Lowther or Ariel

[HPH]

I was advice by some of my friends that the best horn for my 300B tube amp should only be Lowther or Ariel but unfortunately I have not chance to hear both of them, can you please advice which one I might choose.

[Scottmoose]

Well the Ariel (if you're refering to Lynn Olson's) is a 2 way, rather than a single-driver. It's not a horn either (nor is it a transmission line, come to that, despite what's said on the site) -it's a labyrinth.

Anyway, bluntly, your friends are wrong. There are many other choices available to you besides Lowthers or the 2 way Ariel. Innumerable Fostex designs, there are Audio Nirvana units, Fertins, Supravox, Phy, Feastrex, AER... the list goes on. Depends on the nature of your amplifier -is it a PP or SET? How much can you spend? How large a cabinet can you handle? How big a room? What sort of music? What do you value most in reproduction?

For what it's worth, here's a pair of sites with many designs for primarily Fostex units on it: www.frugal-horn.com & its sister site www.planet10-hifi.com You might also find Bob Brines's commercial site of interest: http://www.geocities.com/rbrines1/ and my friend Ed Swift's site www.vitalstates.co.uk

[Jon Ver Halen]

Hi HPH:

The Ariel was designed almost 20 years ago, and the drivers which it was designed to use are no longer being made.

[udailey]

Lynn Olsons Ariel: The drivers are still available. I checked a few days ago. You can get them at Madisound.
Uriah

ps However, when you mention 20 years it seems you might be talking about a different Ariel or a earlier design of the same but I thought Lynn designed that back around 1993.

http://www.nutshellhifi.com/Arieltxt1.html#top (mentions it was shown in a magazine in early 90's.)
http://www.madisound.com/catalog/pro...oducts_id=1105
http://www.madisound.com/catalog/pro...roducts_id=912

Another However to add to that, you work for Lowther... I am not arguing with you in the least

[Jon Ver Halen]

In the "Beyond the Ariel" thread, Lynn stated (Post 4733 dated 11-21-08)

Shugg, I wish you the best of luck with completing the Ariels. As we all know, the drivers aren't available any more, and it'll take a bit of research to find equivalents. The original concept was to select the flattest and best-damped drivers out there, and use relatively simple crossovers (low-Q 2nd-order). Many modern drivers are quite peaky, for some bizarre reason, and are completely unsuitable for an Ariel re-design. The most important thing is to find a midbass that has a very smooth and peak-free HF rolloff region - there are not many of these out there, but I think they can be found.

You may well be correct, and the best thing to do is contact Lynn.

Sorry about the mis-information (assuming I am wrong)