The only speaker that can give you high efficiency, low distortion, accuracy, micro dynamics, effortless, distortion free sound is a horn speaker. Modern Horns don't suffer from colouration.

A big complaint i have of regular box speakers is they sound too small. It's like there's two lasers sending me music in the room. Open baffle speakers help with this problem, so do electrostatic panels, and so do horns. When I hear horn speakers they sound much bigger than they really are. They also have more dynamic range which I like. They sound punchier, more forceful. Anyways, that's why I do like them.

As an aside: The human ear is a horn. Its inner, middle and outer components are essentially a horn-loaded, compression driver in reverse (a mic). Moreover, the human ear is 'reference' quality in its reproduction ;-) I am reminded that poor implementations of good ideas are not to be confused with bad ideas.

Much is now known about how horns work and how early horns produced "horn honk" coloration, and it is now easily avoided. Horns increase gain in two ways: 1) by limiting the spherical angle of power radiation, and 2) by using compression to increase volume velocity, then using the momentum of gas particles to maintain velocity as the wavefront expands. Horn honk is caused by internal reflections in the horn that cause high frequencies to be attenuated, and resonances that cause midrange frequencies to be accentuated. Resonance is desirable in low frequency horns because it increases sensitivity at the lowest frequency where the horn operates, based on the length of the horn path, by creating quarter-wave resonance which is damped somewhat by the capacitive effect (high-pass effect) of the horn's flare rate. In the midrange, it is less tolerable and leads to "honk", so careful choice of the flare rate is important. Then at high frequencies, you really want as little resonant behavior as possible, so a high flare rate is used. Also, it is important to use non-parallel horn walls (such as elliptical-section horns) to avoid side-to-side and top-to-bottom reflective modes (high order modes) that create cancellation at high frequencies and delayed emission of sound. You have to consider that the wave, when it is emitted, is round, and so the horn cross section really should be either round or elliptical, not rectangular as we have seen for so many years. Companies like Eighteen Sound, BMS, and Faital Pro have been making elliptical-section horns for a while now, and Renkus-Heinz has been using a round-obround-elliptical-round section profile from throat to exit through its Complex Conic horns for many years, and these horns have less horn coloration. Also, "waveguides" (shallow horns) which do not employ a diffraction slot (and are thus not "constant directivity" have the least colored sound, but at the price of consistent pattern control.

As a longtime audiophile, I have a 'soft spot' for planar and/or horn loaded speakers. Today's horn loaded speakers are a lot smoother and not as 'shouty' as older models, and I am smitten by how lively they make the music sound! There is just something about a well designed horn type speaker that to me, is pure magic! Even my cheaper 'office system' in which I run JBL Studio 530 speakers (horn loaded design) brings me to tears at times! I was listening to an older Rudy Van Gelder recording of Sonny Rollins' 'Sax Colossus' on these small speakers, and I could not believe how close they got me to the music! The timbral accuracy and sonic signature coming out of these little horn loaded speakers just blew me away!

In my opinion Paul's hand-cupping demonstration is an oversimplification which simply does not apply to modern horn designs. That "cupped hands" coloration is the result of internal reflections within the horn. Angle your hands into a much wider flare, Paul, and it almost disappears... and with good modern horn design it disappears entirely, at the expense of reduced acoustic amplification (which is a trade-off we can afford to make). I've had blind audiophiles in my room at audio shows and they did not realize they were listening to horns until somebody told them.

paul doing his very best not to say "horns sound like ass" and this is the reason i subscribed, i have never herd any horn speakers that sounded good in 35 years

I have two friends who built Klipsh corner horns in college. They sounded pretty good with Altec compression drivers and large midrange horns. The transient response at the crossover was terrible because of the time delay through the folded horn. I would like to hear them with phase-corrected digital delay to the mids and highs, which wasn't available at the time. They shared a room. Four Klipsh corner horns (stacked) in a dorm room produced some amazing sounding rock-n-roll! In the early '80s, I built some speakers that used JBL compression drivers, horns and diffraction lenses. They sounded pretty good. Then I came across The Tube from Transylvania Power Company, Karlson Couplers for tweeters, and bought them. They got rid of the slightly nasal coloring of the horns and still properly loaded the compression drivers. They still seem like magic to me, and I still use them.

