cerwin vega el-36c horn bass

[jamesb77]

I want opinions on a discussion here about direct radiator bass systems vs horn loaded bass systems, those for frequencys below 200-500HZ . in particular Im interested in the cerwin vega el36c which costs about $599-$699 OR the B52 version which cost even less. Im not talking about the "jr" versions of these speakers. here are my questions :

 

1) do horn bass systems work good in a smaller than 700 square foot room? with listeners 6-25 feet from the speaker?

 

2) cerwin vega claims 108DB per watt from the el36c. is this only at a small peak frequency or a legit 108 db averaged over 40-150HZ?  or complete B.S.?

 

3) more importantly, does anyone know the reference efficiency of a el36c? this is the true total output of the speaker rather than the horns concentrating the output into a small dispersion pattarn, which Im concerned about in the 108DB rating.  

 

4)  has anyone ever seen an actual frequency response of this speaker?

 

5) I know most mid and tweeter horns can and do have a reference efficiency of 20%-25%, do higher end bass horns such as EAW's 12" folded horns reach this efficiency level? 

 

6) why do most pro concert systems use bass direct radiators instead of bass horns?

 

note: Im interested in responses from people who have actually heard/owned these systems OR seen the tested specs on these systems.

 

thanks.

[RoadRanger]

The drop off at about 50Hz unless you have four+ clustered, and that's why the "big boys" don't like them. They were more popular back in the bad old days before cheap amp watts - I used a pair of their ancestors on a CS800 back around 1980 (they had 4 ohm drivers so got 400w each). I presently have a pair of Rog 186 fed with 840w each for larger outdoor gigs - but didn't use them this year as my Danley TH-Mini's only give up ~4 dB over them. I recently picked up another pair of RCF 310a's so will drag out the 186's if I need to do large and loud outdoors again someday.

[tlbonehead]

I believe there are still a lot of horn-loaded subs in the concert world.

[agedhorse]

108dB/1W/1M is the sensitivity over a very limited part of the bandwidth. This kind of horn CAN work very well where efficiency is the most important criteria but they do not achieve low end extension below say 60 or 55Hz unless used in multiples. Real world, over say 40Hz-100Hz, the sensitivity is closer to 104-105dB/1W/1M in a multiple of 4. Given the size and weight of this kind of block of subs, it's generally easier and more truck friendly to travel with pro level front loaded subs.