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Posted by Romy the Cat on
09-14-2019
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As some of you know the long-standing horn-loading topology enthusiasts
Bjørn Kolbrek and Thomas Dunker from Norway deseeded to write a book about
Horn
Loudspeakers. It will be called "High Quality Horn Loudspeaker
Systems" and will be available from Amazon for $150
http://www.hornspeakersystems.info/images/pdf/TOC.pdf
They put up a website with info about the book.
http://www.hornspeakersystems.info/
Long time due….
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Posted by noviygera on
10-25-2019
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"As of now, the book will only be available from amazon.co.uk, but amazon users on other continents will be able to order the book from the UK site"
I'm looking forward to building my horn base with this read!
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Posted by Romy the Cat on
12-26-2019
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Got the book a few days ago. Wify bought it to me for Xmax,
nice wify….
I am quite surprised with the side per cost of the
book. As it was initially proposed I
felt the $150 is kind of stiff. As I got the book and see how it was published
and the volume of it I do feel that Mr. Kolbrek and Mr. Dunker are selling themselves
cheap. This is quite a fundamental work and considering that it is an extreme narrow
market I hardly believe that anything like this ever will be compiled again.
For those few people out there who will be willing to have this book it would
not be a problem to pay significantly more for this book. I do know that if Bjørn
and Thomas stop publishing the book than in a few year it will be selling on
second hand market for a few thousand dollars. Anyhow, I do feel that the book
is grossly under-priced. I am not able to comment on the context of the book. I
think as my kids grow up and live house for collages then I will start reading
it… :-)
Look at the size of this thing....
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Posted by anthony on
12-27-2019
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...you've got to set it down on a table.
My wife also gave me this book for Christmas, and I agree with your value assessment. I cannot see anything like this being published again and it very much seems to be a labour of love for the authors. A compendium of vast knowledge and enthusiasm, a historical record, something unique.
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Posted by Romy the Cat on
12-27-2019
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I spend probably 30 mins with the book today, mostly browsing
some areas that I would be interested. You know I was not thrilled with what I
have read. Certainly, there is a lot in the book that has been covered but covered
from some very strange perspective. The book feels like it is an academic
thesis, some lab study and for some reasons it has very little analyses of
actions and consequence of horn design decisions. The most unpliant to me that
the book has no practical implications. The purpose of horns-loading installation
is to produce sound and the authors as it appears absolutely did not explore sonic
values of the described design ideas. That all feel more feel to me like a book
about horns autopsy then horns as music making instruments. In the way the tone
of the book reminds me the conversations with Joe Roberts who has encyclopedic knowledge
on the subject but who in practical term able just to run mouth to pimping the
pre-paid campaigns. I certainly do not blame
Mr. Kolbrek and Mr. Dunker to have bad intentions
- they did their share of the labor of love but I wish they found less academic,
less hypothetical and more loving way to sell the subject of high-fidelity horn
loading installations. I do not know Mr.
Kolbrek but Mr. Dunker use to have a very elegant and very populist (in
positive and elitist connotation) way to talk about horns. I am not sure why
for the book they chose that dry, denied any applied practicality, denied any feelings
narrative. I might change my mind as I read more but my initial looking into
the book gave me some cold shoulder.
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Posted by N-set on
01-10-2020
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Just got it (the last copy on German Amazon) and after an initial going through it have same impressions - more of an encyclopedia than a practical guide. Still ind it v valuable, especially in combination with old classics like Leo Beranek and Harry Olson.
Cheers,
Jarek
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Posted by Romy the Cat on
01-10-2020
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I did a few times more efforts to look into this book but I
was constantly was turning off by a feeling that I do not need it. It is not
the information that in the book not valid but from what I do or am interesting
I feel that the information in the book is not useful to me. If the book was called
“Horn Loudspeaker Systems” then if might be
OK a reference academic book, even though it has quite a lot of historic omissions.
However, I was interested in that book as “High Quality Horn Loudspeaker Systems”.
In my mind what book is failed to answer is what makes Horn Loudspeaker Systems
to be High Quality. The High-Quality aspect is the key and from what I saw there
was no analyses in the book of any kind. I might understand that the authors
would like to ask as “scientists”, do not take sides and to present raw data
but frankly speaking I accepted from them much more. The whole idea of to be
smart and experienced is that you are able to elevate yourself 60.000 feet up
and to observe not fact but tendencies. Churchill use to say: if you want to
confuse ordinary people then give them fact. The others do give some fact but
they do not guide the reader over the connection of the fact, the relativity of
the fact and do not observe how the fact serve the purpose of Higher Quality.
Yes, it is a good book collector item, or a good prop to make eBay listing but
not so valuable methodology to audio people.
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Posted by Paul S on
01-11-2020
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Funny, because, as far as I know, this site is the only place that deals with hi-fi in terms of developing sound from a personal perspective. While the book format is a nice way to present information, wouldn't it be nice if the contents were derived from this site? We can see from many posts over the years that most visitors who post here are looking for something specific that they bring with them to the site. I wonder how many people visit and soon recognize the value here, then begin reading the site seriously. The "good stuff" is where you find it here, scattered through thousands of pages; but it's here for patient, perceptive readers, along with the opportunity to participate personally in the Sound Development Dialog, and this is something very important that the book does not offer.
Paul S
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