After 5 years it finally begins

[Mr. Widget]

Yes, very nicely done! Thanks for sharing!


Widget

[Titanium Dome]

The 045's blend very well with the Be's and allows for limited EQ on the Be drivers. I have no idea if it would have been better to put the 045 horns at the top as in the K2's, or if the centre position is equally good.

I have not seen any documentation outlining which placement is preferred. Probably the top mount as this is what JBL does in the K2’s. But that could also be driven by aesthetics. For me it was a matter fitting into a small cabinet.

I think your location of the 045s is fine given your mounting position. Traditionally, the design aesthetic is to put the 045 on top, as you noted. Greg Timbers did the same thing on his personal, custom built Arrays which I've dubbed the Timbers Arrays since he sold them to me. Our discussion of the Be HF and UHF drivers lasted about 45 seconds.

Someone (4313B I believe) posted a photo of the speakers in Greg's home with the 045 Be drivers disconnected. When I picked them up, the 045s were solidly connected and sported some new networks. When I asked if they were really needed, he commented that he felt "a little something" was missing and the new boards and 045s "gave it back" as long as the UHF drivers were within +/-30 horizontal degrees of the seated listener's ear height.

It seems like your decision is a fortuitous one, since having the 045 driver at the top of the cabinet could be significantly outside the 30 degree range.

Your work looks great!

[sebackman]

Hi all,

I know this is an old thread but did realized that I have not updated this for some time and some things have changed.

Thank you for all the nice and supportive comments.

The system is fine, however I never got the PRO1400 to be happy in the closed cabinets so even with DSP and ample of power they never really produced as good as they do in other cabinets.

What to do? Bring out the router again!!

I ported the cabinets on the rear side, no room on the front, with two 3" ports. Even if the cabinets are really too small it still works surprisingly good with porting. I also could take down the sub XO from 85-ish to 65-ish which made the blend better.

Lesson learned, PRO1400 does not like small closed cabinets and DSP/power can't fix it. I should have known...




There was no space for two reasonable closely placed ports on the center so it only got one port on the side. XO 75-ish. Works decent for dialog on films

The PRO1400 is really a nice driver and the sound is very much like the 2216Nd (I have both), apart from the lack of low bass. A bit odd that not more DIY'ers use them more often.

The Be diaphragms are really sweet but probably does not warrant the additional cost, including 045's, compared to ordinary SL diaphragms and a good DSP curve.

The placing of the 045's was probably sheer luck. They did not fit on the top side but in reality the listener cannot distinguish between the 045's and the 4" Be's. They are one. Even if Xo is lowered.

I just did a pair of Array 4890 for a friend and swapped the old alu horn for a modern waveguide (VTX). They sound wonderful with a good DSP curve. When compared to my Genelec refs they have the same sound picture but more dynamics, more detail and can play stupid loud. We added some 2268H based subs to them. He was happy!! Not sure he will ever return to his day job, he may be stuck in his couch with Tidal as the only app on his iPad :-) .

Stay safe everyone.

Have a nice weekend, when it arrives

//Rob

[srm51555]

Thanks for sharing Rob, we always like to follow your projects.