Do you mean a horn loaded 2 inch compression driver?
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Anyone here using horns with a 2in drivers setup? 10 year old revived thread - hardly relevant as is? Oh, well.. If by "2in drivers" is meant the exit diameter, then yes: the B&C DCM50 midrange compression driver in my main speakers sports a 2" exit, but not in tandem with the way compression drivers are usually configured - i.e.: with a voice coil diameter the same size as the diaphragm - the B&C unit uses a 2" voice coil coupled to a 5" (paper composite) diaphragm, much the same way as the RCA MI-1428 field coil driver of yore (build from the late 1920’s, if I’m not incorrect), the vintage driver B&C has sought to more or less replicate with the DCM50. As implemented in my speakers the sonic result is wonderfully uninhibited, unflappable (at any SPL), insightful, and naturally warm. |
Yes Klipsch 1132 drivers on K-402 horns and they are stellar. 2" drivers are light years ahead of smaller ones in every way. By the way the crossover point for these is set to 450hz and it has no issues at all doing this. You want to play at real live concert levels bump it up to 500hz and have a good ear doctor because you will need him. |
Much of my source material (uncompressed CD track rips; no SACDs or vinyl), are 60s pop, r&b and soundtracks, which were often victims of excessively applied compression. And some tracks during multi-vocal passages and when orchestrations get busy sound “congested”; possibly due to poor miking/baffling (??). So, while not outright crappy (??), much of my music was certainly less than pristinely recorded and/or mastered, even though almost all were issued by major labels.
And @ 17:29 to 25:01here? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8haDt66kueM&t=1041s
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If by 2", you mean the diameter of the diaphragm, I utilize such drivers. I run a pair of Western Electric 713b drivers feeding a KS 12025 sectoral horn. This is a great sounding combination. The Western Electric 555 field coil drivers also have 2" diaphragms and sound good. Yoshimura Laboratory compression drivers that are attempts at copying Western Drivers also sound very good. |
It’s confusing when compression driver size is mentioned without specifying whether exit or diaphragm diameter is meant. What I can reiterate is that a 2" exit compression driver (with a bigger diaphragm as well - usually 3 or 4") makes a significant difference for a given bandwidth compared to not least a 1" exit driver with a comparably smaller diaphragm. A 2" exit driver with a fitting horn can be crossed lower with much lower distortion, and just sounds more effortless, naturally full, clean and visceral. The sheer energy and unforced presence such a driver can produce is staggering, and importantly it comes in handy at lower SPL’s as well, so it’s not as much about low distortion monstrous output capabilities as it is perceived sonics at more "normal" listening levels. Bigger exit compression drivers however eat away of the usable HF-register, and thus - depending on their implementation and specific iteration - can necessitate a separate compression driver tweeter with a fittingly smaller exit diameter. Bigger exit CD’s + fitting large horns also, energy-wise, cross more smoothly to larger woofer sections below, and prevents them from being pushed to high in frequency at the crossover. Being habitually exposed to such a combo makes it hard, if not impossible to go back to smaller exit-diameter compression drivers, I find. |
Your profile says that you have a JBL 2426H driver. Isn’t that a 1” exit driver? Not that i would insist that any particular design is inherently better than another. I like the sound of certain compression drivers and all of them are old except some ultra pricey modern drivers by the likes of Goto, Cogent, ALE and G.I.P. Some vintage drivers I like are made by Western Electric, YL, IPC, Racon, and RCA. As for the horns themselves, larger horns do seem to deliver more weight, authority and larger scale to the soundstage, but some of the best are incredibly large (like you can almost walk into them and hide). |