If you were only going to use the system for small parties, or if the
system was only used in smallish venues then I would go for some front
loaded reflex boxes. If most of your work is doing larger venues and you
need the system to throw a long way or have insane SPL's, then I would
go for horns. If you were to build a horn loaded system you could use
two 18” scoops per side and one 2 x 12” horn with a 2“ compression
driver on top, or better still you could make some of the 186 horns on
this site. I would use two 186 horns per 2 x 12” mid top or MT 102 (plan
on this site). I would not recommend 15” drivers in mid horns as you
don’t really get enough upper mid out of them and so there use is only
for low mid/ upper bass, which if you are going to use horns for bass
will be covering the upper bass anyway. The only problem with horns is
that one, they are big and are heavy to carry around and so the
transportation costs are higher, and two, unless you have the audience a
long way from them, they can sound a bit strange. Because the sound is
forced through small openings you can hear the compression going on when
close to them. So I would not use them for very small venues where the
audience is right next to the stacks.
This brings us to front loaded vented boxes. You could use two 2 x 18”
reflex boxes per side and have two 2 x 12” and 1” compression driver on
a horn in reflex cabs or ideally two 2 x 15” and 2” compression drivers
on a horn in reflex cabs per side with the 2 x 18” reflex bass cabs
underneath. This arrangement would not be as loud as the horn system
descried above, but it would sound a lot better when used in small
venues. You would also get a lot more low bass from the reflex bass cabs
unless you used around 6 or more bass horns per stack.
So, it’s up to you. If the system were for the parties and small venues
then I would go for the reflex option every time. Not only would it
sound nicer close up to it, it would also be easier to build and
transport. If most of the work you are doing is in larger venues and you
need the system to throw along way or be able to go very loud then I
would go for the horn system, but I would still think about the reflex
system for this too, but just have more of it. And that’s another point,
if you get lots more work you can always build more reflex boxes as you
need them. With the horn loaded system if you need to make a small
system from it, then that will be hard to do. I would also try to build
your own cabinets and then use some good drivers, ready made cabinets
that are good cost a lot of money and what you could pay for two new
readymade cabinets would be enough to build about 6 of your own cabs. If
you need a 2 x 18” reflex bass cab try the G Sub design on this site.
As to amps, use the best you can get. I would not buy cheap new amps, as
for the same money you could get some really good amps second hand. Look
out for Chevin research, Crest, Crown and the bigger QSC amps. Amps
really do make a huge difference, for me they are the system, using
small underpowered crap amps will make the system sound like that. Also
use the best compressors, graphics and crossovers you can afford. Again
buy good second hand stuff, names to look out for when buying outboard
are BSS, Ashley, XTA, Klark Teknik, Drawmer, Symetrix, LA Audio, Rane
and the more expensive DBX stuff. If you ever see any equipment by
Summit Audio, Focusrite, Amek, Fairchild, AMS, EAR, SSL, Prism/Maselec,
Neve (especially a VR60 with flying faders, that could replace my V3
very nicely thank you), Urei (1176 please), Eventide, Lexicon (224 or
480L with larc), TC (2290) or anything else you might think I would like
going cheap, then don’t buy it, just phone me up and I will add it to my
collection and save you from having to use the horrible stuff. If you
really have no option then use Behringer, but this is a last resort. You
could be lucky and get a unit that works for years, or it might only
work for 6 weeks, that is if it even works straight out of the box. Some
of the Behringer units don’t sound too bad, the problem is that you just
can’t rely on them. Not so bad news if it’s you and your mates at a
small party, real bad news if you’re doing a Whitney Houston gig and
here vocals disappear.
The bottom line is that when you one day become a touring company that
is out every night doing massive venues, that is the time to be looking
at horn loaded systems. That is unless you are like me and are a horn
nutter, I even have to have horns on my Hi Fi and would love horn loaded
headphones if they were made. There's just something about a horn I love,
most are big, impractical and take days to build. But, if your a nutter....
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