Just curious, are the exodus audio drivers suitable for horn type subs (I know nothing about the horn subs or their various types - but I think it was called a tuba sub).
I was trying to search for the thread that I saw where a guy said his horn sub (15") totally eclipsed his LLT sub in all area's.
Just wondering if the exodus audio subs have been used for this type of sub, or if its even possible?
Sure.... but it would have to be designed correctly. Horns in general are like acoustic transformers, they impedance match the driver to the air and you pick up LOT of efficiency over a narrow bandwidth. They also get very large because the size of the horn, has to have some relation to the wavelengths it is coupling, and with bass, you have very LONG wavelengths.
For pro-sound use, they are pretty much the cat's meow. You have a HUGE space to fill and about the only way to get enough output, is by running horn loaded devices. For home audio applications, the tradeoffs are often not worth the cost. The tradeoffs are that you only get good horn loading over a fairly narrow bandwidth, the horn has to be very large, and the build is much more complex than a simple sealed or ported box. Also.. .the response is less linear, especially in poorly designed horns. You almost have to build the room around the horn in some of the larger devices. Even in the smaller folded horns (Danley, Fitzmaurice) you have large or bandwidth limited devices and you have to decide if that tradeoff is worth it. Often horns will depend upon certain placement in the room also because the corner or a room boundary are designed as part of the horn.
I look at it this way:
What you gain:
- Lots of SPL over the horns range of use.
What you give up:
- Space/Size
- Complexity
- Bandwidth
- Placement Flexibility
- FR Linearity
In terms of SPL, once you get enough in-room to never hit the limits of your subs, any more is pretty much for bragging rights. You can have a system that will do 140dB @ 30Hz and what is the point? You don't need it. What you do need, and this is proven out in all the research, is smooth in-room response. The best way to get smooth in-room response is with multiple devices, and the flexibility to move them and the listening position along with a couple bands of PEQ, room measurements, and room treatments in some cases. So... horns that are large enough that they cannot be moved, are counter to those goals. You gain one thing, and you give up a range of attributes that are of clear value as proven out in all of the research of small room acoustics.
So.... yes you can design a horn around something like the Shiva-X2. I'll probably do so at some point just for the sake of having the design available for people who want to build them. Should you for the typical domestic home theater? No... not in my opinion. There are better ways to skin the cat.
Kevin Haskins
Exodus Audio
