How come Horn + woofer designs are not more popular?

I’m not being facetious guys. I am trying to learn here. Way back I had Heresys and I loved them. In 1970 we did not have much for power. With a Dynaco Stereo 120 these things would rock. No deep bass but then nobody knew about sub woofers. They were three way. So let’s assume we are using a 12" woofer infinite baffle and cross at 1000 Hz to a horn, what does it take to make a horn go from 1 to 20K with reasonably even dispersion and not sound like a goose honking. Duke’s Speaker has multiple other drivers including three tweeters firing out back along with whatever is in the LCS box. It is anything but a two way hybrid horn speaker which to me means one horn and one woofer. I have never heard Duke’s speaker and I am making absolutely no comment on their performance.

@mijostyn Thermal distortion caused by instantaneous voice coil heating is why horns tend to be more dynamic than regular box speakers- horns are really the only way to keep up with ESLs in this regard.

Regarding your question above- cross the horn at 500Hz and you have no worries with the woofer doing everything below that. Duke’s speakers are usually two way designs; the other drivers you see in the online photos are the late ceiling splash drivers. So concentrating only on the two-way aspect, Duke has often used a wave guide horn that looks a bit like a trumpet mouth giving even forward dispersion in both vertical and horizontal planes. I don’t know where Duke crosses his speakers over but I do know he spends most of his time sorting out the crossover to deal with the peculiarities of the drivers themselves- this is the thing at which he excels.


At any rate, modern horns are pretty well sorted and have been for at least the last 20 years. The real trick lately has been getting the driver to interface properly to the horn- so throat designs have improved simply through computer optimization, and after only about 60 years driver manufacturers sorted out that if they had a better surround than just the material of the diaphragm itself, that they could get wider bandwidth and less breakups. Its these latter two things that have caused modern horns to be as smooth as any other loudspeaker technology.

@mijosyn 

Audiokinesis, I would like you to tell me how you would make a two way hybrid horn speaker.

Not meaning to be glib, but the short answer is 'very well'. Duke's Dreammaker loudspeaker is a 2-way employing a woofer and wave-guide style horn, with a rear-firing complement as well. Its easy to drive and wide bandwidth; very neutral and musical. 

Look how large a K Horn midrange horn has to be just to get down to 500 Hz were it crosses to a 15 inch woofer. This is one area were that ESLs have a major advantage over both horns and dynamic speakers. You can easily design a speaker that is One Way all the way down to 100 Hz as long as you can live with the size.

@mijostyn   The Classic Audio Loudspeakers model T-1 employs a machined horn that is crossed over at 250Hz. This is an easy speaker to google images. The trick to getting horns to go this low (500Hz is easy) is to use a modern surround like Kapton for the compression driver. This was solves one of the more serious issues facing old school drivers- breakups resulting from inability to deal with excursion could make older drivers somewhat painful and screechy. OTOH, crossing over a 15" woofer at only 500Hz is pretty easy- most of them can go considerably higher than that without breakups.


Admittedly the T-1 is a speaker that has been too large for my listening rooms but CAL also makes a version of the same idea that is taller rather than wider (the T-3) and that does fit. One advantage horns can have is that they can be a bit easier to place. My speakers are only 3" from the wall behind them yet they play soundstage width and depth with ease.


IMO/IME a lot of people that are down on horns really haven't been paying attention to how far horns have progressed since computer power has become so ubiquitous. Duke's loudspeakers (Audiokinesis) are also a good example of that and Duke is also a master at crossover designs that really blend seamlessly. Understanding how the horn is to be used (a PA horn is often not ideal in the home for example) can eliminate entirely that 'horn sound' to which so many audiophiles object.