i need some guidance here. I'm looking at a 2 way 10" mid bass with horn setup, the 10's I'm looking at seem to go up to around the 800-1200hz range so the horn needs to handle around 1k and up. i found some limited information from 07 on how a setup would work and from what i gather i want the horns positioned under the dash and firing parallel to the floor? with some processing i should be able to raise the sound stage up to about dash level?  i also read that the width will more than likely be less than the distance between the a pillars if i don't add any other tweeters and that the horns would benefit from a 16khz and up super tweet?

 

ive never done a horn build before and even been told that horns are terrible to use in vehicles and very directional however what i have read thus far seem to contradict this...

 

I'm also having issues even finding horns... i think i want the pa speaker style horn (rectangle) but I'm only finding circle (bullet style) "horns" so I'm kinda swimming in poor information here

Pass on it bro. Its not worth the battle. Not worth the money. Not worth the effort.

so lets assume that i am fine with a stupid amount of work and effort here. assume this with the stipulation that i want a LOUD and clear stereo that is well above average on both counts. 

I'm open to everything from 3 way to 2 way horns and anything in between. i even read about some people doing 5 ways with horns to keep the sound stage outside of the a pillars. most of this i have never worked with before but i want a system that is more clear with better transient response and far louder than the next 10 guys

Ok bro, there is a Shit ton of info about HLCDs on the inter webs. There is nothing limited about this subject on the audio forums. 

Google HLCD, Eric Stevens, Image Dynamics, man this list goes on and on. If it is still there, try the HLCD section on DIYMA. 

14 hours ago, ncc74656 said:

so lets assume that i am fine with a stupid amount of work and effort here. assume this with the stipulation that i want a LOUD and clear stereo that is well above average on both counts. 

I'm open to everything from 3 way to 2 way horns and anything in between. i even read about some people doing 5 ways with horns to keep the sound stage outside of the a pillars. most of this i have never worked with before but i want a system that is more clear with better transient response and far louder than the next 10 guys

If someone is using more drivers to compensate for the shortcomings of their horn install, then it totally defeats the purpose of the horn.    A well built horn will be all that's needed with an appropriate accompanying mid of course. 

 

With that being said, they are extremely difficult to design and implement in the automotive environment.  Unfortunately, due to this nature, not much advice can be given.  It's simply going to be trial and error.  The basic mounting points and options are a given.  The rest of the install will focus on acoustic treatments.  This is something that will only yield results via testing. 

There is a reason horns never caught on in-car.  They are simply not a feasible option.  They are expensive.  This is one area where a cheap driver cannot be implemented to sound as good or better.  There's just no way around it.  The install is uber-complex and takes hours upon hours of designing and testing.  Resonance and reflection are different animals when horns are involved.  It's just myriad problems in comparison to "traditional" drivers. 

Wanting a "system that is more clear with better transient response and far louder than the next 10 guys," is a totally subjective goal, so there is no objective way to approach this.  To further that, starting off with something you don't even understand and have no experience with will only further complicate things and more than likely take you further from your goal than if you were to stick to a simpler method.

i was looking at 3 ways at first but was directed towards two ways and then horns so i thought id check them out. ill do some more research, maybe i don't end up going with horns after all. we will see what i find

I think you have a Dodge Ram Truck. Post up a pick of your stock right side A-Pilar and Door panel. You should have no problems setting up a simple, yet effective 2 way in that truck to start your test and tune.

Which is where we ALL told you to start many times....