Turbosound Flex Array TFA-600HDP, User Manual

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user manual
FLEX ARRAY
FLEX ARRAY user manual
Page 7
Flex Array Concepts
The Flex Array system is a modular flexible array loudspeaker system designed to deliver
extremely high fidelity audio in a range of medium scale fixed and portable sound
reinforcement applications.
Flex Array combines elements of line array theory and virtual point source theory in one
loudspeaker product, and for the first time offers virtually unlimited flexibility in adapting to a
huge variety of venue types and audience areas.
The Polyhorn™ Concept
The patented Polyhorn™ effectively solves several of the problems associated with
conventional exponential horns: namely the tendency to „beam‟ with increasing frequency;
and the undesirable comb filtering effects generated between adjacent devices due to the
variable curvature of the wavefront caused by the horn‟s geometry.
The Polyhorn™ is split into multiple cells, or individual „hornlets‟, which connect the
diaphragm to the horn mouth. Dividing the multi-cellular horn into multiple tapered
waveguides guarantees that the path length of each micro-horn is equal from the surface of
the driver diaphragm to the horn mouth, and ensures that all frequencies from all parts of the
diaphragm arrive at the horn mouth together. This provides the wavefront with uniformity of
phase.
The Polyhorn™ geometry ensures that the sound wave does not suffer from edge-diffraction
effects which have a tendency to confuse the directionality of the sound source.
Each cabinet in an array containing Polyhorn™ devices contributes to the generation of a
single, cohesive, and more or less continuous wavefront without noticeable comb-filtering
effects. In addition, the Polyhorn design offers the possibility of locating the acoustic centre
well behind the motor system and even the enclosure.
The Polyhorn™ devices exhibit a sharp cut-off at the edges of the dispersion pattern, making
it possible to achieve seamless coverage of a venue with minimal destructive interference
between elements, irrespective of how many individual enclosures are deployed in the
cluster. Because of the Polyhorn™ design‟s sharp cut-off, its array angle can in practice be
taken as being the same as the dispersion angle.
The Polyhorn™ design allows the extension of an application central to Turbosound‟s
philosophy – the use of cone drivers to cover mid-range (especially vocal) frequencies and
the freedom to apply relatively high crossover frequencies in order to minimise the distortion
common to metal-diaphragm compression drivers. The Polyhorn™ is employed in the high-
mid section of the Flex Array TFA-600H, loading a custom-designed 6.5” high power
neodymium drive unit.