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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 3 responses by dseltz

dseltz
186 posts
 
I have a pair of Rethm Saadhana, a beautiful (in sound AND looks) horn speaker with built in powered bass modules, so you get great bass that is well matched to the horn output. Those interested in horns should listen before deciding as I think many would be big fans.
dseltz
186 posts
 

BIGKIDZ "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."


You should take a listen to a horn with a powered bass.  I am not sure who else does this, but Rethm has powered bass that is designed to keep up with horns and the result is audio heaven (IMO).  So if you get the itch for a horn speaker again, there are options that may satisfy your bass issue, and the wife

dseltz
186 posts
 
Maybe look like this:


https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqpiyaSILlE-Pn08uX5QCVqzd5e0O5a52YRr5xAxUTXZ29...
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