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WHITE PAPERS: MATERIAL - PART III |
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The Right Material
The horn raw material is purest ABS (Acryl-nitril-Butadien-Styrol). The merits of this high-quality polymer are its neutral resonance behavior as well as extreme durability and resistance to wear and tear. Our standard horn designs are not varnished, but the granulated ABS is already dyed. Therefore, we obtain a high luster finish of superior quality on the front and back of the horns. Apart from the excellent quality of the finish of our horns, they are easier to maintain than sensitive varnished surfaces. The Right Pressure Imagine a hose through which water is running at a constant pressure. A nozzle installed on the mouth of the hose will reduce its diameter. Thus, the pressure of the water now increases and consequently, the water will flow through the narrow opening with an increased speed. The same applies to a horn. |
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Purest ABS guarantees a perfect shape and a smooth surface.
By reducing the opening diameter of the horn, the prerequisites for a speed transformation are achieved. This pressure chamber (see Figure 5: "Pressure Chamber Principle") which consists of the ratio of the effective membrane surface "d1" to the horn throat opening "d2", is a very efficient means to significantly increase the membrane performance and simultaneously the efficiency of sound emission. However, should the horn's throat diameter be too small, the resulting very high velocity of the sound waves leads to a non-linear behavior, which means distortions of the sound wave will take place. |
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Figure 5 -- Pressure chamber principle. Our driver systems reach their sound pressure via a highly linear excursion of the mem-brane. Therefore, we can eliminate large compression ratios (d1: d2) and operate our systems in the optimal 1:1 mode. Until now, horn and driver constructions were primarily developed for professional sound reinforcement. For this purpose, the loudspeakers are tuned to reach a maximum acoustical output. The non-linear distortion factor only plays a minor role. That's why such systems weren't feasible for our use. In order to avoid these distortions, our mid-range designs are operating without any compression ratio, and the low-frequency horns do operate with a well-balanced low compression ratio. |
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The Right Horn Dimensions
A horn loudspeaker takes up quite a bit of space. Its size is determined by the unalterable wavelengths of sound. The lower the frequency, the longer the wavelength. Please also bear in mind that a frequency of 100 Hz creates a wavelength of 11.2 ft! Thus, enormous dimensions are reached. The possibilities of reducing the horn size by folding it are rather limited. Depending on the proper design of the folds in the low end of the frequency spectrum, folding is possible without any loss of sound quality. However, one has to take into account that every non-linear folding of the horn can cause dramatic irregularities in its frequency response (> 10 dB) which means response peaks and phase shifts. Particularly, in the low-mid frequencies as of approximately > 200 Hz, a folded design may cause severe non-linear response peaks and phase shifts. This is one of the reasons why horn loudspeakers have received a poor reputation in the past. And this is often the weakness of so called high fidelity horn loudspeakers. Frequently, we are dealing with three-way systems where the low frequencies up to approximately 400 Hz are transmitted via a non-linear folded horn construction. These designs do not allow the reproduction of the very low frequencies below 35 to 50 Hz, due to the limited horn dimension. The most important tonality of the low-mid frequencies is transmitted through a folded horn particularly applies to the critical reproduction of the lower frequencies of a human voice. Basically, we are thus dealing with two problems: First of all, when the dimension of the horn is too small, the original low frequency cannot be reproduced. Secondly, every folding of the horn in mid and low-mid range frequencies causes strong non-linear response peaks and phase shifts. One way to reduce the size of the enclosure of the horn loudspeakers is to reproduce the low frequencies (bass) not by using a horn, but with a conventional enclosure. With this concept, one combines the speed and the dynamics of a high- and mid-range horn in connection with a comparatively slow bass. Just imagine a sportscar whose speed suddenly increases markedly because the turbo/supercharger starts operating at a specific RPM. The same applies to a mixed loudspeaker concept when reproducing the human voice. Up to a pre-determined frequency the voice is reproduced normally (by the box enclosure), and above that frequency, it's transferred with a turbo/supercharger, by means of a horn. Should the frequency range of the midrange horn be above 250 Hz (as with most of the horn concepts) the sound becomes incoherent. Hence, it's important for a mixed concept to keep the frequency of the midrange horn as low as possible in order to induce the turbo to operate as soon as possible. In comparison to the size of all other conventional horn systems, our spherical horns have an extended low frequency range. By using specially developed drivers, our systems are operated linearly down to the cut-off frequency limits of the horn. With most of the other horn designs, the operating range is limited by the range and the performance of the driver. With all of our satellite systems, the main frequency spectrum is covered by linear, spherical horn shapes without any folding of the horn. Due to the specific design of our subwoofers and the controlled operation via an active frequency crossover, the bass is only operating in its intended frequency range. The specific characteristics of the active crossover ideally integrates the subwoofer with the natural roll-off of the spherical horns. Another aspect worth mentioning is the perceived subjective impression for the listener. As the complete frequency spectrum above 100-200 Hz including the 2nd and 3rd harmonics of the bass frequencies are transmitted through the fast horns, it gives the impression of a very dynamic bass response. This creates a fully balanced and homogeneous tonality. Continue to White Papers Part 4: Components |
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