Horns vs Ribbons vs Dyanamic

There are good examples of all these designs, past...and present day. Each has some advantage over the others in some small part of sound reproduction...and dis-advantages.

Some speaker systems are hybrid designs, these types try to incorporate the advantages of two or more of these designs into one package...there are also some fine examples of these designs.

I've owned, at one time or another...all of the above.

Dave

For heaven sake, I would've thought by now everyone had this straight: "PLANAR" includes BOTH electrostatic (like MartinLogan) AND planar-magnetic (like Maggies -- or MAGNA-PLANAR, the company name? hello!) The two have VASTLY different amplifier requirements and CANNOT be lumped together!!

As for the original inquiry, Mr. Ledhed is just a little confused -- and he's not alone judging from the other posts. If you don't count plasma tranducers, there are really only two categories: dynamic and electrostatic (BTW, Maggies and ribbons and Apogees are DYNAMIC -- they're just rolled out flat!) As for horns, horns are NOT a transducer, they are a form of ENCLOSURE and belong in a separate category including bass reflex, line array, infinite baffle, etc.

A SPEAKER, is a combination of a driver WITH an enclosure or particular mounting arrangement. So, you can legitimately ask about the sound of different kinds of drivers -- a rather small category, or just as legitimately ask about the sound of different kinds of speakers, a much larger category. But you can't mix the two categories together in making such an inquiry.
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"These are almost never used in pro audio - so that tells you a lot." Like what?

B&W's get used in the pro audio a lot, even with their flaccid, bloated bass. Berenger get's used a lot in pro audio, but sends shivers up the spines of many here.

Ah thanks Nsgarch. I didn't realize these things! Several questions:

1. I have seen pictures of so-called "horn drivers" that are outside of an enclosure; what does this mean?

2. What makes dynamic transducers different from electrostatic ones, and what are plasma?

3. I always thought of dynamic speakers as those that had traditional, cone-shaped drivers. If planar speakers like Magnepans are dynamic, I must not truly understand what dynamic speakers are. What are they?

"These are almost never used in pro audio - so that tells you a lot." Like what?

B&W's get used in the pro audio a lot, even with their flaccid, bloated bass. Berenger get's used a lot in pro audio, but sends shivers up the spines of many here.

I was thinking of things like

1) they are very difficult to set up and adjust to produce a reliable sound field in a room (often sound best placed well out into the middle of a room - impractical in many real world situations and they are often way too big to place on a meter bridge or in a smaller sized studio as near fields)
2) they don't handle large dynamic range or high sound pressure levels as well as other designs.
3) they have limited frequency range (especially in the bass)
4) they have tended to be less reliable ( high voltages required to operate )

I agree that if you can accept the above limitation then they can sound great (Quad's being a famous example) but pro audio is not very tolerant I guess. Pros need reliable work horses rather than a finicky thoroughbred...