Why not horns?

for the same reason people did not want to buy a Honda car,

when they first came out.

Because they were different, they did what ALL other cars

could do, in addition, for a whole lot less gas.

Hyundai, is "Today's" Honda.

Ignorance, is All I am left to assume is the same reason here.

No disrespect intended, I only mean, not having heard,

how can someone appreciate something?

"Done Right" Horns can't be beat. Period.IMHO.

All the lame excuses, trying to prove otherwise, are

without any merit.In the situations ideal for Horn

playback

I think some people just see a Horn speaker, and their

brain says " I HATE HORNS!" ? Why? You tell me...

Oh, and yes, some can use a 3watt tube power amp. and

be happy as ever,while, some designs enjoy HUGE POWER &

HEADROOM,YOU! After all, control the volume, unless your

wife,has control.(Sorry)

Horns are NOT for ALL, But, do NOT! TRY to say that they

are not fully capable of Fantastic Audio Reproduction!

Because, that is just "IGNORANT".

And for the record: I have gotten a head-ache listening to

my fill of regular speakers, so don't act as they are

exempt. They are just as capable, of sounding like "crap".

It's like riding in a Lexus and saying, "too much road

noise! I can't take it." Now, any Lexus owner, will attest

to the fact,that they have tried to start the car, often

when it is running, because they did NOT even HEAR the

engine running! Like an "airlock" on a airliner! QUIET!

Prdprez: Amen Brother. Dan_ed: Not ALL Horns are alike.

Mapman:Again 1 Horn system,does not reflect the sound, of

ALL of the many other designs. Thanks for sharing.

Bottom Line: "Different strokes for different folks"

Enjoy Your Music, YOUR way.

I Love Music!

Wes, you are correct, it will never be settled here, but why would one need more power if what one has will cleanly go to rock concert levels?

The all things being equal is the problem. If one believes that an SET is the best route then you can only get a limited amount of power. Everything is a compromise and I'm happy with the compromises I chose.

Weseixas, bold but interesting assertion!

The custom horns I heard (110db efficiency) at the audio show were powered by a very expensive ($50000+) Audio Note tube amp, perhaps 20 some watts per channel or so yet quite substantial physically. the size would not indicate the power level to most.

My OHM 5 omnis at home (87 or so db efficiency) are powered by two 500w/ch Icepower Class D monoblocks. Their size do no not indicate the power delviered either, but they go for about 1/10th the cost of the AN tube amp and are highly regarded in their category by many.

Now I know power levels and sound quality are not always bed partners yet the Class D amp delivers 20 times the power for 1/10th the cost, based on known specs.

Now how do the two compare? That was the question I started working on answering last night listening at home.

My assessment so far is that my setup though totally on the opposite end of the design spectrum, can probably almost match the dynamics of the horn system at any listening volume I would care to ever experience and is quite competitive and possibly superior in most every other regard. Fatigue factor is also quite low.

Go figure!

BTW, as most know I am a big fan of teh Walsh driver approach and OHM speakers in general. The Walsh driver is a big part of the sound equation on my system. I don't think most conventional box designs can match these or the dynamic strengths of the horns. Planars have their own set of constraints that are not insurmountable but significant in the dynamics department.

I would have to hear the two systems side by side with the same source material playing in order to make a more detailed comparison of the two. In lieu of that, so far I;d assert that my setup can at least compete in the same league as the megabuck setup I heard basedon comparitive listening. Same true with other more conventional setups I heard running some big time players like Magico V3, mbl, and YB Acoustics among others.

Bottom line, I think that horns can sound like live music and at least convey certain kinds of recordings accurately, but it seems like one must practically be a millionaire rocket scientist to accomplish it. When you do though, the results can be quite rewarding. Nothing really good ever comes cheap or too easily I suppose....

The fact that there is a horn connected has nothing to do with the power requirement of the driver. My seismic horn subs go down to ~25Hz and use 18", 400watt pro drivers. They need a certain amount of power just to move that much air, let alone do justice to a good bass note.

I tried the SET route on my horns for a while. They can certainly play, but the SET doesn't have the damping control to make a kick drum snap your chest like it should. This is why I'm running my 110+ dB horns with 50 w/ch, PP amps.

But I don't like spam! Or SET. :-)

Herman,

The complexities of music reproduction always seems to favor power. We could discuss this at length, macro/micro dynamics, resistive load power vs reactive load yady yada, but my typing is poor and I'm lazy !

So i will take the easy way out and say after 40 yrs of fighting this demon , without reservation, big un's sound more like live music than likkle un's ...

( academic about the quality )

Nothing against the 2 or 3 watt crowd , it just does not work for me ..

Mapman:

I will reserve comment for now on the class-d stuff , as I'm still in training on there particular sound , which I'm not in favor of currently, and admit i have not heard what you have recommended regarding such, so my verdict (condemnation or approval) is not yet out ....

In your home environment , i would not be surprised that a conventional speaker would have better results vs a horn speaker.

I have personally participated at 2-3 hi-fi shows and dependent on room location , traffic , floor noise a horn speaker can have an advantage during demonstration vs conventional speakers... It's projection of sound is a big advantage here, not so in quite home settings were it's high coloration, and time domain deficiencies say " hello " here I'am !

From my perspective, the coloration is just too high, size and power of instruments out of proportion irrespective of the venue or recording and a 2 much and unnatural in your face presentation.

Those are my observations and of those from my corner, it apparently works for others and since there is no absolute lock on "it " by any of the current topology of today we should just group hug and recognize it's just another cup of tea ..... No thank's ! ....