DIY Waveguide - With questions

A couple of months ago, I built some midbasses:



So I have 2 of those..

Each midbass is using a JBL 2226H driver, net volume is approx. 85 litres, and they are tuned to around 50hz. They are both run by a Behringer EP2500, getting around ~600watt each.


Im always lurking around on this forum.. and always end up with some urge to upgrade SOMETHING.This time I decided that I wanted new front speakers (My current front speakers are some Klipsch RF5s). One thing lead to another - and I decided I wanted to make myself some 2-way speakers, using horns/waveguides.

I got some tips from some forum members here, and started researching a bit about waveguides, and what they recommended.

This is what I have decided on:

- Use my midbasses as the "bottom", approx from ~50-1100hz
- BMS 4555s as tweeter/midrange, approx from ~1100-20khz
- Use my Behringer DCX2496 as an active crossover
- Power the BMS 4555s with my Emotiva XPA-3 (Approx 200watt each)
- Power the bottom end with a Behringer EP2500 (Approx 600watt each)
- Use an appropriate horn / waveguide !


I was originally going for a JBL Horn (PT-F95HF, JBL Pro part# 338650-001).
The US price is approx 100dollars.. That would be around 180$ getting it shipped to Norway (incl. taxes). But according to JBL, I should contact my closest JBL Pro-dealer (Which is located here in Norway)... Well, I did. They want 320$ for just ONE horn..

For the price I sell my RF5s for, I can cover all the costs for both the BMS compression drivers AND the JBL horns. So it's not a big deal for me to pay that much for the JBL Horns.

BUT.

This $20 dollar horn from QSC:
http://www.qscstore.com/hpr152hfhorn.html

Will this be much "worse" than the JBL horn?

Im just trying to "justify" buying the JBL horn.. opinions?

My bad. The QSC horn is 12.50 $.

I would save a lot of money buying the QSC Horn then. Will the BMS fit just as easily in the QSC Horn?

Im going to send QSC an email, hope they can ship to Norway

My order has not been shipped yet, so I can switch from BMS 4555 to BMS4550.

I got a reply from QSC today, and I can't buy horns from them unless I contact my "local dealer where I bought the QSC speaker from, and tell them the serial number"...


So now im stuck with the expensive JBL horn, unless..

I don't like to ask about this, but I'll do it anyway. If anyone wouldn't mind buying some horns from QSC @ USA and ship to me (Norway), I would appreciate it. I will of course transfer money to you to handle everything + a little extra for the effort. Please shoot me a PM if you wouldn't mind doing that.

320$ for just one JBL horn.

12.50$ for one QSC horn (excl. shipping)


As long as the shipping don't exceed ~150$ from USA - Norway (which I doubt), shipping cost shouldn't be an issue..


I contacted my local QSC dealer as well, he said he was going to try and get me the horns - but he wasn't very optimistic when I told him about the serial numbers they wanted. I will hear from him in 1-2 days.

My best bet is probably getting it from someone @ USA.

Done!



Btw, I assume it is the 8ohm version I want of the BMS 4550 ?

Tiny update:

Today I received my QSC horns from penngray!! Thanks again!!

Seeing that the QSC horns are out of stock until mid-march - I feel lucky staring at my QSC horns right now..


Here are some pictures:


Horns + BMS 4550s. Bluray cover as "size reference".


Some pictures of the BMS 4550s



A closer look



A capacitator I need for the 4550s.



For those wondering what the capacitator is good for:

When running active, it's always a good safety measure to put a blocking capacitor in series with the compression driver to suppress any system turn-on/turn-off thumps or DC from the amp, and operator errors. 33uF should work. -Zilch

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/sho...150939&page=29



Hoping to start on this project rather soon, maybe in the weekend now.

I do plan on building a "box" to put the horn/compression driver in, and put it on top of my JBL 2226Hs. Looking forward trying to make it look like a decent looking speaker

I will be using an active crossover (DCX2496) - if that doesn't work out, I might build a passive crossover.

My plan is to use a Behringer EP2500 for the bass, and an Emotiva XPA-3 for the tweeters. The tweeters will then have ~250watt each, and the bass ~600watt each. The reason I want to do it like this is because I can then boost the midbass to my own preference with the DCX2496, and I want as much headroom available as I can possibly have (I like to play loud!).

Is this a bad idea ? Will the 2 amps be so completely different sounding that I will just mess up the sound ? Any opinions about this ?

How come you wouldn't use the gain on the DCX ?


I also got some 33uF capacitators that needs to be wired up. Is it just to run a wire from the "+" from one tweeter to the capacitator, and run the wire from the capacitator -> amp ?