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
Oh, back on topic, there is a compromise in a two way horn system that is difficult to get around. You either have to run a woofer up into the midrange or make a very large horn to get down to where most woofers do well. I do not think there is a satisfactory middle ground. Look how large a K Horn midrange horn has to be just to get down to 500 Hz were it crosses to a 15 inch woofer. This is one area were that ESLs have a major advantage over both horns and dynamic speakers. You can easily design a speaker that is One Way all the way down to 100 Hz as long as you can live with the size. 

I built a few custom horn speakers and used Sony Alnico woofers (only 2 pair in the USA).  I bi-amped them with custom tube mono-block amps that I built (1.5 watts) to drive the horns.  They sounded amazing but they wee large so no WAF.  I never could get the bass to keep up with the horns though.  My buddy has Klipsch and why the mids are excellent, the bass always lags behind.  Do not know his model but he has had them modified.


Happy Listening.

Two words: too big.

If not for tube amplifiers there would probably be little need for this typically high efficiency design in most homes. High efficiency potential is the key advantage. Pro audio involving larger spaces is a different story.
Horns - They're not more popular because they sound terrible, the reason is that simple. 
There's a charm to a good horn.  Like driving a vintage car.  Sure performance isn't the same as a sports car today, but there's something sweet about it.  Keep in mind, good sound is ALL subjective. Even concert halls sound different.  Instruments sound different. 

I love horns and I love non-horns.. Depends on my mood.