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How come Horn + woofer designs are not more popular?

A couple guys on my audio discord really love the JBL synthesis 4367 and feel that all traditional 3 way tower speakers suck because they have poor bass response and are generally shy sounding. What I wonder is how come the majority of speaker makes do floor standers that are 3 way as oppose to the Horn +woofer design of JBL?

Is there any downsides to the horn + woofer design? Can a horn convey microdetail as well as a Be tweeter like say from magic A or S line? They claim 3 way floor standers are just trendy. But is there anything more to it then that?
smodtactical
ozzy62's avatar
ozzy62
3,189 posts
 
Horns tend to have an uneven radiation pattern with frequency. They also have a comb like response especially at higher frequencies. This can be perceived as shouty or unbalanced. It changes the tonality due to the variable off axis response.

That’s a lot of “who shot John”. Another way to say it is “horns sound more like real music”.......

Oz


mrdecibel
3,065 posts
 
roberjerman, excellent amplifier !
chrissain
470 posts
 
I lived with a pair of JBL Array 1400s for about a year, they did some great things but were very unforgiving of bad recordings, I overall prefer my Revel 228be. 
jtgofish's avatar
jtgofish
515 posts
 
The JBL Studio 590 speakers were fantastic speakers and a real bargain but JBL stopped making them.
audition__audio
1,518 posts
 
Horns dont sound more like real music, they sound like horns. Just like dynamic speakers and planar speakers dont sound more like real music. It is simply a issue of priorities. Each design has its merits and intrinsic difficulties. I doubt that my priorities are such that I will ever own a pair of horns.

I might add that any speaker that isnt revealing of bad recordings I dont think is a good speaker.
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