GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

In the Forum: Horn-Loaded Speakers
In the Thread: The Evolution of Honk.

Post Subject: Building, Lurching and Leaps of FaithPosted by Paul S on: 6/8/2010

Interesting observations and categories. I propose a Bizarro/Direct Radiator mirror using negative numbers, except I have a hard time thinking of anything beyond -3.5, and (I have taken the liberty...) some fractional equivalents might be useful.

I began like a lot of guys did in those days, with Heathkit and Dynakit, old broadcasting stuff, etc., and we were as inquisitive (and as ignorant) as alchemists. We'd get a hold of something, take it apart, turn it inside out, mess it all up, and move on, almost randomly.

Then came Stereophile, in the early/mid 60s. We began to get the idea that there was some really great-sounding stuff out there, if one could afford it, and we also began to think in heirarchical terms that someone else was organizing.

Using the Bizarro numbers, I went from about a -1.5 to a +1.5 to a +2.5, back to +1, to maybe a -3.6

At this point, I would have to try DSET (or some near variant) and more channels to have even so much as a breath of hope for "mature direct radiator hate", which I yet see as a direction rather than a station.

Of people I have known with horns, the majority are +2, and those who are +3 are a good ways from either eliminating horn sound or making it work for the music they play. The most "successful" horns I remember were big Westlake monitors (SM???), but I mean this in terms of "targeted application", and I would not want them in my house.

I sometimes think, if I had the resources and the patience I would start over with multi-channel horns and DSET, except I would not at present waste time with horn LF. However, given my own (in)experience, such a change would be based only on what I can IMAGINE, based on my present listening and tuning skills rather than any direct, personal experience of non-horn-sounding horns. I know it sounds stupid, but I feel as though I have "heard the end of the road" for direct radiators without ever having gotten there.

I realize I will never get horn dynamics with direct radiators; and I still wonder - from a dearth of personal experience, along with the Presumption of Moronity - if anyone actually gets the Tone (without shaping) with horns.

Best regards,
Paul S

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