Bass Horn with & without a Rubber Throat

[WithTarragon]

My current project involves building an exponential front loaded bass horn (Fc about 38 Hz). It will be bifurcated and folded and similar to the Klipsch designs. My reading has suggested that the "Rubber Throat" favored by Kipsch (initial rapid flare about 2.5 times the ultimate flare frequency) was done to reduce throat overload distortion. I have drawn out the flares of some Klipsch cabinets and I also learned that the rubber throat does NOT actually decrease the overall length/size of the cabinet (ie, the end of the initial section does NOT serve as the "throat" of the subsequent section). Although some folks may disagree with that second statement.

In my application the levels will not be extreme (2-ch listening at home and the cabinets will be quite efficient to begin with). So my questions surround the issue of whether I need a rubber throat at all.

1) Are there any known disadvantages to using a rubber throat?

2)Has anyone actually a built front loaded cabinets with and without a rubber throat and measured any differences (esp distortion and output)?

Thanks in advance

[MaVo]

easiest way to see what different throat shapes do is to get hornresp and simulate them. i have no experience with this rubber thing, but for home listening i see no advantage (except if it would alter the frequency response in a favourable way - check that in hornresp).