Horn Speakers

has anyone ever seen these before...or even better...heard them?
Quite something...I think I like them!!!!



but I don't think I like the price!!??!!.....$6500/pair.....better keep buying them lottery ticket I guess

They are exotic, and there are people who claim large horns provide superior sound. Given the tooling cost for these, $6500 seems a reasonable price. I haven't heard anything like these, but would like to. I have milled and turned various waveguides and baffles for tweeters, midrange and woofers. These however are shallow compared to the illustrated horns. In my opinion, waveguides do improve clarity, channel separation and directivity. I've been surprised how good inexpensive drivers can sound using waveguides. I've also lent speakers out, and the response has been favorable, people who have heard the speakers also find their listening experience enhanced.

I think I recall that there are websites devoted to making and using large acoustic horns, if I recall where, I'll post the links.

That is just awesome!

How about these?



Only $40,000/pr

corndog71 wrote:How about these?



Only $40,000/pr

yeah have seen ones like that...not sure if I like that style...a bit too....well don't even know what to call it....but a bit too whatever   

Do you have any information on the amp and drivers in the first photo?

MontanaWay wrote:has anyone ever seen these before...or even better...heard them?
Quite something...I think I like them!!!!



but I don't think I like the price!!??!!.....$6500/pair.....better keep buying them lottery ticket I guess

Those look like the Fostex FE83En drivers. They are $40 a piece.

I noticed they were Fostex but wasn't sure which one. But that means we are probably seeing the only driver and the horn is for the Fostex. I think I would go for a simpler horn and pay a lot less.

sailor wrote: I noticed they were Fostex but wasn't sure which one. But that means we are probably seeing the only driver and the horn is for the Fostex. I think I would go for a simpler horn and pay a lot less.

If it's only 1 driver per box, does this mean that the horn may act as a bass reflex vent? Perhaps they are only decorative?
It would be good to know more about the setup. The horns could be a fun project, could also be a waste of time and effort depending upon their effect on the sound.

My few cents being a "horn" guy (Klipschorns and Forte's). For an entry level rear loaded folded horn, try the Madisound BK-12 kit. I am almost complete with mine -- just doing the staining now. At around $400.00 you will be pleasantly surprised how this sounds with their FE126 driver and this is a decent entry level to SDFR concepts. The spec's on the driver are quite impressive. This will be a gift to a relative. Fun kit to build but to go to the "next" level, I am intrigued by the Lowther Fidelio design and in talking to them, their DX3 is a nice match but for more $$$ the PM5 is an excellent driver. I had the opportunity to hear a variety of speakers at the local Axpona exhibition and one of my favorites was the open baffle Lowther PM5. Sweet sound. IMHO, the Sonus Faber Aida is the finest sounding speaker I have ever heard but at $120K/pair they should be. I am just happy that I was able to audition them.
This all being said, I am going to stick with building amplifiers and at this point will not make any more speakers. There are some excellent ones out there and my "flavor" for the next purchase will be some Zu Druids which to me were outstanding with traditional transistor amplification. Am in process of building another amp now and will find someone in the Chi-town area who has a pair of these to mate up with my new amp prior to purchase, but they do have a 60 day unconditional return policy.

Sorry. The devil made me do that ...   

Refresh my memory ... horns are more to disperse sound than anything else? Seems to me they'd be very demanding on setup, and that it'd be difficult to set the soundstage properly in the typical clutter of an audio room ...

Imagine those AND holographic processing ...

Not necessarily. Space from the rear walls are very important for low end response. If you are using a SDFR horn design, they are very directional and require a distinct listening position which is not hard to figure out. Of course the room has to be taken into consideration.

If you want "holographic", check out the new Spatial open baffle speakers new for 2014. Very nice sound indeed and reasonable in price.

@ Brap being a horn guy have you had any exposure to Cornscalas?
I'm using a set of recapped Heresy's right now with my VTA ST-120, KT-120 and 12BH7 to augment the bass been thinking about building a pair the options are almost limitless on combinations of drivers and crossovers.

sKiZo wrote:

Sorry. The devil made me do that ...   

