But compared to this horn
https://www.eighteensound.it/en/products/horn/1-4/0/XT1464 , why must both of your horns have such narrow coverage, especially vertically?
https://audiohorn.net/next-gen-bi-radial-horn/
It’s normal for a biradial to not be constant in the middle of the range because of the profile, biradials privilege the horizontal dispersion and loading, they are interesting in big size, my biradial will be replaced by a new 60cm version, the tinier one is not more produced.
For the X-Shape it’s vertically close to the 18S horn you show, just be careful with the color scale: Yellow is at -6 dB for me, dark orange for the 18S.
It’s hard to tell with this scale but the X-Shape looks like it gives a little bit more with a generous 60°.
The 18S horn you posted is 50° vertically.
Note: it shouldn’t change something but the 18S polars are simulated ones while mine are real measurements.
Please evaluate the ND1480BE for H2 and H3 distortion.
H2 is mainly related to diaphragm excursion, so I wouldn’t expect a major difference there. The same goes for H3, same motor, Allu , N and Ti (on the same motor, 18S 1480 here), perform already the same in all distortion even if their breakup behavior are different.
The main change is the breakup frequency (same for the other 3), which is pushed higher. It’s not as high as TAD’s vapor-deposited beryllium (since in our case it’s embossed beryllium), but still higher placed than the 16–17 kHz breakup of a titanium 3" diaphragm. However, this isn’t really a game-changer, since that frequency range is already in a less sensitive part of our hearing range and contains very little actual musical information.
Be is more interesting with a 4" diaphragm, but even there the dark blue diaphragm of the 2450SL is still impressive.
Don’t get me wrong, we can hear 16–17 kHz, but compared to midrange sensitivity, proper measurements show we are about −15 dB to −40 dB down relative to midrange level on a calibrated device, depending on age and individual hearing changes. In practical data our system sensitivity decrease from 8khz and in a exponential like fashion in most cases:
=>
https://www.compadre.org/nexusph/course/Frequency_response_of_the_human_ear
The peak around 3 kHz varies from person to person, so it’s hard to generalize. You don’t need to EQ specifically for this, as your brain compensates for some of these aspects naturally.
All these different diaphragm materials are about finding a balance between weight, stiffness, and damping. The stiffer the material, the higher the breakup frequency will be, but also the more violent the breakup becomes. It is a trade-off. In this game, regular titanium performs very well, even if its breakup comes 1 or 2 kHz earlier to Be ones, it is not very violent. The combination of the breakup frequency and his more or less violent temporal attached behavior keeps the resulting artifacts below human sensitivity as we see upper, for temporal behavior to be truly audible, it usually has to be significant and occur above 9–10 kHz, here is the 18S 1460.
Even if your hearing is perfect, it is already about −15 dB below high midrange at best. If the breakup temporal issues are also around −15/-20 dB, in your auditory system this adds up to roughly −30/35 dB. Considering that there is not much actual musical information in that range, you will likely not notice it.
www.bcspeakers.com
audiohorn.net
