Horn education...

[Mystery]

So why is a horn tweeter so different than regular dome tweeter?
Looks like horn tweeter also uses same phenolic or titanium etc... dome diaphragm.

Is it only on the dispersion?
If it is, adding a dispersion horn on top of any dome tweeter makes it a horn tweeter? For example, add a plastic/metal horn on top of a Polk or ADS tweeter to make it horn??? :scratch2:

Klipsch K-77 diaphragm below for Heresy and others:

 

[dc270]

You could take any driver, adapt a given horn lens to it, and effectively make a "horn" product. There are many kinds of diaphragm one could use out there, like some Klipsch tweeters can be interchanged with Titanium and phenolic alike!

The horn lens offer dispersion and cut off chracteristics mostly speaking. There are many schools of educated thought regarding horns, drivers and lens.......

Good question!
DC

 

[Mystery]

Well it's just that whenever a horn speaker is spoken of, they are regarded as completely different animal but horn uses same technology and similar diaphragms as dome tweeter.

Ribbon vs dome vs electrostatic panels, that I can understand as different techologies. :scratch2:

 

[bowtie427ss]

the diaphragm shape in a "compression" driver is not important in terms of dispersion as it is generally firing thru a phase plug into a compression chamber after which the wave front enters the horn throat. both the compression chamber and horn provide acoustic gain which can greatly increase electrical input sensitivity.

when you think of the more commonly seen compression drivers from Altec and JBL, remember that when you look at a pic of one of those drivers with the rear cover off, the side you see is NOT the side you hear.

 

[moray james]

Structural integrity is important in most comp drivers as the compression ratio can be very high but there are cases of some comp drivers which are not as efficient and so do not have as high a compression ratio. Depends upon the application. For example a fog horn for a ferry has to be way loud super efficient opposite end of the spectrum where you have a speaker 96db efficient and you want the horn for directivity control not increased level as in a Forte ll or an RF3. Best regards Moray James.