Differences Between Folded Horn Speakers and Transmission Line Speakers

Optimal positioning of a speaker for optimal soundfield, imaging, etc is never usually the optimal spot for low bass... hence the need for installing subs at the right spots (whether some speaker was full range or not didn’t matter)

Hence, the focus on a transmission line speaker design is usually a lost cause... a vestigial idea from a time when high quality subs weren’t really a thing.

a) DIY some high efficiency horn speaker with all the merits of such and put it at the right spot. 

b) DIY a ’transmission line subwoofer’ and put it at the right spot,

(win win...)

Thanks all for the input. This gives me more to look into and consider. The whole subject of speaker design is very interesting.

@erik_squires Wrote:

  it’s the deeper and more extended bass that make them worthwhile. 

I agree!

Transmission line speakers achieve more extended bass at the expense of efficiency. I prefer horns or tuned ports. 

A great place to stop in and ask builders is diyaudio.com

Horns and transmission lines are completely different. Horns are a way to maximize the efficiency of a driver. A transmission line is a way to dissipate the back wave of a driver with minimal reflection back to the driver and they tend to be inefficient. Traditionally transmission lines are open at the end which if tuned properly can add bass extension similarly to a bass reflex. But they can be used closed to simply absorb the back wave.