The Altec combines a horn with a cone bass. Speaker type, panel vs box, will not change the speed of horn vs cone, so no they will be different. However, some panel speakers do come with horns like PAP. Dynamics - depends- it’s more of the speaker design than the speaker type Speaker sonic preferences are subjective, always best to demo speakers yourself to find what resonates with you. |
I've gone from fully horn loaded to OB's and I'm more than happy. From my experience the OB's are as fast but without the horn issues like beaming, shouty or harshness. This of course depended on the quality of both. I went from newer LaScala’s to large OB's and have more bass just as fast, as detailed and with as large a sound stage. did I say more bass! Overall a great sounding speaker system that once you live with them it’s hard to go back to a box, you hear the box in almost every speaker other than the truly expensive ones. I find them easier to live with long term as well. The only area I find they are harder to deal with is room placement OB’s need more space behind them as they are dipoles so they need to integrate the back wave and front wave correctly to get all that they can do. They are less susceptible to side wall interference though. If you have the room for them, I recommend them over any Horn I’ve heard approx $25k and below. Properly set up OB’s can bring the music to life with stunning dynamics and detail levels without the boxy issues traditional speakers bring. They do require large drivers to get deep bass, mine have an 18” and 15” driver (each speaker) for bass and are good to 27hz. They tend to be large like horns. Steve Gutenberg just had a review of the Pure Audio Project speakers one set with Voxativ drivers and one set with Horn loaded drivers. That is a good comparison. |
I ran open baffles for years, first Dahlquist DQ10 and then various models of Alon/Nola, also ran a number of sealed box, finally Klipschorns which I modified over the years, finally my nephew presently running Spatials. I like open baffles for their natural sound staging, but they simply can't match the immediacy, speed, macro dynamics of horns, large horns simply fill the room with living breathing life size performers. Thing with horns is getting them to image, sound stage, present natural timbre, this where my mods needed. Another thing I like about horns is the ability to run with low watt SET, beauty along with all that speed, immediacy.
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@seadweller as ozzy62 hinted at, it’s all a matter of application. Either can perform well or badly, depending on how each has been handled. Most open baffles to me lack the punch and depth of a boxed speaker, while most horns I’ve heard exaggerate sound to give the most beautifully timbred but unrealistic presentation ever. There is a narrow band within either typology where quality of sound is at its most dynamic and realistic: with horns, there are simply too many variables to simply tie it down to a single factor, but in any case, the only good horns begin not full sided but with variations of truncated sides for the avoidance of that typical exaggerated character - very very few horns get this right even. With dipoles, it can only begin with field coil drivers for true full range open baffles. The qualio is not a true full dipole, but present realism so well by mixing and matching its open baffled mid and high frequency drivers beautifully with a bass reflex low end, allowing greater bass extension through a rear port while boosting energy with regular cabinet walls for quality of sound one should have to pay two times more for. Many known ‘dipole’ speaker manufacturer will augment their bass frequencies with regular cabinet enclosures or even subwoofers, but for the narrow spectrum of all the nuanced bass, natural dynamism and realism of reproduced sound that a true full range open baffle speaker can deliver, the expensive but powerful field coil driver is the only currently known way to go. In friendship, kevin |
