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Low Distortion Horn-Driver System

Horn distortion has been with us since the very first horn was used. The audio industry has accepted this distortion as a "reasonable" tradeoff for high efficiency, high SPL, and good dispersion characteristics where large areas have to be covered. Like most industries, we have constantly improved various parameters of horn-driver systems. We have created wider and smoother frequency response, better polar patterns, and most recently, improved coherence in time. But to everyone, a horn is still a horn. The parameter which has not been effectively dealt with is the harmonic distortion products created by the drivers and horns as they compress and rarify the air. This nonlinear function has been accepted as the "nature of the beast." Unfortunately, as with many things in our experience that have been around since the "beginning," we totally forget that it is even possible to change it. We have discovered a method to reduce horn distortion by a factor of 10! Further development promises even greater reduction. With this technique applied to horn-driver systems, they become not only the most practical method of generating high sound pressure levels, but true high fidelity reproduction systems.

Author: Meyer, John D.
Affiliation: Meyer Sound Laboratories, Inc., San Leandro, CA
AES Convention:64 (November 1979) Paper Number:1527 Import into BibTeX

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