What are the Top Horn Speakers in the World Today? Vox Olympian vs Avantgarde Trio vs ???

[Audiophile Bill]

The fact that SOME inert boxes sound lifeless and dead does not prove anything - it just shows that SOME designers like the sound SOME people consider lifeless and dead.

IMHO Al. M point is essentially correct. The only thing in common between a Stradivarius and DDK Bionors is that they are both impossible to reproduce and unobtainium - although it seems it is more possible to get the first than the second.

You are welcome to your opinion, sir. The fact you have chosen big Wilson’s and DCS gives me a good indication of your preferred sonic signature.

Best regards.

 

[Audiophile Bill]

We understand each other Micro

Hpl rules best material ever , a transducer is/ should not be a resonating musical instrument

To be fair your “inert” box doesn’t sound lifeless from your vids - I grant you that!

 

[andromedaaudio]

I think certain kind of woods can also sound very good .
It comes down to the voicing of the designer .
I have heard multiple inert speaker designs at MOC which i didnt like at all

 

[microstrip]

You are welcome to your opinion, sir. The fact you have chosen big Wilson’s and DCS gives me a good indication of your preferred sonic signature.

Best regards.

Surely just an opinion. As long as your argumentation only evokes my particular sound preference, that is no way related with the technical and conceptual aspect we are discussing, nothing to add.

 

[Audiophile Bill]

Surely just an opinion. As long as your argumentation only evokes my particular sound preference, that is no way related with the technical and conceptual aspect we are discussing, nothing to add.

No problem. Sometimes when people are very passionate about these things (like myself) and have a very specific path they strongly believe in, it can be difficult to ratify other trajectories. I am just not wedded to an overly objectivist view of this hobby and think measurements take us only so far to be of use (coming from a scientist). I also think we are focussed often on the wrong parameters to get to the end goal of musical pleasure.

Best.

 

[Tango]

Have you received the Eurodyn at home now, Tang?

Likely next month they will be in my room. Right now ddk is fabricating feet, frame bracing and wood baffle. You won't see one went great length like this. You are a meticulous DIY'er you know how you have to do things all over to get every last bit. I have been watching videos how they were being made...just way over my expectation. There are tricks to get great sound from these vintage speakers. It will be more a plug n play for me but not for the maker. That's why it takes such a long time. Everything is planned and made for my particular room. Ddk makes no compromise when talking Utah's level of sound.

 

[Tango]

The only thing in common between a Stradivarius and DDK Bionors is that they are both impossible to reproduce and unobtainium - although it seems it is more possible to get the first than the second.

They are very rare yet you can still find one. But might also find expert to do baffle for them. A matter of knowing who. My friend Stephan in France just installed one months ago.



Gorgeous room.

 

[Willgolf]

Brian Charney is the designer behind Charney Audio. I was close to buying the Concerto Lumaca 145" tractrix horn speakers. They come with an AER 3 driver or Voxativ. I also looked at the smaller Concerto. There is a $75k price difference between the two. In talking to Brian, the large price difference is all related to labor.

Regarding wood horns. As you can see from my picture I have dual wood horns. They are not glued together. They are turned whole which is a lost art and hard to find quality turners. I can tell you the first horn they turned for my speakers was not successful so it is a challenging process.

I wish there was a USA dealer of AER. There are so many great horn speakers. No matter what I do I will always be a horn speaker guy. I love the way they perform with live music, jazz and classical.

 

[PeterA]

My Vitavox CN-191 has a metal horn down to 500 hz and then a folded wooden corner horn. Despite the disparate materials, they sound very well integrated. What seems to matter is the aesthetic and skill of the designer.

 

[tima]

Regarding wood horns. As you can see from my picture I have dual wood horns. They are not glued together. They are turned whole which is a lost art and hard to find quality turners. I can tell you the first horn they turned for my speakers was not successful so it is a challenging process

They certainly are attractive. Do you have any long term concern about the integrity of the wood?

 

[Willgolf]

They certainly are attractive. Do you have any long term concern about the integrity of the wood?

Great question....they are absolutely beautiful in my wife's eyes which is critical. LOL. Regarding integrity or durability, the outer edge of the horn is 1/4 " thick. so as long as I leave them alone, there will be no long-term issues. Plus they are too heavy for me to move.

 

[Aries Cerat]

The use of vaccum formed plastic is due to scale, reproducibility and speed of manufacture after having forked out the up front costs of moulds. If you look at the process to CNC mill a Aries mid bass horn on his 5 axis etc versus sucking a bit of plastic over the mould and injecting it with gel you’ll realise the time difference.