The new JBL and Klipsch sound fantastic, I agree a lot of older horn speakers didn't sound as good.

Thanks Paul. It will be a pleasure for me hear your new loudspeaker.... hope to met you in Münich.

That “sounds slightly illegal” joke less than a minute in had me subscribing and laughing my *ss off.

Thank you for your thoughtful replies and topics in all your videos.

I have a pair of A-7's "Voice of the Theater" that I built a long time ago with Altec 515 bass drivers, Altec 511B horns, and JBL horn tweeters. Because the horn of the A-7 cuts off at about 80 hz., I use a large infinite baffle with a pair of JBL 15s as a subwoofer. The sound quality and realism IMO are astonishing. The fundamental problem with horn speakers is that they're big and heavy not to say expensive.

The best analogy I know for horns is comparing the fluid dynamics of the horn to impedance matching in electronics. With both, it's fairly easy and straightforward to have a seamless match at a given frequency. Try to do the same for a broad range of frequencies, and things get complex and difficult. Try the same for the range of frequencies simultaneously and it's a lost cause. When I was an aspiring FOH engineer, a company called Community Light and Sound produced some revolutionary horn designs using fiberglass. In the 1970s they had older designs beat. The main drawback was that in order to get close to constant directivity over the audible frequency band, many different horns of sizes large to small had to be used. The Extended Leviathan was a valiant attempt at a bass horn that sure looked impressive, but just didn't deliver the bottom octaves the same way a much heavier W horn could. This was before I began my formal studies, so I never learned the finer points about why. In this age of cheap switch-mode amplification, the need for maximum speaker efficiency at a price may have passed.Of course I'm not going to be the one to abandon my linear amps any time soon...

the Klipschorns sounded pretty good as I recall. they were tied to a big Audio Research GS 150 amp

i think that an advantage of horn loaded drivers especially mid and high Hz drivers coud be the control of dispersion. In many home listening rooms the acoustic is quite far from ideal and reflections from the walls can mix with the direct sound from speakers in a random way with delays and so on ... a speaker with a narrow dispersion can be aimed to the listening spot and the acoustic treatment can be limited to the wall behind the listening spot I guess Much easier thing to do

Reminds me of the joke when Amar Bose meets Paul Klipsch: Walking down the street, Paul sees Amar, he turns and faces a wall and yells "Hey Amar, how's business?". Amar cups his hands around his mouth and yells "Hey Paul, I can't understand a thing you said". Paul turns towards Amar, cups his hands around his mouth, and yells "Have a nice day!".

i was one of the guys who said your Mr Rogers of audio lol. glad to see you read comments. Anyhow what is your take on dome mids? Thanks and keep up the great work.

Reminds me of the first speakers I built (enclosures only) using Eletrovoice horns mid and high with a 15inch woofer. Horns were controlled by crossover level controls, but always sounded nasal or too midrange. Powered with an old 70's Pioneer intergrated amp with 10watts...they were loud. Later in life I tried Electrovoice Centrury two ways horn and 15 inch woofer, clean sound but still not detailed and linear, the most expensive speaker I ever bought.

A wide dispersion horn sounds great if it is part of a speaker system, its also great because it separates more of the mid range frequency and broadens the sound stage. Coupled with good tweeters and good woofers they can sound fantastic. In the 70s and 80s bigger was better and you could get a 3 way or 4 way system without taking out a loan. If you are on a budget you can still find some of the classic speakers that sound great and give you more for your money than spending twice as much on a newer design with smaller drivers.

“Mister Rogers of audio”...🔥🔥🔥🔥😂😂😂😂😂 I’m glad I subbed 😎👍🏻 you answer a lot of tough questions and I personally appreciate the work you do 👍🏻 thank you kindly sir !

A really nice and informative Little Video..again! Thanks for all the Time and Efort answering all These questions. Really enjoy watching them. Best Regards From Germany

The Altec model 19s still stand out as one of the greatest horn speakers of all time. They have one of the most unhorn like sounds I've heard from a horn speaker due in part to an internal diffuser lens mounted in the throat of the horn (an Altec patent) and a very complex crossover that smooths out irregularities in the speaker's response. Model 19s are still able to compete with most of the best horn systems made today. In my opinion 19s with xover upgrades easily outclasses than anything Klipsch ever made in terms of transparency, low coloration and accuracy of response. The only horn systems I've heard capable of beating them are the JBL Everests, Rey Audio's RM-7Vs, JBL Hartsfield reproductions and some of Kenrick Sound of Japan's masterful retrofits of JBL.

