Celestion Axi2050 Horn Driver - Holy Cow!

Tinear1

Well-Known Member
Aug 24, 2019
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All... I have been using horn speakers for the last 10 years after making the SET-Horn to High Power-Dynamic speakers trip a couple times over the decades. I recently changed the drivers on my BD-Design ORIS horns to the need Celestion AXI2050 and holy crap these things are outstanding! So here is the story... A few months ago I heard the new Klipsch Jubilee and frankly was blown away. I immediately started devising plans on how to cram those new Jubilee monsters into my room including possible ways to make the room larger, and yes they were just that good. Then I bumped into a guy that had the old style commercial market Jubilees. They were good, about equivalent to my BD-Design system and while smaller than the new Audiophile Jubilees still very large as both use base horn sections. The interesting thing was this fellow told me about the Celestion Axi2050 drivers he had just ordered to replace his mid/high concentric horn drivers informing me that this is THE driver used in the new Audiophile Jubilee version. The Celestion has one distinct advantage in that it is a single driver 300Hz to 20kHz so zero crossover! When he received the drivers he rang me up and I went for a listen. Only took me about 20 minutes of audition to place my order.

Now back to my system and the Axi2025. Luckily the new driver uses the industry standard 4" post mount to the horn so they just bolted up perfectly. I hooked my Coincident Frankenstein 300B monoblocks direct to the Axi2050 and inserted a Mini-DSP between my Pre and Amps for a high pass filter at 300Hz for protection of the drivers. A little tweaking of EQ in the 10K to 20K range and WOW crazy good. I would say about 90% of the new Jubilees and without the huge footprint since I am using the BD-Design mini-reference base enclosure driven by a Block Audio brute amp. I just couldn't be happier noting that I was very hesitent to insert a mini-DSP AD/DA into my system but it's so much better than my previous drivers and crossover I'm completely over that now.

Do check out this driver if it would be applicable to your system.
 

adamaley

Well-Known Member
Apr 15, 2016
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Minnetonka, MN
Any follow-up to this? How have they bedded in?

Pictures of your system would be nice as well
 

Tinear1

Well-Known Member
Aug 24, 2019
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I continue to be thrilled with these Celestion drivers. The smoothness and detail bottom to top is astounding. IMG_3160.jpg Overview.jpeg
 

kjartanb

Well-Known Member
Mar 1, 2020
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Nice system. The axi 2050 are great CDs. I have a pair in SEOS 30 horns, using altec 828 VOT cabs for bass and a jbl2242h as a sub. Sorry about the vire mess, am still experimenting :) The setup there is miniDSP flex eight, IcePower 1200as2 on the horns and a hypex nc400 on the sub. Still have a passive autoformer and 6db/oct. crossover on the horns. Will try fully active later.
 

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Tinear1

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Aug 24, 2019
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Nice! A little in process wiring is a good thing while tuning in the system. I too use miniDSP but am using 2 of the 4x HD units since the processors on the HDs are better & faster. 1 DSP to control the horns only and 1 DSP for the base drivers and subs. Each DSP is driven from their own output from my preamp.
 
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MRJAZZ

Industry Expert
Jan 20, 2014
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Are you still enjoying the Axi 2050's?

Read an interesting review by T.Joseph CROWE, the gentleman who has a YouTube channel and blog.
Anyway he likes certain aspects of the 2050, however felt they could be somewhat strident as SPL's increased.....any thoughts on this?
 
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kjartanb

Well-Known Member
Mar 1, 2020
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I really like the Axi 2050s in SEOS30. Use them for music and films. Dont play extremely loud and don't hear the same problem as Crowe. I of course dont have his experience in testing compression driveres. I currently only have experience with Altec 299-8a ( used them for many years on Altec 1505B multicells, both with standard diapragms and paper ones from Russia) and the 1in altec compression drivers in Altec 604-8Gs wich I still have and used as well as my main speakers for many years.
The Axi are here to stay at least until I get the urge to test other horns/drivers :) or have to downsize my rig :( .
 
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Tinear1

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Aug 24, 2019
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@MRJAZZ... I have a tendency to play rather loud and have not had any problems with the highs becoming harsh. In fact I use DSP to bring the highs above 10kHz up 3dB. I think it will all depend upon what amplifier you are feeding the 2050s. I am still very satisfied with these drivers on my BD-Horns.
 
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MRJAZZ

Industry Expert
Jan 20, 2014
410
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350
@MRJAZZ... I have a tendency to play rather loud and have not had any problems with the highs becoming harsh. In fact I use DSP to bring the highs above 10kHz up 3dB. I think it will all depend upon what amplifier you are feeding the 2050s. I am still very satisfied with these drivers on my BD-Horns.
May I inquire on the EQ settings you are using?
You mentioned using a 3DB boost above 10kHZ.
What is the actual frequency you are applying the 3DB boost and are you using a " HIGH SHELF", or a Bell curve setting?.
Also how far back do you sit from the speakers?
Thanks.....
 

Tinear1

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Aug 24, 2019
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3dB shelf at 9,850Hz
 
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