Horn based loudspeakers why the controversy?

I owned a pair of A7s from the early 70s until the mid 80s generally doing bi-amped live sound duty, and when used as stereo speakers from time to time they were astonishingly good. Not "flat" by definition but they had a charming, perhaps faux, "wooden" tone that was cool…this was before phase plugs and other refinements (although I replaced blown horn diaphragms here and there and added serious JBL 15" bass speakers to them) so it's a wonder they worked at all, but man, you could make people smile playing dynamic orchestral stuff through them, which I did occasionally by driving them with my home stereo rig…cool speakers.

I believe any and all Altec compression drivers had phase plugs. They changed some of their characteristics  (Tangerine) to extend and smooth out high frequencies.
Cheers, 
Tim

Did the classic Altec A7 811 horns from 1970 have phase plugs? I thought the "Tangerine" thing was later but I'm now not sure..

Compression drivers of all types, from what I remember, had a phase plug. The Tangerine came later, (mid 70's) first used in the Altec Model 19. The phase plug was needed to make the compression driver work properly. I don't know the mechanical or electrical reasons why. I think Altec came out with the Tangerine because one of the chief complaints about these drivers was a lack of HF extension. I remember my home pair of A-7's having more of a "whoooshhh" sound  on cymbals rather than the nice extended "crash" sound a cymbal has when struck with a stick or mallet. This was much improved with the Model 19. IMHO