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Cogent horns

Count me among those who have to say that the Cogent field-coil horn system is the single most realistic (and satisfying) speaker system I have heard. The system at RMAF 2006, powered by Welborne 45 (top) and 300B (bass) SETs, was *literally* jaw-dropping (for me).

(For whatever reason - I was not impressed to the same level the next year, in the very large conference room. Perhaps there is something about near(er) field listening these things. By all rights the Welborne room was *way* too small, but they sounded fabulous to me and many others.)

They are far beyond my price range.

How do the Classic Audio speakers with field coil drivers compare? And how come I see no mention at all of field coil options on Classic's site, including no pricing info? (I'm sure they're beyond me as well but just curious.)
paulfolbrecht
darkmoebius
900 posts
 
I have heard the Cogent field coil speakers a couple of times, lastly at The Show in Los Angeles circa 2006. It was a very small room and they were driven by Ron Welborne's new Terraplane 45 & 300B monoblocks.

As Paul mentioned, the sound was best described as "effortless" and "liquid". No matter how complex the material, the music just plain flowed with and ease I've never heard before. I'm not talking about a "soft" or traditionally warm tube sound. This was something entirely different. All the transparency and detail was there, staccato blasts from trumpet had the proper "blat" and bite, but there was glossiness or glare.

It's hard to describe except to say I have never heard any compression horn system present music in the same way as those field coils. They were incredible, both in performance and price.

I'd love to hear how far they've come since then.
macrojack
1,303 posts
 
My system performs according to your descriptions using the same conical horn that Cogent uses without the field coils. I have never heard Cogent drivers so I cannot say how close I am to what you heard, but it raises in my mind a question of how much is the horn and how much is the driver?
darkmoebius
900 posts
 
I meant to say that there was NO "glossiness" or "glare" in my above post.

Another memory popped up, I think Steve and Rich said they had to rush to finish the fabrication of [url=http://www.audiofederation.com/hifiing/2006/Cogent/1000/index.htm]the horns[/url] for THE Show in 2006 and just finished them a few nights before.

Macrojack, you've moved on to horns from the ZU's? Or in addition to?
macrojack
1,303 posts
 
I sold my Zu Presence last summer and bought a pair of horns from Bill Woods of Acoustic Horn Company figuring if they were good enough for Cogent they were good enough for me.
Bill also turned me on to B&C DCX 50 compression drivers which he says get pretty close to the performance of the Cogent FC drivers.

http://www.acoustichorn.com/news/index.php?id=6580107509037206863

If you have the space, this option is worth consideration.
darkmoebius
900 posts
 
Steve & Rich of Cogent have spoken really highly of Bill Wood's horns at Acoustic Horn Company. A few years back, I asked where could I get the best performance for the money, within my budget, and that is exactly where they pointed me.

I really need to shoot Steve and email and check out how far they come with the Cogent setup since they are here in the Los Angeles area.
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