A midrange horn driver used in a home speaker system from Klipsch. The width of the front opening is roughly 46 cm.
How a horn loudspeaker works. (A) compression driver (B) horn
A horn loudspeaker is a loudspeaker or loudspeaker element which uses an acoustic horn to increase the overall efficiency of the driving element(s). A common form (right) consists of a compression driver which produces sound waves with a small metal diaphragm vibrated by an electromagnet, attached to a horn, a flaring duct to conduct the sound waves to the open air. Another type is a woofer driver mounted in a loudspeaker enclosure which is divided by internal partitions to form a zigzag flaring duct which functions as a horn; this type is called a folded horn speaker. The horn serves to improve the coupling efficiency between the speaker driver and the air. The horn can be thought of as an "acoustic transformer" that provides impedance matching between the relatively dense diaphragm material and the less-dense air. The result is greater acoustic output power from a given driver.[1]
The narrow part of the horn next to the driver is called the "throat" and the large part farthest away from the driver is called the "mouth".[1] The angular coverage (radiation pattern) of the horn is determined by the shape and flare of the mouth. A major problem of horn speakers is that the radiation pattern varies with frequency; high frequency sound tends to be emitted in narrow beams with poor off-axis performance.[2] Significant improvements have been made, beginning with the "constant directivity" horn invented in 1975 by Don Keele.
The main advantage of horn loudspeakers is they are more efficient; they can typically produce approximately 10 times[3]: p.30 (10 dB)[4][5][6] more sound power than a cone speaker from a given amplifier output. Therefore, horns are widely used in public address systems, megaphones, and sound systems for large venues like theaters, auditoriums, and sports stadiums. Their disadvantage is that their frequency response is more uneven because of resonance peaks, and horns have a cutoff frequency below which their response drops off. (The cutoff frequency corresponds to the wavelength equal to the circumference of the horn mouth.[7]) To achieve adequate response at bass frequencies horn speakers must be very large and cumbersome, so they are more often used for midrange and high frequencies. The first practical loudspeakers, introduced around the turn of the 20th century, were horn speakers. Due to the development in recent decades of cone loudspeakers which sometimes have a flatter frequency response, and the availability of inexpensive amplifier power, the use of horn speakers in high fidelity audio systems over the last decades has declined.
^ abHenricksen, Loudspeakers, Enclosures, and Headphones, 446.
^Murray, John (2000). "The Quadratic Throat Waveguide: A white paper on an invention by Charles E. Hughes of Peavey Electronics Corporation" (PDF). Peavey Architectural Acoustics. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2016. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
^Borwick, John (2001). Loudspeaker and Headphone Handbook, 3rd Ed. Focal Press. ISBN 0240515781.
^Kramer, Steven; Brown, David K. (2019). Audiology: Science to Practice. Plural Publishing. p. 31. ISBN 9781944883355.
^Giordano, Nicholas (2010). College Physics. Cengage. p. 411. ISBN 9780534424718.
^Newell, Phillip; Holland, Keith (2001). Loudspeakers for music recording and reproduction. Focal Press. p. 4.1. ISBN 9780240520148.
A hornloudspeaker is a loudspeaker or loudspeaker element which uses an acoustic horn to increase the overall efficiency of the driving element(s). A...
A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or speaker driver) is an electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding...
incorporate composite materials, internal baffles, horns, bass reflex ports and acoustic insulation. Loudspeaker enclosures range in size from small "bookshelf"...
uses a microphone, an electrically-powered amplifier and a folded hornloudspeaker to amplify the voice. The initial inventor of the speaking trumpet...
small specialized diaphragm loudspeaker which generates the sound in a hornloudspeaker. It is attached to an acoustic horn, a widening duct which serves...
up horn in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Horn may refer to: Horn (acoustic), a tapered sound guide Horn antenna Hornloudspeaker Vehicle horn Train...
system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of...
fidelity audio pioneer, known for developing a high-efficiency folded hornloudspeaker. Unsatisfied with the sound quality of phonographs and early speaker...
farther, with less dissipation in air, than hornloudspeakers, and can be more focused than line array loudspeakers allowing sound to be sent to isolated audience...
A coaxial loudspeaker is a loudspeaker system in which the individual driver units radiate sound from the same point or axis. Two general types exist:...
audio transducers, especially high-linearity, high-output professional hornloudspeaker systems. Danley first gained notice in the 1980s with his novel servomotor-driven...
The UltraMonitor was the first product to employ a new, patented hornloudspeaker design that reduced distortion by a factor of ten compared to previous...
P. G. A. H. Voigt patented a hornloudspeaker design based on the assumption that a wave front traveling through the horn is spherical of a constant radius...
referred to as Klipsch Speakers or Klipsch Group, Inc.) is an American loudspeaker company based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in Hope, Arkansas, in...
form of a compression driver, the sound-generating part of a hornloudspeaker with the horn replaced by the tube connection. The box has connectors for...
the horn throat, becoming an extension of the horn to the surface of the diaphragm. An electromechanical driver of the sort later used in loudspeakers was...
Lansing Manufacturing Company, they quickly expanded into manufacturing hornloudspeakers. In 1958 the Altec Lansing Corporation was purchased by James Ling...
generator, a high-power amplifier, and a hornloudspeaker. Typically, the loudspeaker unit incorporates horn loading, causing them to be similar in appearance...
An electrostatic loudspeaker (ESL) is a loudspeaker design in which sound is generated by the force exerted on a membrane suspended in an electrostatic...
with the subsequent model 604 which was a seminal loudspeaker that became a milestone in loudspeaker development. Well over a dozen different models carried...
A tweeter or treble speaker is a special type of loudspeaker (usually dome, inverse dome or horn-type) that is designed to produce high audio frequencies...
Based on the experience developed with the Shearer Horn, Lansing produced the Iconic System loudspeaker for cinemas. The Iconic was a two-way speaker using...
Tripoli, Pennsylvania by the filmmaker Jonathan Weiss. In addition to hornloudspeakers, OMA also manufactures amplifiers, turntables, tonearms, and accessories...
before the magnetic cardridge, a microphone had to be placed close to a hornloudspeaker. The invention allowed the electric signals to be amplified and then...
In a hornloudspeaker, the term acoustic transformer or acoustical transformer may refer to either of two components: Horn (acoustic), which attaches...
manufactured a 30-watt dynamic loudspeaker, and the first batch of 100 was installed in Moscow squares. A 10-watt hornloudspeaker followed the next year, which...
Global Information
