Hi Wayne,Of course if you have the room, the horns are better than vented boxes. Since the horn is more effiecent and requires less diaphragm motion, you get less distortion from suspension non-linearities and voice coil heating. But it's still big... Actually, though, my current horn design is only about 48 cubic feet and it'll theoretically do 135dB + on only 500watts. At that level, the cone would be moving 1.1mm.... :> Not sure how that compares size wise to vented boxes, but since I'm only after the low distortion and high dynamics, well, it doesn't particularly matter...
I'm hoping to complete construction in the three months of summer. Definitely not full time, though. Just weekends and free time. I don't think it will be too hard... One side of the horn is flat, the two curved sides will be kerfed plywood laminated together, and the other side, well, it will be interesting, but I don't think it will be too bad...
John