Giant Custom Horn Systems - How they sound and issues with sonics

I definitely dream of one day building the ultimate system and room. I see what some of these crazy guys do with truly giant custom horn installations and they make me drool, but (like most of us) I've never had an opportunity to hear one of these crazy systems (see pics).

But I'm guessing at least a few of you have and others probably possess some theoretical engineering knowledge around the issues these giant horn systems might create, but I've never seen a thread that discusses the sonic pro's and con's of these systems.

Would love to hear some thoughts (even if it is just some pontificating on theory) regarding these types of installations. Let's discuss.

 

View attachment 69880 View attachment 69881 View attachment 69882 View attachment 69883 View attachment 69884

Just beautiful with that modern touch finish wise
Very cool

 

View attachment 65321
My feiend Howard Swans in VA. Best I have ever heard Dylan or Simon and Garfunkel. Like your on the stage with them.

Thanks Rex. As I am downsizing this speaker system is for sale at a very reasonable price, is in Charlottesville Virginia, and can be delivered or shipped. Ccontact me at 434-531-8294 or hbs4y2001@yahoo.com. We won best of show at the 2014 Capital Audio fest in Rockville Md. Video here:

 

View attachment 69880 View attachment 69881 View attachment 69882 View attachment 69883 View attachment 69884

That looks amazing, thanks for posting pics!

 

Swen, good looking pictures.
Magnifique.
.... breathtaking bass horn (concept)!
.... Is't your "mise en place" ? ...
.... Actif or passif X-over (three way)? ...
Wowww
Karel

It's in the south of France. Active with fir filters generated by Matlab. DSP is "The Room"
The bass horns are a new development with 4x 15" in a 3 Meter channel and 1.8 sqm mouth. -3dB at 23/24Hz.,Ob 7 meter distance your stomach gets kicked into your back bone. And still 7 meters to the back wall.

Best Regards S

 

Hi Swen,

Congratulations - that install looks incredible. I can’t even imagine the nightmare of getting that piano black gloss flat and polished on the horns. Bravo.
I assume the customer is really happy?

The piano finish was 800 hours. 6 layers color and 6 layers high gloss. All in all 1300 hours with horns and drivers. The customer kicked out the Avantgarde Trio 4 bass horns, his Cabasse and MBL. Now he's satisfied and his wife also

 

The bass horns are a new development with 4x 15" in a 3 Meter channel and 1.8 sqm mouth. -3dB at 23/24Hz.,Ob 7 meter distance your stomach gets kicked into your back bone.

Swen,
Thanks for your tech info (& finition touch).
+ Strong acoustic figures (with 4x15") : -3db @ 23Hz. The stomach-kicks I believe you ...
+ A solid and “tangible” low is indispensable for a real musical in home reproduction.
+ In this low region the (our) sternum will regularly vibrate out of “sympathy” ....personally, my own experience with my Patrician IV with EVM 18B
+ It's music in heaven… I like it

Chapeau bas .... (hat off)
Karel

One musical note about (old) CD:
- YIM HOK-MAN "Poems of thunder"
- Also sprach Zarathustra (Richard Strauss)
- Toccata et fuque en ré mineur BWV565 (Hans Georg Pflüger in the St Michael Kirche)

 

After seeing all these amazing horn systems I don't feel crazy anymore. My corner horns are rather understated in comparison. These have four 18" woofers in the folded bass cabinets. The center horn has a 10" midrange woofer with a tweeter horn in the center. The coaxial tweeter horn just didn't workout as planned. It has too much dispersion at 2000 hz where it crossed over compared to the midhorn so it sounded odd unless you listened directly on axis. I now have a fairly large, very inexpensive CD plastic horn sitting above the mid-horn assembly and it is crossed over at 1000Hz with a JBL2426H driving it. It looks out of place, but sounds great to me. The dispersion pattern smoothly integrates with the mid-horn, and everything from 1k up is smooth and coming from a single point source. I'd like to get a nicer looking wooden version of the CD horn made, but that will have to wait for now. The bass is smooth and clear, with floor to ceiling issues minimized by the stack, and side to side mostly not a problem either. The backwall is still a problem. I could use some major bass traps back there.

 

One more time a little bit bigger one. Horns from us in China and Hongkong. Complete front loaded 3 way activ System. Phase and delay by Matlab designed FIR filters.
Ready for Auditions to our Asian friends.
Life's to short for short speakers.....

 

all three versions of the Elysio horns. HT25, HT16, HT9 in a row. 900Hz up to 20KHz with a max tolerance of less than 1.5dB. 112dB efficiency.

 

.... 900Hz up to 20KHz with a max tolerance of less than 1.5dB. 112dB efficiency.

... 4 octaves .... breathtaking ... a dream ..

 

... 4 octaves .... breathtaking ... a dream ..

I am actually getting this from a Beyma CP-755Ti with 18 Sound XT1464 horns...at 110Db/watt.

 

... 4 octaves .... breathtaking ... a dream ..

Wow! That's without EQ? I'm getting 600 to 20 kHz with a smooth off axis from my 2426h drivers but there is quite a lot of EQ as it's a fairly constant directivity horn. I don't know what my overall efficiency is. I know for a fact the sensitivity is not very high at all up at 20 kHz, probably only 85 dB, since it droops down steeply after 15kHz without EQ, but it's extremely high at 1kHz, something around 115dB based on how much I have to EQ it down to level it with 20kHz. I use a 1 uF cap to get most of the constant directivity correction, but still have to EQ 1 kHz down further digitally.

I love the look of those Elysio horns!

 

basically all horns are, lol.

I am re-reading through this old thread and I was struck by your comment Keith. I just bought Horn Speakers which replaced my conventional midsize contemporary cone speakers and my wife likes the Horn Speakers much better in terms of looks as do almost all of my non-audiophile visitors.

Of course these are vintage classic corner horns which look like furniture. The walnut cabinetry work is beautiful, even stunning IMO.

I am actually growing to prefer the look of horn speakers to conventional box speakers. Everyone has different tastes, but to presume that all horns have a low WAF factor is simply not true in my experience.

 

my wife likes the Horn Speakers much better in terms of looks as do almost all of my non-audiophile visitors

It might also have to do with the Vitavoxes being almost hidden in the corners instead of being pulled out very far into the room and prominently dominating the space like the Magicos did

 

It might also have to do with the Vitavoxes being almost hidden in the corners instead of being pulled out very far into the room and prominently dominating the space like the Magicos did

Yes. This is an inherent advantage of the speaker design. I am just saying that not all horn speakers have low WAF. This is one example where the women who have seen them prefer their looks to what I thought was a pretty good looking cone box speaker.

 

Yes. This is an inherent advantage of the speaker design. I am just saying that not all horn speakers have low WAF. This is one example where the woman who have seen them prefer their looks to what I thought was a pretty good looking cone box speaker.

My wife loves the look of the hORNS Universum

 

My wife loves the look of the hORNS Universum

She is the real golden ears in the family. She also liked the scintilla.

 

She is the real golden ears in the family. She also liked the scintilla.

She does have good ears but she is not that interested.

Btw. I also loved my ex-Scinnies a lot

 

One more time a little bit bigger one. Horns from us in China and Hongkong. Complete front loaded 3 way activ System. Phase and delay by Matlab designed FIR filters.
Ready for Auditions to our Asian friends.
Life's to short for short speakers.....

Where in HK?

 

I've had probably 20 wives LOVE the look of the Diesis horns when guys bring the wives for a demo.