Since some of you might have heard my 5 way conical petal horn system at Scalford,
much has changed.
I went exponential on mid bass, tractrix on mid, finally and recently from tractrix to Le Clèac’h on upper mids -
I wanted a pair, they are bigger than my lathes can swing, so I figured out how to turn them out of thick softwood using an alternative method.
These are a great improvement over both tractrix 550 and 400Hz horns I had been using.
Only the tapped horns (subs 90Hz → 20Hz), and Raal Lazy Ribbon tweeters remain from the original system.
On the 3 very important middle ranges all the drivers have changed too.
Obtaining a pair of Vitavox S2s and getting them factory refurbished was such a result.
The crossover went from passive (cumbersome and fairly crude at 2nd order for all) to DSP and have been refined a lot.
Careful DSP time alignment is important to me. This really allows a full front loaded system to shine.
The amps on mid bass and tapped horns are much more powerful and with higher damping factor.
I auditioned some massive audiofool amps at £20K odd, but for ‘simple’ sub and mid bass duty what I now have beat them handsomely.
Front end.
From CD to them PC serving of flacs, replaced with Qobuz, RPi Reclocked streaming.
Linear power to all…
I can still listen to SPU Royal N, FR64s, SP-10 vinyl setup, but rarely do.
We moved over 5 years ago and it’s all nestled nicely in a loft room in the New Forest.
The room was initially a challenge and I kinda left things a few years until during lockdown, I worked on crossover points, DSP room mode control (subs only), sub repositioning, the Le Clèac’h horns and the tweeter crossover slopes and points.
This gave great improvements.
The word faff gets used on this forum a fair bit, I noticed!
But when I’m in the right mood I see that as part of the hobby, as long as faff takes you forward. Or is part of the process.
The system evolves and continues to give immense enjoyment.
I listen most evenings during the winter.
Summer and during Wimbledon a bit less often🙂
Other half has started listening more recently too.
This pic is pre Le Clèac’h on the upper mid.
Over and out
