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Horn based loudspeakers why the controversy?

As just another way to build a loudspeaker system why such disputes in forums when horns are mentioned?    They can solve many issues that plague standard designs but with all things have there own.  So why such hate?  As a loudspeaker designer I work with and can appreciate all transducer and loudspeaker types and I understand that we all have different needs budgets experiences tastes biases.  But if you dare suggest horns so many have a problem with that suggestion..why?
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lak
3,516 posts
 
I like horns. There are some individuals that don’t care for the sound of horns.
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bdp24
4,908 posts
 

John, it’s just like anything else; there are good horn loudspeakers, and not so good. They got their bad reputation from the PA designs of the "dark ages" (1940’s-50’s). The old Altec A7 was a very popular PA loudspeaker (my teenage band had a pair), and was incredibly colored. It was fine for sound reinforcement, but recorded music, especially voices, sounded ridiculous coming out of it. Cup your hands in front of you mouth and speak or sing; that’s what they sounded like. J. Gordon Holt used the obvious term "cupped-hand vowel coloration" when reviewing such-sounding speakers.

Horn design has come a long way since then. I knew a Wilson/Vandersteen dealer (Brooks Berdan, R.I.P.) whose personal home loudspeaker was a pair of Jadis Eurythmie’s, which sound incredible! You pay dearly for them, however.

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johnk OP
1,490 posts
 
Altec had a few versions of a7 one for PA one for theater the theater model is a good bit better sounding and the one most Altec a7 user have today. Consider that a PA sound is highly variable many different things contribute greatly to its overall sound so maybe the band the amps the room the mic singer or the one who set it all up was what you recall as terrible sounding and not the A7
mr_m
1,087 posts
 
I had a pair of home version Altec A-7's (846B Valencia) back in the early 70's. They were dynamic, had gobs of mid-bass. Problem was, their response curves were very ragged, and the high frequencies fell off quite rapidly above 12k. They also had a very upfront forward soundstage. I moved on to higher quality audiophile speakers after that. Yes, I know, I could have used better amps with them as I used all SS back then, but the overall colorations of those speakers were too hard to endure for the long run. I do agree the latest horn based systems have probably come a long ways vs. those old designs. I just haven't taken the time to listen to them. Much of what I said above could be said for the old JBL and Klipsch designs too......
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johnk OP
1,490 posts
 
https://www.stereophile.com/content/listening-125   2013 stereophile article about Altec Valencia

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