Thanks a ton for sharing some thoughts guys.
SME. Spl is not a big priority for me. I prefer thick warm sound that I can feel but at a level that people can stand in front of it all day without fatigue. Thank you for your interesting idea with the center channel, its something I am going to ponder carefully. I have always preferred a center sub array between left and right channels as it seems to be the most reliable way to get a good physical feel to the music at the moderate spl levels I prefer. If I do end up going with a 2 way bass system I will first experiment with subs and midbass cabinets in the middle with my tops left and right to see how that plays out. I totally understand the added complexity as far as timing/phase goes but I think its a challenge I am up for. The delayed left right signals is something I had not thought about before, but it will be something I will experiment with... thanks for the idea.
Josh. I wouldn't argue at all that larger top cabinets would be far and away the easier way to go about this. It would without doubt save me pack space, money and headaches. I currently run 6 - 3-way cabinets with 15" LF 6" mid and 1" cd over my 8 18" subs. They create an acceptable amount of kick definition for most purposes.... I guess im just in the hunt for something special. While I'm sure there is a combination out there that can pull it off, I have yet to hear a sub/top combination really pull off psytrance well. The few times I have been in audio heaven as far as that midbass power and precision is concerned has been on turbo and funktion1 systems. Those systems just seem to be able to deliver that physical experience in a special way for that particular type of music. With that said I'm not a huge fan of the sound top to bottom, I find f1's in particular butcher vocals and the whole mid high range sounds perhaps a bit nasal? We did hire a nice turbo system for a burningman stage many years ago that I figured was just sublime.
I would really love to hear the skhorn, it does sound like a magical beast. Its hard for me to comprehend a sub being able to pull off those kind of lows while still being able to keep kicks and upper bass tight and dynamic. I have never been impressed with double 18 bins, especially for psytrance. They just sound too loose and uncontrolled, sometimes great for drawn out slower basslines but for anything fast they just have never impressed me. It sounds like the skhorn isn't anything like that, I hope to hear it someday. You really should cook up a single version of it, I for one would be all over it. I had a tough enough time even considering the othorn as a tolerable size. If I gathered this correctly, the 21SW152 is supposed to be a good fit? Perhaps if and when you release a single I can swap mine out of the othorns and give it a go
Thanks for your thoughts on the midbass cab, I know its a bit of a weird way to go about a problem but for my application it just seems to be the best approach. Ill keep digging and researching the flh designs, they seem to be a step up from some of the bph options out there. Believe it or not, us psy heads are pretty fussy about good sound.
Cheers