Folded Horns: Smooth curves vs angled corners

[Eric1110]

I wanted to hear peoples opinions out there about which is better in a back-loaded folded horn: smooth curved bends vs angles corners.

For discussion sake, lets ignore how much more difficult smooth curves can be in the build process.

[planet10]

Smooth curves will increase the effective bandwidth of the horn. In a rear-loaded horn this usually causes too much mid-frequency out of the horn mouth, increasing comb filtering and blurring the midrange.

dave

[chrisb]

Originally Posted by Eric1110

I wanted to hear peoples opinions out there about which is better in a back-loaded folded horn: smooth curved bends vs angles corners.

For discussion sake, lets ignore how much more difficult smooth curves can be in the build process.

"better" in what respect?

I'd opine it depends on the overall design brief - i.e. whether you'd like to use numerous hard cornered folds as part of the HP filtering scheme, or want as much mid-range acoustic output from the mouth(s) as possible - at the expense of artifacts that Dave noted above.

[Scottmoose]

Edit -Dave & Chris beat me to it.

Like most things in audio, there's no such thing as 'better' per se, it's entirely dependant upon the design goals. Smooth curves will provide higher efficiency across a wider BW. Conversely, sharp angles can be used (I use them in this way for e.g.) to assist as a low-pass function.

[tinitus]

Originally Posted by Eric1110

smooth curved bends vs angles corners.

I take it you are asking about folded bass horns

apart from the good 'points' in the other posts
maybe you think of smooth round curves
versus 'just' placing a 45 degr plate in all corners

I doubt it makes much difference
at low frequncy, maybe even a 45degr bend have no or little advantage over 90 degr corners

your worst worries is the 'inner' side of a corner
with a bend going round a sharp corner, usually a baffle
to make a smooth rounding effective, the inner side should have a smooth rounded transistion a well

first and most you should look at volume transistion
but if bending around a sharp corner, it gets a bit unpredictive
and thus difficult to know exactly if it works the way its planned to

[hm]

Hello i use softfiber for the presschamber and the
first meter of the horn,
i take 45° plate in the corner, specially at the beginn
of a horn the left 45° plate can be a large room
in comparison to the horn size a that point, this
would cause inner reflections with material sound of the horn
together the sound will get colourated.
softfibre + Hornmouth measurements Kornett

[Eric1110]

Thankyou all for the great replies. In fact I'm planning on a BLH for a pair of Coral Beta 8a (the 16w ones). I know about the traditional Coral horn the was designed for the Beta 8 but I was thinking of experimenting a bit with the design.

I understand every design choice in audio is a trade off of one kind for another. I promise I'll try never to say better again.

I do remember reading the concept of using sharp angle for low pass... I just can't remember where. Wish I could.

[tinitus]

Originally Posted by Eric1110

In fact I'm planning on a BLH for a pair of Coral Beta 8a (the 16w ones).

not an easy job to get bass out of Beta8
but ought to be possible

[bARTaudio]

Gents, what about .... Ronhorn / Dallas, Austin or C horn

How can i untherstand the high raputation of these horns


Bart

[Scottmoose]

What about them?

Ron's preference is for maximum energy preservation, so he avoids very sharp angles. I don't know if the C horns have a high reputation so your guess is as good as mine on that score.

As has been stated, there is no real answer to the original question. What is used is entirely dependant upon the design goals.