Horns

Horns · Guide

Shape a horn in the Horn Editor

The Horn Editor tile draws the horn path to scale and lets you change it by dragging. Every change goes straight into the simulation, so the graphs beside it follow as you work. Switch the tile to its table to type the same values as fields.

Open it#

  • Choose the Horn Design layout. It is pinned as a tab beside the layout switcher above the graphs, and it is in the switcher’s Layouts menu. It puts the Horn Editor beside SPL, impedance, excursion and group delay.
  • Or add the Horn Editor tile to any layout from Add tile.
  • Or click a path’s row in the horn card, in the enclosure panel. That path opens in the Horn Editor, and the tile is added to the top of the layout if it isn’t there.

The Schematic tile, also in Add tile, draws the whole design, chambers and outputs included.

The path bar#

A small bar sits inside the top of the tile. From left to right:

  • Horn type: the same choice as in the horn card. Each option says what the diaphragm faces connect to.
  • ⓘ: how the current type is connected, the editing gestures, and a link to that type’s page in these docs.
  • The Paraflex subtype, PH1 to PH4, for Paraflex horns.
  • Path chips, when the horn has more than one path: Front and Rear for compound horns, Main and Stub for stubbed horns, Main and H5–H7 for PH1 and PH2, and Main, H5–H6 and Adapter H7 for PH3 and PH4. Each chip shows its path’s length; click one to edit that path.

At the top right, Drawing and Table switch between the two views of the path. Both edit the same spans and markers, so they always agree. Phones start on the table, where every value is a touch-sized field; the tile remembers the view you last chose.

The tile’s own title bar has Fold into cabinet, which opens the Fold tile. It is disabled for horn types that don’t fold yet. Folding a horn.

Gestures in the drawing#

Start from the designThe default front-loaded horn: two exponential spans, H1 and H2, between three stations. The chips show each station’s area and each span’s length; the grey line is an unchanged copy.
Horn Editor
Simulating…
SPL (dB)
Simulating…
  • Hover a span to see its flare, its stuffing toggle, and the buttons to add a span or remove it.
  • Click a span’s H label to switch its flare to the next of conical, exponential and parabolic.
  • The + at a station inserts a span there, and the one past the mouth adds a span at the end.
  • Hover outside the horn to see its overall length and height.
  • Click any value to type it.
  • Drag an arrow or a divider between spans to reshape the path.
  • Drag a driver or tap marker to move it along the path.
  • Drag a stuffing flag or the stuffing itself to resize or slide it, and drag its resistivity chip up or down to change the material. Stuffing.
Mouth2400 cm²
Baffle
front35 cm
rear195 cm
21SW152
100 W·6.0 Ω
H1
H2
H3
H4
closed
The tapped horn example, with a B&C 21SW152. Front entry position: 14 % · 35 cm. Drawn by the simulator when this page was built. The Schematic tile draws the same path with its chambers and outputs.

Markers by horn type#

Horn typeMarkers
Front-loadedA driver marker, fixed at the throat.
Back-loadedA rear-of-driver marker, fixed at the throat.
TappedDriver and rear-tap markers, both draggable.
Offset-driverA draggable driver marker.
StubbedA driver marker fixed at the throat, and a draggable stub junction.
CompoundA driver marker you can drag along either path.
MEHD1 fixed at the throat; D2 and later draggable. Clicking a marker selects that driver.
ParaflexNo markers. The subtype sets where the driver connects.

The same values as a table#

Switch the tile to Table when you already know the numbers. The first row is the station where the path starts, then one row per span, and every value is a field you can tab through.

Span
H1 onward, 1 to 8 per path. Click a span’s name to select it; the Schematic lights the same span. Hover a row for + to insert a span after it and a bin to remove it; Add segment adds one past the mouth.
Flare, Length and Ends at
The span’s flare, its length in cm, and how far along the path it ends.
Area
The area at the end of each span, and at the start of the path on the first row: in cm², or click the column’s unit to type diameters in cm instead.
Stuffing
Stuff this span fills the whole span. A stuffed span shows a chip with its resistivity and extent; click it for Resistivity, Start and End, or Remove stuffing.
Markers
A dashed row between the spans each marker falls in, with its position in cm from the start of the path.
Readouts
Under the table: the path’s Length, Mouth Ø, Area ratio and Mode spacing.

On a phone the table leaves out the Flare and Ends at columns and shows each span’s flare as an icon beside its name.

The horn card#

The horn card in the enclosure panel keeps what the tile doesn’t: the horn type, a row per path that opens it here, the chamber volumes with their cross-sections under Advanced, and a row for each extra driver of a multiple-entry horn. Volume divided by cross-section sets a coupling path’s length. Each type’s page lists its own controls.

Flares#

Each span has its own flare, which sets how its area changes between its two stations:

FlareHow the area changes
ConicalThe radius changes in a straight line, so the walls are straight.
ExponentialThe area grows by the same ratio over each equal step along the span. This is the default flare.
ParabolicThe area grows in a straight line along the span.

A span you add takes the flare of the span it continues. Spans run from 2 cm to 6 m long, with an area from 5 cm² to 2 m² at each station. Hornresp export maps the flares to its own Con, Exp and Par and never approximates one with another.

Ask your AI#

Ask your AI

Your assistant runs the same solver on your own designs through the 00 Simulator connector.
Using 00 Simulator, look at the horn in my open workspace and describe its path span by span: length, areas and flare. Then suggest one change to the flare or the mouth area that should extend the bass, try it without saving, and show me SPL before and after.
or open it inClaudeChatGPT

Connect your assistant so it can open your designs.