Horns vs Ribbons vs Dyanamic

Ah thanks Nsgarch. I didn't realize these things! Several questions:

1. I have seen pictures of so-called "horn drivers" that are outside of an enclosure; what does this mean?

2. What makes dynamic transducers different from electrostatic ones, and what are plasma?

3. I always thought of dynamic speakers as those that had traditional, cone-shaped drivers. If planar speakers like Magnepans are dynamic, I must not truly understand what dynamic speakers are. What are they?

"These are almost never used in pro audio - so that tells you a lot." Like what?

B&W's get used in the pro audio a lot, even with their flaccid, bloated bass. Berenger get's used a lot in pro audio, but sends shivers up the spines of many here.

I was thinking of things like

1) they are very difficult to set up and adjust to produce a reliable sound field in a room (often sound best placed well out into the middle of a room - impractical in many real world situations and they are often way too big to place on a meter bridge or in a smaller sized studio as near fields)
2) they don't handle large dynamic range or high sound pressure levels as well as other designs.
3) they have limited frequency range (especially in the bass)
4) they have tended to be less reliable ( high voltages required to operate )

I agree that if you can accept the above limitation then they can sound great (Quad's being a famous example) but pro audio is not very tolerant I guess. Pros need reliable work horses rather than a finicky thoroughbred...

My ribbons are wonderful. No "reverberation" or "ambience", just pinpoint sound staging, beautiful tone and very realistic music. Certain ribbons provide very ample and articulate bass, but you have to pay for it by buying very large ribbons.

Once I heard Apogees and ribbons I could never go back. I'm own my second pair now after selling my first pair quite a while ago during a divorce.

planar - quick fast detailed, large projection
only trade off - some lack low bass and pinpoint imaging

electrostatic - a form of planar speaker

Electrostatic speakers do not sound the same as Planar speakers, for example I have Innersound Eros speakers but they are not in my sytem now, when I went to demo other speakers I heard a Magnepan 3.6 wich sounded like a bed sheet was over it compared to the Innersounds.
Now dont get me wrong I am not saying that is a bad thing just that Planar speakers are not as clear as Electrostat's
also Electrostat speakers do have good imaging but in a very narrow many times undesirably small sweetspot. Just wanting point out that these two technologies are not the same as has been implied a couple times here, they both have strengths and weakness....nothing is perfect.

Dynamic drivers = a driver where a coil -that carries the audio signal- moves in a magnetic field -due to the alternating current of the audio signal- a diaphram. In a 'traditional' cone spraker the diaphram is usually conically shaped and made of paper, metal, ceramic, plastic or some combination of these materials.

Plannar drivers are large sheets of usually mylar that have a conductive surface which carries the audio signal, and is placed betwwen two field arrays of magnets - the alternating current moved the membrane back and forth creating sound very similar to the dynamic driver above.

Electrostatics: a membrane with a conductive coating/layer that carried the audio signal mounted in between two High Voltage screenes one positivly charged, the other negativly charged and the AC of the audio signal causes the membrane to move etc... The voltage on the screen varries by design and manufacturer, the old AcuStats were in the 5Kv range, Beveridge 2 and 3 were in the 1.5Kv range.

As has been stated above, Horns usually refer to an enclosure. Some of the most common are, Altec Voice of the Theatre, Klipsch (old) and Avant Garde (new). There are drivers called 'Compression drivers' that were designed to be used in a Horn enclosure; however they are just dynamic drivers designed to work in a Horn enclosure.

As to the efficiency, Horns are the highest Klipsch and Altec VoT can be run to LOUD levels by a walkman/discman, Electrostatics are at the other end, with a max SPL of some in the 88dB range.

Sound - well that is why they make vanilla. Some have staunch adherents that decry anything else, and then there are people who have speaker systems that have elements of all three.

The inefficient units tend to be harder on amps, and some can have wide impedance ranges.

Plasma speakers are a different breed all together. Plasma speakers are designed to displace air to make sound by generating a gass stream (usually from a point source - read omnidirectional radiation pattern) into the listening environment. They are not widely manufactured or sold, and there are some hair-raising stories told about some of the more infamous units - some thing about ozone build up and a fire, but I digress.

As has been stated above, Horn enclosures are usually designed to take advantage of the strength of, or to correct a weekness in a driver design. The use of Voit Pipes and folded horns arround full-range drivers is one example.

Having said all of this, for my system, I chose spealers that could be driven well by my amp and revealed more that others but were within my range ($$). I have lived with ESLs, Beveridges (2SW), Maggies, Altec, Klipschs and have settled on some old ProAcs, Shahanians, Celestions and JM labs, all Dynamic units in the end.

Happy listening