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How come Horn + woofer designs are not more popular?

A couple guys on my audio discord really love the JBL synthesis 4367 and feel that all traditional 3 way tower speakers suck because they have poor bass response and are generally shy sounding. What I wonder is how come the majority of speaker makes do floor standers that are 3 way as oppose to the Horn +woofer design of JBL?

Is there any downsides to the horn + woofer design? Can a horn convey microdetail as well as a Be tweeter like say from magic A or S line? They claim 3 way floor standers are just trendy. But is there anything more to it then that?
smodtactical

Showing 2 responses by bigkidz

bigkidz
3,415 posts
 

I built a few custom horn speakers and used Sony Alnico woofers (only 2 pair in the USA).  I bi-amped them with custom tube mono-block amps that I built (1.5 watts) to drive the horns.  They sounded amazing but they wee large so no WAF.  I never could get the bass to keep up with the horns though.  My buddy has Klipsch and why the mids are excellent, the bass always lags behind.  Do not know his model but he has had them modified.


Happy Listening.

bigkidz
3,415 posts
 

I agree with many of the Horn posters above.  Once you hear a good horn speaker, it is hard to go back.  Although I had some issues with the bass keeping up, the sound was the best I ever have heard.  I have also built field coil speakers and those floored me even in my basic stage of development.  You won't hear a better mid-range than a good field coil speaker.  The horns I had were very big, and therefore no WAF and my room is now smaller.


Keep using the good ear for listening.

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