Change to Horns or stay Dynamic

Dgad,

It's uncanny; you and I are looking for exactly the same thing at this point in the hobby. I too am extremely sensitive to distortion.

The -only- reservation I have about my MBL 101Es is that they too get congested at loud volumes during complex passages. They lose detail and smear and the soundstage becomes confused. This is true with any of the many amplifiers I have used with them, though my current amps tend to compound the problem (no amps have sounded less distorted or as wonderful under 93db, however).

I would like a speaker that, as you say, "You can listen at 100db and not even know you are listening so loud. No distortion etc. And everything remains stable in space with a transparency that is hard to believe."

I'm also looking for speakers that I can run with my 300B SET amps.
These two factors have led me to search for horn speakers using compression drivers. I ruled out the following a few years back (no offence to current owners intended):
Avantgarde
Acapella [great tweeter however]
Drivers such as Lowthers and Fostex
Back-loaded designs

The shortlist of speakers/drivers I would like to hear, in no particular order, are:

1. Sunny Cable H3W18 Majestic:
I think they use a GOTO driver in the midrange horn
2. GOTO
3. ALE
4. Cogent
5. Danley (pro-sound but interesting designs)
6. I'm open to suggestions as long as they don't involve asking me to revisit things that I have already ruled out or products that will be grossly inferior to the MBL 101Es in most other areas of sound reproduction.

Since I have no DIY talent or experience with horn or crossover design, I'm not going to buy separate drivers and horns and try to cobble something together. I'm also not going to hire someone to put something together that I haven't already heard. I, therefore, would have to hear a complete speaker system that sounds incredible in order to convince me to give up my beloved MBLs.

Exlibris,

Yes we are in the same boat. I was curious if there were others. It is nice not be alone. I feel a few others have gone this way as well.

Horns are very complex to understand and the horn world has so many options. Also how to integrate bass is going to be a problem. Have you seen the massive 20 feet long bass horns some use. Others use a folded horn or a back loaded horn. I have to hear more implementations to know what is my direction.

I also think you can do it for less. I have been told by a few people a compression driver and field coil come very close. I prefer to do without the hassle of a field coil but love what I heard. The TAD drivers are great and the Cessaros might be an option due to their turn-key installation & adjustability. But there are also fabulous US products around. I just spoke w. one designer who was incredibly informative and modest. There is a lot to learn.

The truth is I think horns have come a long way but also have thier limits. I don't want to throw in a ton of money only to find I made a mistake. While I can sell a Maxx II or you can sell your 101es, most horns will be impossible to sell unless they are Avantgardes or the like which we both don't want.

I also want to hear the Sunny speaker. I think it is a back loaded bass horn with front loaded highs & mids. Have you heard any you liked. The Cessaros blew my mind from the mids on up. I would have turned down the highs a notch but the crossover easily allows for that. Total clarity and no distortion. Something special. You feel you need to pay for admission the sound is so good. Especially the wonderful air pressure in the room from listening to a 12 string guitar as if it is in front of you. You are left with a giant smile like the first time you heard a great system.

"You can listen at 100db and not even know you are listening so loud. No distortion etc. And everything remains stable in space with a transparency that is hard to believe."

ATC, PMC will do it and so will some horns and several other high end designs but you are basically getting into the realms of professional main studio monitors (Westlake, Meyer, custom Augspergers with Tad drivers - take your pick). If you sit 4 meters back (large room like I do) then you are talking 112 db SPL capability at 1 meter continuous to get your 100 db spl at the listening position (and remember that headroom up to 122 db SPL may be required to be handle this cleanly on some music).

Very few speakers can do this that are not specifically designed for this task....and they only sell handfuls of these kind of speakers - not tens of thousands like B&W's. Most people don't want or need this kind of eye watering capability - but it can be incredibly fun and exhilerating.

Dgad,nice post....Btw,didn't I meet you at HE 2007?There are not many other hobbyists living in Aruba,whom I met at that show,so I assume this "is" you.

Sorry for my short session listening to the Singer demo,with you.

Best

"The -only- reservation I have about my MBL 101Es is that they too get congested at loud volumes during complex passages. They lose detail and smear and the soundstage becomes confused."

I'll bet any speakers with a sensitivity of 81dB/2.83V/m powered by 40watt tube amps(no offence to current owners intended), will sound congested if you try and push them past 93db in a big room.

Solution: Spectron Musician III SE Mk. 2 monoblock amplifiers.