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Horn based loudspeakers why the controversy?

As just another way to build a loudspeaker system why such disputes in forums when horns are mentioned?    They can solve many issues that plague standard designs but with all things have there own.  So why such hate?  As a loudspeaker designer I work with and can appreciate all transducer and loudspeaker types and I understand that we all have different needs budgets experiences tastes biases.  But if you dare suggest horns so many have a problem with that suggestion..why?
128x128johnk
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johnk OP
1,975 posts
 
  • Reason I asked why the controversy? Is that it has been my experience that horn loudspeakers bring with them this air of crazy owner not a valid high-end choice 1/2 deaf only listens loud that ribbon dome planar estat dynamic plasma options do not seem to generate. Once it has a horn its sort of taboo. I work with a good amount of advanced transducers Mundorfs, SEAS, Accuton, Moral, RAAL many others and I enjoy working with them I understand strengths weakness I can get results I want out of designs goals that I have for them. I find most all transducers and loudspeaker design to be fascinating and I post about it often but if I post on horns a loudspeaker design that uses some well thought out massive powerful well made and great sounding transducers- I just do not get the hate? Why should such a useful tool be so easily disregarded as a option? One poster referred to early air suspension marketing and stereo salesmen as a potential source to some of the passed on facts about horns for high end use. And the need to talk early mono system owners into new stereo designs so maybe that is still effecting media and general public’s opinion on horns maybe horns are just so terrible and I just cant hear it. But I do have a good num of industry professionals who have listened to my shearers and I never had one complain or point out a sonic flaw just bopping and smiles. More than one has mentioned how its like a musical event not just a playback system. And I would think maybe that might be of interest to audiophiles who are seeking such playback.
ikecarumba
11 posts
 

There's nothing wrong with horns that a little effort can't fix.

Altec A-7 VOTTs can be made to sound good, same with Altec Valencias, JBL L300s etc., but they do need work, better crossovers, bracing, damping etc..

Vintage horn systems with folded bass horns, like Klipschorns, Vitavox and EV Klipschorns and JBL Hartsfields, can sound very very good especially in big rooms.

My old Hartsfields even sounded great in my very small front room. Powered by a 2w/ch set45 amp they had excellent bass... but they were not not the last word as far as audiophile stuff, detail, imaging etc..

I use dipole bass speakers in my big-room horn system - four 15" woofers in open back boxes go deeper and sound more realistic than folded horns like Hartsfields do in the same room.

Throw in field coil drivers on conical mid horns and my horn system sounds good. Really good. Like super high end studio monitors, but better. I wouldn't trade my DIY horns for TOTL Magicos.

(I would definitely trade my system for Magico's mega horn system. Not that they would fit in my house.)



johnk's avatar
johnk OP
1,975 posts
 
  • -Why do dynamic loudspeakers practically own the speaker market at every price point? Cheap and easy to design, ship, market, manufacturer. Why do bud light coors light and miller lite own the beer market? Because that is what the mass market wants does that make bud light the best beer ever because it owns the market maybe but for me I prefer other more flavorful options.
ikecarumba
11 posts
 
One advantage of horns suitable for home listening is narrow dispersion.

Wide dispersion is not good for center-chair listening. Horns beam like lasers, and to me this is a good thing, fewer nasty sidewall reflections.

I am not into wide-dispersion party speakers. 

My DIY 3.5-way hybrid dipole-conical horn+ field coil driver system images better than ANY conventional 'wide-dispersion' speakers, narrow or wide baffle, single driver or multiway I've ever heard.

My hybrid-horn system does spooky 3-D realistic imaging. Extreme low level detail retreival. Startling dynamic contrast. All the audiophile goodies.

Seems to me you've never heard a really good horn system. Too bad.


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