Single Driver Rear Loaded Horn Speakers

satyakibanerjee

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There is something magical about the combination of Single Ended Triode Amplifiers and High Efficiency Single Driver Full Range Speakers. Such a system provide the most detailed rendition of vocal and instrumental music.

Full range drivers have a class of its own. Typically these drivers have a very strong magnet driving an ultra light cone with precise control on the cone movement. It is this aspect that give these drivers the ability to reproduce the subtle nuances of music - the low level details as well as the snappy dynamics that's a hallmark of full range drivers. However, due to the extremely small excursion of the cone, most full range drivers need reinforcement in the low frequencies through specially designed enclosures. Transmission line and rear loaded horn designs work best with such drivers.

My initial effort was to build a slightly modified version of the Haruna design on the Frugal Horn website for the Fostex 166 En driver. The Haruna is a wonderful design by Scot Lindgren and Dave. Its a double mouth stepped expansion horn. I modified the compression ratio of the throat and the volume of the coupling chamber to my individual liking. I paired these speakers with the Lyrita 2A3 SET designed by Mr. Viren Bakshi. Together they have been putting up a stellar performance. The speakers simply disappear and the music flows from a dark background in the most coherent, lifelike presentation one could ever experience. Music that is alive, music that connects with you emotionally. The low level details, the imaging of the soundstage and the rendition of the texture of voice and instruments are simply stunning. Being a double mouth design the enclosure loads both the ceiling and the floor and as a result the bass surrounds you. Its rich, deep, open and musical without the slightest trace of lumpiness.

But that's the beginning of the journey. The sheer performance of the Haruna design intrigued me to dive deeper into horn loudspeaker design and it has been several months of serious work in understanding the physics of horn design. A spreadsheet application for designing horns has been developed and the first design from ground up is in the prototype stage. I have christened it the name Serenata.

Horn loudspeakers had fallen out of vogue for more than 7 to 8 decades due to its extremely complex design, the large size and the resultant high cost. This is an effort on my part to rediscover the unmatched beauty of these designs.

I would be happy to invite audio enthusiasts in this forum for an audition and feedback for improvement of the design.
 
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I agree and disagree with parts of your post but admire your effort. Good luck and post the progress. You will get good feedback here.

Horn loudspeakers had fallen out of vogue for more than 7 to 8 decades due to its extremely complex design, the large size and the resultant high cost.

Not really; JBL, Diatone, Yamaha all these companies had tons of horn loaded designs as late as three decades ago, especially JBL. One of the most intimidating horn I know about came from Altec, it was made specifically for movie theaters. Horns are dead because people have found ways to achieve their functionality without getting into ugly designs.
 
Hi,

Even Viren of Lyrita audio is in the process of designing a couple of horn based speakers. I happened to hear one of his avatars in Delhi a couple of months ago and found it to be very good. There is a magic in 'horn' based speakers that does not exist in other designs.

All the best.....

APK
 
As far as designs go there are quite a few which are based on hi-efficiency drivers. I have built the same one as Anilva's - basically the Fostex recommended design for FE-206en and found it amazing and very straight-forward to build.
 
As far as designs go there are quite a few which are based on hi-efficiency drivers. I have built the same one as Anilva's - basically the Fostex recommended design for FE-206en and found it amazing and very straight-forward to build.

Could you post pictures of your BLH 206en speakers?
 
I would be happy to invite audio enthusiasts in this forum for an audition and feedback for improvement of the design.

I would love to come over & have a nice listening session. Kindly send me an email at: pusayoba at the rate gmail dot com.

Thanks

:)
 
I would love to come over & have a nice listening session. Kindly send me an email at: pusayoba at the rate gmail dot com.

Thanks

:)

I too will like to join and if required carry my TL BS for a compare. But they are not full range drivers but.
 
Dear Ranjeetrain,

Thanks for sharing the link of the Altec Corner Horn. That's an interesting design. The high frequency driver loads a multicell exponential horn. I believe the dispersion achieved by this speaker would be excellent.
 
Thank you.looks like exact replica of Fostex recommended enclosure design. What material did you use for enclosure?. MDF or Marine Plywood ?.

Mostly MDF. Some bracing was done with hardwood. The experimentation was only with the filling and the padding for eliminating the standing waves. Again only in Fostex recommended positions.
 
For bass horn enclosures, I have realised that plywood made of Dipterocarpus hardwood works best amongst the various options available in India. Baltic Birch plywood is considered to be very good for this purpose but I am not sure whether you get that in India. Coating the inside of the enclosure with bitumen or even spray painting helps control leakage and enclosure resonance.
 
Had the pleasure of visiting Satyaki's place today to listen to Single Driver Fostex Rear Horn Loaded Speakers.

The speakers were paired with Lyrita Audio 2A3 SET Tube Amp & Project 1 Expression iii TT having Ortofon 2M Red Cart.

IC's & Speaker Cables were made by Satyaki too.

Music played

Joan Baez - Diamonds & Rust
Joan Baez - Farewell Angelina
Beetles - Abbey Road
Jim Reeves - Best Of


Rest of the music was played on CD's using generic Phillips DVD Player.
Satyaki, kindly fill in the info of the CD's played, thanks.

Posting couple of pics of his set-up (Pls excuse poor cam pics!)

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Will post my impressions shortly

:)
 
The tracks played on CDs were:

Body and Soul : Yuri Honing Trio

Conway Bay : Judith Owen

The Eyemouth Disaster : The Easy Club

High Hopes : Pink Floyd

Is it all a game : Curtis Fuller Quintet

Die Letzte Rose : Andre Rieu

Adorate Deum : Nova Schola Gregoriana
 
A beautiful, well-constructed speaker with class-leading soundstage, imaging and bass that is fast, deep, and precise.
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