So -- If you EVER find one, or a pair of these horns, Snap. Them. Up.

[mhardy6647]

DSC_6847 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
DSC_6841 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
DSC_6839 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
DSC_6853 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

Postscript.
Joe Roberts is a heck of a guy, but he's also an enabler.

I am now seriously considering the sale of a kidney to see if I can come up with a pair of these horns, with or without the throat adaptors

 

[TubeHiFiNut]

Great......something else to put on my "I WANT" list.....

 

[mhardy6647]

I should clarify -- it's not that these horns are all that expensive... it's just that they've become kind of hard to find.
Not without reason, as it turns out.

 

[Punker X]

What material are they made of? Just looking at them they appear to look like an 811 with no sectional ribs. Be interesting to see some side by side pictures with an 811.

 

[Redboy]

Methinks your choice of drivers is none too shabby, as well.

Looks interesting. I recall some generally positive comments about the Emilars over the years. If I come across any, I won't walk away!

 

[mhardy6647]

What material are they made of? Just looking at them they appear to look like an 811 with no sectional ribs. Be interesting to see some side by side pictures with an 811.

They are very heavy cast aluminum. The EH-500-2 is certainly 811 (or 511)-esque, but much heftier (less ringy) and, I think - paradoxically - smaller. The EH-500-2 is nominally a 500 Hz horn, but it is very compact. I was using it with a nominal 500 Hz XO (first order; i.e., a 20 uF capacitor) mostly, but I didn't do any frequency tests or anything.

I cannot easily compare the EH-500-2 to an 811B as I don't have one of the latter sitting around loose There are a pair in my Santiagos -- but the grilles are sort of tricky to remove from the Santiagos, and I am pretty darned lazy.

I do have a loose pair of 511Bs. The lazy thing will delay a direct comparison but I shall do one before sending the Emilar back to Joe.

Meanwhile I can share a couple of similar aspect photos, some from a previous "experiment".
Gimme a minute

 

[mhardy6647]

EH-500-2 with EH throat adaptor and an Altec 802D:
DSC_6848 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
DSC_6841 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr


Altec 511B with an Altec 802D:

DSC_3091 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
DSC_3093 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

 

[je2a3]

I should clarify -- it's not that these horns are all that expensive... it's just that they've become kind of hard to find.
Not without reason, as it turns out.

Fortunately I already have a pair Happy listening!

 

[mhardy6647]

Yeah, you're part of the problem, too!
The "secret" of these is out.

Mr. Esmilla, great to see you post here! Hope that all is well!

This stuff really is too much fun.

 

[je2a3]

Yeah, you're part of the problem, too!
The "secret" of these is out.

Mr. Esmilla, great to see you post here! Hope that all is well!

This stuff really is too much fun.

FWIW, I've also had excellent results with the "throatless" Emilar EH500 using the 2" Renkus-Heinz SSD3301 driver. I think Emilar also made 2" drivers but have no experience with those. The 1" > 2" Emilar throat adapter is a very well machined piece and is essential for good performance using 1" drivers.

 

[mhardy6647]

As I mentioned in my comment to Redboy earlier, since the horn was a loaner I resisted the temptation to remove the adaptor & try one of a pair of JBL 2441s that also happen to be warping a shelf here (on loan from a regional hifi guru whose initials might be W.C.).

DSC_6253 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

 

[dowto1000]

I run SHOWCO 9000s, which is a KNOCK OFF. clone of the EH-500 . Cost me $35.00 each, with 2 inch to 1 inch adapters. ( On a referral by Dave Vorhis .) Sold my 511s, to pay for them. I use four concrete blocks on TOP of them, about 50 pounds on the horns alone, on each 400 pound total mass - loaded A7-800/ 825.. Algis Renkus was my client ( Jonas' son ) in Beverly Hills, when I was a stockbroker in the early 80s.. [IMG2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","src":"http:\/\/www.hifihaven.org\/filedata\/fetch?type=thumb&filedataid=5968"}[/IMG2]

 

[mhardy6647]

I run SHOWCO 9000s, which is a KNOCK OFF. clone of the EH-500 . Cost me $35.00 each, with 2 inch to 1 inch adapters. ( On a referral by Dave Vorhis .) Sold my 511s, to pay for them. I use four concrete blocks on TOP of them, about 50 pounds on the horns alone, on each 400 pound total mass - loaded A7-800/ 825.. Algis Renkus was my client ( Jonas' son ) in Beverly Hills, when I was a stockbroker in the early 80s.. [IMG2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","src":"http:\/\/www.hifihaven.org\/filedata\/fetch?type=thumb&filedataid=5968"}[/IMG2]

I don't think the Showco horns are knock-offs. I had it on pretty good authority that they were rebadged EMILARs. Either Joe Rosen told me that, or I read it on audioasylum.

heh, those blocks -- something familiar there

 

[David]

What's so great about them?

 

[mhardy6647]

What's so great about them?

They're small but they have a low cutoff, they're relatively inexpensive (albeit not terribly easy to find) and they're very (very) smooth.
Apparently, the magic that separates fine sounding horns from the meh (not to mention the awful) ones is in the throat (i.e., the coupling of the driver to the horn).
Any discontinuity in the expansion from the driver to the horn causes -- issues. Possibly audible, and maybe even pretty profound issues.
EMILAR, apparently, gets the throat pretty "right" -- also the expansion of their 1" to 2" adaptor is (again, apparently) optimal for the EH500-2.

At least that's Joe Rosen's claim (liberally paraphrased) -- and, empirically, it seems like a good rule of thumb.

DSC_6854 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

Here's a good read on the topic (more or less); my apologies if I posted this before :/

http://db.audioasylum.com/mhtml/m.h...score&sortOrder=DESC&sortRank=Forum&forum=hug

 

[mhardy6647]

Fortunately (for me!) -- I haven't yet had a chance to play with the WE/Altec 32 fine family of horns.
I've got enough problems

http://jelabs.blogspot.com/2014/01/altec-2-way-horn-system-redux.html?
http://jelabs.blogspot.com/2016/02/altec-32b-horn-redux.html

 

[dowto1000]

Some may say, " You can never ( ideally ) fold or bend a horn " ?????

I don't know !!

Dowto1000

 

[TubeHiFiNut]

mhardy6647 - Which drivers have you tried, so far, amd which are your favorites?

 

[mhardy6647]

Really just two -- Altec 802D and JBL2441. They both sound very good to me; I stuck with the JBL for -- well -- no good reason, really. Actually, at the time I didn't have a pair of the EMILAR throat adaptors, so the JBLs kind of won by default (I do have a pair of the EMILAR 1" to 2" throat adaptors now, courtesy of Jammin Jersey in - heh - southern California).

 

[mhardy6647]

So -- I still cannot manage a decent photograph of these things -- but here's a glimpse of the current configuration of the Frankenaltecs (FYI and FWIW).

DSC_9570 (3) by Mark Hardy, on Flickr