Another stab at speakers. Going all the way back to sound practices issue 1: What About Horns? by Greg Boynton. In it, Greg starts off with his reasons for advocating horns. After that he goes through selecting a system; high frequency horns and drivers; low frequency enclosures and drivers; cross-overs and finally the matching with amps. Boy, easy write-up this week.
teaser quote: ‘I once held the opinion that horns were a kind of bad joke. People who used horns for speakers were either deaf or had a major case of tin ear. I now find myself in the somewhat awkward position of being a horn advocate. While bad horn systems are indeed unspeakably bad, a great one can be truly great.’
my take
I think it was no coincidence that in issue 1 the ‘other’ cover article was about horns. It really underlines that single ended amps and horns fit hand in glove.
One thing I remember from way back is that the the horn and driver model numbers can be a bit overwhelming at first. Don’t get hung up on that, it will all become more familiar as we dig deeper. Also, as we go along, you will notice that some of the set in stone advice by Greg is contradicted by other horn connoisseurs. So ‘don’t take this article too literal (especially if you felt yourself somehow disagreeing with it).’
I have however fished out of this article some points that I think will not be contradicted in the following weeks: ‘doing it right will also require time’; ‘horrible compromises in design’; avoid radical changes in the cross-section; no cardboard; ‘low frequency horns require lots of space’; ‘woofer design has not really improved for quite a while’; ‘power handling means heat dissipation’; ‘most crossover designs of the early days are not really that good for hi-fi use’; ‘make sure the drivers are aligned’; ‘good “pro” sound practice differs from the best strategy for hi-fi horns in the home.’
Not a bad list to start with.
Now go and read the article, see you next week.
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