Why not horns?

Check this out:

http://www.oswaldsmillaudio.com/Products/imperia.html

I heard these at 2010 Capital Audiofest and the setup with them was one of the better ones there. I lot of people stayed and listened a long time not wanting to leave, including me. Not a bad deal.

Cathedral Horns

Gotta love Altecs!

05-15-11: Macrojack
...

So feel free to sing the praises of your big beautiful speakers if that's your wish. I've been doing so for a couple of years now without any infestation -- just a few insults and a little derision and name calling -- things I learned to ignore back in second grade.

Perhaps I'm not fully qualified to start praising my OSWG waveguide-based speakers being this is a horn thread(overlapping and such), but in light of a not insignificant percentage of other posts that seem to veer off quite differently, or should one say inappropriately on this topic, I gather I'm not too far off trying to support the overall subject matter of this thread.

A Compression driver fitted in front of a 12" waveguide and a 12" bass/mid unit has opened up the soundscape in my livingroom to a substantial degree. My current speaker iteration of this will soon(this coming weekend) be replaced by a new version, going from a Beyma 12BR70 and BMS 4524 to the Beyma 12B100/R and B&C DE500 + different crossover - using a similar fiberglass waveguide and incorporated enclosure(with different port-tuning). Crossover frequency will move from 1.5kHz down to 800Hz in the new iteration(a note on bandwidth: 800Hz to 18-20kHz by one single unit - with power respons and constant directivity fairly in place - has major benefits, and moves the crossover point out of the most critical frequency region). We're not sitting at typical horn-level efficiency here, but a measured 93dB is still a relatively high number in the general hifi-domain.

In short modern compression drivers in front of well-made waveguides or horns add many advantages over more conventional, direct radiating "hifi" dome-tweeters - advantages to some and not to others, I suppose, but to me the current state of waveguides/horns and compression drivers -- as may have earlier/older and perhaps more select models -- definately merits sound reproduction of extremely high quality that doesn't take second seat to the direct radiating, lower efficiency alternatives - on the contrary; faithfulness to tone and timbre is truer, the sense of effortlessness is lightyears ahead - indeed so pronounced to help the music feel freed and natural, the ability to handle complex music material almost nonchalantly adds insight, macro and micro dynamics in spades, excellent transient abilities, a marked sense of energy coherence and body/physicality, scale, etc. - all of which stands in the service of a more faithful reproduction of live, acoustical music.

In the latest Stereophile issue, April 2013, Art Dudley in his article 'How I learned to stop worrying and love sucky bass' brings some very relevant observations on the state of bass quality in loudspeakers over the last decades. Apart from acknowledging having lived with bad bass quality for some while he in turn goes on trying to identify the nature of "true bass" and how this to his ears is most faithfully reproduced in loudspeakers. My reason for pointing this out is being in agreement with him on larger, low excursion bass/mid units, 12" and up, being far better in reproducing natural bass than smaller, high excursion units - the latter of which have come to dominate most of the hifi-arena.

It would follow, to my ears at least, that speaking of horn- or waveguide-based speakers(via compression drivers or similar units) carries the virtues not only of this singular field, complex and diverse it may be, but as well the added benefits of the larger bass/mid drivers that very often goes along with this type of mid to high frequency reproduction. That makes, or at least could make horn and/or waveguide speakers all the more interesting, adding to the relevance of this thread.

There is a unique horn speaker being built iup in Maine that sounds unlike any other horn (or speaker) that I have heard. I have never desired any type of horn, the sound wasn't anything I could live with, and the esthetics were too big and ugly. But, these have opened my eyes to possibilities I never dreamed.

http://www.voltiaudio.com/