Why not horns?

bjpd57a196 posts05-22-2010 1:10pm


Properly set-up, the Horn speaker, is capable of uncanny

realism.


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I am a Horn Believer
And this conviction in what you claim is true, based ONLY from a  tweeter horn witha  2.2 Mundorf cap (set up right?? who knows)) the Magnovox Alnico which came out of the old console cabinets,,
This is the highs I've laways  wanted in my system. 
My guess is the early 60's american made horns will annihilate any dome tweeter from Seas and Scanspeaker, this due to horns higher sens at say,,97ishdb.
Whereas tweeters comming from Seas and scanspeak are below 91db, = Dinasaurs. 
Realism 
vs  
A faint echo.
Dome tweets leave so much music behind, 
Horns will give every tiny nuance = realism. 

macrojack OP1,300 posts05-23-2010 9:55am


 and permits us to get back to the topic of "WHY NOT HORNS?".


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My answer is
Because no one TOLD me about horns. 
I was like so many here, not thinking ~~Outside The Box~~ = box being box xover/low sens traditional dinsaur speaker designs.
Had Richard Gray NOT suggested I try a horn, to this day I would  be left in the dark about horns superior musical voicing.
My horn project will take me up to the place I can afford the Voxativ AC1A's at $1900, maybe late this year.
It will be a  midrange shootout
Midrange horn vs Voxativ AC1A. 
My hunch is the horn will be sold off.
I may end up keeping the Magnovox tweeter horn with the Vox AC1A for highs.
Again
Horns Rule.
But which horns?
The new masive rock concert horns are not for me.
I  am looking for nuances, subtility., Not horns that will **rip your head off* as Richard Gray likes to say. 
Richard mentioned the JBL's are too aggressive for his ears. 
Post man just droped off the Jensen 1960;'s Midrange horn...
later.............................

hummm these Jesnen 1960's horns came witha  tiny  thin brass voice horn,, the driver iteslf is at least 2 lbs and has a nice huge alnico magnet,, sounded a  bit harsh, not too clean,,have to get with Ricahrd Gray see if he can make some adjustments. 
Let me  read through this thread,,see whats up in the world of horns past 10 years.

eldartford4,262 posts05-24-2010 8:11amHerman... Sounding like trumpets is a quite precise description of what I find undesirable about horns. I think everyone will understand what I am saying, although they might disagree. As is often said on Audiogon, we couldn't care less about specs...it's how it sounds.

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While reaseraching the heck for info on the pair of 
Jesen alnico 1960's Tri ETTE speaker horns
I came across this upload of a  readable link to a  1960's magazine ad for 
I think Electro Voice or Jessen, The tech went onto say about his speakers,, ** the buyer is not the least interested in specs, graphs, only in how it acutally voices music, this is what we should be concern about making a  speaker**  Paraphrasing.

Listening to a  rough quick set up on the Jensen mid?? ot tweet? horn. The motor is nice  has a  rather large alnico magnet. 
Simuliar to the Magnoxov horn I have,  which sounded  STUNNING and realistic So based on this I went ahead and  bought the Jensen, hoping it would fill in to 1600hz  up to the 9k Magnovox horn. 
But I think its a  tweeter horn and from my superifical testing, not as clean, real as the Magnovox = perhaps a bad buy. Not sure til Richard figures out what we can do, right cap value and maybe find a  new horn, as the horn that came with the motor is a  cheap, thin rounded brass , like a tiny trumpet. 
I think horns are best for high fq's,. once you get into mids, it starts to sound like you say
*Trumpety*

My guess is the Voxativ AC1A will  reproduce the midrange I'm looking for over the horns ability to match this performance. 

I'm going to hold off buying up more horns , as I need to put that cash away for the AC1A's. 
Now will I need the Magnoxov tweeter horn to help out the AC1A in the highs?? 
Can not say for sure, as we know *Full* Range really does nopt mean *complete range*
I'm not concern about bass, as the W18E001's dual/each cabinet handle that range.
So even if the AC1A are a tad weak in the bass, its no real issue. 
If the AC1A does what folks are saying it does, I think the new Vox technology has *trumped* the older technology of midrange horns. 

I'm guessing my *Frankenstein* ( as Adam over at madisound has taged it) will be a  mix of ]
Low sens bass W18E001, 2000 release 
High sens Vox for mids  2020 design 
High sens Magnovox tweeter horn from the 1960's. 

Its hard to beat any of these 3 drivers in what they do.
Its like I am taking the best from all 3 speaker designs, blending  all in one
 *The  Frankenstein*

My favorite design.