horn speaker and normal speaker

[PG1995]

Hi

Would you please help me to know the fundamental difference between horn speaker and 'normal' speaker? Is this anything have to do with the sound quality? Isn't the sound quality of horn speaker bad as compared to normal speaker, and isn't horn speaker specifically made to amplify human voice only and is not suited for music playback? But I think the sound produced by horn speaker can go a long way.

horn speaker: https://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00WBtTJuYnCpcw/Horn-Speaker-YH25-1-.jpg

normal speaker: https://www.officialpsds.com/images/thumbs/Vector-Speaker-psd15015.png

Regards
PG

 

[ronsimpson]

Horn, the type you show is for voice,
Horn; high efficiency. directional, Large, often used on tweeter and midrange. When used for base it is very large.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horn_speaker

 

[carbonzit]

I think you meant "bass", Ron.

Yes, the speakers used throughout North America in movie theaters (Altec's "Voice of the Theater", still used in some) was a low-frequency (15" woofer) horn design that worked extremely well. Didn't sound bad at all.

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

The horn is for the most part a voltage controlled device. The speaker is mostly a current controlled devce. Electroststic speakers are mostly voltage controlled.

That said, the horn will sound very good with a low-power valve amplifier (like 7 W) and will sound like crap with a similarly powered transistor amp (7W)

The horn is very well suited for classical music and is usually used to reproduce mid to high frequencies.

The voice of the theater is a nice speaker. A friend has a pair and we had my solid state amp against some of his valve amps. The tube amp drove the horns very nicely. My amp did too, but it was 100 W/channel. My solid-state amp had better bass than the tube amp did.

 

[carbonzit]

The horn is for the most part a voltage controlled device. The speaker is mostly a current controlled devce.

What does that even mean? and how is it relevant to the current discussion?

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

fundamental difference between horn speaker and 'normal' speaker

**broken link removed**

Note the article says it works as a capacitance. A voltage source will have better luck driving a capacitance.

 

[carbonzit]

**broken link removed**

Note the article says it works as a capacitance. A voltage source will have better luck driving a capacitance.

Actually, he says

The function of the horn is to work as an acoustic transformer, matching the driver to the airload.

I guess if I were a speaker builder, my eyes wouldn't glaze over when I read such stuff. Seems needlessly abstract and abstruse to me.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

**broken link removed**

Note the article says it works as a capacitance. A voltage source will have better luck driving a capacitance.

Sorry, you have completely misunderstood the article you're quoting.

A horn is simply an acoustic transformer, the actual speaker itself is (commonly) no different.

It's just another type of speaker cabinet, just more efficient, it's no different to drive.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I guess if I were a speaker builder, my eyes wouldn't glaze over when I read such stuff. Seems needlessly abstract and abstruse to me.

It's really pretty simple, whereas an electrical transformer matches impedance to impedance (say 10K to 8 ohms), an acoustic transformer matches the mechanical impedance of the cone to the mechanical impedance of the air - GREATLY increasing efficiency.

I knew a guy years bag who did disco's, he used horn speakers (using the corners of the room as part of the horns) and only a 10W amplifier.

 

[4pyros]

and isn't horn speaker specifically made to amplify human voice only and is not suited for music playback?

The horn you have pictured is a PA horn and has a limited frequency range and would sound bad for music. Horns do not have as much of a frequency range as normal speakers. You would need several horns for differant ranges to make music sound good.
Andy

 

[ronsimpson]

The horn you have pictured is a PA horn and has a limited frequency range and would sound bad for music. Horns do not have as much of a frequency range as normal speakers. You would need several horns for differant ranges to make music sound good.
Andy

The pictured horn is small = no low frequencies.

 

[crutschow]

Klipsch and others have made high fidelity speakers for years that use horns for the midrange and high frequencies.

All commercial speaker types are voltage controlled.

 

[ronsimpson]

Back in the 70s I had a pair of Klipsh. The woofer was a folded horn, the mid range and tweeter are horns. I had them on wheels! They were the same width as my house door so getting them back home after a concert was hard. Very loud, some what directional, good for the stage. I had a pair of broadcast quality limiters ahead of the amps. With the limiters I could run the average sound level high and know the amps/speakers were not distorting. We competed against other systems with 10,000 watts.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

All commercial speaker types are voltage controlled.

What do you mean by that?, it's a very misleading (and confusing) statement.

 

[ronsimpson]

All commercial speaker types are voltage controlled.

I have thought about this for years. The deflection of a speaker is related to the magnet and the amp-turns in the coil. The amps come from the voltage across the resistance in the coil wire. Solid state amps drive voltage and do not monitor current. The speaker industry knows there are driven with voltage and try to make things work that way.

May people say "voltage..........." But I think inside the coil it is current. (derived from voltage)

 

[crutschow]

What do you mean by that?, it's a very misleading (and confusing) statement.

Perhaps I should have said voltage operated rather than voltage controlled but I was just continuing with the terminology used by KISS.

Most devices require both current and voltage to operate.

A voltage operated device is controlled by a voltage and takes the current it requires. Commercial speakers fall into this category. Most speakers actually require an amp with a very low output impedance (the opposite of a current amp) to drive them to achieve proper damping.

A current operated device is controlled by current and takes the voltage it requires. An LED is typical of this category.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Perhaps I should have said voltage operated rather than voltage controlled but I was just continuing with the terminology used by KISS.

Most devices require both current and voltage to operate.

So does a speaker, if there was any need to specualte, it's actually power driven, not voltage or current, but both.

A voltage operated device is controlled by a voltage and takes the current it requires. Commercial speakers fall into this category. Most speakers actually require an amp with a very low output impedance (the opposite of a current amp) to drive them to achieve proper damping.

It's a VERY over rated and misunderstood effect, and while it obviously exists, it's no where near as important as many people seem to think.

A current operated device is controlled by current and takes the voltage it requires. An LED is typical of this category.

You've now gone from the realm of speakers, resistors, motors etc. to active semiconductor devices, there's really no basis for comparing them.

 

[ronsimpson]

I think force is derived form current and turns. Distance of travel is related to current and turns. Looking at the formulas I don't see voltage. We all understand why we need voltage.

From experience; Those that think speakers run on voltage are right and will never think other wise. Those who think the coil moves because of current will also hold onto their ideas, and are also right. We each look at this from a different point of view.

 

[carbonzit]

I wonder if this whole "voltage controlled thing" (and thank you very much, Nigel, for pointing out how misleading this is) may have something to do with the old constant-voltage system of wiring public-address speakers--you know, the old 70.7 volt system? I never understood this system, but can only speculate that there was some good reason for doing it. I always wondered, though, how they came up with √2/2 as the working voltage?

 

[carbonzit]

From experience; Those that think speakers run on voltage are right and will never think other wise. Those who think the coil moves because of current will also hold onto their ideas, and are also right. We each look at this from a different point of view.

Well, of course it moves "because of voltage"; so does any electrodynamic device (motor, relay, solenoid, etc.). But it also requires current (or consumes current) to operate.

So I still have no idea what "voltage-controlled" really means, other than to say "it needs voltage", which is kind of self-evident and doesn't really add any information, so I'll probably just go on ignoring such talk.