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Horn-Loaded Speakers
Topic: And how to combine both in 1?

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Posted by Romy the Cat on 10-10-2017
Say whatever you want but some of the vintage drivers has it. Not all of them but some of them do and the question how to get it. I always has been an enthusiast of midbass horn and I am very much the enthusiast now but there are some topological limitations, in my view, that might prevent a midbass to get “it”. I always witnessed it, including with my former midbass horn, which was probably the best topological and implementation decision I have seen for a while. For sure a midbass horn can get the softness that is unmatched by anything else out there, there are no direct radiators can play as soft as a good midbass horn can. However, since the driver in midbass horn is locked in compression chamber, and this is only my proposition, the midbass horn always has a difficulty to do “it”. 
 
What is “it”? If you listen the recording of Chicago Symphony. The period of later Reiner and the most prominent the Georg Solti’s period then you can’t note a very distinct brass coming from CSO. Now, let live aside the musical value of that brass, that forwarding sounding distinct brass unfortunately-identical for all music. We are not taking about music but rather about sound and the ability of a playback to reproduce sound in a way how Solti’s brass sounded. The Chicago bass of that time was unique. It was supper dry and very prominent. The problem with that brass that it sounded was so fucking beautiful that is acted like a woman with a super cute legs in super short mini-skirt: no matter how much you move you wife but it is not possible not to “glance” in there… 
 
Within audio installations that brass is VERY hard to get. The only time I witnessed it in audio was from “some” hard suspended, paper spider/cone vintage with low ultra-low exertion and high sensitivity. Some of these drivers can do spectacular transient with Sahara-like dryness and being driven by very lightly loaded amp and playing 5-6dB louder than necessary there drivers could throw a spectacular super dry and super contrasty Solti’s mib-bass. Those drivers would not play soft. You need horn to get that. If you want most and noble mibass of let say Czech Philharmonic circa 60s then you need horn. How to combine them together? 
 
Well, just plain and simple:  combine them together. Here I proposed a new topology: Wet/Dry configuration for midbass. By the power invested in me I declared the topology is a registered trademark. 
 
So, the Wet/Dry midbass configuration implies a combination of preferably less compromised midbass horn working along with a midbass direct radiator. The direct radiator AND horn cover the same octave and time-aligned. The out of direct radiator juts enough to dry out the midbass only when music is called upon it. 
 
The idea is freely shared with anybody who dare to reach for the stars….

Posted by martinshorn on 01-22-2018
Hi Romy.  
Interesting point as i had similar perception along my recent  I ran an 8inch driver with fronthorn. Then just got my hands on a pair of RFT L-3701 (or 3702). 
http://tempuri.org/tempuri.html

A fabulous driver with exactly those parameters. There is something beautiful about both solutions. My first thought, did you get such results with the AK151 too?  
But, my point, what if we put a horn on that magic 15“?One that would preserve its direct radiation Charakter as far as possible. I would suggest a no compression chamber, 1:1 throat, fast opening design. Also not too big/long. Maybe 15“ throat to 30“ mouth & length?That would „load“ only a bit, and remain domestic compatibility, still mixing both „flavors“ in a way. 
How would you approach it?
Cheers Josh 

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