The Paper Horn by Inlow Sound
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Horns for my brother's band

5/4/2011

4 Comments

 
My brother and sister-in-law own a Christian rock band, Pure Fusion. For reasons beyond my comprehension, they asked me to be their sound-man, and audio tech. What makes this a bit humorous is the fact that my hearing's not the best in the world -- I've been teased about the things I misunderstand for years. 

My brother loves me, but most of all, he loves my horns! He also places a great deal of trust in my ability to produce a rock solid sound -- which I discovered is easier to do with commercially recorded music, than raw from the stage.

When I first hear Pure Fusion rehearse, I feared the worse. The music had tremendous potential, but when everyone played towards a song's climax, the notes became a turbulent sea of crashing, churning, choking hell. I say this with the greatest respect for the musicians in the band -- you see, it wasn't their fault, it was the sound system.

I had fabricated a folded bass horn for the band, but it couldn't do much for the garbled midrange/high-frequency section. I had just completed the 80hz bi-conical horn and suggested that my brother come to my audio chamber and listen to my version of performance.

He did just that.

Though Jade (my brother) loved the sound, everyone in the band who had an opportunity to sit in on the music session thought it would be too much hassle to cart around -- especially when paired, which they are when he runs a stereo mix from the sound board.

"I could build you a 100hz version," I said.

His eyes lit up. "How much smaller would it be?"

"I don't know, but it will be smaller. Let me cook up a design and get back to you," I said, hoping he had the patience to wait for my calculations and simulations.

Long story short, we fabricated one of the cute little beasts and hooked it up to my sound system. It performed like a trooper -- strong, punchy, accurate. We immediately began the second horn. 

For a professional looking finish, we sprayed the horns with a rattle can drywall orange-peel effect. Since it's oil based, it would cure into a hard, tough finish which would be rolled with several coats of black urethane. The end result had me wishing my horns looked as good as Jade's.

Last Thursday, we began sitting up his horns and equipment in a church that would be home to Friday's concert. I asked my brother to purchase a three-way, 4th order, electronic crossover, and beg, borrow, or buy a few more power amplifiers. He didn't have to beg, but the other two options were exploited to their fullest. 

I happened to have a couple of speaker enclosures loaded with JBL 2123 10" drivers for the midrange. They would take the load above 400hz (where the 100hz mid bass horns rolled off). Turns out, this was a very good move. The mids turned from mush to warmth and clarity. The 1-1/2" high frequency horn could now be lowered to 3.2K hz without fear of overdriving the diaphragm (he had it previously crossed at 7k with a solitary capacitor). The highs were, now, a pleasant sizzle.

All in all, the combination rated an 8 out of 10, whereas before they didn't even make it onto the scale. There's still more improvement to come -- I want to horn load the midrange. There's also room for better sounding amplifiers in the upper frequencies where high wattage is unnecessary. I'm thinking Class A in the mids and high frequencies. I'll probably be modifying my amp, or the bridged version of Nelson's F5. It should be quite the adventure.

Oh -- the band really rocked the house that night! Everyone said that they had never sounded so good! Afterwards, I got a lot of hugs from everyone in that lovely group of people.

It just goes to show, that even with a handicap, a person with passion and a bit of experience can make a difference. So remember, you can make a difference too.
4 Comments

Mid bass has its place

3/30/2011

4 Comments

 
I just completed a mid-bass horn that's loaded with a JBL 2240 18 inch bass driver and covers a frequency range of 80 to 400 hz. The mutha rocks!!

I own a sound system that can literally beat a grown man to death -- ok, maybe his eardrums. ;^) With that said, it always seemed a bit weak in the mid-bass department, if you know what I mean. The drums and bass guitar had plenty of low, rolling thunder, but they never had that all consuming, eyeball rattling SLAP.

Today is a new day, and everything has changed. I will never underestimate the value of a well designed mid-bass horn as long as I live. After cranking the volume, my ears will probably be ringing for a week -- they are right now, come to think of it -- and that's something I don't normally do because it's just not healthy. There are moments though when a man has to "turn up the music" and grab that natural high.

I can't wait until the second horn is completed and I can have a balanced L/R pair. My other speaker channel (without the mid-bass horn) is sounding rather pathetic and if it could speak would probably scream out with envy. 

Never underestimate the value of JBL's old technology, either. That ancient 2240 is an absolute screamer/bone crusher when placed in the correct environment. Ahem to that, brother.
4 Comments

Folded bass horns... talk about temptation!

2/5/2011

5 Comments

 
I've had quite an interesting couple of months. 

