Valencia with 511B horns?

[Tomb115]

Hi
I am remodeling my house. My A7 VOTTs had to go. I plan to build a Valencia style (846-U) cabinet for the 416-8A Low freq drivers and the 511B horns with 802-8D drivers that I removed from the A7s. I realize that the horns I removed are not the same as the ones that came in the Valencia cabinet. I hope this problem is not insurmountable but I could really use some advice. The interior width of the 846-U looks to be about 25" (from Altec Lansing 846-U Valencia Plan I received from Altec around 1978 (Altec Plan No. 50-01-030993-08). The 511B mounting flange is about 23 3/8" wide so it would fit, however front to Back, the 511B is to long to fit in the Valencia cabinet. The interior depth of the cabinet would have to increase from 16-7/8" to 24". This would change the cubic footage of the cabinet and the Lf response. The difference in size is partly offset by the larger horn, the 811b = .19 cu ft and the 511b = .42 cu ft. Also the 511 baffle is shelved back 1-1/2", further reducing the cabinet volume. So my cabinet will be 1.85 cu ft larger than the 846-U. The Valencia used the same 416-8A LF driver with a resonance frequency of 25hz. Could these problems be addressed adjusting the ports?, do I need to reduce the cubic footage of the cabinet?
Thanks
Tomb115
BTW I will be bi-amping using my dbx drive rack.

 

[macyjrm]

I don’t know if this will be helpful or no. I’m including a couple of pics of a project in progress at my house right now. I’m using 511 horns on top of open baffles which contain JBL15 inch woofers (2220b). You should get similar results from your Altec 416s. This combo sounds so good to me they likely will become my main system. (I am also using a small Infinity subwoofer to fill in the bottom few Hertz). They certainly are much smaller than VOTTs.

 

[Tomb115]

Thanks for the response macyjrm. I like your "minimalist" setup. I wonder if I should have posted on a different forum?

 

[RonSSNova]

You are in the right place.
If you choose to make the cab deeper, yes, you would simply retune the ports.
Or, put an access hole in the rear panel for the driver to protrude through and build a small box with a cover over it.
Altec actually did this on the 9846 studio monitor.

 

[Tomb115]

Wow Ron your SS is awesome! Thanks for the suggestion about the hole in the rear panel. It occurred to me after I made the post that if I could not achieve a good curve by tuning the ports, or if the change in box aspect ratio caused transient problems, I could simply block out some of the box interior.
Thanks again for the help.

 

[big2bird]

I don’t know if this will be helpful or no. I’m including a couple of pics of a project in progress at my house right now. I’m using 511 horns on top of open baffles which contain JBL15 inch woofers (2220b). You should get similar results from your Altec 416s. This combo sounds so good to me they likely will become my main system. (I am also using a small Infinity subwoofer to fill in the bottom few Hertz). They certainly are much smaller than VOTTs.

I would try mounting the woofer in line with driver to get better time alignment.

 

[big2bird]

Hi
I am remodeling my house. My A7 VOTTs had to go. I plan to build a Valencia style (846-U) cabinet for the 416-8A Low freq drivers and the 511B horns with 802-8D drivers that I removed from the A7s. I realize that the horns I removed are not the same as the ones that came in the Valencia cabinet. I hope this problem is not insurmountable but I could really use some advice. The interior width of the 846-U looks to be about 25" (from Altec Lansing 846-U Valencia Plan I received from Altec around 1978 (Altec Plan No. 50-01-030993-08). The 511B mounting flange is about 23 3/8" wide so it would fit, however front to Back, the 511B is to long to fit in the Valencia cabinet. The interior depth of the cabinet would have to increase from 16-7/8" to 24". This would change the cubic footage of the cabinet and the Lf response. The difference in size is partly offset by the larger horn, the 811b = .19 cu ft and the 511b = .42 cu ft. Also the 511 baffle is shelved back 1-1/2", further reducing the cabinet volume. So my cabinet will be 1.85 cu ft larger than the 846-U. The Valencia used the same 416-8A LF driver with a resonance frequency of 25hz. Could these problems be addressed adjusting the ports?, do I need to reduce the cubic footage of the cabinet?
Thanks
Tomb115
BTW I will be bi-amping using my dbx drive rack.

I would just buy some 811 horns off flea bay. 511 demand a huge listening area. They were designed to fill up a theater with low wattage.
As it is, 811 horns require a good sized area to disperse.

 

[Tomb115]

Hi big2bird
I just got back from camping in Oregon. after I get settled building the new cabinets will be a priority. Buying some 811s is a strong suggestion. Some people think the 511s sound better, others dont. My room is large (16 X 25) but maybe not large enough. At this point I think I will go a head with the 511s and see. I plan to use the delay feature of the DBX Driverack to take care of the phase problem inherent with the big horns. What would you think of using a pair of Crown amps to bi-amp my system? Ideally I would like to pick up a matched pair of low watt stereo tube amps but that isn't in the budget right now.

 

[big2bird]

I am using a Straight Line Two for the horns, and a PS200 for the low range. Works well. I have a driverack, but am using a VXF-2A as an active xover at this time.

 

[big2bird]

Hi big2bird
I just got back from camping in Oregon. after I get settled building the new cabinets will be a priority. Buying some 811s is a strong suggestion. Some people think the 511s sound better, others dont. My room is large (16 X 25) but maybe not large enough. At this point I think I will go a head with the 511s and see. I plan to use the delay feature of the DBX Driverack to take care of the phase problem inherent with the big horns. What would you think of using a pair of Crown amps to bi-amp my system? Ideally I would like to pick up a matched pair of low watt stereo tube amps but that isn't in the budget right now.

I installed 802-8G drivers on the 811's. They are larger, therefore I moved the horn motor board out flush with the front. Essentially, I have nineteens in a Val box. Stuffed with Alpaca fur from an old friends ranch. I started out xover at 800, then 900, then 1100, now 1200. it just gets better above 1000hz.