new living voice prototype horns

Markus,

I can't tell the size of that WE - there's nothing to compare it to is there?

No I've never heard Guy's system, only heard about it second hand. The cabinet of Kevin's prototype seems to be based on the Oracle as is Guy's I believe. I hope to hear Guy's at some point in the future - I imagine it's outstanding.

I hear more midrange colouration on both the Altec and Vitavox than I do with the JBL or TAD modern equivalents. I personally seem to be more susceptable to this colouration than some listeners - in the same way that other listeners don't get on with Metal dome tweeters or SACD.

I feel modern drivers and horns have many characteristics that have more in common with electrostatics than vintage drivers like the S2. IMO it's a bit like the differences between a typical SET sound and say a Berning or Hovland. I have long had a love affair with panels so I suppose it's natural for me to be drawn to speakers that offer similar qualities along with greater dynamics and bandwidth.

Lovers of SET's and Vitavox might well find a TAD 4003 to sound a little cool and unemotional. Having said that, I personally would love to hear something like an Ongaku powering a modern horn based system. I'm not including Avant Garde in this as to my ears they sound somewhat different and not as open as the JBL and TAD's I have heard.


Don't get me wrong though. I'd still bite Kevin's arm off for those prototypes - It's an emotional experience to listen to a system of such quality and it's the best I have heard this year by a country mile. I just think I might personally prefer them with a 4003 or 476be in place of the S2 and an ET 703 in place of the 2405.

 

Does anyone here know if those bass horns are based on Tom Danley's LABhorn? They look ayfully familiar...

Justin.

 

joel,
i was speaking from a club / pa point of view using music generally played in clubs. more down to loading a small room and generating that visceral, gut churning, sensation that you get in a good club - i tend to associate it with the wind blowing - that definite change in air pressure you get with serious volume levels - of course a good system will produce little or no distortion at these levels whcih is far harder to do than just shifting air.
i realise that most people with <20 watt valve amps get something different from horn loaded speakers (i've just been listening to chris' this evening and as always was very impressed by his system).
cheers


julian

 

It's called a bass horn, but in reality it's probably more of a mid-bass horn.

I doubt it. The horn in the picture is areplica of the Western Electric 22A horn, a design that dates from the 1920/30s I believe.

 

the final solution for low frequency air movement (visceral air movement at sub levels) seems to come from very large horns.

The Funktion One Infrabass looks interesting, and forms the sub-bass of their dance stack.

These humungous bass horns give bass down to 20hz or 30hz with huge impact and air movement.

Completely domestically unacceptable - not just in size but the levels would be too much for all but the very largest of living spaces.

The trick seems to be getting the right combination of length of throw (some are long throw), bass extension, and cabinet size.

Smaller horn loaded bass bins seem to curtail at about 40hz.



It's a nice future dream..


Here's the 'infrabass'

http://www.funktion-one.com/infrabass.htm

and with added horn for extra 12db
http://www.funktion-one.com/DoubleInfrahorn.htm

 

I'm surprised no-one has taken Richard up on his offer. If he was closer to me, I'd certainly jump at the opportunity.

 

Chris, what speakers?


Mike, hooked up the Mac yet? Ever since listening to the McIntosh-driven Paragon recently, I have a seret yearning to try out a Mac myself.

 

Here's an interesting set up. Altec 515 bass units (in the wall!) and the Altec 1505 B horn - only copied in wood. Custom made CNC machined stands. ALE hi pressure tweeters.



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If I understand the offer correctly, Richard will supply the amp but the volunteer has to supply the horn speakers. So the lack of response may simply be due to the fact that there aren't that many ZG members in London/SE with such speakers.

 

The problem again with this other horn system would be time alignment. The diaphragms of all the units should really be in the same vertical plane. This one as with many similar French multiway horn systems probably does its delay & crossovers digitally. I'm not convinced thats a good idea.

Two tweeters placed 18" apart horizontally might also confuse things somewhat!

 

I'm pretty well convinced. Although I heard something today that may send me (back) in another direction (speakers, that is)...

Not these:

 

You tease. Heard the M40?

 

Lovely picture Joel!

Are they boxed and ready for shipping? They look like 2404 but somehow they are different - spill the beans please?

Hope you are not feeling the effects of your "window shopping" too much.

 

All, or nearly all, is revealed here
Tokyo high End Show Pron
The speakers are GT Sound speakers and are available right now! They're also a lot more expensive than the Exclusives were...

 

Hmmm. Lovely workmanship. Hand made? I tend to favour home made! Did you get any other pictures of the Altec coaxial?

 

The workmanship on the GTs is really something. Careful, though, because that kind of quality is addictive... GT are in Chiba, which is not far from Narita Airport FWIW ;-)
I've added a photo which better shows the speakers with the Altec coaxial drivers. Still not a very good photo I'm afraid. The driver in question is the CD408-8A, which cost around 70 quid each at retail.

 

Nice pictures, and say hello to the viking from me, please. Looking forward to learning more about the Altecs.

 

It would have been usefull but not essential. Anyway I am willing to increase the size of the catchment area, even to Nottingham if necessary.

I am contemplating (in fact really decided to go ahead) a bespoke tailor made amplifier service and this would be part of that. The two extremes of this would be PA type power and delivery and SET type power and delivery. The former I don't want to get involved with, "been there, done that", the latter would be a hoot as I have done some work towards it already.

Richard

 

Richard,

if I don't have to supply my kit -

e.g. you just want someone with SET/horns to try your new amps with you'd be welcome to visit.

I live in M/Keynes

Cheers,
Chris



oh - Markus, I just bought some B&W CDM1SE standmounts for use in my study with a rotel amp I have for listening to music on the PC.

 

Sounds purrrrrfect Chris, thank you for your offer. Can you let me have details of the speakers, how many ways are they split, can these be driven seperately. Can the seperate legs of the crossover be accessed independently. DC Impedance of drivers and type. This will be a start.

Any others with similar set up I would love to get involved with. Completely open results and would welcome the forums comment in praise or in critisism. I hope other ears will get invoved in time

I think development work is a possibly good use for this forum. Lets face it we are all anally retentive trainspotters

Richard