My brother asked me to fabricate a folded bass horn for his Christian rock band. Beings that work is slow (I'm a remodel contractor) I couldn't resist diving into this project.

I used Hornresp to design a decent horn that covered the 35hz to 150hz spectrum. I made the outside dimensions 45" x 45" x 25.5" so it would be easy to transport. I used a pair of Eminence Lab 12 drivers (available from Parts Express) and 3-1/2 sheets of 3/4" plywood. I glued and screwed the plywood like it was going out of style.

The completed horn just blew my mind. First, it's beautiful (you can see it on my home page), second, it's powerful--I'd forgotten how efficient a front loaded horn can be. Third, its low end range far exceeds my expectations--it has no problem hitting hard down to 20hz. I never expected this. I'm so pleased with the outcome, that I'm going to offer it as standard wares for sale on my web site.
5 Comments

Making the old sound new.

4/10/2010

2 Comments

 
Hello again,


I spent the evening listening to some old music which ranged from The Doors (Riders on the Storm) to Styx (Man in the Wilderness; Castle Walls; Grand Illusion). Adding Boston to the mix created feelings of nostalgia that make me wish I were 23 again.


The point I'm wandering towards is that the system I currently listen to is primarily horn loaded. I have a pair of the 8 foot tapped subwoofer horns, a pair of paper mache high frequency horns loaded with JBL 2446 compression drivers, and 4 Eminence 12 Kappa Pro drivers in a pair of sealed enclosures (2 per). The Kappa's keep up--just barely. 


This combination sounds fantastic up loud... my wife is out of town ;^)   Old music sounds better than I remember on the older sound systems. Castle Walls has an organ bass note in the climax that will literally make your eyeballs rattle in their sockets. I smiled, then shouted "Hell yeah!" I'm so happy to have discovered audio. 

2 Comments

Jensen Imperials

3/30/2010

0 Comments

 
I've recently completed a pair of Jensen Imperials for a customer. They're an older design (built-in model) and a bit on the large side, but my god they sound impressive.


I utilized a pair of B&C 21SW152 woofers in this project. B&C builds beautiful sounding drivers and this 21 inch woofer is no exception. They handle 2000 watts RMS (we're giving them 2400 watts intermittently) which is a necessity with this particular customer. He's a brute and not afraid to push my gear to the limits! One can't help but love people like this--I love fearless characteristics in an individual.


I purchased a set of $10.00 drawings from decware.com and made a few modifications to Steve's design in order to accomodate a massive, single driver. You can locate the prints in his master catalog. The prints don't come with a cut-off sheet, so I posted one on my free "jensen imperial horn" page. I also post the cut-off angles--the original prints don't have them.
0 Comments

Horn loaded midrange/high frequency audio

3/18/2009

7 Comments

 

In my opinion, there's few methods of reproducing music that sound better than a favorite song being played through a well design horn loaded sound system. Throw in a Class A amplifier and heaven is but a push-button away.

Now, I'm not talking about metal, or cheap plastic horns--no way. I'm referring to a well dampened horn made from substantial material. JBL has their proprietary elements, thick, black and shiny. Beautiful stuff--but expensive.

I prefer to DIY. You learn, boy do you learn. And when it comes out right, you've got a good reason to pat yourself on the back.

In my case, I prefer paper mache--for high frequency anyway. The blue horn on my home page is absolutely the best sounding horn I've ever fabricated. In fact, it's one of the best sounding horns I've ever heard. But it has to be coupled with the proper compression driver. The JBL 2446 is my favorite. It has excellent midrange response, down to 400hz if I so desire, and plenty of sparkle in the upper spectrum. Yes, a one inch throat compression driver may deliver a more delicate flavor, but it won't reach down low. The best thing about the 2446 is the price--$550.00. Imagine that--110db one watt, one meter for only $550.00. What this means is that I can spend less money because I don't have to purchase quality, high wattage power amplifiers. It means that a three watt amplifier can easily reach concert level from 500hz to 18,000hz. It means I can run in Class-A mode.



7 Comments

    Author

    Hello. My name is John Inlow and I'm here to confess: I love horns. My first experience, one that changed my life forever, occurred over thirty years ago. I happened to be shopping for EV drivers at a local Mom and Pops audio store--Wasson's Laffiette, I believe. This store was the best thing a newcomer to audio could sink his teeth into. They had a selection of plywood horns to die for. I remember listening to a small folded horn, couldn't have gone much lower than 100hz. Weak bass, or not,  that was all it took. I've loved horns from that point on and never looked back.

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