Lowther drivers, front horn or back loaded horn?

Hi Jsadurni,

So, a 340 Azura with a compression driver all the way up.
And a bass horn or reflex from 40 to 400 but with a driver capable of going to 2 or 3Khz?
But, if a set up the crossover at 500 or 700hz Im cutting in the middle th frequency range of the human voice, am I?
So, just to understand, in that case is not better a Lowther that can go down to 180 hz, where it will be easy to make the crossover point?

Thanks
Alan

There is always a trade off..
General recipe for horns systems are cut from 500 to 800hz , you will need a tweeter at around 5k to 8 khz, and a 15 inch woofer from 500hz to 40hz. Depending an the drivers chosen.

I have tried a bunch of drivers horn loaded from 150-180hz Lowthers loose authority at 150hz but have a beautiful tone in a front horn, Fostex do get down to 150 hz nice but sound less dynamic and transparent than lowther
(I didnt try the F200, its in my list of things to do!)
The thing about this IMHO is that you get the whizzer highs... If you cut the Lowther at 1 or 2khz or higher over to a tweeter or a compression driver, then you fix that but you have a cut right there in the middle, which is worst? You decide based on listening tests. You can try the smaller Lowther...
You can get a GOTO driver specified from 100hz to 8khz, but GOTO recommends smaller freq. spans.
Or you can try a Phenolic Diaphragm Altec or Great Plains Audio compression driver that goes down to 300hz up to 5khz on the Azura 340 horn and stay away as posible from the human voice freq. range (this driver was designed for the human voice freq. range) Of course you will need a tweeter but the bass integration will be easier, then again you are cutting the compression driver too close to the freq. rate of the mouth and that induces colorations, which is worst? Lets try them.
A good compromise was found a long time ago with the general recipe, what I dont like about that is the tone of the 15 inch driver at 800hz, it sounds dull, that is why a lot of people are trying to get their compression drivers to go lower, maybe loosing definition in highs (depending on the driver) that is why I recommend a bass driver that goes up to 3khz, so that bass at 800hz has the same dynamic taste and detail as the compression driver and you dont get a "step" in performance...then we need to find a really sensitive bass driver, maybe two!

Hi Jsadurni,

Thats a good solution. To use a bass driver like this maybe:
http://www.usspeaker.com/JBL%202226h-1.htm
it goes until 2.5 khz and is very sensitive.

I can use it from 30 to 800hz and then use a compression driver like the BMS 4592 all the way up. What do you think?
For the 4592 I can use the 550 azura horn and for the jbl we can use a bass reflex or bass horn.

Well a bass horn for 30hz is a monster, better go Bass reflex!!

If you are going for that BMS driver better try to get the 340 azura horn or even the 160 and cut driver down to 300hz, it has a coaxial tweeter...I heard mixed things about BMS...

Up to 300hz the JBL 15" driver will do fine.

For 800hz I would get something like this:
http://www.usspeaker.com/beyma%2012BR70-1.htm

Johnk- The nice chap who sold them to me told me that you built them when I first made the enquiry.Thats why I snapped them up when I did without an audition and without hesitation. I Had to drive 2000 round trip for them, but was more than well worth the effort, time and money etc. Had a good time in Las Vegas also, I kept reassuring my better half that It was a holiday.lol. Cost me heaps to keep her sweet (and still is).
There is another pair of your speakers (I believe)here on Audiogon, that are two 150's per side I bet they sound awesome, If they had been an other colour but blue I may have been able to swing it. For the price that they are they are a steal. I don't understand why they have not been sold already. Seems different strokes for different folks. Perhaps horn speaker lovers have different ears to the rest.