Allen HR-200 and voicing

[Guest]

Hello all,

I have a two channel Q316 theatre organ with internal speakers and I’m seriously considering adding a couple of external speakers (I’m assuming HR-200 would be the best choice). My query is would adding external speakers radically alter the overall voicing of the organ? It has taken a lot of time and tweaking to voice the organ to where I want it and would hate to have to start over again!

Any comments would be appreciated!

[jbird604]

Depends on the definition of "radically." The HR-200 is a very efficient and very wide-range cabinet, probably a lot more so on both counts that the internal speakers you have been hearing. Just how much that would affect the sound of your careful tweaking depends on a lot of factors. If you place the HR's a considerable distance from the console, which is normally a good idea anyway, the changes will be less striking.

You might need to do little other than simply turning down the channel levels a tad to compensate for the greater efficiency of the HR's. If the HR's seem too bright, orient them to bounce the sound off the ceiling or off a wall (which is a good idea anyway), or point them away from the console.

But when it comes to the finer details, such as octave to octave balance, you may be firing up DOVE again before you're totally satisfied.

Another possibility would be to use HC-15 cabinets instead of HR's, as the HC cabinets are probably a little closer in tone to the built-in console speakers, and thus may need little or no voicing to preserve your preferred sound quality.

[John Vanderlee]

Maybe this should be a different thread, but sonically is there much difference between HC14 and HC15 or even HC15U? I just obtained 2 HC15U utility finish cabinets. Just curious.

[jbird604]

Any cabinet identified as HC15 or HC14, regardless of letter suffixes (which only indicate finish), should sound the same, at least theoretically. They are supposedly identical, except that the -15 has the crossover on the rear of the box, and the front panel only has the three drivers, mounted in a vertical array, one directly above the other. HC-14 models have the crossover on the front panel (thus the tweeter and midrange are not vertically aligned or centered above the woofer).

At least that was the way it was spelled out to us in the 80's when the two speaker models were being used for nearly all organs. There were reasons for this difference -- namely that the HC-14 was more suitable for wall-mounting, as the cleat system Allen was using for mounting on the wall could only be attached to a flat and flush back panel, thus the front panel was inset and the crossover placed there instead of in a cavity on the back. Also, the HC-14 was often issued in style HC-14-F, which indicated a wood veneer finish to match an organ console.

Be aware though, that the crossover used in the HC-14/15 series has undergone several revisions, and may be quite different from one cabinet to another, if they weren't manufactured at the same time. That shouldn't make for any problems -- as far as I know they never monkeyed with driver phasing, for example, which very well could create a problem if they had. But you could have subtle differences in tone color between two apparently identical cabinets, if that matters to you.

Biggest differences of course are between these speakers and the older HC-12. Though they look quite similar and have the same dimensions, the HC-12 sounds very different, has an extended bass range, but the trade-off is lower efficiency and less of a sparkle in the treble. Also the HC-12 has its woofer wired OUT OF PHASE with the terminals on the rear (for reasons that only some Allen engineer of the time could've told us). So you shouldn't mix HC-12's and HC-14/15 speakers on the same organ EXCEPT in the case of certain models on which the HC-12 was used on the channel that carried a 32' pedal stop.

[John Vanderlee]

John, you should wite a book!