Change to Horns or stay Dynamic

Shadorne,

Based on what you are saying (I am new to understanding horns) a long throw horn - front loaded - will be longer in length rather than wider? In the case of a very long Bass Horn that is front loaded (rather than a folded bass horn - I assume that is rear loaded?) will be to directional and not disperse well?

Dan_ed,

I looked at your system. I see Edgarhorns & Acapellas. So my question to you is do you have an Ion tweeter? How does it compare to a Compression driver? I assume the Acapellas have some issues with the bass speed compared to the horn. Correct me if I am wrong.

And to all - do you go DIY for horns in a full range sense. I get a feeling going all out the speakers will sell for well above $100K. Hence, I respect Shadorne's use of ATC to keep things in perspective. I have been told by a few hornys that their dynamic speakers of choice are either PMC or ATC.

Guys,

Did you read what I wrote? I said there is little _practical_ difference in the dynamic range of horns vs. *some* (definitely not most!) coned speakers on *much* music (NOT orchestral!). IOW, on jazz, and smaller scale music, some very good coned speakers are _practically_ as dynamic _in the home environment_ as front horns.

Why the talk of stadiums and pro sound? Who cares?

Admittedly I do not speak from vast experience as I've never owned front horns. But I've been to the shows and listened to them.

You are quite right to say that on symphonic music, it's a different story, and that very few boxed speakers of any kind display impressive dynamics in general.

And come to think of it some of the non-horn speakers I'm thinking of do have some horn-loaded elements (Audiokinesis, E-P). But some of them do not.

Dan ed not all large horn systems are limited as you say. I have designs that integrate at normal listening postions. Even 1 that you can sit 6ft away and its a seemless whole just depends on the design not a limit on horn design in general, just some designs need more space. And Shadorne I have not heard or have measured problems with compression in hi-quality compression drivers. Sure its posible but compression driver designers are well awear of it and realy its not a problem at all for any quality horn loudspeakers.

Why the talk of stadiums and pro sound? Who cares?

Sorry if I confused everyone. I was just trying to explain that long throw horns with narrow dispersion tend to be used to direct coverage over a small narrow area and work extremely well in stadiums where you have multiple sets of speakers cover section of the crowd just like "spotlights". I guess it was not clear but this "spotlight" feature which is ideal in stadium and hall applications are generally more diffuclt to set up in a room.The "long and short" of it is that shorter wider dispersion horns are what I would tend to focus on for domestic settings (in the mid range and treble of course).

Sorry for a late response, I have been away from my computer. I have tried Lowthers on M.King transmision line, on Open Baffle and on Front horns, really the best setup for lowthers is front horns they sound very sweet (unlike to how they sound on boxes), even on front horns that load down to 170 hz they dont really go that low, on OB I was cutting them a 100 hz and they were having trouble with that...I do believe Lowther to be the most Dynamic dynamic speaker...lets rephrase that, the most dynamic cone speaker...It gets totally killed by compression drivers, I compared head to head Lowther DX3 and Altec 906 and the difference was night and day (plus I hate whizzers)
For a limited range you can even find more dynamic cone drivers than lowthers (Beyma, 18sound) but for a longer range Lowthers are indeed very good, the thing is that they step on Compression driver territory (500-800 hz) and they have nothing to do there in comparison!
I am actually using a Beyma 1" driver from 1.2khz instead of the Altec 906 I had (I may be changing these soon for either Radian or Beyma 750) I have a 170hz Exp horn with an 18sound driver that goes lower than the Lowthers did and have a fuller tone.
I do have a Supertweeter from 6khz up, the Compression Driver was having trouble on complicated symphonic passages going all the way up.

I love huge Symphonic music I used to have a pass for the local Theater but traffic jams have kept me starving for music. On the best dynamic system I listened to I never could get a full orchestra to play correctly and so I lost interest on reproduced Classical music, once I got into front loaded horns and got a system that could play Classical music properly I almost only listen to it when doing critical listening, for gatherings or parties I play everything.
Once you can listen to the violins on the left, Violas on the center-right and cellos on the right, trumpets on the right mainly and Precussion on the back left you know it is getting there, Last night I was playing Borodins Plovtsian Dances and when the percussions came in (minute 3:10 Antal Dorati version) I jumped off my seat!

Not to say Girl with guitar music doesnt sound good, it sounds wondefully deatiled dynamic and present, but once you have the luxury of a full orchestra playing just for you, its hard to pick something else!