Unity Horns

[bricktop]

Very cool build Dave, and even cooler you found original drivers. I sue would love to hear a set of these myself.

Is that a lawyer slip?

But seriously, I think these Unity horns are something we call all appreciate. (hump-day bad joke)

 

[Markus111]

Markus,

I believe that what you're eluding to is Earl Geddes' concern to get a uniform power response, rather than concentrating on overall efficiency. While horns and what Dr. Geddes has termed waveguides have much in common, I have the feeling that the final implementation have very different goals. Patrick Bateman positioned his Summas so that the listening position "is" off axis and they certainly sounded very good.

Thanks Terry. I sure do wish I could have made the demo of Dr. Geddes speakers. It's one of the many Smac meetings I missed. Hopefully he will do this again soon.

Did I mention that Patrick's Honda features small unity style speakers in the front with the horn loaded mid-bass under the dashboard? The Bass source is located in the trunk, although I'm not sure if it's a horn, tapped horn or direct radiator. It's certainly the best car audio system I've ever heard.

That's amazing. I'm struggling to have enough time to do my main listening area. I guess my car can be something to aspire to in retirement

I think that the K-Horns would certainly work well as a high efficiency source of bass, but it would call for digital delay on the Unity horns to offset the time delay between the K's and the Unity.

At one time I tried introducing delay on my khorn bass in stock form. It didn't seem to make much of a difference. There are many other problems with the khorns though, so maybe it wouldn't be as noticable as with the unity horns on the k bottom.

Markus

 

[dnewma04]

Wait, did SMAC have a meet at Geddes' house? BTW, you can contact him anytime, Markus, he is always open to having people come over for a listen with the one requirement being that you post a review on some thread on DIYaudio

 

[Markus111]

Sorry Dave - Didn't mean to panic you there! Now that I think about it, it was the Ford audio club that had a listening session there a couple of years ago. I think it was right after my son was born, and there was no way my wife would let me out for a Saturday. It would be great to go over there at some time though.

Markus

 

[whoaru99]

Never heard these Unitys, but allegedly they sound decent for sound reinforcement speakers. Looks like the same principles, and I thought they were the topic until I dug in.

 

[djnagle]

We should find some one to do a plastic mold of your horns Dave. I can't wait for you to get these done. I've wanted to them for many years.

 

[Markus111]

We should find some one to do a plastic mold of your horns Dave. I can't wait for you to get these done. I've wanted to them for many years.

Yorkville actually sells their unity horn as a replacement part for $85. Had I known that ahead of time, I probably would have gone that route. These wooden ones are turning out to be a pain the arse because of fit and finish. The difficulty with going the Yorkville route is that you would need to design your own crossover, but I would up for that challenge.

If you decide to go the route of having a mold made, I would be very interested in that. Their are some opportunities to improve the design a bit, by providing a better roundover at the mouth and possibly a better taper at the throat.

Markus

 

[dnewma04]

Lambda did, in later versions, do some smoothing of the edges and rounding of the throat and mouth. But both of these helped collapse the directivity of the horn a bit, something that doesn't really intrigue me and would make creating the foam plug a PITA. That said, at the termination of the horn, i may try to do some heavy rounding. I just haven't made up my mind on the enclosure yet. I may start off with a generic box with a horn attached to the top and end up with something nicer in the future.

 

[dnewma04]

I wasn't aware of the yorkville unity being available, I may have gone that route, as well. I suppose once these horns are done right, they will definitely look better than the yorkville. When did they start selling parts?

 

[Markus111]

I wasn't aware of the yorkville unity being available, I may have gone that route, as well. I suppose once these horns are done right, they will definitely look better than the yorkville. When did they start selling parts?

I'm not sure when. I was perusing their service site and saw the horn along with a price in their catalog. It uses 3 mids instead of 4 which I thought was interesting. Probably makes sense for them, since they package it in a box with a woofer. Sensitivity would be a better match with less cost.

 

[dnewma04]

2 more down, 2 to go. After struggling with the first horn, the second ones required complete milling but thankfully, they were more consistent in terms of size. I have quite a bit of work ahead of me, 2-3 hours for the next set and then it will be a matter of filling, sanding, priming, and repeating those steps a few times. Weather is starting to break here, so I'll soon be able to go them painted.

 

[iflopdanutz]

COOL build Dave....can't wait to see the finished product :thmbsp:

 

[djnagle]

2 more down, 2 to go. After struggling with the first horn, the second ones required complete milling but thankfully, they were more consistent in terms of size. I have quite a bit of work ahead of me, 2-3 hours for the next set and then it will be a matter of filling, sanding, priming, and repeating those steps a few times. Weather is starting to break here, so I'll soon be able to go them painted.

I am a bit confused. Are you building 4 horns?

 

[dnewma04]

I'm building 5 horns. 2 will be for hpsenicka, the other 3 for me. I'll probably make up another pair for an eventual surround system.

 

[djnagle]

Ah, I get it now. Will I hear them at AKfest??? Best get crackin'

 

[hpsenicka]

What... no new pics??

 

[Russellc]

Unity question

Very nice, always wondered about those things. This could be a future project, I have enough on tap right now, but this is more than just a little interesting.

I already have a pair of DE 250 compression drivers, where does one source these mids, and what approximate cost are they?

Looks like this would utilize the excellent AE woofers as well, another driver I already had my eye on.

Maybe this will stop all this horn craziness I've experienced in recent times.
Good. I'm already rationalizing it.:sigh:

Super excellent project!:thmbsp:

Russellc

I need to get busy and read these links, would likely answer a bunch of questions. The wood working may be over my head, but if not impossible
I may as well have these drivers on hand.

 

[dnewma04]

The mids are ~35.00 each on ebay (if there are still more available) or available through Misco, but the minimum purchase makes it cost prohibitive. You can use other mids as well, but it would preclude you from just building up the Danley crossover and tossing it on there. Some people have had some success with some tangband offerings after sealing up the basket to make them sealed back mids.

 

[Brett]

The mids are ~35.00 each on ebay (if there are still more available) or available through Misco, but the minimum purchase makes it cost prohibitive.

Misco will sell box lots of 16 drivers (~$US29 ea). I am after another 20, but not until after mid year, so if anyone is interested in a set of 8, I'd still probably take the extra 4 to make it a two box purchase, and have you onpost them to me.

 

[dnewma04]

Glued and brad nailed together...

and fill and sand and fill and sand....

Photo with one of the mids resting in place.

Lots of filling/sanding steps to go...