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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
deecee's avatar
deecee
100 posts
 
Not a horn guy, but I have heard some horn systems I liked (or was surprised at the quality). Never heard any of the newer fancy designs, however. I guess I'm part of the folks that consider them "shouty".

Some people like the immediacy that is presented and I can understand that, especially for those who are into 60s/70s rock.

One thing I can say for the better implemented horns, they do provide excellent reproduction of horns (surprise!) and drum kits from well recorded sources.
keithr
1,306 posts
 
In the US, simple: aesthetics

bigkidz
3,381 posts
 

I agree with many of the Horn posters above.  Once you hear a good horn speaker, it is hard to go back.  Although I had some issues with the bass keeping up, the sound was the best I ever have heard.  I have also built field coil speakers and those floored me even in my basic stage of development.  You won't hear a better mid-range than a good field coil speaker.  The horns I had were very big, and therefore no WAF and my room is now smaller.


Keep using the good ear for listening.

dbarger
215 posts
 
I just bought a pair of jbl 4429’s to check out after seeing several reviews online.  Curiosity got the best of me.  I did not imagine they could disappear like my Devore’s but they do.  They have zero horn effect.  And they are super musical.  Not selling the nines (at least not yet) but I enjoy playing and these are really superb and a great value at 5k.  Just let them break in, they definitely do!
alexysflores
11 posts
 
Thanks to the beauty of a software package that design both speaker box and cross over, I was able to build my own high efficient speaker using Italian speaker drivers with horns, mid range and woofers in a 3 way systems.  I can hear the voice of Maria Callas live in concert in clarity due to Horns and Midrange.  Horn perfectly run in Tube Amps in 16 ohms impedance.  my amps is an Atma-Sphere M60.
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