pucho812
Well-known member
Aesthetics aside, are there any real benefits to using a speaker horn made from wood?
JohnRoberts said:
abbey road d enfer said:The only advantages are in terms of cosmetics (as John said) and in terms of prototyping/small scale production.
Remember that the horn is supposed NOT to resonate, so the analogy with drums (or guitar amp cabinets) is not pertinent.
Wood yields much better consistency and precision than GRP. Tom Hidley had assembled an international database of woodworkers who could build a studio according to his rather sketchy drawings AND produce his trade-mark horns in almost any country in the world.
abbey road d enfer said:The only advantages are in terms of cosmetics (as John said) and in terms of prototyping/small scale production.
Remember that the horn is supposed NOT to resonate, so the analogy with drums (or guitar amp cabinets) is not pertinent.
Wood yields much better consistency and precision than GRP. Tom Hidley had assembled an international database of woodworkers who could build a studio according to his rather sketchy drawings AND produce his trade-mark horns in almost any country in the world.
Iron and nickel transformer cores give different distortion characteristics which are easily measured. They also have very different permeability values which mean that the windings require different numbers of turns. Talk of different "flavors" just obscures the fact that they are designed differently. I doubt that the differences between a properly designed wood horn and a similar horn made from something else would be as noticeable or measurable. (Not saying differences don't exist, just that they're not likely to be so obvious).schmidlin said:abbey road d enfer said:The only advantages are in terms of cosmetics (as John said) and in terms of prototyping/small scale production.
Remember that the horn is supposed NOT to resonate, so the analogy with drums (or guitar amp cabinets) is not pertinent.
Wood yields much better consistency and precision than GRP. Tom Hidley had assembled an international database of woodworkers who could build a studio according to his rather sketchy drawings AND produce his trade-mark horns in almost any country in the world.
Ah, but it does. Not condoning cork-sniffery, but much of what we discuss here revolves around how different materials/components offer different flavors. (this coming from a guy who runs MP3s thru his computer, lol)
Iron or nickel?
Like anything it depends on design and implementation. Philip Newell and Keith Holland have produced a well-regarded horn design (used extensively in Newell's high-end control room designs) for example. A lot of people like Tannoy dual concentrics too. The main reasons for "horn sound" are misapplication and lack of understanding of the principles involved.strangeandbouncy said:I have yet to experience any studiosetup with horns that provides anything other than vibe.
strangeandbouncy said:Hi,
You get high efficiency, but at the expense of distortion and dispersion. I like it to sound the same at channels 1 and 96, as well as the middle of the console . . . Efficiency is not really an issue with modern high power amps and drivers.
horns are extremely useful in PA systems where efficiency and narrow dispersion patterns are desirable. Not so the studio.
I have yet to experience any studiosetup with horns that provides anything other than vibe.
Dont bite me!
AndyP
jensenmann said:strangeandbouncy said:Hi,
You get high efficiency, but at the expense of distortion and dispersion. I like it to sound the same at channels 1 and 96, as well as the middle of the console . . . Efficiency is not really an issue with modern high power amps and drivers.
horns are extremely useful in PA systems where efficiency and narrow dispersion patterns are desirable. Not so the studio.
I have yet to experience any studiosetup with horns that provides anything other than vibe.
Dont bite me!
AndyP
In my book distortion is not the problem in studiomonitors. If you use high efficient drivers which are properly aligned to the other speakers in the cab they will never work at a volume where nonlinearities due to air pressure will come into the game (which is the biggest source of distortion). At these volumes will not even heat and power compression be a problem. Even the loudest monitors spit barely more than 120dB SPL out, which is a joke for a good HF horndriver. I have monitors at work with a short radial horn and a 1,4" HF driver. Describing their resolution with megatransparent is even at maximum volume an understatement.
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