Calling all Horn lovers

Latest AK speakers seemed to get very good buzz as I read it at recent RMAF, including at least one or two mentions I read as among the best in show. Didn't surprise me at all.

I have owned Audiokinesis Jazz Modules for about 5 years now. In fact I am the person Duke mentioned that could reach out and touch the speakers in my setup. At that time I had a very small listening space and at one point I just decided to plop down the speakers in front of my chair and listen to the results. I was pretty surprised at how well it worked and so was Duke. Subsequently I moved the speakers around and never had an issue tuning them to the various room boundaries. Duke's designs are quite flexible as to room size and placement.

I have also spent a fair amount of time listening to the Classic Audio speakers and have always been impressed. Given the prices I doubt I will have a pair in my system anytime soon, as is the case with my favorite Soundlab and Apogee (fully restored) models. I will say though that the Audiokinesis speakers are right up there for a fraction of the price. Duke's design principals are solid and in my opinion he is the King of crossover design.

Larryi, Thank you for that information.

I've owned audiokinesis prizmas for 2 years. They have a built in toe-in with the drivers being mounted on a 45 degree angle in the cabinet. this arrangement makes a very wide sweet spot, perfect for off-center listening and makes for ideal nearfield listening with the included various length port tubes, you can really dial in the bass.

Thank you for the kind words, Mapman and Larryi and Atmasphere and Charles1dad and Clio09 and W3ux. I'll try to answer some of the questions that came up.

Mapman wrote: "I'd be curious to know your opinion of how close your designs come [to the Classic Audio Reproductions designs]?"

I aspire to build poor man's alternatives to the Classic Audio Reproductions speakers. My designs do not have the combination of power and finesse of those magnificent field-coil drivers and their Beryllium diaphragms, paired with amazing high-efficiency woofers of unknown origin that can actually keep up. In years past I've sometimes thought that maybe my crossover design had a slight edge here or there, but after hearing CAR speakers at RMAF 2013 I'm under no such illusions. My think my designs are contenders in their weight class, but they wouldn't last long in the ring with John Wolff's speakers.

Mapman again: "Would one one need to have a particularly large high quality listening space for the differences to be apparent? How about in smaller more common listening spaces like those most people have? You seem to place more of a focus on value and optimizing designs for certain more common listening scenarios that most are more likely to find themselves in, so in those cases, I'm thinking the "gap" could be pretty minor?

Well I do design for smaller spaces and try to build in a fair amount of adjustability (user-adjustable bass tuning and top-end "tilt"), so once we start looking at smaller listening spaces the gap between my speakers and Classic Audio Reproductions might shrink a bit in some areas... but not in others. And in all fairness, the CAR speakers use the world's best custom L-pads (which cost more than most woofers) on both midrange and tweeter, so they are quite adjustable as well.

Larryi wrote: "Audiokinesis, you mention "waveguide" horns. Do you mean systems where the horn is primarily acting as a means to control dispersion and where "loading" of the diaphragm with a column of air is not a primary part of the design?"

Yes, exactly! My target is constant directivity with minimal coloration. At RMAF 2013 a couple of weeks ago, I was showing speakers that use the SEOS 12 waveguide-style horn developed and produced by DIY Design Group. I have other models that use the Pyle PH612, and in the past I used the DDS ENG 1-90. I also often use a reduced-level rear-firing tweeter to fill in otherwise-missing reverberant field energy when I use a rectangular or elliptical waveguide-style horn, to compensate for the narrowed vertical dispersion relative to the woofer in the crossover region.

Larryi again: "Also, the Classic Audio Reproduction speakers that you liked, were they the reproductions, like the Hartsfield, or the contemporary design like the T-3? I personally like both lines, perhaps more so the contemporary line."

I love both lines! My favorite is whichever happens to be playing when I walk into the Classic Audio Reproductions room. My Jazz Modules (now the Jazz Module 2.0) are arguably sort of like the T1/T3/T5 line, while a new speaker I showed at RMAF 2013, the Event Horizon 210, would be my counterpart to the magnificent Hartsfields. The EV 210 is really only a horn speaker from 8 kHz on up, so I'm not sure it belongs in this thread.

Charles1dad, the Jazz Module 2.0 is a bit more expensive than the original but perhaps not terribly so, considering the time lapsed and improvements. Shoot me an e-mail for info on version 2.0 if you're interested; I haven't gotten it up on my website yet.

Clio09 and W3ux, very glad to hear the speakers I made for you are doing their thing and adaptable as needed. Thanks for posting.

And thank you too, Atmasphere. In case anyone doesn't know, I design my speakers to be compatible with his amps, including the little S-30, which we used at RMAF a couple of weeks ago (and which could make the room shudder on a pipe organ recording). My speakers will work with most other amps including solid state, but there's a free lunch to be had with a low damping factor tube amp.

Just so ya'll know, I am now selling my most refined models (the Jazz Module 2.0 and the Dream Maker LCS - the latter being the Jazz + a pair of effects speakers) through a small dealer network. Clio09 (of Electra-Fidelity) is one of my first dealers, along with Aaron Goecke of American Audio Design.

Duke