Differences Between Folded Horn Speakers and Transmission Line Speakers

Actually while the Klipsch is called a corner horn that only means it was designed to fit in a corner because the walls reinforce the bass but just like putting any speaker in a corner. The corner doesn't really act as an extension of the horn. A good example of a speaker designed for a corner that isn't a horn are the Audio Note speakers that are voiced in the bass so they need corner reinforcement and yet they look like classic 2 way box speakers.

@svjerry

Our RV is a very heavy 5th wheel, last time on scales 24,500lb. It was 39.5 ft long, now 41 but has a bit more than 2 ft added to the floor space length. With the 3 slides is is 432sq ft. I will edit the floor plan in the program I design with and post a pic on a thread on this site if interested. I was into  ultra high end car audio sound quality competition and learned from masters and did quite well in it. I am used to a mobile environment and will do what it takes to make this pretty darn good, just not guarantee it will be as good as I could do in a home or even the right car or truck. I actually did my first car audio install when I was 16, just turned 73 this month.

I have a great 10 watt P/P tube amp that is not to power hungry and am building a high grade D class amp as well as a Nelson Pass class A amp, just to try everything out but in the end D class is what I will run, at least most of the time.

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There are a number of speaker kits that would do you very well so take your time and learn as much as you can about them. I went with the Frugel-Horn due to limited space to place them and what I think I can get them to do in it. The Joan is the largest and not available in kit form but the XL is and still quite a fine way to go, I might end up building a set of them as well.

Single driver, no crossover, even paying for a kit you end  up with a dang fine speaker that does not need a lot of power and many use them without a sub so very moderate cost, heck of a bargain really.

BUT, another type of horn loaded, TL, etc might be best for your particular space, style  and end result you are after.

Rick

@dynamiclinearity is mistaken.  When a Klipschorn loudspeaker is placed in a room corner, the walls do act as part of the horn.   From Wikipedia:

"Utilizing the room walls and floor boundaries as extensions of the bass horn helps extend the speaker's frequency response down into the 35 Hz range, considerably lower than would be possible otherwise. Because of the folded horn, the woofer cone moves no more than a few millimeters."

@russbutton  Great explanation of horns, but i would add that a 40Hz horn quarter wave is just over 7Ft, so a full-range horn is impractical in most domestic settings.

The Klipchorn 'cheat' of 1/8 space loading the woofer is so room variable that its hard to predict the actual perfomance. In a purpose-built room the LF can perform admirably, but the MF and HF are still mediocre compared to other higher quality horns. 

Where our opinions diverge is on Transmission Lines. Properly calculated and damped they are capable of superb bass. Yes, they give up the backwave reinforcement and so are lower in efficiency, but unless you are designing a low-power or max output system, that's not much of an issue. They are larger and more complex (expensive) to build than a traditional ported or sealed design which accounts for much/most of their lack of popularity commercially, but relative popularity for DIY projects.

@panzrwagn I remember seeing old stories and photos of home audio systems in rooms with opposing corners.   Thereʻs really no point in having K-horns  unless you have two corners to put them in.  Way Back When, Klipsch tried promoting the 3 channel setup with K-horns in opposing corners and a single Cornwall in the middle.  The Fisher 500C receiver had a mixed, line level center output that youʻd run to a monoblock amp to drive the Cornwall with.

It has been a long time since I listened to K-horns, but my memory was of a mid-range that had a nasal quality to it.

Iʻm not at all against transmission lines because they need a lot of power to run.  I just donʻt like the designs with 7" bass drivers in a transmission line.  You may get very deep bass, but not a lot of level.  Thereʻs no replacement for displacement.

Back in the late 70ʻs, sub-woofers were mostly DIY projects.  The Holy Grail sub from that time was an enormous transmission line with a single 24" Hartley bass driver.