Best Altec Horn for Home Use

[longdrive55]

Hi All,

I'm making my initial foray into Horn-based loudspeakers. After much reading on the subject, figure I'll start with an Altec 280 or 290 series compression driver and Altec Horn, along with a 416/515 bass horn.

My question is which is the best hi-frequency horn to use for home use? My listening room is 14'x17' (but only has three walls). There is no second short wall as the room opens up into a hall way and foyer (but I can't position my listening chair in this free space). The room is fully carpeted and has lots of plants, so its not too reverberant.

I've been looking at the 805, 1005 and 1505, all of which might be overkill for a room like this. Can anyone shed some light on horns they use and how to choose the best horn for a particular listening environment?

Thanks,

Erik

[Fitts]

I have 291 drivers on 311 horns in a 12 by 16 room. They sound great and are way more than I will ever need. I have listened to the 511 and 811 horns and do like them a lot. They seem a bit brighter than my 311 horns.

Regardless of what you go with, be sure to bi amp. I could not believe how much improved my A7 LF and 311 HF horns sounded with the active crossover.

Have fun,

[GM]

I personally would want very narrow dispersion speakers in a small room, especially one where a wall is missing on one side of the soundstage due to any potential early boundary reflections being lopsided between the channels.

Make a scale floorplan of where you want the speakers/listening area and draw out the overlapping coverage to find the one with least/no reflections between the two. Do a side view also for vertical dispersion.

If no horn has what you need, then pick the one closest and add thick foam horn extensions to damp their off axis response. I'll leave it to you to figure out how to make them WAF.

Your plants will work well behind and to the sides of the listening position to create a diffuse soundfield to add some sense of depth to the soundstage.

GM