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In the Forum: Horn-Loaded Speakers
In the Thread: Rakeshorns
Post Subject: From lignum vitae to "rotae vitae"Posted by oxric on: 10/21/2011
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 Romy the Cat wrote:


Well, the resonance frequency of frame is the subject sucked out of nowhere. I can’t not even begin to tell how irrelevant it is.



You are probably right. Obviously not having lived in earnest with any multi-way horn system, let alone a "horns-island" as you call it, and having instead lived with several speakers whose enclosures were clearly ill-conceived, I was thinking of these horns acting like pendulums by picking up vibrations from the ground and oscillating...I just do not know.


 Romy the Cat wrote:


One more thing. You and Jessie and a few other folks that I have seen make the bottom of what I call “Horns Island” (in analogy with the air carrier deck) with wheels. This is certainly a very good decision BUT only if you not doing to use carpet. You see, the wheels work on carper if they are relatively large, let say 4-5 inch. It is how they are depicted at your sketch. However, you might discover in future that as you install your speaker in final position then you do not need the wheels anymore. Furthermore, in context of the permanently installed Horns Island the wheels might be a bit too utilitarian not to say ugly. You might not be able to remove them as your midbass will sink too deep. So, you need to devise some kind of idea that would take advantage of the wheels and then, after the final position is find would allow you to remove the wheels one by one, preserving the speaker found final location. I wish I thought about it when I was designing my Macondo frame….

The Cat


I have solid wood flooring in the room with a rug thrown in front of the horns so the operation of the wheels should not be unduly hindered. As to aesthetics, this is a rather thorny issue to which I do not have a satisfactory solution. I have thought about this for some time and considered putting in some sort of skirt around the edge of the base to hide the wheels. I do not like the appearance of it. I thought of trying to find some castor wheels with wooden accents and there may be some I have found that will be not too dreadful looking. In any case, I will have the base made so that the wheels could be removed and replaced with some legs so the overall height of the frame and supported horns are maintained once the final position is found. It would be great if these legs would complement the design of the frame. Or I could just baptise the castor wheels "rotae vitae," an empty latin phrase will go a long way to hide many a sin.

A slightly crazy idea I have had in terms of the design of the frame was to incorporate some sort of discrete but fairly precise calibration of the supporting rods so I would be able to keep note of the relative position of the horns and tweeter as they are moved in position, as well as a device that would enable me to instantly measure distances to the listening position from the relevant locations on the drivers, with separate digital displays thrown in for good measure. I wish Jessie lived not too far from here; he would come up with some masterful solution in return for some bottles of Cremants.


Best regards
Rakesh

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