Once again, while I agree with the premise that in general, especially at lower prices, Horns can do things which direct radiators cannot, Steve's logic for why this is so is completely wrong.
First off, he talks about his experiences with some horns which make him go "WOW!" or "WHOA!" while other speakers do not for the majority of the time. However, he eventually gets to why Horns can sound better, and he gets it all wrong.
His logic:
- "Horns play louder and thus are more impactful." This isn't an accurate statement. Horns do tend to make more acoustic sound than most other types of speaker for a given input voltage - as in they are more efficient at making sound. That doesn't mean they play "louder" overall because horns also tend to handle much less power. So, while a horn might be louder at 1W than a similarly priced speaker, that doesn't mean the non-horn speaker cannot play just as loud with a big amp before exploding in flames. Also, this concept of higher efficiency in the speakers he was speaking about (smaller Klipsch bookshelf speakers) is extremely flawed since only the tweeter is actually horn-loaded. The midrange/woofer is still a traditional driver which does not have all the benefits of being a horn, so how can just 33% of the sound coming from a horn make the other 66% also sound big and huge and dynamic. It is nonsense, really. Yes, the horn will be more dynamic in the upper frequencies where it is operating, but the tweeter being a horn cannot make the lower midrange or bass more dynamic and punchy as it is coming from a traditional cone woofer. Even the big JBL speakers he is talking about are the same way. Yes, they are bigger woofers, so they can produce greater dynamics and provide more punch, but the woofers are still not horns, so what he was hearing was only 1/3 from the horn. Hmmm... something is terribly flawed in his logic.
- "Regular speakers have more distortion and that distortion gets louder as the volume is turned up" - Again, the general overall idea that a horn producing 90dB SPL often has less measurable THD than a dome tweeter producing 90dB SPL. But that doesn't mean the horn doesn't have an increasing THD as you turn the volume up. In fact, horns for home use often get very high THD at higher listening levels than the same levels from the dome which has higher THD at lower levels. This is a byproduct of the way the horns are designed, their power handling limits, and the need to save cost on a general more complex tweeter. It is nonsense, again.
Steve is clearly ignorant of how things work - or his attempts at explaining things for laymen is simply missing the point. Based on my experience with tech journalists over my lifetime, I vote for the former explanation.
While he is praising horns, he completely ignores other high sensitivity speakers such as ribbons and certain full-range speakers. There are many ribbon tweeters which have the same sensitivity as well designed high fidelity horn tweeters. There are also some very good dome tweeters which offer the same sensitivity, making the "horns are louder" argument null and void.
So, if you want to truly experience horns, listen to a high fidelity horn system where the vast majority of the frequency range is produced by horn drivers, like the Altec A7, Klipsch Heritage series. Or, even better, listen to high fidelity speakers where the entire output comes form horns, like the Klipschorn or La Scala. Then you can really judge a horn's sound.
This is shameful to me.
