Are horns and hi-eff designs becoming more popular

I feel they are but wonder what others think?

Hi-eff & horns in particular seem to have picked up mkt-share. Personal experience and a few dealers here & there, of course, no hard facts. By hi-eff I mean +97dB spl, btw.

Another (possible) trend: the use of powerful amplification to drive said hi-eff spkrs -- as opposed to the traditional golden fleas... I.e. 30-50W amps for ++100dB front-loaded horns.

So I ask you what horns did you hear honk?

Perhaps a narrow circular (miscalculated exponential) front horn stretched fm upper to lower mids? A bit like those portable battery-powered pa devices?
I have been myself intrigued by this reported "honk" and usually attribute it to what is really a mismatch/ misalignment somewhere between tweet - mid- lower mid...

"03-15-08: Dcstep
Tell me, and I mean this in all seriousness and respect, is someone now making a horn speaker without that nasal midrange that drove me away from the old K-horns?? There's much to like about horns, particularly the easy dynamic range and ability to work with a great variety of amplification, including tubes.

If I were going to spend $10k, where would the horn lovers suggest that I look today?

Thanks,"

Try Zu's... Larger model is about your price point, a new player is the 8 k a pair model

I still have no clue as to what 'honking' is. Perhaps I am tone deaf thats why I like horns so much.
Vive le Difference!

Johnk, sorry you seem to be taking this personally. I thought I was quite clear about stating that each person can be sensitive to different aspects of sonic performance.

A good analogy would be a musician having "perfect pitch." (This is the ability to accurately name a note with no external reference. Only about 10% of musicians have it and it is not a factor in how good of a musician a person becomes.) A person either has perfect pitch or they don't, but it is often tied to starting music training as a very young child. There is another example in synesthesia; some people experience it, most don't.

There is no reason to think that there are not many other sonic attributes that some people are more sensitive to than others. The fact that you or others don't hear a distinct attribute I've described as "honkiness" says more about the slight differences in what our hearing is sensitive to and how our brains process that signal than anything else. One should be able to state that without anyone feeling denigrated. Simply put, this trait is apparent to me even the highly regarded modern horn systems I've heard. It has always been apparent enough to preclude those types of speakers from consideration for my home system.

As for the distortion issue in ribbon tweeters, that's been an issue for as long as they've been around (75 years or more). Certainly modern technology and materials have made great strides in this area and efficiency, but that doesn't eliminate the fundamental design challenges. One also needs to understand that not all distortion sounds unpleasant. Certain types can be quite euphonic. (Think of musical instruments - it would be quite dull if they only produced pure sine waves. It the unique harmonics & distortion that give each instrument a unique sound.)

To use a perhaps more neutral analogy, think of cars. One can always put a bigger engine in a car and have it go faster, but that adds extra weight that affects the suspension, handling and braking. It is not too hard to imagine that one driver might value the extra power more while another driver would prefer a more nimble feel. Neither driver is "wrong" about their choice even though the engineering considerations are the same for both.

Things are what they are and different people gravitate toward different designs for a variety of reasons. No two people have their sonic priorities in exactly the same order. That alone helps explain why there are 1,000 or more speaker makes and models on the market today. If there were one design that was universally accepted as best, the list would be a lot shorter.

03-17-08: Gregm said:
"So I ask you what horns did you hear honk?
Perhaps a narrow circular (miscalculated exponential) front horn stretched fm upper to lower mids? A bit like those portable battery-powered pa devices?
I have been myself intrigued by this reported "honk" and usually attribute it to what is really a mismatch/ misalignment somewhere between tweet - mid- lower mid..."

Altec and Klipsh, many moons ago. Every horn set up that I heard was seriously colored with a nasal honk. I listen to a lot of trumpet and female vocals, so I couldn't abide that sound.

Tell me more. Is this a thing of the past?

Another question, why are consumer horns so darn expensive??? They seem relatively simple to make, yet Avant Garde gets into the tens of thousands quite quickly.

I want full range without taking up a ton of space and, of course, no honk. Where should I look?

Dave