Best answer and explanation I've ever heard! Great job

Thanks Paul. Greeting. While Bose had once a 109 db SPL. What's yours?

Paul, love your show!

I thought that horn loudspeakers achieve their effect (of very high efficiency) by coupling the sound of the driver to the room, not by amplifying the sound. A horn with about 12 feet to 13 feet diameter at the end is able to reproduce very low frequencies with a minimum (relative) of power. The driver is working at low power and therefore at minimum distortion.

I had the opportunity a couple of years ago to spend an hour at Oswalds Mill listening to their (albeit outrageously expensive) horn setup. It was as close to a religious experience as I’ve ever had. The music was alive, around me, vibrant and warm, and unlike anything I’ve ever heard. Was the music “colored”? I have no idea. I only know it was amazing. Jonathan Weiss is as passionate and persnickety as anyone I’ve ever met, and truly believes that his way of crafting speakers and horns is the best. I would imagine that you know Jonathan. It would be great to get you guys in a room together and listen to you both discuss your approaches to music reproduction. I love watching your videos and always learn something new. You are so knowledgeable and passionate about sound, and you come across as a nice guy, too. I would love to hear your IRS V setup at PS Audio some day. I bet it is as wonderful as people say. Keep up the good work!

I actually thought you were Don Herbert from Mr wizards world and you sir are a wizard as well . Thank you for taking the time to make these videos 👍👍👍

I think some of us would love to hear updates on how your loudspeaker project is going. All we've seen so far is a sneak peek at the reference. Hope you don't make us wait for an electronics show. 😉

The tin cans and a string analogy,clears up alot for me .Thanks!

I had it explained to me like this: When you are linking two stages, maximum power is transferred when the output impedance of stage 1 is matched to the input impedance of stage 2. Basic electronics, right? Well a horn matches the speaker's output to the impedance of the air!

I really liked your video, thank you.

How is your loudspeaker project coming along?? An update would be appreciated. Thanks Paul.

@6:44 I think the "Multiple Horn" has been done by Danley Sound Labs in a slightly different way - Multiple Drivers in a single Horn... and quite successfully.

This conversation might benefit from an explanation of First-watt theory and the direct function existing between increased power and increased distortion. Previous comments, below, regarding modern horns, tailored to frequency ranges, coupled with properly designed crossover networks are true enough... the results can be absolutely stunning. We all have our preferences; but, categorically dismissing horns out-of-hand may be more than a little misleading--especially to newcomers, and those finding their way into hi-fidelity sound.

I agree. I have a Klipsch Palladium as well and there is that very slight horn coloration which is most apparent in its reproduction of a human voice. It's great speakers though, very clear and transparent. Great for jazz and orchestra type music.

Eh, it’s all about sound preference. Coloration or not, it’s all about the experience of the sound. I have heard many speakers in my time from Paradigm, B&W’s, Tannoy’s, Martin Logan, Polk’s, Triangle, JBL’s, Totems, Monitor Audio, and KEF’s. I have to admit, I always go back to Klipsch. All the other speakers I mentioned to me doesn’t have that excitement and dynamics that I’m looking for. As for accuracy, heck you want accuracy go to a recording studio and hear them instead. There is no such thing as a good and bad speaker. It’s all about how much your budget and what the listener likes!

Hi there Paul congratulation for your channel. I find it very useful. would you recomend me a pairs of loudspeakers? I know there's not such a thing like the best speakers. I don't know whether I am an audiophile but I'm for sure a music lover. I love classic, Jazz, Rock, almost all metal( Heavy, Thrash,Power,new,nu,ect) also some opera and of course I'm totally nuts about the blues, so is probably hard to find a pair of speakers which fullfill my expectations for such a vary tasre for music. I own an old Marantz as a preamp and one power Emotiva. As you can see I'm not rich so I'm not able to afford Mark Levimson, McIntosh( one of my favourite),or Krell but my old vintage Marantz has gave me a lot of hours of satisfation. I also own a pair of old 3way 15" National speakers which have made the job pretty well. I actually replaced the High horns and the mids speakers because the original died. So I decided was the time to boost my system so I bought a pair of JBL ES90 .They sure can handle the Emotiva Power but I got tell you the sound is not what i expected. you won't believe but I found my old National a little better . The bass is more deep. even the highs sound louder. the JBLs sound better when the mids are the subject. So i think is time to change again. I was thinking of Fluance Signature , Klipsch r625 or some Polk. what do you think?

