what are people referring to when they are talking about a horn? it always seems like theyre talking about the enclosure, but what makes a horn a horn? and is that the full name? just "horn"?

From wikipedia-

Horns are the oldest form of loudspeaker system, having been used from veryearly on for cylinder recording players. They use a shaped waveguide infront of or behind the driver to increase the directivity of theloudspeaker and to transform a small diameter, high pressure conditionat the driver cone surface to a large diameter, low pressure conditionat the mouth of the horn. This increases the sensitivity of theloudspeaker and focuses the sound over a narrower area. The size of thethroat, mouth, the length of the horn, as well as the area expansionrate along it must be carefully chosen to match the drive to properlyprovide this transforming function over a range of frequencies (everyhorn performs poorly outside its acoustic limits, at both high and lowfrequencies). The length and cross-sectional mouth area required tocreate a bass or sub-bass horn require a horn many feet long. 'Folded'horns can reduce the total size, but compel designers to makecompromises and accept increased complication such as cost andconstruction. Some horn designs not only fold the low frequency horn,but use the walls in a room corner as an extension of the horn mouth.In the late 1940s, horns whose mouths took up much of a room wall werenot unknown amongst hi-fi fans. Room sized installations became muchless acceptable when two or more were required.

A horn loaded speaker can have a sensitivity as high as 110 dB at2.83 volts (1 watt at 8 ohms) at 1 meter. This is a hundredfoldincrease in output compared to a speaker rated at 90 dB sensitivity,and is invaluable in applications where high sound levels are requiredor amplifier power is limited.

From wikipedia-

Horns are the oldest form of loudspeaker system, having been used from veryearly on for cylinder recording players. They use a shaped waveguide infront of or behind the driver to increase the directivity of theloudspeaker and to transform a small diameter, high pressure conditionat the driver cone surface to a large diameter, low pressure conditionat the mouth of the horn. This increases the sensitivity of theloudspeaker and focuses the sound over a narrower area. The size of thethroat, mouth, the length of the horn, as well as the area expansionrate along it must be carefully chosen to match the drive to properlyprovide this transforming function over a range of frequencies (everyhorn performs poorly outside its acoustic limits, at both high and lowfrequencies). The length and cross-sectional mouth area required tocreate a bass or sub-bass horn require a horn many feet long. 'Folded'horns can reduce the total size, but compel designers to makecompromises and accept increased complication such as cost andconstruction. Some horn designs not only fold the low frequency horn,but use the walls in a room corner as an extension of the horn mouth.In the late 1940s, horns whose mouths took up much of a room wall werenot unknown amongst hi-fi fans. Room sized installations became muchless acceptable when two or more were required.

A horn loaded speaker can have a sensitivity as high as 110 dB at2.83 volts (1 watt at 8 ohms) at 1 meter. This is a hundredfoldincrease in output compared to a speaker rated at 90 dB sensitivity,and is invaluable in applications where high sound levels are requiredor amplifier power is limited.

thanks. a couple more things... what do they look like? someone told me that steve meades box in his tahoe is a horn... but i thought it was just a normal ported box... maybe im on crack?

Edited October 9, 200915 yr by Gioia69

You aren't going to find a horn loaded subwoofer in a car, at least not one that is designed correctly. For instance, a 30Hz horn is bigger than your car.

You aren't going to find a horn loaded subwoofer in a car, at least not one that is designed correctly. For instance, a 30Hz horn is bigger than your car.

okay lol. thanks.

steve meade's tahoe is 4 18s in a normal ported box. The other suv is 8 18s firing into each other with the rear wave flowing down the middle right over all 8 subs.. neither is a horn.

what are people referring to when they are talking about a horn? it always seems like theyre talking about the enclosure, but what makes a horn a horn? and is that the full name? just "horn"?

I think your referring to a folded horn enclosure, check out Topic: Taste My 8 under the Build Log Thread (a dude has one on their that he has pictures of to give you a generel idea).

what are people referring to when they are talking about a horn? it always seems like theyre talking about the enclosure, but what makes a horn a horn? and is that the full name? just "horn"?

I think your referring to a folded horn enclosure, check out Topic: Taste My 8 under the Build Log Thread (a dude has one on their that he has pictures of to give you a generel idea).

I searched up the Build Log you were referring to:

A lot of the pictures have gone missing though.

Well you still can research on this site and the internet, just type in folded horn enclosures (im sure there a lot of pictures of them and info floating over the internet).

Someone needs to find that picture where they guy built a horn into his basement floor. Was freaking massive.

Someone needs to find that picture where they guy built a horn into his basement floor. Was freaking massive.

http://www.royaldevice.com/custom.htm i believe is the website.

Someone needs to find that picture where they guy built a horn into his basement floor. Was freaking massive.

http://www.royaldevice.com/custom.htm i believe is the website.

Not working for me.

Someone needs to find that picture where they guy built a horn into his basement floor. Was freaking massive.

http://www.royaldevice.com/custom.htm i believe is the website.

Not working for me.

that's weird. If you're actually looking for it just google royal device and it should be one of the first ones.

I wonder how that sounds, he said forget an entertainment system (my basement floor is an enclosure).

Thanks bromo!

Really shows the sheer magnitude of a horn enclosure. I tried to dive in to the math in desigining one and after reading up on them from this site http://www.quarter-w...orn_Theory.html I couldn't figure out how they shrunk down the size of it to fit it into a car.