Recommend me a horn speaker!

[AudioJester]

I should have added that Paul Spencer is a friend of mine and I have seen this speaker while it was under development. I have heard these speakers on several occasions - friends who have bought them, in a huge hall where the Melbourne Audio Club meets, and in a small inner city listening room. I didn't think that the wide dispersion caused too many room issues in that small room. Problem for me was, I already have horns and I have invested a lot in mine. But otherwise these would be a strong contender - better than Avantgardes in my opinion.

Where did you hear the PSE-144? Are you in Australia as well?

Yeah, in Oz.
While they work in a small room, visually they will overwhelm it. The more space the better they get, and can go loud!
The spherical horn is the secret ingredient, plus 18inch bass drivers.
Only downside is dealing with Paul who will test anyones patience....

 

[geox]

It might just be that horn speakers, as a class, don't measure well.

JBL HDi series would disagree.


Back on horns. How about the ascendo here ?

Ascendo Black Swan Fully Active State-of-the-art Point-source Horn Speaker System

Fully activestate-of-the-artpoint-source horn speaker system BLACK SWAN ACTIVE FRONT LEFT RIGHT AND CENTER SPEAKER Performance and musicality Black Swan is a speaker system that sets new standards in the world of home theaters and commercial cinemas. Ultimate sound pressure and finest detail...

www.heynowhifi.com.au

 

[Gorgonzola]

Seems like our OP abandoned the thread after he decided on the JBL 708p; not a bad choice I suppose though that would depend on the characteristics of his living room which he didn't disclose.

Still one wonders why a horn driver (or drivers) as an essential parameter versus some actual performance parameter, say, high efficiency, control directivity, or whatever.

 

[Schollaudio]

How did you find the pi 4s?

I liked them they certainly use very good quality flat smooth low distortion devices with good integration but thought they needed a watt or two to open up and reproduce details which might be a little louder than most households like. Running the 2206 at 1500 hz is a bit more technically copasetic but also not perfect. To me a sub to 2206 to aluminum 1.5" CD is my current favorite. Better mids, soundsatge and imaging, covers the bases better. They play very well at low levels and the sub will be the limiting device for max output.

 

[dasdoing]

it seams Meyer Sound Bluehorn is cristalizing as some kind of standard for far field monitoring

 

[fineMen]

I liked them they certainly use very good quality flat smooth low distortion devices with good integration but thought they needed a watt or two to open up and reproduce details which might be a little louder than most households like. Running the 2206 at 1500 hz is a bit more technically copasetic but also not perfect. To me a sub to 2206 to aluminum 1.5" CD is my current favorite. Better mids, soundsatge and imaging, covers the bases better. They play very well at low levels and the sub will be the limiting device for max output.

Yep, the 2206 is an excellent driver, which outperforms nearly every more contemporary offer, except for some specialists in their optimized range.
I too was wondering why the addition of a sub was giving more clarity despite of the already very low cone movement of the 2206 when used at home.

The 2206 has a cone edge, better to say a surround resonance at about 600Hz. It is very well damped, much better than with every other driver of the two dozen premiums I investigated. But ... still.

 

[Schollaudio]

Yep, the 2206 is an excellent driver, which outperforms nearly every more contemporary offer, except for some specialists in their optimized range.
I too was wondering why the addition of a sub was giving more clarity despite of the already very low cone movement of the 2206 when used at home.

The 2206 has a cone edge, better to say a surround resonance at about 600Hz. It is very well damped, much better than with every other driver of the two dozen premiums I investigated. But ... still.

Not that the sub gives more clarity to the 2206 but that with the sub the whole system covers all the bases. I only get 70hz with just the 2206 and at that with some recordings it sounds like ti doesn't need a sub. FWIW the 2206 distortion starts to rise in lower base where the sub keeps it low to 20hz. IMO the 2206 sounds better at normal\low levels than the 2226. The 2226 obviously goes lower and sounds great at a few watts.

I like 24 to 16Khz better than 70 to 16Khz. For some reason the 2431 sounds better to me than a well regarded soft dome that goes to over 20K.

 

[Sokel]

Had a listen to a Seawave Acoustic AM 34 (Korean if I'm not mistaken).
The FUN!Dynamics as a horn can do.

Maybe it's out of the spec of this thread (very expensive,60-70K) but I couldn't resist to tease @Pearljam5000 as it's frame is made of aluminum .

 

[Pearljam5000]

Had a listen to a Seawave Acoustic AM 34 (Korean if I'm not mistaken).
The FUN!Dynamics as a horn can do.

Maybe it's out of the spec of this thread (very expensive,60-70K) but I couldn't resist to tease @Pearljam5000 as it's frame is made of aluminum .

It's damn sexy

 

[thewas]

It's damn sexy View attachment 292747

Tastes are so different, I find it totally ugly, would prefer even the looks of the 8381 over it.

 

[dasdoing]

yes, and this is design picture.
here is what it really looks like

would still loooove to have it lol
I think the big horn needs to be white so it becomes less "intrusive"

 

[Sokel]

yes, and this is design picture.
here is what it really looks like

would still loooove to have it lol
I think the big horn needs to be white so it becomes less "intrusive"

I think that the choice of colors is an Asian thing,specially that green.
I guess it's about the people close to them who would be their costumers and South Koreans love colors.

On the other hand I saw some black-grey ones looking around the net which is my taste.Finish and texture is implacable though,truly amazing craftsmanship (for the ones that like that).

 

[dasdoing]

I think that the choice of colors is an Asian thing,specially that green.
I guess it's about the people close to them who would be their costumers and South Koreans love colors.

On the other hand I saw some black-grey ones looking around the net which is my taste.Finish and texture is implacable though,truly amazing craftsmanship (for the ones that like that).

perhaps...but I must say I don't really dig western "high-end" design either, all those speakers always look weird to me

 

[Head_Unit]

out of my price range

Which is? As for https://www.stereophile.com/content/klipsch-forte-iii-loudspeaker-measurements those measurements are not ruler flat but then nobody's are, they seem reasonable. Forte IV I think was the one where Roy Delgado could finally redesign the horns to a more modern design. This stuff
https://www.diysoundgroup.com/home-theater-speaker-kits.html
is very well design, assuming you have a subwoofer, but has been out of stock since forever.

 

[notsodeadlizard]

Polish 3-way beauty.

Uniwersum MK 4 – hORNS

horns.pl

 

[egellings]

Polish 3-way beauty.

View attachment 293289

Uniwersum MK 4 – hORNS

horns.pl

Looks like fine artwork, more a sculpture than a speaker.

 

[notsodeadlizard]

Looks like fine artwork, more a sculpture than a speaker.

Big horns should be artworks because they are beautiful.
And this model is three well-designed horns.

 

[egellings]

Big horns should be artworks because they are beautiful.
And this model is three well-designed horns.

Some horns have a 'blatty' look to me.

 

[computer-audiophile]

Big horns should be artworks because they are beautiful.
And this model is three well-designed horns.

Compared to most other designs, it is very elegant and designed for living space. But I also like the raw vintage industrial look.

 

[computer-audiophile]

yes, and this is design picture.
here is what it really looks like

would still loooove to have it lol
I think the big horn needs to be white so it becomes less "intrusive"

I like horns, as you probably know, but they should not look so awkward and clumsy.