Great job

I wish I have some of your equipment in my home theater.

Hi, thanks for exposin this theme May I desagree a bit? As i understand, for get a reasonable power in reproducing high frecuencies, it is necessary to use horn drivers, and also for low frecuencies, it is known that horn loaded subwoofers offer more punch. I have the idea that in the subwoofers, the cuestion may be an inertia problem. It seems to me, that the mass of the subwoofer cone, requires a lot of energy from the amplifier to accelerate and brake, so, the compression of air in a small chamber followed by a horn should work as natural suspension, making the cone to produce more pressure, instead of just gaming self inertia That is why i replyed in the comments section. It is a very interesting issue Thanks

Hi Paul, I'm old also and when you cupped your hands to ears in this vid it reminded me of the fact that I suffer from tinitus. When listening to my "horns" with cupped hands to ears it produces a marked improvement over simply turning up the volume. I know that you can buy electronic hearing aids that can partially ellimate the noise in your ears from tinitus but the idea of listening to my HIFI system's tube's sound eminating from my horns into the room and then finally translated by a tiny litle amp of who knows what design just before the sound enters my ears, seems to defeat the whole purpose of a HIFI system. I wish that some smart engineering company like yours would investigate passive amplifcation. It could be a boon to people like myself and possibly apartment dwellers too.

Hey Mr Rogers was my favorite back in 1980 we're already off to a good start

With the coloration and decrease of frequency range in consideration.... would a horn bass speaker be more efficient then a regular full range speaker for this type of scenario?

I've got one question : how can you make a membrane speaker as efficient as a horn? This is what is said from 7:29. The question here is how can you achieve a coupling as efficient as a horn? BTW, a horn does not "amplify" sound (amplification needs an external power source) ; it couples the moving element to a VOLUME of air instead of to a SURFACE of air. Thus, the coupling is much more efficient. Thus the sound comes out much louderé It does so at the expense of putting a mechanical load on the membrane. (The same speaker takes more power when attached to the horn than in free air, hence the apparent "amplification".)

This may be a little down the road, time wise Thanks for sharing knowledge with us

Hi Anyone know the name of the instrumental music at the end of Paul's videos?

Lovely CEO ❤ Greetings from #Algeria 🇩🇿

having the option to control directivity is a good thing. maybe not every setup calls for it. my mains do have large waveguides and are very lovely.

“Colored” can be adjusted right? Is Cerwin Vega trying to fix the problem with a deeper box (36,24,36)enclosure?

Horns are awesome if equalized / tuned right. I'm using fostex wooden horn and drivers H400/D1400. 800~7000 KHz + T925a. 7000~20000 KHz active all the way. Don't know what your on about.? Build many speakers, and nothing come close to the dynamic and life like sound from the horns. My all time favorite.! I would agree that, horn can sound harsh an fatigue sets in quickly if not tuned right. Ps a lot of eq was necessary / endless listening hours, tuning.

A true master in his trade..... much respect.

With a multilevel class D ? I have sim one, nice output.

You mentioned you create the same effect as the horns but without the colorations, in your speakers. Can you please elaborate how you do that? I want to build some speakers, and really want the effeciency up the notch.

cant wait to see what You and `Mr AN came up with

For Rock and Jazz to me there is no better sounding speaker than the Klipschorn in a proper room.

Hi Paul. Thank you for your interesting content. I know this is an old video but I wanted to ask you: Can one via a dedicated pedal (high pass filter?) Manipulate a “normal” speaker to act like a horn speaker? I’m interested in having my guitar amp produce a “horn” sound of my guitar. thank you

absolutely right answer 👍...

