There are definite sonic advantages to horns, but also many disadvantages. Has any horn speaker overcome the horny discoloration? Are speakers like Avant garde and Acapela, and any others able to take the best of what the design can do while eliminating the negatives of the design choice?
Not really a fan of Avantgarde. The Trios are good but I find the duos to have a real fake bass. Also the Trios while neutral don't have the magic in the midrange that other horns have. I prefer the Cessaro Liszt much more for the midrange, large panel like soundstage, with the TAD compressed drivers easily being the costliest of these drivers by far. The Acapella has good midrange but not Liszt levels, and really poor bass integration. I think the Acapella standard bass driver, is a SEAS CA 25 ACA driver. Costs about $80 (Source: http://www.hifiwigwam.com/showthread.php?88460-Acapella-High-Violon&p=1788766&viewfull=1#post1788766). I also like the Tune Audio Animas, from Greece, which are different to these horns. They are more raw and feel energetic, so a different presentation.
Thought you didn't like the Cessaro ...
Here is my attempt, and I am very happy with it. As far as I can hear, my system is not plagued by horn coloration. However, it took a lot of time both to build and to adjust. It's not just choices of horns, drivers etc. My passive crossover is built to a very high standard by hornfabrik with crazy vacuum bypass caps and all. There is impedance correction and filtering My system is physically time aligned and plays from 18hz to 35khz. Its (+-)3db from 20hz to 20khz. Oh and you also need a relatively big room!
I believe, with the correct implementation you can overcome the horn coloration. I have built my own system after listening to a lot of horn systems. Most of them did not fulfil my demands. As the horn based systems are very efficient, the whole thing should be very very carefully designed and implemented. You will hear all the faults inherent of the speaker system and the sources/amplification.
One can not say, do this and you will not have no horn coloration, more like things you better not do. I can tell you basic things like the loading of a horn starts fully about an octave over cutoff of it. The horns are less coloured when used within a three octave range. Midbass horns tend to be large and will dictate what will you use for the rest. If you plan to have passive crossover, and physical time alignment, you will most probably use direct radiating bass solutions below 120-150hz. If you use horns below that, it is impossible to align them without digital, and impossible to align vertically either digital or analog.
Cessaro Gamma II seems to be a good candidate. Hornfabrik also has a modular line, and there is also an appropriate horn system there. The other option is building yourself but it takes a lot of time and effort.
Here is my attempt, and I am very happy with it. As far as I can hear, my system is not plagued by horn coloration. However, it took a lot of time both to build and to adjust. It's not just choices of horns, drivers etc. My passive crossover is built to a very high standard by hornfabrik with crazy vacuum bypass caps and all. There is impedance correction and filtering My system is physically time aligned and plays from 18hz to 35khz. Its (+-)3db from 20hz to 20khz. Oh and you also need a relatively big room!
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Nice!
I use the same tweeters, what other drivers are you using?
Interesting design........I see that your furry friend is taking a cat nap on your turntable......at least the dust cover is on -
Cheers......
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