Bass horn introduction

If you are a bass nut, nothing is more impressive than a bass horn. It's the audio equivalent of an all you can eat buffet that costs no more than cheap take away yet has all the refinement of an exclusive restaurant where the main course is more like an entre.



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All you can eat bass
Very high efficiency means you can have it as loud as you want.

Low cost
Modest drivers and power amps are fine and MDF is cheap.

Refined bass
Horn loading transforms a modest driver into a more refined reproducer of bass.

It all sounds too good to be true. There must be a downside. Actually there are a few. The small number of commercial options are extremely expensive and tend to be compromised designs. Bass horns are more suited to DIY enthusiasts. Bass horns are bigger than every other type of sub and they are also the most difficult to design. But if you are a serious bass nut, you can overcome all the challenges and get the best bass you can imagine.

Have you dismissed the idea due to SAF issues? Perhaps there is still a way you can keep your spouse and have the bass horn too. Don't write it off just yet. A little creativity might save you from a life time of bass boredom.

In this coming series of articles, I'm going to cover:

• how to get your bass horn approved by the interior design committee without resorting to bribery and grovelling
• how to integrate a bass horn into your room
• different types of bass horns - tapped horn, front and back loaded horns
• how to simulate bass horns
• how to work out the folding and make your design into a box plan
• resource of bass horn designs
• bass horn lingo - what all those nerdy tech words mean in plain English
• bass horn theory - the non boring bits

If you'd like to follow the updates, click on the follow bottom in the right column.

In the meantime, you can see some previous posts on the diy audio wiki.