Re: Two 3 pi subs to replace my horn? [message #78558 is a reply to message #78556] |
Fri, 06 December 2013 10:15 |
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Wayne Parham
Messages: 18791 Registered: January 2001
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Illuminati (33rd Degree) |
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Hornsubs are about 10dB louder than most direct radiating subs, sometimes even more. So it takes more power to get the same SPL, and even then, you really need more of them to prevent overtaxing them.
On the other hand, hornsubs have to be huge to be anything close to smooth, and generally, they don't have the extension of a direct radiating sub. It's all about size. So for home hifi, I actually prefer direct radiating subs. They're smoother and smaller, making multisub arrangements more practical.
Especially since flanking subs and distributed multisubs are so important for quality, I'd prefer four direct radiating subs to a single hornsub. The quality of multisubs is vastly better than a single hornsub - The hornsub is not the smoothest to begin with, then add to that it is a single sound source so room modes are worst case. Compare that to a multisub arrangement of direct radiating subs, which are smoother all by themselves, and then you get modal smoothing by virtue of the setup.
Honestly, there's no comparison. The multiple direct radiating sub is hand down better than a single hornsub for home hifi and home theater.
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