All horns modify the sound in some way. Otherwise they wouldn't be used at all. I don't care for the idea of additional mechanical sound modification when a well designed speaker with baffle mounted dynamic drivers can deliver outstanding sound quality. The horn seems to me to just be an unnecessary gimmick.
Indeed. I am currently going thru a bundle of them having unsuccessfully (thankfully) accidentially chop the end of my finger off.
dave
Depends on the DSP. No analog on board. They are just getting to high enuff resolution to interest me, still kinda pricey and it has to work from my Mac.
They also are not that useful if you have to go thru an ADC. And you would need 4 channels of good DAC (biampimg, might as well do the XO as well). My interest is more in adding a convolution to the output as opposed to more traditional EQ.
dave
Execution, like in anything audio there is a HUGE breadth of capability.
It is more an acoustic modification, but it is one set of compromises vrs a quite different set if you have a driver on a baffle. One is not necessarily better than the other.
Now, i have yet to hear a “horn” system [usually actually less then half the range (upper bit) covered by a horn so better called a hybrid system] that i could live with, let alone sound OK, but i am pretty sure that is more the systems i have heard than what is out there on the leading edge.
I have heard and built quite a few really good back-loaded horns.
dave
in re: to the honky horn/waveguide sound quality: I have not made any (and still not sure if I should or will) but the issue has long been attributed to higher order reflections within the horn. Geddes stuffs his with sort or proprietary foam. I kind of recognize the material as the windscreen foam used on microphones in the automotive industry (feels the same on touch); and since both of us come of the same industry background I imagine he must have tested it in different porosity grades and ended up sourcing a certain kind. just an educated guess though..