Recommend me a horn speaker!

[birkbott]

I’m looking for a good measuring horn loaded speaker for use in my living room hifi setup. Amp is Purifi and will be paired with my 15”
Rythmik sub.

I’ve been looking at:
-4 Pi, finished speakers would take 6 months so would probably be DIY, I would do the driver upgrades, these seem to measure well and have good reviews but roll off somewhat high (around 50 hz or so)

- Crites Speakers, a lot of the models are massive, reasonably priced but no specs or measurements on the site

-Klipsch Forte IV have good reviews but I do t think they measure very wrll

-JBL 4349 reviewed here and didn’t measure well, also out of my price range

Are there any other vendors/models I’ve missed?

 

[voodooless]

- Crites Speakers, a lot of the models are massive, reasonably priced but no specs or measurements on the site

I’d pass on these, clearly they use child labor:

 

[BigFKahuna]

I’m looking for a good measuring horn loaded speaker for use in my living room hifi setup. Amp is Purifi and will be paired with my 15”
Rythmik sub.

I’ve been looking at:
-4 Pi, finished speakers would take 6 months so would probably be DIY, I would do the driver upgrades, these seem to measure well and have good reviews but roll off somewhat high (around 50 hz or so)

- Crites Speakers, a lot of the models are massive, reasonably priced but no specs or measurements on the site

-Klipsch Forte IV have good reviews but I do t think they measure very wrll

-JBL 4349 reviewed here and didn’t measure well, also out of my price range

Are there any other vendors/models I’ve missed?

Andrew Robinson and Steve Huff give some pretty good reviews. When I heard some Klipsch years ago at my buddies place (forgot if the were Forte or Cornwall) they sounded like being at a great live concert, in a very fun way. Measurements aside.

 

[voodooless]

What about this one:

The-Loudspeaker-III

 

[birkbott]

What about this one:

The-Loudspeaker-III

I really love all of his designs I just don’t that’s the resources for a DIY project on that scale currently

 

[fpitas]

I like the H290 horn that Wayne uses in his Pi speakers. Good dispersion characteristics.

 

[Keith_W]

You could consider the Red Spade Audio PSE-144. It has a single compression driver with four midrange drivers so it acts like a point source horn. I could ask the designer if he would like to come here and explain his design if you are interested.

 

[birkbott]

You could consider the Red Spade Audio PSE-144. It has a single compression driver with four midrange drivers so it acts like a point source horn. I could ask the designer if he would like to come here and explain his design if you are interested.

That’s a pretty interesting design I’d be interested to see any measurements available

 

[mhardy6647]

Do you want all-horn-loaded (including LF) or just horn-loaded treble?

 

[birkbott]

Do you want all-horn-loaded (including LF) or just horn-loaded treble?

Most likely just horn treble with a woofer but I’d take suggestions for either

 

[Doodski]

You could run a 3 way active with a horn midrange and a dome tweeter.

 

[Keith_W]

That’s a pretty interesting design I’d be interested to see any measurements available

From the Red Spade blog:

From DIY Audio:

The same sweeps can also be found in his blog here as well as measurements of some of his prototypes here.

That's all I could find in the public domain. The designer might have more.

 

[birkbott]

That’s a pretty ruler flat response, I’m assuming the active version has some dsp going on. They seem great but unfortunately they are too big for my space and would make my wife mad. But maybe for a future dedicated listening room.

I decided to order the 4 Pi kits. I’m gonna try and do a nice finish that matches our decor. If anyone has any tips for getting gold results from painting MDF let me know. I’ve only used Duratex before with so-so results.

 

[voodooless]

What about Genelec S360A:

S360A SAM™ Studio Monitor - Genelec.com

www.genelec.com

Also reviewed here:

Genelec S360 Review (Studio Monitor)

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Genelec S360 (S360A) studio monitor. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $3995 each. It comes in both white and black. As you can see, it is quite a departure from other Genelec speakers with rectangular shape and non-coaxial drivers...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[DBA ndreas]

KV2 Audio ESD 6 (passive)

Yamaha DZR 10 (active)

 

[fpitas]

That’s a pretty ruler flat response, I’m assuming the active version has some dsp going on. They seem great but unfortunately they are too big for my space and would make my wife mad. But maybe for a future dedicated listening room.

I decided to order the 4 Pi kits. I’m gonna try and do a nice finish that matches our decor. If anyone has any tips for getting gold results from painting MDF let me know. I’ve only used Duratex before with so-so results.

If no one here knows, try asking on Parts Express Tech Talk. Some people there are very good carpenters.

 

[BR52]

Avantgarde sometimes good used ones, new overpriced

 

[Flaesh]

Has one listened to EV MTS at home? They look horny. https://www.spinorama.org/?sort=date&reverse=false&search=mts

 

[mtmpenn]

I decided to order the 4 Pi kits. I’m gonna try and do a nice finish that matches our decor. If anyone has any tips for getting gold results from painting MDF let me know. I’ve only used Duratex before with so-so results.

Oooh… I’d love to see a build thread in the DIY forum.

I’m a total amateur speaker builder and woodworker. There are others on here with much more knowledge and skill then me.

Still, my #1 piece of advice for getting a good painted finish on mdf is: don’t paint mdf. Iron on paper backed veneer and heat-lock glue is a very simple way to get a very attractive finish. There are tutorials on the web and www.joewoodworker.com has lots of info.

If you must paint, I’d suggest you seal the box inside and out, investigate wet sanding, and plan on a satin finish. Gloss is very hard to do well. Satin is much easier and is much more forgiving of surface imperfections. The issue of seams telegraphing through is also much less noticeable with satin.

Mike

 

[AM88]

That’s a pretty ruler flat response, I’m assuming the active version has some dsp going on. They seem great but unfortunately they are too big for my space and would make my wife mad. But maybe for a future dedicated listening room.

I decided to order the 4 Pi kits. I’m gonna try and do a nice finish that matches our decor. If anyone has any tips for getting gold results from painting MDF let me know. I’ve only used Duratex before with so-so results.

Good luck with the build. I have looked at the pi 4 also as an alternative to my current active monitors, and would be interested in your findings once you’ve made them.