TAD and horns, where to get horns?

[Daveis]

Can someone point me towards an all TAD horn speaker design? And even more important, how to fabricate or buy the horns for less than a king's ransom?

Could one buy a Klipsh horn speaker simply to canibalize the horns out of it?

Is someone making horns for say less than $500?

 

[carpenter]

Are you talking about high frequency horns? If so, make a mold from plaster, then use paper mache for the horn. Gorgeous sound. You can find the horn diminsion calculator at the "single driver website"

http://melhuish.org/audio/horndesign.html

John

 

[noodle_snacks]

Making a horn out of paper mache, what is the best way to mount the driver to the horn itself? Incorporate some mdf into the end perhaps?

 

[Daveis]

Some pics of mating a homemade horn to the driver would be helpful.

 

[carpenter]

Use your imagination... I just gave you the gift of a lifetime. I nearly wept the first time I heard my paper-mache horn. Of course, real men don't cry.

John

hint: don't allow the weight of the driver to rest against the paper-mache. noodle-snacks in on the right track -- use plywood, not mdf to support a 30lb driver.

 

[noodle_snacks]

though by no means nessicary, it'd be also possible to use fibreglass etc if you wanted wouldnt it?

 

[Pano]

Wasn't there a thread here a few months ago about TAD horn clones? The clones looked better than the real thing.

Paper-mache horns? Clever! Did you do the big ones?
I've often thought about it, never done it.

 

[GM]

Greets!

Fiberglass horns 'ring' due to how hard the resin cures to, so must either be thick or externally damped, whereas paper mache is inherently well damped with an Fs well below a mid/HF horn's passband. Much less toxic, cheaper, and easier clean-up to boot!

GM

 

[Daveis]

carpenter,

How thick do you get the paper mache?

 

[carpenter]

Best sounding 36" diameter horn I've ever heard!

The walls are 3/32" thick -- about 8 layers of newspaper. Use 1/3 wallpaper paste, 1/3 white glue (Elmers), and 1/3 water for the bonding agent. Around the mouth's rim, I apply thin layers of plaster between layers. If you get bored and stop, allow the casting to dry completely. When dry, seal it with water-proof primer before continuing with the further application of paper-mache. Your horn will warp otherwise. I use a two inch paint brush to apply the glue. Dampen your paper before laying it on the mold. Also, keep the glue mixture off the mold side of the horn. It dries white and isn't very attractive. Use plenty of Vasoline as a mold release agent -- Key word: Plenty.

John

 

[Daveis]

And where do you get the mold of a horn to start with?

I think I've seen some cheap aluminum tractrix horns that could be used as the mold for paper mache.

 

[SpeakerBob]

papier mache

Hi John,

This is yours isn't it ?

http://web.archive.org/web/20021204094626/home.earthlink.net/~lotusblossom/_wsn/page2.html

Rob.

 

[Pano]

Very nice page! Thanks for the link.

Big homemade papier mache horns. Cool!
Now I'll have to stop throwing away all those scraps of expensive watercolor paper at work.

 

[carpenter]

 

[sqlkev]

Bookmarked

Is there a way to lay something else instead of paper and still make it rigid enough?
or does paper have a certain sound to it??

 

[carpenter]

paper is king

I've tried various coatings. Paper is the sweetest sounding to my ear. Plaster is very fast -- you can have a horn in thirty minutes -- but it sounds harsh in the upper frequencies, and the music is no longer liquid.

John