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Horns for SET: Low budget solutions

I've been an audiophile for quite some time and am about to take the plunge into the SET/Horns combination. I am a PHD student so that means that I have a very limited budget to work with. I am building a pair of Welborne DRD 300Bs which provide about 7 watts.

I'm now looking at how to best match these with horns. My goal is to get the most holographic image possible while avoiding the "shout" that horns are infamous for. I'm not too concerned about bass limitations as I have a subwoofer to help out there. Also, space is somewhat limited so I can't go with a huge speaker like the La Scala or VOTT.

I'm looking at Lowther and Fostex designs. Cains also seem to be a favorite. Can potentially build my own if necessary, but if they are less expensive I also don't mind just buying them outright. Any ideas would be appreciated.
abdou
martykl
3,578 posts
 
You might want to visit osaudio.com. He's a former distributor for Loth X and Zingali horns and usually has a few pairs of each available on closeout. FWIW, I listened to the SAP (Quattro if I recall) pretty extensively when I was auditioning horns and much preferred the Zingali. YMMV.

Marty
restock
831 posts
 
I'm in a tiny apt. in Chicago and they'd take up about half of my living room.

In that case I would urge you to consider single driver speakers. The Abbys project a fairly large, life size image that extends forwards. It is much easier to achieve reasonable imaging with single drivers. You won't be able to extract the full potential of a larger horn speaker. If you still want front loaded horns the smaller Heresys would be worth a consideration and an affordable introduction to low-power hi-efficiency amps/speakers.
david12
1,454 posts
 
Another vote for the Abbys, with the plus point that they are really attractive. There are some seriously big ugly horn speakers out there. Zingali are simply beautiful sounding and looking speakers. The cheaper overture I believe, speakers are not so impressive, but the larger HM I believe are remarkable, but there are'nt many dealers to hear them at.
martykl
3,578 posts
 
David,

The Overtures are actually very fine performers, provided you go easy on the volume control. All sorts of bad things start to happen as spl goes up, but up to modestly loud levels these speakers are quite neutral, dynamic, and musical. For the application described here, I surely wouldn't rule them out without a listen.

Of course, like all speakers, they will not be everyone's cup of tea.

Marty
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,885 posts
 
Check out the Hornshoppe Horns from Ed. He's a great guy to talk to (try to get him off the phone!) and for your size room, even bigger, they sound like they'd be a perfect match.
They are for me.
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