What does one purchase after owning horns?

Renmeister, I just noticed this thread. I have been at audio for 40 plus years. I repeatedly tried horns beginning with Klipsch corner horns, then electrostats, then dynamic drivers, then electrostats, then horns, including the Duos and Trios, then dynamic drivers, then partial horns the Acapella LaCompanellas, and now back to dynamic drivers. By my count I have owned 24 different speakers.

You will never hear horn dynamics or speed out of anything else, especially if they use compression drivers. I once almost went to a five way GoTo compression driver system. But you will always have integration problems with horns. Instruments will change positions depending on where they are in frequency.

I became convinced that there was no best speaker; that all were compromises somewhere; that only a point source driver, capable of really quick peaks across the frequency range from 20 Hz to probably 100k Hz, and with efficiency of over 100 would really suffice. Fat chance of that ever being possible.

Perhaps I have given up, but I am back to dynamic drivers in the Tidal speakers. I really don't think there is a better compromise, but if you find one, please tell us about it.

"But you will always have integration problems with horns. Instruments will change positions depending on where they are in frequency."

Maybe not in big rooms where distance to the speakers can make even a horn approximate a point source more.

In smaller or even typical rooms, I would probably have some concerns because I also believe point sources to be the optimal configuration for a speaker from a spatial integration perspective.

So purchasing a bigger room after horns is looking like a better and better idea all the time now!

"only a point source driver, capable of really quick peaks across the frequency range from 20 Hz to probably 100k Hz, and with efficiency of over 100 would really suffice."

That's why I'm still waiting for the world's first ever field coil based walsh driver design because that could take traditionally inefficient Walsh drivers to an even greater level.

It will also likely cost a fortune and potentially be difficult to maintain properly though, otherwise someone would have probably done it by now.

Oh well....

Horns do not all need massive space to sound there best. If properly designed large horns will work fine in near field etc. But most are not designed well and need extra listening distance to compensate for poor integration excessive colorations and poor time alignments. Since many are DIY and not properly designed listening space becomes more of an issue. You also have the market demanding small loudspeakers so many commercial horns do not offer proper mid bass or bass systems. So much of the info on horns comes from DIY types who insist on massive listening distance since in there experience its needed. Or from owners of undersized commercial offerings. Who complain of mismatched bass midbass etc. No wonder horns get such a bad reputation in forum.

radiation pattern control lack of distortion and efficiency

04-06-11: Johnk

Lack of distortion ? ... Interesting....

Weseixas, who plainly knows next to nothing about horn loudspeakers, continues relentlessly to underscore that most evident fact with generalities, wives' tales and misinformation. What drives this foolish behavior? What makes a grownup act this way?

While I haven't the ability to measure my horns for distortion, I'm quite happy to say that I can't hear any indication of distortion at all. The presentation is calm and effortless. In my 330 square foot room, they aren't tested at all.

The high efficiency claim goes without saying, as does the radiation control. A horn works like a rifle barrel in directing the sound. The flare of the horn (in my case, 40 degrees) confines the lateral distribution thereby preventing any early interference from room boundaries. But not all horns are that narrow. Likewise, not all horns are made of inch thick, non-resonant hardwood. And not all horns are smooth and conical. Generalities about horns make as much sense as generalities about anything else.

Weseixas is just here to make trouble. Ask him about his death panels.