To horn or not to horn

@mrdecibel --

" Throw ". Some listeners do not get it, unfortunately. Most of the larger horn speakers ( google Klipsch Pro; a grand scale example : Klipsch KPT-CINEMA GRANDEUR ), would require an extremely large room, and ime, for sure, a great distance, between them, and the listener. A few folks I know of ( many here on the Gon ) would have no problem, listening to them, from 8 - 12 ft away. As much as I would happily own a pair, along with the associated gear to run them, they would not work in my current room, a room, that my Lascalas, work, very well. Lascalas, can fill a stage, albeit, on a smaller scale. YMMV

Of course going by the very biggest pro cinema speakers out there (used in actual movie theaters) would have one dealing with +7’ tall behemoths, and is something like trying to fit a Big Block Chevy V8 engine into an older Fiat 500 - at least if typically sized domestic environments are thought of. Proper summation of the sound would likely need distances that extend beyond one’s interior (and exterior) surfaces..

Fortunately pro cinema speakers come in different sizes depending on the number of seats that needs to be reached effortlessly, and the ones that will see their way into my set-up are 2-way with 2 x 15" bass drivers per cab and a single compression driver-fitted 90x40 coverage horn on top. Bigger auditoriums would see a similar speaker package fitted with an additional and dedicated, big midrange horn, with the biggest auditoriums needing additional capacity from the mid-bass bins as well.

Pro cinema speakers, not least used, hold potential bargains, and can function very well in domestic milieus. They’re not beauty queens, and even the smaller ones are still big, but if that’s an acceptable factor there are good results to be potentially had with a wide performance envelope, including both sound quality and prodigious headroom (mine will be high-passed and augmented by my tapped horn subs from ~80Hz down).

To me it’s an experiment, also for trying out a fully active configuration, and the particular cinema speakers I’ve acquired (should arrive later this week) use excellent drivers that in a hifi-ish package would cost ungodly amounts of money. We’ll see - hopefully I’ll be able to integrate them well.

The JBL system mentioned above can be used in homes I would redo the networks for home use. One needs to take a good bit of care in setup if using a massive horn in a smaller space but once done they can be an amazing performer. I have 2 systems set up using dual 15" in front horns and one with a 15" in massive 1000lb tar-covered J horns. I use one such system in my office as a computer speaker. It smoked my costly Morel carbon monitors and fancy Fostex Magnesium domed floor standers. My wife even asked me to reinstall the horns.

@johnk, 1st, I am a novice, with horns, compared to you. Now, with that out of the way..........As much as I enjoy large horns ( as my Klipsch Pro example above ), I need to disagree on the fact, that many of them, for me, do not work in a smaller room, and this, is why I have always stated, we are all different, as our listening tastes are concerned. The truth is, I do not want to be " inside " a piano ( using this instrument as an example ), and this, I find, is exactly what the presentation of a very large horn, in a small room, replicates. The other part of this, is coherence. I am very critical of hearing the transition of 1 driver, to the other ( the Altec 19, being an example of something, you and I have disagreed on ). BTW, it is all good. My listening experiences of this ( with much time spent with Avantgarde Acoustics Trios ), owned by a good and close friend, could not get them to work, in a 9 X 12 room, no matter what we did. Truthfully, my buddy liked it more than I, as this was his 1st foray into horns, where, I grew up with horns. I simply, like some distance between me, and them. This is no different with other types of loudspeakers, I might point out. You can always accommodate a smaller speaker into a too large of a room, simply by changing the listener position, but, and again, ime, not the other way around. If a speaker cannot work into a proper sized room ( again, for me ), I might as well be listening through a headset. YMMV. Be well, and enjoy.

mrdecibel, My first concern with the JBLs was if they'd fit through the door. (60-36-32 1/2). I imagine your only unsermountable disqualifying factor of large horns not working for you is ..... mrsdecibel! HA

@mrdecibel so true, I have fond memories mixing sound on my stacked pair of LaScala in  medium size juke joints...small places could get by with one pair, the smallest I could use Community cabs packed w JBL components.... glad I gave that up, I can still hear :-)