Why not horns?

Okay, then let me put it this way.....
Between himself, myself, and at least one other professional there is 60+ years of collective experience in the overall set-up of that room and system.
I'm confident my own 20+ years of professional experience is enough to say that he has those horns as "optimized" as they will ever be.

And, yes, in this case three pairs of basshorns does come close. And I have the data to prove it.
Like I said, they are not full horns but they are horns non-the-less. Between the triple stack and the very high sensitivity of the 6 individual woofers per channel, well, I'd like anyone to show me a "horn" that goes all the way down to 20Hz thats better! (And fits inside even a generous listening room.)

@ Herman, I should have looked up your system before trying to answer your posts. my apologies.
But if I may be so bold, apparently size and overwhelming a room is not such an issue for you! haha.

But I stand by my statement on the triple avantgarde basshorns. The cumulative length isnt quite like yours but the end result is probably the same. The overall sensitivity pretty much matches the other three horns, which is the point anyway. (right?)

Oh, and we tried the time alignment a LONG time ago. Big improvement, Yes, but still not my cup of tea in the end.

+10 Agree with your assessment ...

High fatigue factor , poor instrument sizing (everything stay's powerful and big) mucho coloration!

regards,

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06-14-10: Prdprez
an admitted naive observation from a bachelor........

Why is it that we need to figure out ways to get the wifes "out of town" whenever we want to have a little audiophile fun? It seems to me that they don't plan on ways to get the men out of town whenever they have their little parties. To the contrary, they plan the party and we pretty much go running! LOL! (Hmmmmm. wait a minute!.........)

Back to the thread.... Why not horns? Well, because they sound like horns. My friend has meticulously set up his Trios with 3 pairs of bass horns in a dedicated and purpose built room with every little trick and room correction you could think of.
Mighty mighty impressive dynamics. Sometimes feels like I can hear the nose hairs moving in the recording. But ultimately only fun for a little while. I always come away feeling as though I have listened to a well constructed parlor trick rather than a live musical event.

I'm confident my own 20+ years of professional experience is enough to say that he has those horns as "optimized" as they will ever be.

I think you missed my point. It is impossible to ascertain whether or not they are optimized especially just by listening to them occasionally. You can describe the sound, you can say they sound good or bad, you can say they are too bright or too whatever or not enough of whatever..........but you can't say they are optimized unless you have tried every possible combination of every variable. Yes, kind of ridiculous in a way but that's what it would take. I think my setup sounds pretty good but is it optimal? No, just like everybody else I got to a point and quit trying for now. I'm sure when I revisit it I can somehow improve it.

The overall sensitivity pretty much matches the other three horns, which is the point anyway. (right?)

No. Very different. If it takes 250W per driver to match the output of 1 or 2 watts per driver then the sensitivity is not even close. One of the beauties of what I would call a true horn is the fact that you can get a lot of sound with very little power. In fact, needing that much power is a dead giveaway that it is not a horn. Going to 20 Hz has nothing to do with it. It's how you get there. Mine only go into the 30's but they do it with a few watts. A very different beast than doing it with twelve drivers and 3,000 watts. (I got that from 3 pair = 6 with 2 drivers per. If my math is wrong then please adjust but I think you get the idea.)

how did you time align, physically or electronically?
.

As we are discussing audio! I must say there are no winners, no good, better best, one man's euphoria is another anathema !

That said and IMO ,

*8 Watts is not enuff from micro /Macro dynamic reproduction of a recording . I have never heard a system that never benefited from more power. ( all things equal )
using a 250 watt amp is not a demerit in my books..

*High efficiency speakers never ever sound like live music, instruments or convey recordings accurately and have a poor sense of balance.

* Horns are great when used in the environment they were/are intended for PA and sound reinforcement where high db levels and not accuracy is important.

Hence most hi-fi people will not like the sound of horns in their environment.

regards,