Gone are the 'gons, but why?

[John Y.]

Anyone, (especially Mr. Widget, oldmics and Giskard):

The Paragon, Metregon, Minigon all had their adherents and were cosidered to be fine systems of their day. Personally, I really liked the Metregon because it was smaller (WAF) and you could place most any system inside.

At one time, the suggestion was made that the Paragon (maybe, all the 'gons) were ideal for center channel and had been developed for that purpose.

My question is fundamentally - can we make use of integration of two LF drivers in a center channel setup by use of the curved reflective panel? This would place the LF drivers far behind the speaker front and could be used with a single HF horn unit mounted at the front center of the enclosure and result in near zero time delay between the LF and HF units. Sort of like a pair of Altec A7's side by side with a single HF driver/horn in the middle.

What do y'all (Texas drawl) think?

John Y.

[Mr. Widget]

Sounds interesting, but I don't think you would gain much. The main thing the curved panel did in the Paragon was to disperse the upper frequencies. The possible negatives are the effects of comb filtering which will create nulls and peaks in the response at various locations in the room.

What are the other components you are considering in this system?

Widget

[John Y.]

Originally posted by Mr. Widget
The possible negatives are the effects of comb filtering which will create nulls and peaks in the response at various locations in the room.
What are the other components you are considering in this system?
Widget

Mr. Widget,

Wouldn't there be less of the comb filtering effects than having two woofers, one each side of the HF horn, like most of the center channels today? Wouldn't the LF signal path length equaling that of the HF driver result in near perfect phase match?

Now this is the part you are going to like: How about using a 2397 for the HF (with a 2440) and have the curved panel exactly match the front radius of the 2397? For the center channel atop the HDTV, the curved panel would be above the 2397 with 2206's used in the standard (Metregon - like) array. I think it would be cool in appearance.

Now, you are probably thinking "why not just two 2206's, edges touching, mounted above the 2397"? My idea - Aesthetically not as pleasing, less interesting, but I'll agree - much more compact and a whole lot easier to build.

Thanks for your thoughts.

John

[Mr. Widget]

Aesthetically I agree with you completely! The front edge of the 2397 is a fairly tight radius compared with the Paragon or Metregon, but with 12" woofers it could probably be made to work visually.

Yes most center channel speakers are far less than ideal acoustically. A concentric design like those produced by Tannoy or Altec are a better solution, especially since you can then have all three front speakers be identical.

Back to your quest... you can get a section of sonotube that will be close to the radius of the 2397 and give it a try. If you do proceed keep us posted, it does sound intriguing.

Widget

[John Y.]

Originally posted by Mr. Widget

Back to your quest... you can get a section of sonotube that will be close to the radius of the 2397 and give it a try. If you do proceed keep us posted, it does sound intriguing.

Widget

Mr. Widget,

Attached (if transmission works) is a prelim drawing of the concept, which I shall call the "centregon". Dimensions are WHD 58 x 22 x 24 inches. Haven't figured the volume yet. Would plan on dividing the volume - half for each woofer.

John Y.

[boputnam]

Originally posted by boputnam
John...

Very intresting concept. Although not "gon-ified" to comment, it occurs the horn would give better imaging if positioned atop the cabinet. And, the position of those ports (?) makes me think some UHF's similarly mounted outboard the horn (repositioned up top) would be a very nice configuration...

[John Y.]

Bo,

This is intended to be placed on top of a 60" high RPTV which is 59" wide. That set the dimensions. I wanted the 2397 to be as low as reasonable, constrained by the clearance required for the 2440 above the TV. A UHF transducer could be recessed in the curved panel just above the 2397. Ducts could be anywhere.

I agree with you that it would be good to invert the unit if it were below a plasma display. In that case, a whole new ball game opens up with, maybe, a larger unit more like a Metregon.

Thanks, John

[boputnam]

Cool, John...

Sorry I hadn't understood that. This will be one fine set-up when complete!!