You Cant Buy It but you Can Build It

@jasonbourne52 , Bob Carver does things just because he can. The cube has to take such long excursions its distortion increases dramatically at volume and sometimes you can even hear the driver moving. His best item in it's day was the Phase Linear 700, the first decent sounding high power transistor amp.

@mahlman , put on anything with a little low bass in it and turn it up to your usual listening level. Put your hand on the bass horn say just inside the mouth. Feel that vibration? Any vibration you feel is audible distortion. Getting any large structure not to vibrate at bass frequencies is extraordinarily difficult. This is the problem with bass horns. They add way too much coloration. You would literally have to make the horn out of concrete. Getting a small enclosure not to resonate is difficult enough but a horn is virtually impossible. There are very few horns that make it below 30 Hz. The K horn is already down 4 dB at 33 Hz. A horn that makes it down to 18 Hz would be huge and even more difficult to control. The driver is happy as a clam, the horn itself is an audiophile nightmare which is why you do not see or hear many of them. 

I don't know why you infer I'm having issues, on the contrary. I know from experience that general use computer not good for server, I used laptop prior to present solution.

I'll just touch on a couple issues with laptop, all those needless processes, noise, switching power supply, noise.

I think you need to do some research on what specialized servers actually do in improving sq. Do you seriously believe the many audiophiles purchasing and/or diy specialized audio system servers are all delusional? Or could it be they actually heard real improvements. Go over to audiophilestyle, many computer/streaming experts over there.

I have nephew, new to streaming, just like you he insisted his laptop sufficient for audiophile usage. I mentioned to him same issues, he's done his research, now prepared to upgrade server. He's realized perhaps he was wrong, willing to open up to new experience.

I always thought diy most open minded and experiential learners, sounds like you've made up your mind.

@sns   Oh I do have an open mind I just assumed with all your PC warnings you had troubles to solve. You mention a list of things you did to make your MacMini right so I figured you felt there was a need too.

  I agree on the laptops can be a problem and the Dell precision laptop I have does not sound as good as the  Dell Precision workstation I use as a music server does. I am not sure where you get the idea I am using a laptop from.

  If you are talking about internet or wifi music streaming I don't do that. I have not been impressed with streaming I have heard being any better at best than what I do on my own.

 Yes I do believe many "audiophiles" do waste money and have all sorts of gear to fix their problems that resulted from the choices they made. I think there is a common mindset that exists that determines x number of boxes or pieces of gear and special wires are needed to have fidelity because peer opinion research says so. I thought that with two way speakers for years and believed three ways were the only way to go until I got a set of serious Klipsch Pro two ways.

 "I always thought diy most open minded and experiential learners, sounds like you've made up your mind."

  Indeed I have until someone shows me something better. I have a question for you. Why are you so sure what I have done is not as good or better than what you have done? How can you be so certain you have the best answers and that mine are not when we have never heard each others systems to be able to judge that? Fairly bold final answer assertions on your part.

@mijostyn  No actually I feel no vibration as it is made out of 25MM Baltic Birch. I am aware of cabinet resonance problems. If you are ever near southern middle Tennessee I invite you to stop in and hear for yourself. Until you have your comments are just assertions of what you think my horns have to be doing. I will grant you the large size of  horn to sound good and go down below 30hz is not something dainty and petite. Yes very few are out there for size considerations as most are not willing to go large. Does not mean a horn can't sound really good. I believe an all horn system done right is unbeatable.

@mijostyn --

"... put on anything with a little low bass in it and turn it up to your usual listening level. Put your hand on the bass horn say just inside the mouth. Feel that vibration? Any vibration you feel is audible distortion. Getting any large structure not to vibrate at bass frequencies is extraordinarily difficult. This is the problem with bass horns. They add way too much coloration."

This is grossly incorrect and an assertion that clearly doesn’t rest in experience - period. My counter reply here would apply even at SPL’s where most typical commercial subs would’ve left the building, but you’re talking "usual listening levels"? Come on. I’ve you have ever listened to a pair horn subs in a home environment, which VERY few people ever have, you would know that they - properly implemented (and this goes for any sub principle) - produce a smooth, effortless and enveloping bass, quite different even from direct radiating designs. They may be big structures, but made of high quality plywood or even MDF they're sufficiently sturdy as the internal horn path acts as effective bracing, which is furthermore reinforced with additional bracing to support the horn path itself. Moreover the horn acts as a low-pass filter and thus filters out harmonics and driver induced noise that would otherwise be readily exposed from direct radiators which are working much harder being much less sensitive. Horn subs produce "way too much coloration"? No, sir, it’s the other way ’round.

"You would literally have to make the horn out of concrete. Getting a small enclosure not to resonate is difficult enough but a horn is virtually impossible. There are very few horns that make it below 30 Hz. The K horn is already down 4 dB at 33 Hz. A horn that makes it down to 18 Hz would be huge and even more difficult to control. The driver is happy as a clam, the horn itself is an audiophile nightmare which is why you do not see or hear many of them."

The predominant reason you don’t see horn subs in home environments is because so very few are available and that they’re very big. Oh, and the few that are are typically very expensive. Please name me a couple of commercially available, non-DIY horn subs that not only you but audiophiles at large are actually aware of. Horn subs aren’t disregarded by audiophiles for some speculated flaws of theirs, but because by and large they’re simply not part of the audiophile narrative.

Great bass requires big size, and proper implementation here is automatically assumed. 20Hz honest reproduction from a horn sub necessitates roughly 20 cubic feet of enclosure volume. Sure, that’s a lot, but it is manageable if you set your mind to it. As Arnold (and Nike) would’ve said: Just do it!! ;)