Why not horns?

Macrojack, Good grief man! I only have so much time to waste here. I told you I would read it! :)

And I have. Naturally, the first thing I have to note is that even Mr. Woods has stated that the conical (the least colored) "has very little trace of the "honky" sound." Which is also to say that it still has that sound. Perhaps my ear is especially sensitive to that. Not sure yet. I will have to explore it some more.

Either way, Bill Woods as much as admits that even the least colored horn is still colored. This may seem like nit-picking but in an hobby where we describe differences in cables as "vast", is it not reasonable that even this slight coloration is still obvious to some?

Thats my observation after a first pass over the recommended article. Going back for more..........

No doubt one can play things much louder when distortion is in check. The human ear can only handle so much though, so one must be careful!

Macrojack for what's it's worth I have enjoyed this thread even know I have not listened to a horn system; I now know there will some extra effort to put a speaker system like this together and the result can be rewarding.

"Perhaps we equate loudness with distortion and respond by playing louder when the distortion is absent." - Macrojack

I've found this to be absolutely true in my own experience. Even with dynamic drivers. These days I've have to be conscious of the volume from time to time to make sure I'm not going overboard.

P.S. can someone show me where to figure out how to quote others in this thread properly. Instead of cut and paste. Thanks!!

Prdprez & Herman,

I'm not particularly familiar with the BAT solid state amplifiers, but if indeed the only relevant difference between configurations that offer, for example, 300W into 8 ohms and 150W into 8 ohms is that output circuits are paralleled, then my guess is as follows:

I would guess that both configurations are either designed with the same internal voltage rails and output voltage swing capability, or are designed such that those parameters can be easily selected internally between two values corresponding to the two configurations. In the lower powered (non-paralleled) configuration, the 150W rating (which represents continuous MAXIMUM power delivery into 8 ohms, at a specified distortion level) is limited by either current capability or by heat dissipation considerations, or both.

In that situation, paralleling the output circuits would double the continuous MAXIMUM power rating. However, the amount of power delivered into a given load, for a given input signal and gain, would be identical for both amplifiers as long as the voltage, current, power, and thermal limits of the lower powered amp are not exceeded.

Regards,
-- Al