Ebony and rosewood were just 2 woods that came to mid and you miss the point. It could be any other decent hardwood as employed by OMA for instance whether that be Ash, Oak, doesn’t need to be protected.

Not to hijack the thread, but this is some hilarious things i am reading.
Surely cutting 200 unique individual sheets of ply, gluing them piece by piece, machining (takes about a week for one section) , then few months to finish. Yeah it is much cheaper and much easier that pouring stuff into a mold.
(About 70 sheets of ply for each midbass. 300hs of CNC time. 6 months finishing. )

You would expect to hear things like this from people that never came within miles of workshops doing either, let alone worked hands on ,on anything similar.

Have a great day
Stavros

 

[tima]

Great question....they are absolutely beautiful in my wife's eyes which is critical. LOL. Regarding integrity or durability, the outer edge of the horn is 1/4 " thick. so as long as I leave them alone, there will be no long-term issues. Plus they are too heavy for me to move.

You are in Phoenix so there shouldn't be too much issue with wide variability in climate (warm to hot, little rain.) Maybe if you have a swamp cooler. I find humidity an enemy of wood over time.

 

[bonzo75]

They are very rare yet you can still find one. But might also find expert to do baffle for them. A matter of knowing who. My friend Stephan in France just installed one months ago.

View attachment 94815

Gorgeous room.

I heard these end of April but waiting to hear them with the legs attached.

The Schroeder table with the LT seems amazing on first exposure..

Kondo kagura with Amperex valves, kondo G1000 preamp, and G10 phono with SUT

Elrod cabling

He previously had the apogee diva there which I heard a few years before the pandemic.

Very good classical library

there is also an euronor and euronor junior in the UK, an eurodyn in NL, the Germans might know more..

 

[bonzo75]

I wish there was a USA dealer of AER. There are so many great horn speakers. No matter what I do I will always be a horn speaker guy. I love the way they perform with live music, jazz and classical

AER drivers can be used in anything. Hybrids, horns, open baffles....with or without crossover. So there is no point just having a dealer, he should have a good speaker, and have the amplification to match. Very few have experience with very low watt amps. I think the Destination Audio 45s are the main commercial ones I have seen advertised in the US, and they too are from Easter Europe, not the US.

US has many DIYers building low watt amps and companies like Sun Audio which sell at very low prices and I think are quite nice even if not the best.

 

[Audiophile Bill]

Likely next month they will be in my room. Right now ddk is fabricating feet, frame bracing and wood baffle. You won't see one went great length like this. You are a meticulous DIY'er you know how you have to do things all over to get every last bit. I have been watching videos how they were being made...just way over my expectation. There are tricks to get great sound from these vintage speakers. It will be more a plug n play for me but not for the maker. That's why it takes such a long time. Everything is planned and made for my particular room. Ddk makes no compromise when talking Utah's level of sound.

I think I can say we are all collectively very excited for you. Enjoy!

 

[Audiophile Bill]

Not to hijack the thread, but this is some hilarious things i am reading.
Surely cutting 200 unique individual sheets of ply, gluing them piece by piece, machining (takes about a week for one section) , then few months to finish. Yeah it is much cheaper and much easier that pouring stuff into a mold.
(About 70 sheets of ply for each midbass. 300hs of CNC time. 6 months finishing. )

You would expect to hear things like this from people that never came within miles of workshops doing either, let alone worked hands on ,on anything similar.

Have a great day
Stavros

Haha indeed so. Is amazing how some (misguided) people seem to think you can make such things with bish, bash, bosh and all done and great.

Best.

 

[microstrip]

They are very rare yet you can still find one. But might also find expert to do baffle for them. A matter of knowing who. My friend Stephan in France just installed one months ago.

View attachment 94815

Gorgeous room.

Beautiful. I considered it some time ago, I also own the A80! However, if experts such as David were not successful and considering the opinions of most WBF members on real vintage versus re-built I gave it up.

 

[microstrip]

(...) I find humidity an enemy of wood over time.

It depends a lot on the type of wood and how it was dried after being cut. But you have a point - the acoustic properties of wood change significantly with the wood humidity content.

 

[tima]

It depends a lot on the type of wood and how it was dried after being cut. But you have a point - the acoustic properties of wood change significantly with the wood humidity content.

We found something to agree on !!!