I inherited a pair of huge speakers with 15 inch woofers, EV1828R midhorns and EV35T tweeters. After much research I found that the EV1828R is a public announcement horn driver and cannot find anything on it being used in a stereo speaker. These are homemade speakers so what I'm concerned with is are these horns ok to use in a high fi speaker or is this the wrong model horn entirely to use in a home stereo speaker ? They don't sound great and I have no knowledge tweaking crossover frequencies to change the sound. Any advice would be much appreciated, they look cool and I'm trying to resurrect them to sound decent.

Saludos desde Puerto Rico, buen video acabo de comprar unos drivers y ahora entiendo mejor su proposito

I ahve never heard one but I understand that they collor with the klipsh and so on but what about avant garde ????

i want to know whats the use of all the speakers used on a sound system?

I own 4 pairs of Klipsch and JBL horn loaded speakers ,I got into a 3 day argument with a kid on audioholics who said I was a liar when I said I had to rebuild the 12" woofers in my K-Horns, the " horn loaded bass " spec meant he thought the speaker had a 12" bass horn lol Anyhow I've never found any pair of horn loaded speakers that weren't too bright and didn't need the horn damped ,I damp all my horn systems to get away from that metal twang brightness I'm sensitive to.

Develop a loudspeaker based on instrument category. Horns can be just brass instruments. Take a trumpet and play that through a horn: you have a trumpet with its characteristics. Horns tend to be directional even movement left or right: in phase out of phase. Take and instrument like strings - generally omnidirectional except for the sound hole - planar / electrostatics / ribbons are good for that reproduction. Drums would be good through flat woofers - just like the skins on a frame. Other percussive instruments such as triangles, bells, mallet instruments - dome tweeters or Linaeum tweeters. An amplifier and crossover for each section would be needed. Recording of such instruments must be done on each individual track / channel and allocated to each appropriate amplifier. Ch 1 - drums, Ch 2 - Strings, Ch - 3 Brass Ch - 4 Percussion, Ch5 - Voice, etc. If the object is to get as close to the real thing, reproduce it as it would be performed live or else just bring in a band, musician, orchestra into your living room. The expense of speakers systems today is generally for the well to do. So why not make a system to get closer to what is real as the ideal purpose of being an audiophile in the first place. DSD is great for recording and playback.

Paul, I wonder if the same applies to horn loaded tweeters. Do those become colored because of the horn too? Or maybe they tune the frequencies accordingly in the factory to compensate? Just curious...

Awesome.. I was always fascinated with Cerwin Vega earthquakes but never understood how a very bad looking folded horn would be good for the smooth wave.. if the corners were smooth would it sound better? Like if you somehow folded a trumpet into a snake

Loving the thumbnail

I find it quite humorous that there are so many people that watch these videos just so they can make unjust comments to show their uneducated opinions on them. I am not an engineer,a specialist in the stereo field, or an audiophile. I watch these to learn different aspects in the field of music and the equipment that reproduces the sound. It always seems that there is someone who thinks they are smarter and can explain it better; they think PS Audio are making these videos to sell their product. After watching many of these I have yet to hear Paul say a price on his products or tell anyone to come to his facility to purchase only. If you trolls are so much smarter, start your own business and then start producing your own videos to show the world that you are better than everyone else. Now to Paul... Thank you for the time you take to make these videos to help shed a light on the differences in systems,speakers , and all that is combined to produce the sounds that surround us in what seems to be everything in our lives today. I am planning a trip to Colorado just to stop by and visit your new facility and visit with you about music and sound reproduction. I find this to be a very interesting subject. Thank you again sir for your time and efforts to make these videos

Hi Paul, the horn is not an amplifier though it is it, being it doesn't add energy to the equation. It just stops the energy loss through efficiency right? Anyway, thanks for the vid!

Hi Mr. Rogers , Paul, what you say about Horn Speakers is 99% correct. I had over20 different huge horn speakers in my 75 years stay on earth now. Because you are a curious guy, check out my Casta B Horn Speakers from Milan Italy , colour and musicality is a factor of taste. One searches ,if money is available for one’s hobby needs, it is still difficult to come to the point when one conclude his or her taste. My kit now just moves me to nirvana. A tube Preamp 4, 6SN7 tubes, 90 watt linear Power Amp. And Casta Speakers do it for me today. Love your CD player and saving up for it now. I have learned all the good stuff to improve my music playback .Wish we lived closer to have a coffee and listen to a few tracks. Best Regards Johnnie Also love Red Book quality CD digital music playback form Spotify and Tidal. Keep up the great information come Paul

They may add a slight coloration - to very little if done well, and benefit will be lower distortion

The problem lies only in using the same horn over a wide range. But this is true of any loudspeaker- hence "full range speakers" are useless, unless you are listening to solo saxophone all the time . An active, multi-amped, multi-way system (using horns for the midrange area and ribbons for the highs, for my taste) is by far the best solution.

