Approachable horns?

Anyone care to recommend a good starting point for a horn type speaker that is relatively:

- easy to track down for a listen
- moderately priced
- domestically acceptable
- demonstrative of the breed?

[on this last point: I assume all horns are similar in the way that all valve amps are, ie not at all]

 

I'd suggest you ask through this and the PF forum for people who might be willing to give you a quick home dem.
I heard a pair earlier this year of a mod on the PF forum, in certain areas they were simply awesome.

 

I've always fancied giving Klipsches a go, but never quite got round to it...

PV

 

Now why you be wanting to be messing about with horns, eh?
I've heard a few Klipsches, I've even listend to various Westrex and other horny monsters. Size counts, and as you get older you lose HF sensitivity, which really helps a lot

 

I like to know what the options are - maybe there is another true path

sometime between 3 and 5 most mornings that wouldn't seem like a bad idea :baby:

btw joel, are you reading PM's at PF?

 

to tackle the 'moderately priced' thing, you're looking at vintage or DIY.

The only place I know where you can go and hear a few different horn speakers (lowthers, vitavox, tannoy, altec etc) is the emporium in Diss, norfolk. Quite a way from Devon however! :S

 

There are indeed many paths on the road to enlightenment, but some require HGV licences

I am now :shame:

 

Would we be talking Tannoy here?

Seriously though, have you heard anything that would turn you to polytheism? (within reasonable constraints of size/cost/dignity etc.)

 

Have you thought about open baffle at all? They're really easy to make domestically acceptable, generally easy to make, very efficient can be done pretty cheaply really, just comes down to drive unit and what you make the baffle from. Some of the best speakers I've heard are open baffles

 

Yes, I've heard stuff I thought was amazing. Sadly none of it would fit through the front door.
FWIW, I now have 2 pairs of 15" Altec 604-8G drivers and xovers that are staggeringly great (up until about 8kHz). Mind-blowing in fact - and that's with straight-ahead Yamaha PA amplification (which is perfectly good as far as I'm concerned) or with the flight-cased Altec amplification that is need of some surgery. Sadly, the 604-8Gs' need freaking huge cabs. I hope to have a pair of custom cabs made when we eventually "remodel" the living room.

 

Yes, but

I followed a link (from 3D I think) to some diy di-pole/open baffle type things that started off well then got rather technical when it came to baffle sizes and so on. I should say that I am generally a little lazy when it comes to the knowing it's going to work before you start bit; happy to put in the time but like to know I am going to end up with more than experience for my efforts. Yes for some it's part of the journey and therefore a large part of the satisfaction but I get that kind of thing from what I do all day (in a try it and see what works way, nothing to do with this stuff).
I'm not into electronics for their own sake so the idea of a single driver/no cross-over keep it simple design appeals greatly but, to use the phrase I've been trying not to, baffles baffle me.
Do 'do it this way and it will work' instructions exist?

 

The only horns I've heard that are of an acceptable size have been:
- Living Voice stuff. They've been awesome everytime I've heard them, though being fair, that was mainly when matched with some very expensive Border Patrol valve amps. IMO, that particular combination was the best stereo I've yet heard.
- Impulse (I believe H2s) matched with a WAD amp. Breathtakingly incredible dynamics, mixed with a lack of texture and tonality that makes Naim gear sound like Musical Fidelity. I would have loved to hear them with a different amp to the WAD. I believe it was running KT valves and get the impression that they tend to be far more "transistor like" in presentation. Something warmer (300s maybe) would have been a better match.

 

coda, theres just so many options, it can drive you mad.

the first question Id be asking myself would be - how much bass response do I want?

If you have a small room with space constraints, then using a single driver with no crossover (like sideshowbobs jordans, fostex, lowther etc) makes sense.

If you want the same or more bass response as a conventional floorstander for a larger room, then you need to consider which approach appeals. You could go with the single driver idea above and supliment with a sub, you could get a dual concentric horn (like a Tannoy for example), or you could go with a design that mates a horn to a conventional driver which in itself may/may not be horn loaded.

At the other frequency extreme, its a fair generalisation IMHO that most horns which take care of the midrange are limited at the high frequency extremes. You have a question mark over how you would like to extend at this end of the spectrum too... e.g. a supertweeter, a further horn, etc.

All of these designs will sound different and have many variables. If you havent done so already I'd reccomend aquainting yourself with fostex/lowther single driver speakers, dual concentric horn loaded speakers and vintage horns of the like of altec/vitavox.

I did all of the above before coming to a decision about what I wanted. All designs will sound different of course, and have different domestic and financial implications.

The difficulty you face really is being based in Devon.

You might want to avail yourself of the Walrus Vintage Tannoy day in London on the 21st of October (see Devs thread)...... for vitavox/altec you could go to Noteworthy Audio in Aylesbury (or my house if you want!). A Beauhorn dealership would give you one interpretation of how a lowther driver can be used (personally I LOVED the virtuosos but hated the B2.. so there is a lot of variety there). Just on the west of London near Heathrow you've got GT Audio, where you can hear Avanteguarde horns. These can be pretty good.

A very carefully planned visit to London with multiple stops in London and the surrounding area could satisfy your curiousity..

 

Hi

You can also look out for Impulse horns. This company did a range of them. Info can be found on here. Just click on the impulse logo.

You can pick up a pair from under a grand. Around £300 to £800 depending on model and where they are selling. They pop up on Ebay every so often.


Felix (Martin) who posts on here and pink fish runs the site. Last I read, he had a pair of H2s and H6s and he is based in Bath. Maybe you could get in touch with him for a listen.

SCIDB

 

Depends on what you consider reasonable price, some of the best spks I've heard come in a kit form, called Quasars, theres a new model coming out soon too (meant to be better low end) but the full range drivers are £1K alone, plus woofers to allow for baffle roll off and the baffles themselves. They will be my next and final speaker purchase. They really are simple to put together tho, you wouldn't need to understand any of it I'm just not sure the cost, I'd guess they're £2k ish, I have a link if your still interested. They're loads of fun too though, because its effectively an angled plank you can build as many baffles as you like and try out all sorts of things. I've heard them in perspex but the guy that designed them originally built them from cardboard boxes and said he got 90% of the perspex ones from it He's used wood and metal too and as you'd expect they all sound different, you can pick and choose however you like really. Perspex sounds awesome and doesn't intrude but costs more, pays your money and all that.

 

It's H2s and Quad ESLs these days, but the door's open if anyone wants a play.

 

Anex, have you got a link for those?

 

It should be http://www.diy-systems.com but it STILL says under construction, as it has done for months now, I think if you email they'd send you pics/details though, they look nice

 

Anex that is a fantastic site.

Its not often I get to read about new products/companies Ive never heard of in the segment of the market that I like the most.

Are there any UK distributors/dealers? - I'd love to hear some of that stuff.

They do look a bit like Avante Garde, don't they? (but cheaper which is a KEY word lol)

 

afaik they don't use distributors/dealers, you just buy direct from them. With the quasars the design was a joint venture, the xover, choke etc. were designed by diy-systems and the baffle was designed by JamesD who posts at WAD. I heard his at a tube meet, awesome. I think its basically done on trust but I'd bet virtually everything on there sounds 10x better than anything you could buy commercially for the same money, or it all sounds like it should cost 10x as much depending on how you look at it. They sell some awesome drive units, Lowthers but not rattley