Speaker porn

Okay maybe it's not a sophisticated taste but I actually adore the looks of those SVS Ultra bookshelves.

 

I dig that shot, lovely. Never heard those speakers, though

 

BWC

 

More like BHC

 

Audiophile accounts on Instagram are very niche. Someone like Steve Guttenburg with 10k followers is exceptional and most popular accounts tend to be ~1k. So I was a bit surprised to see someone promoting big horn speakers with 20k followers.


source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CNBcgmOD9oY/

Did a bit a research on Devon Turnbull and he comes from the fashion side of things. While he did get a degree in audio engineering, he founded a street fashion brand. He's installed his speakers in Supreme stores all over NYC.

Browsing his stuff he's a big fan of Japanese audiophilia. Basically big sensitive speakers and single-ended triodes. Not mad at anyone making big horns trendy

 

https://resistormag.com/features/devon-turnbull-old-school-hi-fi-influencer/

 

Agreed, though being titled a 'hi-fi influencer' seems like mixed praise. Practically it looks like he's putting his brand on existing amps and playing mix-and-match with old speaker designs in new, inexpensive casework. In Japan, where he saw all this stuff, they're still obsessed high price tags.

Good things for the speaker industry.

 

The world of trendsetters really seem to like unfinished plywood horns. Earlier this year Virgil Abloh had custom Admire Audio speakers at his fashion show

 

What really makes me think that he cares about sound quality and knows his stuff is this recent collaboration on multi-celled horns he's doing with Joseph Crowe:


https://www.instagram.com/p/CSZb1U7Mwbw/

I've mentioned Joseph Crowe before. Here are some of his speakers in case anyone missed it

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/speaker-porn.3298/page-32#post-316762

 

Very cool but its a repro of a Western Electric 26A Horn from 1936. Little more of a tractrix curve, maybe.

 

oh it's definitely based off of the classic 15-cell horn. The differences I've read are that the vintage horn was made with folded sheet metal which forced some design limitations and the throat was redesigned with a smoother transition. Plus advanced CAD was not available at the time and Joseph Crowe will certainly do refinements with acoustic simulations.

 

Just hoping they don't price them like the new line magnetic WE horn replicas.. Awesome looking speaker but crazy price, I believe I heard the prototype of this in Singapore a few years ago.

 

Oh! First glance at that first pic, I thought it was a washing machine.

 

That's my hope as well. Horn designs are simple, well explored by now, and relatively simple to build out of common materials. Look at the pictures @Cspirou posted above, that's all just unfinished plywood ! Horn's are largely relegated to the ORFAS crowd in the US but there's no reason they cant be made and sold inexpensively with enough margin to sustain a business.

I do like the stuff Joseph Crowe is making, hopefully he makes a go of it.

 

I've been looking at some of these DIY-adjacent/small shop horns, too. Planning on hearing Devon's horns at some point. Also spoke with Gary Fisher on the phone. He feels that the old horn designs are good but doesn't like the old drivers. I think Devon uses Great Plains Audio drivers, though I'm told he has them custom spec'd.

Agree with @ogodei that there's no reason any of this stuff should be mega-expensive. I've heard Avantgardes (circa 2005-2010 models), and I found them really too bright. And I've never quite connected with K-Horns (impressive sense of scale but always seem bass light to me). But I do really like Cornwalls (I've heard the II's). And I want to hear La Scalas.

I'd like to hear Volti and Classic Audio. I'm curious about Joseph Crowe, but it seems like, from his site, he's more into designing and testing drivers than building full speakers?

Oh, I've heard the huge horns OMA makes. They're maybe the best I've ever heard, in some/many attributes, but you need a room the size of a movie sound stage to really be able to enjoy them.

Cessaro horns have also impressed me, but they are $$$$.

 

From what I understand his primary source of income is consulting for other audio companies. Some are bespoke hifi and some are pro-audio. For his own brand he releases plans, flatpacks, horns and complete speakers. A lot of the plans he lists he can also assemble for you but it will be $$$$$$. He has a blog where he mentions custom projects and installations he's done and he can do that for you too, but you'll need to contact him about it.

And to be sure this post has speaker porn, here is a Crowe 3-way horn. Includes a midbass horn with double B&C drivers

 

I really like the look of those horns on the bottom. Hate the grey colouring of the middle ones though. Kinda makes them look inflatable (which admittedly could be an interesting business concept).

 

Is this better?

 

I do wonder to what extent horn speakers are an excuse for sexy woodwork that costs huge amounts of time or money? But hey, I get off on it too.