If you know anything about horns, Step inside.....

My gosh! What a setup! That McIntosh equipment is sick. I love the sound of the 275 vac tube amp. I am pushing the WestChester 2 for a home theater install now.
 
Dammit 2nr.....I just drooled all over my desk :) I don't think there's quite enough room in my dash for those. I kill to have those McIntosh amps in my home setup though.

I'm OK with crossing over around the 800hz point. I have a pair of 7" Dayton mids for the doors that should be able to take it down from there. It IDMAX set up as an infinite baffle behind the back seat should handle the bottom end just fine. I have all the drivers and amps, I just need to get to installing and picking a DSP to get it all in line.
 
As long as you make yourself happy!

Don't worry about popular opinions on this and that....

No two set of ears hear the same and not all agree on what is "correct".
 
Dammit 2nr.....I just drooled all over my desk :) I don't think there's quite enough room in my dash for those. I kill to have those McIntosh amps in my home setup though.

I'm OK with crossing over around the 800hz point. I have a pair of 7" Dayton mids for the doors that should be able to take it down from there. It IDMAX set up as an infinite baffle behind the back seat should handle the bottom end just fine. I have all the drivers and amps, I just need to get to installing and picking a DSP to get it all in line.


800hz is too high for a woofer.
That is five octaves worth of sound to produce from 20 to 800.

That is exactly half of what we can hear. Most humans can hear 10 octaves.
Do ray me fa so la ti do.....

Remember that horns are super efficient!
The sensitivity rating as measured in dB with 1 watt @ 1 meter distance usually around 104 or higher while conventional speakers are in high 80s to mid 90s. For each 10dB you are doubling the perceived volume.

94 to 104 is double volume

For the same speaker....if you want to double the volume then you need 10x more watts!

If you have a 100watt amp and go to 400watt amp..... you probably would not hear the difference. You would need 800 or 1000 to hear a difference

You do not need an amp. I would just use head unit. Then factor 100x more watts for the bass.

I run 1000 watt per channel to my bass bins and only 75 watt to the mids and highs. I also have twin JL subs that are a couple thousand watts each.

That little 75 watt tube amp on those horns will blast a small stadium and then some with Crystal clear and bright sounds.

Almost record setting efficiency for horns. That's why you see them at every football stadium.


I use a Mic to sample and software algorithms to tune.....then final tweek with me ear.

I have multiple digital delays to correct sound to the inch for where I sit. A dbx sound processor.

Etc etc....

Each horn will have a natural resonance frequency and you can dampen the exterior of the horn or trim with digital eq to make flat frequency response.



I friggin love horns! Would never own anything else!
 
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2nr, The 800hz crossover is for the ID horns to the mids. In car audio with a 2 way front sound stage that seems to be the sweet spot crossover between the two. The sub should be able to take over from 80ish hz on down. I do plan on tweaking the crossover points, EQ, and delays on the DSP with a RTA once I get everything installed. I need to amp the horns so I can run the signal through the DSP to tune it. However i do plan as you suggested to run minimal power the the horns and significantly more to the mids and subs. I can't remember at the moment what amp I have for the mids, I know it's 75 to 150 watts per channel. The sub is driven with 1100 watts, so that should keep up.
 
I really like my Helix Pro processor in my old comp system. Tons of flexibility, no noise. I have the older Helix DSP, 8-channel digital signal processor in my everyday truck. Running a 3 way front with sub.
 
I currently have my system in progress. I will be using a Pioneer P99RS for head unit that will handle all eq / crossover / time alignment. I am running ID ultra's on minihorns with B&C high sensitivity mids in doors (5 1/4" in stock location). I'm going to try to squeeze 2 - JL 13tw5 in the truck somewhere with amps. While external DSP's are an excellent choice - there's something to be said for the simplicity of having everything in one box. Especially since I want to keep the interior as clean/stock as I can and still have great sound. Covered with grill cloth, most people don't even know the horns are there under the dash.

Previously I used the Pioneer 880PRS with very good results in this car also on Crossfire horns and conventional mids.
 
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