Atmasphere -Look at 1920s WE 555- 1930s 596A compression driver your saying TADs design isn't based on these early compression drivers? Whats so different besides materials used? I never knew you invented OTL I assumed it was created in 1954 by Mr Cecil Hall for EV.
Loudspeakers have we really made that much progress since the 1930s?
Since I have a slight grasp on the history or loudspeaker design. And what is possible with modern. I do wonder if we have really made that much progress. I have access to some of the most modern transducers and design equipment. I also have large collection of vintage. I tend to spend the most time listening to my 1930 Shearer horns. For they do most things a good bit better than even the most advanced loudspeakers available. And I am not the only one to think so I have had a good num of designers retailers etc give them a listen. Sure weak points of the past are audible. These designs were meant to cover frequency ranges at the time. So adding a tweeter moves them up to modern performance. To me the tweeter has shown the most advancement in transducers but not so much the rest. Sure things are smaller but they really do not sound close to the Shearer. http://www.audioheritage.org/html/profiles/lmco/shearer.htm
- ...
- 274 posts total
Phusis,{From my chair we'd need to re-visit these older horn designs more frequently, and build/design further on from them to truly make progress} Much of modern design is about making things smaller maybe with loudspeakers if ultimate performance is end goal we might have taken the small approach a bit to far. |
@johnk What about non linear affects from compression in the throat of the horn? This usually results in high 2nd harmonic distortion. Since it is caused by air compression, my understanding is that it is an inherent design limitation of horn transducers. Here are some measurements of various high end horns. They ALL without exception suffer from high 2nd harmonic distortion. http://www.pearl-hifi.com/06_Lit_Archive/14_Books_Tech_Papers/LeCleach_Jean-Michel/Horn_Shootout_ETF... I am surprised nobody is aware of this. It is not a secret. |
Shadorne nothings perfect all things have issues horns many benefits greatly off set the weakness. Pointing to a bit of 2nd order as a deal killer is also maybe not the best weakness that horns have to focus on. Also if you read till the end Jean lists that many of the horns are low distortion. He also was marketing product so had a bit of a bias towards his own work. Still Jean was one other the good guys in high eff design his horns are wonderful to use but I still prefer my older multicells. Also most all into horns know of JMLC http://horns-diy.pl/en/horns/jmlc/jmlc-400/ |
- 274 posts total