Why not horns?

All that we are talking about with horns is mechanical amplification. As with electronic amplification, it can be good or bad, clear or distorted. Would you condemn all amplifiers as honky, distorted or shrill just because you heard one that deserves that description?
In many respects horns are in their infancy. I believe that many of the objections, particularly size and price, can be mitigated by motivated entrepreneurial experimentation and careful research. This being done on a small somewhat random and utterly uncooperative scale by isolated hobbyist/inventor types. A few, like Bill Woods, have made it their life work. Perhaps, if serious efforts were made by established firms like Klipsch and JBL
we would see real progress in this area. However, what is to motivate them if we continue to tell them we want poor sounding, slim compromised sculptures? If we can emerge from our self-imposed darkness and begin to learn about the potential hidden promise of horns, then there is no telling where it might lead us.

Well they are not my kind of speaker and have not listen to one in quite sometime. I do get the opportunity to do so this weekend and with custom amplification to boot!

Stay tuned!

Re phase and polarity, I believe the reason for the ambiguity and inconsistent use of the term "phase" is that a delay or phase shift mechanism can be either phase dispersive (affecting the phase of different frequencies differently), or phase non-dispersive (affecting the phase of all frequencies equally).

A polarity inversion is the same thing as a 180 degree non-dispersive phase shift. An arrival time difference caused by multiple drivers whose physical placement is not time-aligned relative to one another would be a dispersive phase shift.

Regards,
-- Al

macrojack,

I like your assertion that horns are essentially a form of mechanical amplification that can be done well, poorly, or anywhere in between.

Unfortunately, my gut tells me that practically mechanical amplification is a preferred means of the past and not the wave of the future.

More efficient forms of electronic amplification, like Class D switching amps. are the wave of the future and will likely put an even further hurt on high efficiency speaker designs, horn or otherwise.

BTW, I do own a pair of horns. One of them can be seen in one of my system photos. Take a look and see if you can find it!

Macrojack, I think you make a good point. I think electrical amplification is preferable. As I posted earlier, I suspect that the current trend in horn speakers, is due to the current trend in low powered amplifiers, not to any inherent superiority of horns. I will grant you that horns almost always play louder, and are usually superior in dynamic contrasts. To my ears those benefits are far out weighted by their compromises. If mechanical amplification is all that good, why aren't Victrolas used much anymore?