Giant Custom Horn Systems - How they sound and issues with sonics

I definitely dream of one day building the ultimate system and room. I see what some of these crazy guys do with truly giant custom horn installations and they make me drool, but (like most of us) I've never had an opportunity to hear one of these crazy systems (see pics).

But I'm guessing at least a few of you have and others probably possess some theoretical engineering knowledge around the issues these giant horn systems might create, but I've never seen a thread that discusses the sonic pro's and con's of these systems.

Would love to hear some thoughts (even if it is just some pontificating on theory) regarding these types of installations. Let's discuss.

 

Hi Swenn (&.o.)
Power-full idea & initiative & build knowledge ....
Some more info (French) from JH:
http://www.asrr.org/biblioteca/Revue Audiophile/FICHIERS/NDRS/TAMARU/TAMARU.html
Bonne chance.
Karel

Est-ce que les Horns Français sonnent mieux que les Horns Anglais?

 

Est-ce que les Horns Français sonnent mieux que les Horns Anglais?

Salut,
Chaque concept de pavillon (inclus l’électronique, avec et dans son environnement) a sa propre signature musicale; attrayant ou répulsif ... en équilibre ou en ball-dance …. etc..
Une comparaison (qualitative) indéterminée .....

& I translate,
Each horn concept (incl. his électronique, with and in his environment) has its own musical signature; attractive or repulsive ... in balance or out-balance ….. Etc ...
An undetermined (qualitative) comparison .....

Karel

 

Excellent reply, merci bien Karel.

 

Excellent reply, merci bien Karel.

.... Oef, we avoid a WW3 between the real giant full-horn customers .... it's pur political art ....

Karel

One musical note:
Probably, a good horn (full) concept is one that (musical) attire (& you can stay hours & hours) .... & where you can't hear the (or one) horns ..... only music in all continents ....
It's perso.

 

Isn't that the art Karel? Initially get the room (by using horns) and secondly the horns (by XO, alignment etc.) "out of the way" of the musical flow ?

 

Basshorn worth my old Satos



Basshorn with our Elysio HT16 Tweeterhorn





Now I'm just waiting for the WE66A

 

The first measurement of the basshorn. 380 cm distance to the hornmouth. So you see also the room. Important is 20-140Hz

 

The first measurement of the basshorn. 380 cm distance to the hornmouth. So you see also the room. Important is 20-140Hz

View attachment 40465

 

..... Important is 20-140Hz ....

Hi Swen.
... near perfect .....

Have good (sternum) feelings with ; BWV565 & Richard Strauss op 30 Also sprach Zarathustra op30 ...

Allez, salukes & Chapeau
Karel

 

Hello Karel, sadly the WE66A isn't ready right now. Will need some more days.


Best Regards Swen

 

The first measurement of the basshorn. 380 cm distance to the hornmouth. So you see also the room. Important is 20-140Hz

That looks rather promising, of course everything looks smooth with a 100dB scale and 10dB/div. You might get more useful info cutting both those numbers in 1/2.

 

So it s more like +- 5 db at what smooth factor?
IT runs also from 20 Hz to 2 kHz "reasonsbly " flat ,so you might be able to skip the mid altogether , what i dont understand is why they built such a large Basshorn then if a small one does it also.
Why does this measuring device gives still such a high output Above 10 kHz by the way?

 

The peaks and troughs are in the order of 5-10db with the scaling used.

 

If you've got a big backyard...

 

If you've got a big backyard...


View attachment 40804

Love it!!!

 

Another wonderful Horn system. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f2SFY9zt6Xw
We've nearly copied the design from the legendary Tamaru System in Japan. But we changed the Midrange to implement our Horns

View attachment 39879

I'm very much interested in doing something similar to this design one day and have followed you guys for awhile. Could you elaborate on some of the challenges and "things to know" about building the ceiling mounted horns?

 

The ceiling horn is realy not easy to realize. The weigh of the one we've build was 12.000 kg.
You also need minimum 650 cm height.

If you like you can contact me at Facebook or mail.

Best Regards Swen

 

In a few days I will setup the WE66A in the System. I'm very very curious

Maybe all of you can move their laptops 180 degree

 

Talk to Carlos Hernandez of Che

Yeah, I sold my entire system (and pretty much everything else I owned) when I moved overseas (Colombia). I'm somewhat on the fence about what/when I will build something else. I've been talking to Jefferey Jackson about a somewhat modest custom horn system (nothing like the systems posted in this thread), but haven't made any final decisions. I want to see how things play out over the next year or so before committing to anything "serious".

Talk to Carlos Hernandez of Chela Audio. He relocated to Columbia and builds beautiful horn systems. He built the reproduction Altec 1505's in the photo. He does full systems as well. If you have trouble finding him you can reach me at hbs4y2001@yahoo.com

 

Im late to this thread but in my experience, one major key to a successful horn system is getting the crossover right. Thats where the Klipsch fail. People buy these old Altec systems and think they are harsh but theyre using 40 year old xovers with caps and resistors out of spec and not replaceable because they filled the xover with tar. I sent an N 500 schematic to Meniscus Audio and they built me a brand new one that is passively bi ampable.