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In the Forum: Audio For Dummies ™
In the Thread: Do not pursue full-range without being ready.
Post Subject: Healthy growth of your frequency rangePosted by jessie.dazzle on: 3/20/2007
Romy wrote :
"...extend HF and LF response very frequently masks out a poor performance in “simple” 60Hz and 12KHz range..."
Yes, in my esperience this is most dangerous because it can end up sounding sort of good.
In my on-going full range horn project, all but the extreme LF will be reproduced by horns... extreme LF duties will however be handled by a pair of large drivers in sealed enclosures (18", one in each of two sealed and stuffed concrete boxes about the size of a pair of American refrigerators)... Both of which are playing as I write this.
I don't yet have the 45Hz Bass horns done (and won't have for some time, as this is something of a civil engineering project), so in the mean time I just let their 15" drivers play in open space (60-290Hz 6dB/octave).
With the 18" LF drivers (currently low-passed at 60Hz, 6dB/octave) playing along with the rest of this unfinished system, it is obvious they can quite "convincingly" make up for a lot of deficiencies... in fact I would even go so far as to say that it all sounds damned good. I find their contribution to be as significant when playing classical as with other music. When I mute the output of the amps driving the 18" drivers, everything changes, including stuff that's happening way up the range.
While the sound may not on the level of what the horn-less 15s already suggest might be possible once correctly mated to a pair of big bass horns, I am never the less blown away by the effectiveness of the contribution made by this pair of LF enclosures.
Regarding masking and the correct development of a system:
As a means of verification, I find it sometimes useful to assume certain natural constants (laws?) and consider analogies to things more easily seen... Take for example the laying a tile floor, the rolling out of a pizza crust, or simply ironing a shirt... in none of these cases would you want to start from the perimeter and work inward.
So why did I build these LF enclosures so soon? Simple : A silly reason really... Apart from needing a break from the horns, I wanted to take advantage of a window of time when I had the house to myself, thus avoiding having to explain the stack of concrete blocks I moved into the dining room.
As wonderful as they may sound, these LF boxes are easily disconnected; I fully intend to develop the Central-Range (extending beyond MF) without any of their "help".
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