I've been really tempted to buy some drivers for another Unity horn project. But I already have a pile of drivers from *existing* Unity horn projects.
I wanted to get some feedback from other members who've built Unity horns.
Basically:
1) If you've built a Unity horn, are you happy with the way it turned out?
2) If not, what would you change?
Off the top of my head, I believe there are two or three easy ways to build a Unity horn, and a number of difficult ways.
Let's start with the difficult options:
Option one would be for me to buy some compression drivers, some midranges, and get my measurement rig working. The upside of this option is that I enjoy experimenting with Unity horns, as illustrated by dozens of Unity horn projects that I've messed around with over the past seven years or so. The downside is that 2/3rds of these didn't work so well, and I usually lost enthusiasm to finish them, particularly when it came to cosmetics.
Option two would be to build one of the Synergy horn designs from Paul Spencer. Although they're not much more difficult to build than the ones from Bill Waslo or Tom Danley, the Spencer designs require a midrange that isn't readily available, so that makes it tricky. On the plus side, I believe Spencer's choice of midrange has some advantages over the one used by Waslo. (Bill's midrange is two bucks; all drivers have limitations, and at this price point, they get kinda severe.)
Those are the difficult options. Now let's talk easier options.
Option three would be to build Bill Waslo's Synergy horn.
Bill's Synergy horn is arguably the best documented one in the whole world. Bill's published the crossover, the dimensions, a spreadsheet that lets you build your own horn, lots of pics, etc.
My main concern about building this one is the midranges. I've uses the $2 buyout midranges in my own projects, and they sound 'grungier' than the Peerless or Tangband 2" woofers. I have a whole case of the Peerless woofers, and I've certainly wondered if it might make a suitable replacement for the two buck mids.
Option four would be a Lambda Unity horn.
If I did this, I'd use the Pyle sealed back midranges instead of the Misco mids, and I'd use the Parts Express clone of the B&C DE250 instead of the B&C DE25. The drivers are close enough that the modifications to the crossover would be fairly minor. This option is tempting for a couple reasons. First, I've used the Pyle midranges, and they're by far the best value of all the mids I've tried. In my opinion, they sound as good as the most expensive mids that I've tried in a Unity horn, and they sound better than the two buck specials from Parts Express. Basically you could spend a lot more on midranges and they won't sound much better.
I haven't heard the D250P, but if it's a close knock off of the DE250 than it should work just fine.
About the only downside to cloning the Lambda Unity is that it's a kinda dated design; Danley has evolved the design quite a bit in the 12 years since it went on sale.
Then again, I've heard the Lambda Unity myself, and it sounds better than any of the Unity horn experiments that I've done personally. I had a couple Unity horns that worked a little better in one aspect or another, but none of my Unity horns were better overall.
Option five would be to build a front loaded horn for the Kef KHT1005 satellites. For the life of me I can't figure out why more people don't use these for horns, if there's a better 3" driver for under $50 I don't know what it is. You can get a set of five, plus a subwoofer and an amplifier delivered to your door for under $250. Thiele Small on these is similar to the Fostex and Faital 3" woofers. The Kef is a coaxial, so it would looks a bit like these Danley Synergy Horns once it's horn loaded:
Downside to the Kefs is that they're not going to get remotely as loud as options one through three.
If I *do* go with option one, I was thinking something like this:
Basically a couple of compression drivers in a Paraline and a pair of eights. Sort of similar to the Sound Physics Labs 'Runt':
I wanted to get some feedback from other members who've built Unity horns.
Basically:
1) If you've built a Unity horn, are you happy with the way it turned out?
2) If not, what would you change?
Off the top of my head, I believe there are two or three easy ways to build a Unity horn, and a number of difficult ways.
Let's start with the difficult options:
Option one would be for me to buy some compression drivers, some midranges, and get my measurement rig working. The upside of this option is that I enjoy experimenting with Unity horns, as illustrated by dozens of Unity horn projects that I've messed around with over the past seven years or so. The downside is that 2/3rds of these didn't work so well, and I usually lost enthusiasm to finish them, particularly when it came to cosmetics.

Option two would be to build one of the Synergy horn designs from Paul Spencer. Although they're not much more difficult to build than the ones from Bill Waslo or Tom Danley, the Spencer designs require a midrange that isn't readily available, so that makes it tricky. On the plus side, I believe Spencer's choice of midrange has some advantages over the one used by Waslo. (Bill's midrange is two bucks; all drivers have limitations, and at this price point, they get kinda severe.)
Those are the difficult options. Now let's talk easier options.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Option three would be to build Bill Waslo's Synergy horn.
Bill's Synergy horn is arguably the best documented one in the whole world. Bill's published the crossover, the dimensions, a spreadsheet that lets you build your own horn, lots of pics, etc.
My main concern about building this one is the midranges. I've uses the $2 buyout midranges in my own projects, and they sound 'grungier' than the Peerless or Tangband 2" woofers. I have a whole case of the Peerless woofers, and I've certainly wondered if it might make a suitable replacement for the two buck mids.

Option four would be a Lambda Unity horn.
If I did this, I'd use the Pyle sealed back midranges instead of the Misco mids, and I'd use the Parts Express clone of the B&C DE250 instead of the B&C DE25. The drivers are close enough that the modifications to the crossover would be fairly minor. This option is tempting for a couple reasons. First, I've used the Pyle midranges, and they're by far the best value of all the mids I've tried. In my opinion, they sound as good as the most expensive mids that I've tried in a Unity horn, and they sound better than the two buck specials from Parts Express. Basically you could spend a lot more on midranges and they won't sound much better.
I haven't heard the D250P, but if it's a close knock off of the DE250 than it should work just fine.
About the only downside to cloning the Lambda Unity is that it's a kinda dated design; Danley has evolved the design quite a bit in the 12 years since it went on sale.
Then again, I've heard the Lambda Unity myself, and it sounds better than any of the Unity horn experiments that I've done personally. I had a couple Unity horns that worked a little better in one aspect or another, but none of my Unity horns were better overall.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Option five would be to build a front loaded horn for the Kef KHT1005 satellites. For the life of me I can't figure out why more people don't use these for horns, if there's a better 3" driver for under $50 I don't know what it is. You can get a set of five, plus a subwoofer and an amplifier delivered to your door for under $250. Thiele Small on these is similar to the Fostex and Faital 3" woofers. The Kef is a coaxial, so it would looks a bit like these Danley Synergy Horns once it's horn loaded:

Downside to the Kefs is that they're not going to get remotely as loud as options one through three.
If I *do* go with option one, I was thinking something like this:
Basically a couple of compression drivers in a Paraline and a pair of eights. Sort of similar to the Sound Physics Labs 'Runt':

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