hey guys

Just getting curious about Horns (HLCDs) recently... so thought id do some enquiring.
Whats peoples opinions on "Horns + midbasses" Vs "normal 2 or 3 way component driver" setups.
I know horn installation is much more difficult, thats why the research first .
Is there anything characterist about 'horn sound'.. is it overall better.. or anything like that???

I believe horns can play lower (a larger freq. range) then normal tweets... and can therefore be paired with a 8" midbass driver - is this correct?

I am aware that horns can be expensive.. but compared to the $1100 of a BostonAcoustic Pro6 setup... it might not be too far off.

Cheers
_Ice

i'll let you know when i get mine in

Just remember when you are doing the pricing that most HLCD manufacturers reccomend (read: insist) that their horns are given appropriate off-board EQ and Xover processing. By doing this you also can get rid of the "horn" sound which is usualy a big emphasis on the mid range, making the speakers sound "honky".

So the speakers themselves may not be *that* much more expensive but you do have to consider those other things.

Personally I found that the horns enabled me to go rather loud all across the board without getting insanely tinny and bright - which is what I found with alot of the dedicated tweaters that I demoed. Of course without the EQ's mind you the horns would probably be very bright too!

What kind of a car were you thinking of squeezing these into?

probably a Vx commodore.

I will be using crossovers for my setup, (probably running active too) - possibly also out of a PXA-H701.

Also, what sort of prices am I looking at, who makes good horn setups? I know ID does.. but havnt seen any or demo'd any .

USD
Veritas
I.D.

both good IMHO

As above in terms of manufacturers.

Price wise I am pretty sure the ID COMP-2 HLCD's go for $1500 new, and I know that they used to be listed on FHRX's webpage.

What bass driver were you planning on teaming this up with? I am currently putting together my system at the moment (as money allows me!) and I have Dyn 5.7" mids to provide extra kick, and am waiting on Dyn 8"s to put in the doors.

I have never seen/heard/used the PXA-H701 but it does have a very impressive amount of features! I personally run two AudioControl EQT's as they are analogue and therefore user friendly!! Plus they never loose your settings if the battery terminals are disconnected!!!

The CD2s are around $2000. They're very good though.

I've built dozens of cars with horns, my advise is get good ones or don't bother.

Phil

$2000 WTF was I thinking... ok.. ill just keep 'researching' for now.. and save up some more money!

LOL - I thought you knew about that already!

Anways - as George has said, get good quality ones or you will have wasted your monet, EQ's can only do so much!!!

Jason,
Check PM

Got you some handy reading material to further your research
Enjoy

This one...
This one too..
Here's a not bad one
And hope this one helps too

People are right about making sure you buy good fromt he start with horns.. don't grab cheapies. Make sure you try to source a full body compression driver (big ones) Down side is the big motors need room inside the dash to work with... but there are ALWAYS ways of working around things in car audio... your imagintaion is the only thing that can restrict you in the car audio industry
I got the USD Waveguides and these were excellent in their time. For those that like their "old school feel" to music... these to the job. Setup and installation IS crucial. Because of the efficiency of the speaker.. no more than 30-40wrms @ 8 ohm will be enough to take your head off, considering most horns cover from 20kHz down to about 600Hz... so it does half the audible spectrum on it's own! You'd wanna couple this with a beefy 6.5" midbass or preferably an 8". I got my hands on a set of ID 8's to go back with the horns.

i used to use Motorola Horns now CTS or the other way round forget, there like $50ea and the sounds great, now peizo type horns dont require a cross over, and well you cant cross them over, seen there impedence is in the Kohms, but yeah horns rule