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There are a number of advantages to Synergy (or Unity) type horn speakers ==
* constant directivity over a wide range. Imaging is very good and can be good over multiple listening positions with proper toe-in.
* The horns are essentially conical and usually short, so no "horn honk", but help reduce early reflections in rooms and sound louder in front of the speakers than out away from the area.
* Point source coaxial behavior, sound doesn't change much at different positions around the coverage area. Unlike most speakers using horns. that have drivers for different frequency ranges spaced out away from each other so they make interference patterns around crossover points. When done well, a Synergy speaker sounds pretty much the same from 6 feet away and off to a side as it does with your head stuck inside the horn!
* good (though not insanely high) efficiency/sensitivity, typically around 93 to 100dB/2.83V/1m. High SPL capability
* my favorite, the mid and woofers operate in acoustic bandpass arrangements, which means that out-of-band distortion products are reduced by the physical arrangement after amplifiers and speaker distortion generating mechanisms. In usual multi-way speaker systems, distortion from midranges and woofers go out unimpeded into the room. Don't know if that's the cause, but the sound quality can be shockingly clean and clear.
* possible to make with linear phase (also called "waveform faithful", perfect impulse response, flat delay, other names), even with passive crossovers. Not easy, though (and I don't personally find it all that significant).
* can be made smaller than other multiway horn systems.
* they can be designed to work well back against a wall in small rooms. Which doesn't compete so well at MWAF, where they force all the speakers to be out multiple feet, but work better in real rooms many of us have.
You might say I'm a fan!
* constant directivity over a wide range. Imaging is very good and can be good over multiple listening positions with proper toe-in.
* The horns are essentially conical and usually short, so no "horn honk", but help reduce early reflections in rooms and sound louder in front of the speakers than out away from the area.
* Point source coaxial behavior, sound doesn't change much at different positions around the coverage area. Unlike most speakers using horns. that have drivers for different frequency ranges spaced out away from each other so they make interference patterns around crossover points. When done well, a Synergy speaker sounds pretty much the same from 6 feet away and off to a side as it does with your head stuck inside the horn!
* good (though not insanely high) efficiency/sensitivity, typically around 93 to 100dB/2.83V/1m. High SPL capability
* my favorite, the mid and woofers operate in acoustic bandpass arrangements, which means that out-of-band distortion products are reduced by the physical arrangement after amplifiers and speaker distortion generating mechanisms. In usual multi-way speaker systems, distortion from midranges and woofers go out unimpeded into the room. Don't know if that's the cause, but the sound quality can be shockingly clean and clear.
* possible to make with linear phase (also called "waveform faithful", perfect impulse response, flat delay, other names), even with passive crossovers. Not easy, though (and I don't personally find it all that significant).
* can be made smaller than other multiway horn systems.
* they can be designed to work well back against a wall in small rooms. Which doesn't compete so well at MWAF, where they force all the speakers to be out multiple feet, but work better in real rooms many of us have.
You might say I'm a fan!
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