From: pfjw@aol.com   
      
   On Sunday, June 26, 2016 at 11:13:02 AM UTC-4, Patrick Turner wrote:   
      
   > That looks like a horn loaded speaker. I don't have details. But a guy here   
   tried to make a pair very similar for a 5" full range driver. No matter what   
   amp he used, the sound was very poor and well below the quality expected, ie,   
   he ended up with "   
   expensive firewood" so you really do need to be some kind of expert to   
   succeed, and enclosure resonaces can be quite a bother.   
   > I witnessed several fellows trying to make horn speakers, all failed, except   
   those who used restored midrange and treble JBL drivers where they just   
   renewed parts, but didn't have to do any woodwork or calculations to try to   
   get good bass.    
   > Patrick Turner.   
      
   The fundamental problem with a single-driver horn loaded speaker is that it is   
   a single-driver horn-loaded speaker. It cannot have enough surface area and   
   excursion to move/vibrate sufficient air to reproduce the full audio spectrum   
   to any reasonable    
   volume. The typical response curve is down about 30 dB at 20 Hz, and about 20   
   dB at 20K Hz, altogether nasty except in the range of the human voice or so.   
   And already down 10 dB at 9K Hz...    
      
   Now, JBL sacrificed sound stage (dispersion) for efficiency and so their   
   speakers are very directional. Just a little bit off-axis and the sound really   
   dropped off. HOWEVER, on-axis, they were excellent examples of "California   
   Sound" - bright, loud, and    
   did I mention Bright and Loud? As it was a matter of deliberate choice and   
   executed reasonably well, although I personally think that sound is crap,   
   there are those that do not, and those could do considerably worse.    
      
   I prefer the Boston sound, and have the power to drive the mostly very   
   inefficient speakers that are the result of those deliberate choices. My   
   'best' speakers, however, are Maggies that are within 3 dB from 32 Hz to 40K   
   Hz, something that no consumer-   
   directed horn on the planet can match. They are power-pigs, but so what? Point   
   being that self-executed horn speakers are not for the faint of heart or for   
   those with any sort of sonic expectations whatsoever. They are an interesting   
   pimple on the soft    
   underbelly of DIY audio, and for those with money and time to waste (term   
   chosen deliberately) they may be an interesting project - with results similar   
   to nailing Jell-O or peeling raisins. De gustibus et coloribus non est   
   disputandum.   
      
   Peter Wieck   
   Melrose Park, PA    
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)