Why Horns?

[ClaudeJ1]

From a post on the Hi Efficiency Speaker Asylum:

Special qualities of horns

What special qualities do horns have
that endear them to enthusiasts besides having very high efficiencies?
The horn may be viewed as an acoustic impedance transformer. When a
diaphragm vibrates, pressure waves are created in front of it. This is
the sound we hear. Coupling the motion of the diaphragm to the air is
not an easy thing to do due to the very different densities of the
vibrating diaphragm and air. This can be viewed as an impedance
mismatch. We all know that sound travels better in high density
materials than in low density materials, and in a speaker system, the
diaphragm is the high density (high impedance) medium and air is the
low density (low impedance) medium. The horn assists the solid-air
impedance transformation by acting as an intermediate transition
medium. In other words, it creates a higher acoustic impedance for the
transducer to work into, thus allowing more power to be transferred to
the air.
A horn is a tube whose cross-section increases
exponentially. The narrow end is called the throat and the wide end is
called the mouth. The transducer is placed at the throat. When the
diaphragm moves near the throat, we have a high pressure with a small
amplitude in a small area. As the pressure wave moves towards the
mouth, the pressure decreases and the amplitude increases. Excellent
natural efficient amplification.
As mentioned earlier, horns have
very special properties, including lower distortion than conventional
drivers, faster transient response than conventional drivers, and are
easier to drive at high SPL's than conventional drivers.
Lower
distortion at a given SPL: For an equivalent SPL, horns require a
smaller diaphragm, and since distortion is directly proportional to the
size of the diaphragm, a large diaphragm electromechanical transducer
(conventional driver) has to move much more than a horned diaphragm in
order to create the same SPL (sound pressure level). The larger the
excursion, the worse the distortion. So, for a given SPL, a horn loaded
system will generate much lower distortion than an electromechanical
transducer.
Faster transient response: Since the diaphragm is
smaller, it is lighter and thus it accelerates and decelerates faster.
This, in the real world means superb, fast snappy transients. As the
excursion of the diaphragm is very small as compared to an
electromechanical transducer, the voice coil is much smaller and again,
this translates to a lower moving mass and again, results in fast
transients.
Higher SPL's with a given input wattage: Small voice
coils also take full advantage of the flux in the pole piece gap. This
increases the efficiency of the transducer allowing the amplifier to
work with greater ease. Since the amplifier has more headroom and the
driver handles peaks and high outputs more efficiently, horns are able
to produce much higher SPL's before they distort.
Thus, in the
normal operating range, horn designs are faster, more dynamic, have a
better transient response, have less distortion, and are easier for an
amplifier to drive than conventional driver designs.
Horns have impact!
You
feel the music, you become part of the music, and the music becomes
part of you. The full-range phase coherent wave front of horns produces
a lifelike presentation with tremendous dynamic range, as opposed to
"polite", compressed presentation of low efficiency conventional driver
designs. Horns will never sound veiled or compressed.
Due to their
inherent benefits of low distortion, high efficiency, fast and accurate
transient response, and wide dynamic range, horn loudspeakers provide a
pure, unadulterated musical presentation, a more organic and natural
recreation of the acoustic event.
Synopsis
Lifelike and involving
music is made possible by the combination of highly efficient and
low-distortion horn loudspeakers and low-powered single-ended tube
amplifiers.

Modern horn loudspeakers have utilize classic horn
design principles and improved upon them to provide a harmonically
accurate, dynamic presentation which enables the music to come to life,
in an emotional, involving way.
Modern horn loudspeakers are capable
of handling hundreds of watts if desired, making the line versatile and
easy to use with a variety of associated equipment.
There is
virtually no dynamic compression coloration with modern horn
loudspeakers, the correct frequency response is obtained at all volume
levels, unlike many conventional multi-driver dynamic loudspeakers,
which roll off the treble and bass at high volumes.

[Coytee]

Sounds good to me!

[8]

[The Dude]

ya know speaking of horns I would like some CHRISTMAS MUSIC ON HORNS(has to be vinyl). Any suggestions.

duder

[Coytee]

I don't know if you can get it on vinyl...but... http://osumbrf.stores.yahoo.net/glorsounofch.html

Ohio State marching band is one of the few (and I think the largest?) all brass & percussion bands in the country. I once took a single LaScala outdoors, opening up to a field, fed it something fewer than a bazillion watts and walked around said field. It was truely an interesting experience. I'm not going to say it sounded like I was at the stadium but, it sounded danggggggggggggg fine!!!