Refresh my memory ... horns are more to disperse sound than anything else? Seems to me they'd be very demanding on setup, and that it'd be difficult to set the soundstage properly in the typical clutter of an audio room ...

Imagine those AND holographic processing ...

Skiz, go stand in the corner till the bell rings and class is over. Or get into politics or something.

Maintarget -- Sorry, never had a chance to audition cornscalas. Heresy and Khorns only so I can't comment. If you have the heresy's for the low end, I would look at building a SDFR kit for mids and highs. Could be a nice combination. Lowther DX-3 is a great driver.

Skiz - Not very demanding at all. Move them around a bit and get the best low end, then adjust your equipment accordingly! Depending what horns you are talking about of course. If it's Khorns or similar, only one real option. Back loaded are a different breed and if SDFR, very directional which makes the set-up easier. Find your soundstage then towards the wall or away from the wall for low end.

DeePee-- you crack me up! Great line.

Brap, I am not familiar with the acronym "SDFR" please enlighten me,
Thanks

Sorry - Single Driver Full Range. Lowther and Fostex come to mind initially. Basically a full range speaker that is used in a folded horn enclosure. The "horn" extends the bass response. For $400 you can get a pretty nice kit from Madisound. BK-12 is the model and the Fostex Driver they use has very nice numbers.

I'm in the process of building Frugal-Horn 3 speakers, which will use the full-rage Mark Audio Alpair 7.3 driver.  The speakers are a horn/transmission line hybrid and are available as a kit for people with limited woodworking skills like myself.

I should be finished in a few days. (these are NOT my pics)



Here's what they look like when being built:


http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/planet-10-hifi/203264-frugel-horn-mk3-flat-pak-mock-assembly-instructions.html

Real sweet. I'll place pictures up of my Fostex BK-12's once the stain dries!!!

How did the Frugal-horns work out?

The Fostex BK-12 ended up coming out pretty nice. I broke them in for a few hours and then shipped them to my sister in Boston area since her only system was a Bose (Ugh!) wave. She is a music teacher too!. Anyway, coupled that with the GLOW amp1 which I purchased a few years ago and the system sounds real nice. In her area there are many nice classical FM stations and she has that on daily as background music so ended up getting her a nice tuner Music hall T25.2. Nice piece. After about 100 hours she claims the low end is opening up more. Soundstage is very nice - helps that these are placed in front of a bay window too. I'll download some pics from my camera soon. All in all for the price tag -- nice package and for entry level speaker building a good kit. The driver is excellent.

I am also very eager to learn how the Frugal Horn FH3 project worked out, as i was planning on building a couple of pairs.

The FH3 project turned out great. I have not gone around to refinishing the speakers yet, so they remain in their baltic birch plywood state.

The kit went together extremely easily, so that was nice experience for a complete novice with no woodworking sills.

They sound great and produce a nice clear image. The midrange and upper register are wonderful, especially reproducing vocals.
I chose the Markaudio Alpair 7.3En drivers and they are pretty revealing. I listened to a bad recording, and you could really tell that it was a bad recording. I don't listen to really heavy rock with lots of bass, so these were a logical choice for me.

I had to play with room placement a bit and adjusting the amount of stuffing in the baffle to get it to where they sound best in the odd-shaped room where I listen.
I say give it a shot!

Thanks for the report Collin. I'd like to build a pair for the office. Maybe also a pair for my son.

I'm curious to know how the stuffing alters the sound? I never experimented with doing this with my Saburos, and maybe I should have.

I set up the pair I built from scrap pine, these are not finished yet. I used the Tang Band W5-1611SAF-04 drivers. The sound was passable, the bass is a nice natural sound, but I wanted a little more high range due to compromised hearing. I've temporarily added a Vifa OC25SC65-04 in some waveguides I mill. The resistance is mis-matched between the drivers, but the sound is much more to my liking. I'll try stuffing soon.

I think these will produce a pleasant sound when finished and with an appropriate crossover circuit, they certainly are quite good considering the TB drivers are $50/.

Here is a Flickr link for a photo of the Frugal-Horn with the waveguide: https://www.flickr.com/photos/68227271@N04/15252234995/