Recommended Driver for 2344 butt cheek horn?

Hey guys, I am new here seeking some ideas for this horn.

So here's the questions I have right now please:

It's description here shows:

http://www.lansingheritage.org/image...2344/page1.jpg

it is made of "molded structural foam", what material is that horn made of, plastic, fiberglass, metal or something else?

Next, have you guys ever run it outside of a speaker cab without a crossover? If yes do you hear a sort of hiss like "shhhhhhh" when it's on without music?

Last, my purpose for this horn as a standalone is for highs but I like hearing some vocals coming from the horn too so which drivers would you guys recommend for this purpose please? Thx.

The JBL 2344 horns are for lack of a better description made of dense plastic. Now there were two slightly different versions, the first version was 90% molded plastic with a metal flange throat bolted to the horn that you bolted the driver to. The later version was all one piece molded plastic, both sounded the same.
Those have not been made for about 25 years or so, the two part metal flange versions were in the early mid 80's.

You can run most horns outside of a cabinet but you can not operate a high frequency compression driver without a crossover network in one form or another.

Horns and drivers do not create hiss or noise, they only reproduce the what is coming into them from the sound system. Being that they are very high efficiency devices as in making a lot of sound with very little audio input level if your system has some background noise to it your going to hear it.

As for hearing vocals coming out of a horn that has to do with how the system is configured more than a specific choice of driver.

That said those horns were designed using the JBL 2425 and 2426 drivers but there are other driver choices today to pick from.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mike Caldwell

The JBL 2344 horns are for lack of a better description made of dense plastic. Now there were two slightly different versions, the first version was 90% molded plastic with a metal flange throat bolted to the horn that you bolted the driver to. The later version was all one piece molded plastic, both sounded the same.
Those have not been made for about 25 years or so, the two part metal flange versions were in the early mid 80's.

You can run most horns outside of a cabinet but you can not operate a high frequency compression driver without a crossover network in one form or another.

Horns and drivers do not create hiss or noise, they only reproduce the what is coming into them from the sound system. Being that they are very high efficiency devices as in making a lot of sound with very little audio input level if your system has some background noise to it your going to hear it.

As for hearing vocals coming out of a horn that has to do with how the system is configured more than a specific choice of driver.

That said those horns were designed using the JBL 2425 and 2426 drivers but there are other driver choices today to pick from.

---

Well, seems you've answered every question is detail already, thanks!

I used to hear a slight hiss on my Peaveys with no audio running which is why I asked.

Yes I can run it standalone through my BSS Processor.

As for the driver, since getting some vocals from the horn is not related to any specific driver I will look into those 2 you've mentioned.

One problem though is these horns seems hard to come by for some reason and only sold in pairs mostly but I will keep checking.

Hi,

perhaps the most prominent application for these big butt cheeks biradials was in the 4430 and 4435 studio monitors. In Addition to the already mentioned 2425 and 2426 compression drivers, most probably the first CD to be attached to them was the 2421.

Xover frequency in both mentioned studio monitors was 1000 Hz, so you can judge by yourself whether they are apt to reproduce vocals or not.

Best regards!

Thanks. Tell me this please guys, can I use this driver instead:

https://jblpro.com/en/products/d305

would this be ok and could it be used with the 2344 with an adapter without any issues or would I need to specifically use a 3 bolt driver for best performance from this horn?

wait sorry the 3 bolt issue is throwing me. Can I use any driver with a 1-3/8 thread with the 2344 horn without an adapter please?

The driver you posted a link to is a 2" throat four bolt design. The 2344 horn is a one inch throat with three bolt holes. There are a great many one inch drivers on the market these days that perform as well or better than the JBL 2425 or 2426 drivers originally used with these horns but most are two bolt designs. Yes you can drill new holes in the mounting flange of the horn to accommodate the two bolt drivers but no you can't use thread on drivers without a very convoluted mounting adaptor AFAIK. Only the 2342 horns had the thread on mount.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by newbie

Thanks. Tell me this please guys, can I use this driver instead:

https://jblpro.com/en/products/d305

would this be ok and could it be used with the 2344 with an adapter without any issues or would I need to specifically use a 3 bolt driver for best performance from this horn?

---

Thanks, I had these Atlas drivers on my Peavey MF1-X horns years ago so I think I can try it on this horn:

https://www.parts-express.com/atlas-...hoCUrMQAvD_BwE

Or guys, when deciding on which driver to buy, what exactly might tell you which driver you can choose which will give you crisp clean highs, can you determine that from a Driver's Specs or some other way? I am seeing there are many different JBL drivers out there.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mike Caldwell

The JBL 2344 horns are for lack of a better description made of dense plastic. Now there were two slightly different versions, the first version was 90% molded plastic with a metal flange throat bolted to the horn that you bolted the driver to. The later version was all one piece molded plastic, both sounded the same.
Those have not been made for about 25 years or so, the two part metal flange versions were in the early mid 80's.

---

IIRC, ther were two versions in that one version actually ported the woofer cabinets through ports that came through from behind the "bumped areas" (used in sound reinforcement where cabinet space was at a premium) whereas the other version (used in 4430s) was sealed back there.

In addition to the 2425, one could use and LE85 (2420) or even LE175 (2410) if available. The LE85 actually produces more gauss than the 2425/2426, which would fall "between" the LE175 and LE85. The LE175 would sound a bit "warmer" with a bit less top end extension.

BTW, the butt cheeks should be crossed over at 1kHz and placed on the baffleboard with the 2235 woofer so that they time align and create the same dispersion at 1kHz.

The Atlas driver you linked to was designed for voice public address horns. Just about any modern compression driver from JBL, B&C or Radian is going to sound better than that. Peavey was building speakers for durabilty more than fidelity. Find some used JBL 2426s ( assuming your horns have bolt on throats ) on Ebay in good condition with stock JBL or Radian diaphragms and the horn will sound very good. If the horns have thread on throats it's time to start looking for thread on adaptors. Most thread on drivers that I know of are made for voice horns or low budget speakers and sound pretty poor.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by newbie

Or guys, when deciding on which driver to buy, what exactly might tell you which driver you can choose which will give you crisp clean highs, can you determine that from a Driver's Specs or some other way? I am seeing there are many different JBL drivers out there.

---

Ok thanks, I know a guy selling a few of the JBL 2426H and JBL 2344 horns, will look into it thx.

This Atlas CD reportedly also serves well as a replacement for the ancient and NLA Jensen VC20 driver in Leslie organ speaker cabinets. One has to buy the -16 version, not the -T one, though, as a 70 V line transformer isn't needed with this application.

Best regards!