully 2019 or early 2020.
I'll add a few quick pics of the system:
More thoughts and the next stage of adventure soon enough...
Cheers,
Gable