'Short' horns

I do quite a bit of DIY.  Right now I’m listening to a pair of 2 way speakers with a 6.5” woofer and a 3” wide-range driver mounted in an 11” diameter turned maple horn.  Design is similar to the Viking Acoustics Berlin.  To my ears, the sound is quite good with excellent depth and imaging.  I also designed a pair of LeCleach style horns for the same driver that I’m waiting to get back from the finisher- they’re quite amazing to listen to and sound far better than just mounting the driver to the cabinet baffle. Both styles are fairly shallow.

 Man, I just checked out the Viking website. This is very impressive woodworking! Not manufactured, but handcrafted. Simply beautiful. I was no master at the lathe, but this does give inspiration to the idea. Thanks for the reference.

Also, look at the Cessaro Wagner l- that’s a pretty good example of a LeCleach horn at the top.  It’s smaller- I had a woodturner here in Chicago turn a pair for me, with a full range driver from around 700 Hz to 20 kHz the sound is pretty stunning.  One of the things I noticed with a shallower design is there’s less “shout” than is sometimes typical of horns with more depth.

'R',
  The midrange shout of many single driver designs is especially harsh for me to listen to. I absolutely agree with the danger of this being the outcome should the wrong taper, driver choice, or other mistake is made. 
 I also agree that the presentation from some kind of lucky selection of each component can yield no less than amazing results. More than anything it seems to come from the dispersion and volume in balance with one another. Get it to your ears before any trouble starts, HA!