Originally Posted by
Alan Fletcher
As far as I can tell, the system needs to be balanced around the 375/H5038, as it is the most prevalent driver/horn combination in the compliment. We did alot of testing, starting by running the 150-4c's full range through the horns. It was immediately apparent that the horns are doing quite a bit of eq of their own. Nothing above 250-300Hz comes through, and what ever little else gets through is simply bounced around, out of phase and essentially ridiculous sounding.
This leads me to the 375/H5038. Since any attempt to play the LF horns below approx. 350Hz leads to a balky, resonant bump in the low mid, the need to play the 375/H5038's down low enough to meet them results in a very noticeable hole and odd phase characteristics at the crossover point.
Although power handling at those frequencies is not a problem for the 375, the characteristics of the 5038 horn do not allow for a smooth transition. There seems to be an unbridgeable gap between the LF and MF horns. Play that LF section too high and you get a bulky, heavy nastiness. Play the MF too low and you get a major dip in response along with funky phase characteristics.
Also, everyone seems to refer to the LE15 as stock LF drivers for the Paragon. The Paragon in question is an early one, serial #212. It was supplied with 150-4c bass drivers (which have now been reinstalled) and then "upgraded" to the LE15. The original LX-5 xovers were changed out with N500H. This is one of the reasons we thought it would sound better with a custom setup such as the one described in my original post.
I'm curious and intrigued by some of the amplifier recommendations made here, but I do not believe the amplifiers being solid or hollow state is the cause or solution to the problem. If I wished to augment the sound of the speaker artificially, I have plenty of signal processing gear which I could employ, including EQ, phase delays, and distortion emulators. However, I wish to bring this speaker to a decent ballpark before I start playing around with the electronics that power it.
I'm not seeing that happening.
More comments more than welcome.
-A