Pro Audio sub using four RF T3-19" drivers

[bmwking]

I want to hear it, I think pro audio is pretty stagnant and could use some "car" guy ingenuity. It looks neat but I think it lacks port so it would be constrained to indoor venues. Horns and horn-like enclosures I think are the way to go for open-air venues.

Got a link to the build thread?

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Here is the link: http://data-bass.ipbhost.com/index.php?/topic/561-zod-audio-maul-test-results-and-discussion/

I totally agree that horns are where its at for pro-audio (and home audio). I'm trying to find ways to make horns work for car audio as well, its just tough making them fit.

I saw you thread about the PA bass cab you built. It looks pretty neat!

I'm thinking of building a horn for my next HT sub. Is there a good article/thread on horns and how to design them that is relatively easy to read that you know of?

The design is pretty simple in its basic form. You divide the speed of sound by the quarter wave length of the desired frequency then roll up the works into the smallest space possible, to make the most basic horn. Unrolled you can also call it a transmission line.

Then you add sealed/ported/infinite rear chambers, taper the line, fill the line, plan your bends so they function as 1/32, 1/16th, and 1/8th wavelength filters...

You can go really deep into how different boxes are made and what sound they will make (w-horns, scoops, rear-loaded, front-loaded, ripole...)

Myself I dont think getting that complicated is useful and i'm working at adding horn loading to more standard (ported) enclosures which is why you see the cab that I made built as it is. The basic box is a ported enclosure with probably a bit excessive port area/volume, but that is coupled to the "horn" mouth to give the port and subs more efficiency in exciting more air in front of the cabinet which is what gives the horn the ability to be "loud" in open air venues and project its output further as well.

I'll be completely honest, the box I built used "shits and giggles" math in what I thought would work together well, though there is some intuitive thought behind it as well based on past experience and reading build logs of other people. Specifically the shits and giggles part is the "horn" mouth. I have each side at 17 degrees. I cant quite remember why I chose that number but to me it seemed to couple with the back end of the port to allow the mouth to load it more and increase the frequency response of the port, something about "7 degrees of separation".. which I think may related to 7 degrees of increase per inch of linear port length. Anyways it seems to work as the enclosure is not peaky at all in the lower frequencies and is extremely smooth and quite a bit easier to design than most horns. It should also work well with pretty much any driver that likes ported enclosures.

Really to me the horn is just the mouth. You can do a lot of fancy stuff before the mouth, but the mouth is the business end ; )

EDIT

And horns have a particular "honk" to them. Grab a long tube and talk into it, you'll figure it out in a hurry lol.

It's 6 degrees. 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon. That's a universal law.

[DLHgn]

I'm thinking of building a horn for my next HT sub. Is there a good article/thread on horns and how to design them that is relatively easy to read that you know of?

Horns can be tricky, there is some really good free modeling software you can use for their development though, HornResp.

Getting something that looks good in HornResp is only half the battle though, then you have to turn those specs into a design, which is referred to as "folding the horn". It can be very difficult. Designing a horn from scratch is enough of a hassle that I've never put forth the effort to do it. I've taken existing designs and modified them to suits my needs plenty of times though.

If you want to build a horn for a HT sub (and they work very well for that application) I would strongly encourage you to use an existing proven design. There are lots to choose from and I'd be happy to point you in the right direction if you want.

Gosh I remember posting this question but I completely forgot where it was but i'm glad I found it! Anyways, I have seen some pretty good existing designs but I just thought that the challenge of designing one would be fun. In the past few weeks i've been reading a decent amount on transmission line enclosures and seeing how far the rabbit hole goes and oh boy, some of the stuff in there flies right over your head at first. I've joined some groups dedicated to them and read some papers posted by Martin King (I think that's his name it's abreviated MJK) and had to really go back to the basics to figure out half the crap they were talking about. Like, stuff I didn't even know made a difference or even existed in driver enclosures. I know t-lines are pretty much the root of horns but I can't seem to find any good sites for horn theory (not t-line). I want to learn what the expansions and tapers do and what the folds do etc. I'm thinking about starting by building a t-line for HT use to see how I like it then stepping up to horn at a later time. I really want to be able to build two horn enclosures that are efficient enough so I can hook both of them up to my NU3000 and get plenty of output with some headroom (to push the subs and play with them in true basshead fashion of course). I also need more of that low end. My current setup has pretty decent low end but I feel it could be better. My new room is considerably bigger and doesn't have concrete walls so the low end has suffered a bit as well as output. Don't get me wrong it still gets crazy loud and still plays in the mid 20's with authority but, as is with most people on this forum, I need more.