Why not horns?

Unsound is right.

Don't be a horn Nazi! Sharing of different views (that's all they are) by all including those who loathe horns is part of the learning experience. Just stick to the facts and I'm sure that horns will find some new devotees which is the best that can be hoped for realistically with any technology or approach discussed on this site.

"Horn Nazis"? Well, even the Nazis did some things well (roads for example) but that doesn't justify their other deeds. As I have said, horns do Dixieland jazz superbly, but I can't listen to Dixieland all the time.

I'm glad I gave up my audiophile card long ago, because thats when music became fun again. My Apogee dipole panel speakers are fun to listen to, and so are my horns (Klipsch).

My Bose 901's out in the garage are also fun....and so are my big old ugly VMPS Supertower/R's.

When I was an audiophile, I rarely found music or speakers that were fun, and once the fun was gone......so was I.

After around 5 years I came back for another try, and with a new goal......."Don't worry, be Happy"....and have fun!

Dave

Al, I too was unfamiliar with the design of the circuit, but one does not have to know anything about it to know that it is impossible to get more power without more voltage.

Some are assuming that paralleled output tubes will somehow would drive more current into the load when we both know that for a given load the amount of current delivered is a function of voltage. These are voltage source amps, not current sources. I tried to explain this and as a result received an email telling me I was insolent, a complete and utter fool, and a coward.

So my interest was piqued and I sent an email to BAT. I figured maybe they used a higher tap on the secondary of the power transformer to get B+ up a bit. Close, but wrong. They do parallel the channels but as I've proven that does not raise the voltage. They also use a higher tap on the output transformer to raise the voltage. Very clever.

So for those who thought me to be an utter fool for saying you must raise the voltage, well, I guess we know who looks foolish now. Now that we have that settled I'll let the horn haters bash it out with the horn lovers.

Interesting thread, learned a bit about conical horns.

Oh, and distortions do not average out.

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Prez, I hate to keep beating you down but your analysis with dB is also off

Not sure where you got 26dB but that does not equate to 400W. Here is how it works.

The sensitivity of the amp is 1V, that means it takes one volt to drive the amp to maximum output.

Of course these amps won't do it but to get 400W into 8 ohms you would need an output voltage of 57V. If you had one volt in that is a gain of 57. A gain of 57 is 35dB = 20 log 57.

To get 75W@8ohms you need 25V out. That is 28dB.

To get 75W@4ohms you need 17V. That is 25dB.

To get 150W@8ohm you need 35V. That is 31dB

I rounded things off but that is real close. It has a different amount of gain for each scenario because you use different taps on the output transformer to get different voltages.

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