Actually a horn makes the acoustical impedance of the driver higher. The coloring effect can be compensated in the crossover.

Listen to them both and make your own decision. I would like to audition the Klipsch forte III. 99 SPL. I love very High efficient loudspeakers.

you are me audio pope,,,,thanks ...i wiil start me horn project. little room ,less money and i wanne build my self..i think i am smart,lol

They LOOK GOOD but I prefer the dome for sound

Mad Game reference on point

If horns cut off all the high frequencies then why do people so often accuse Klipsch of being too bright??

iconic thumbnail

thanks always very informing and nicely spoken also very interesting: the following comments by the way: I love the klipsch colours, my favourite painters

What about horns in subs?... i just to have a PA system with horns

Explain a diffraction projecting loudspeaker

"And thus, the bass horn, or the folded horn, was born."

I think "amplifies" is used incorrectly in this discussion. The horn does not amplify the sound, it directs and focuses the sound so it's not attenuated and dispersed when it gets to the listener. "Amplification" implies that the sound pressure wave is somehow increased over the original wave. The total sound pressure wave is still the same with or without the horn, it's just more focused and therefore louder when it gets to the listener's ears.

How to tell difference between Midrange horn vs Tweeter horn speaker?? they look same to me. the capacitor? the driver?

Bonjour Paul, as-tu déjà essayé les pavillons lecleach ? J'ai un 53cm 300hz en plâtre fibré, je peux t'assurer que la coloration est inexistante

I share the same reluctance to horns with Paul. I believe, though, that some well experienced designers, with great knowledge of their shortcomings and willing to take the long, hard way to overcome them, may still produce incredibly good horn loudspeakers. In my opinion, one of these designers is Stavros Danos of Aries Cerat audio company in Cyprus. His flagship model is, by all means, outstanding! So, no to horns as a general rule. But as in any rule, there's always some very little room, for some very exquisite exceptions.

So is a horn basically a compression driver???

I switched to titanium horn drivers and experience near holographic imaging at times.

Mr Rogers was the man. Definitely take that as a compliment!

ooohhhhh shhhttt I was just about to say that when you said u remind them of someone 😆

Two things... First, I think you sound much more like David Letterman than Fred Rogers! The expression "put a sock in it" is usually used when someone wants another person to be quiet. Originally, however, it referred to literally putting a sock inside the horn of a gramophone, as there was no other way of controlling the volume.

I’ll take Altec VOTs or the Altec 19 over any Klipsch, some of which sound like Skilsaws. Bruce Edgar’s salad bowl tractrix horns are noted for their smooth and uncolored sound when used with a good driver like an Altec 288 or JBL 2440. The best horn systems are DIY jobs by dedicated and knowledgeable hornys using components by Altec, Great Plains Audio, JBL, EV, Radian, TAD, Edgar, Emilar and so forth.

Christopher Plummer is who you remind me of :)

Horn speakers have no equal for transient response. The reason is their highly effective energy-coupling into the air, which provides a very high damping factor for the driver's diaphragm. The difficulty with horns - and the reason why some designs sound colored - is that they have very abrupt cutoff at their low frequency limit. Crossovers need to be designed so that their output is attenuated by a significant factor before cutoff is reached. That is difficult to do with passive crossovers, so as a designer I would much prefer to use horns in multi-amp applications with active crossovers.

I like the Mr Rogers image. You have a calm demeanor.

The dynamics of KLIPSCH is incredible…sound is incredible! But I understand you want to push your product…

The acoustic horn is not an amplifier it is an acoustic transformer that basically matches the high acoustic impeadance of the source driver to the low acoustic impeadance of free space in an a analogous way to an electrical transformer matches different electrical impeadances. Read up on Harry F. Olson and Leo Beranek.

zingali overture 4/b a nice italian example of horn speakers.