Constantine Soo
listens to the Texas musical instrument:
the
MaxxHorn
Immersion
speaker
June, 2006
Specifications:
Type:
2-way, concentric single-driver full-range speaker
Back
loaded horn:
45Hz - 1000Hz (no crossover)
PHL
driver:
1000Hz - 5000Hz direct radiation (no crossover)
Concentric tweeter:
5000Hz - 20,000Hz (second order crossover)
Frequency Response:
45Hz to 20kHz
Sensitivity:
100dB/w/m
Min/Max Power (Tube or Solid-state):
1 watt to 100 watts per side
Main
Driver Input Impedance:
16Ω (Nominal)
Coaxial tweeter Input Impedance:
6Ω (Nominal)
Dimensions:
H 61” x W 17” x D 25”
Weight:
150lb per speaker
MSRP:
$12,500/pair
MaxxHorn
www.maxxhorn.com
info@maxxhorn.com
Legendary horn
iterations of the past, such as those from Altec-Lansing, JBL and
Klipsch utilized separate horns for reproducing specific spectrums
via complex crossover schemes to attain sufficient bandwidths, while
still being able to play loud; and their purist counterparts as
exemplified by the single-driver Lowther and a few others pursued
tonal purity sans crossovers, at the expense of bandwidth and
output.
 Johan van Zyl, the
Texan designer of the $12,500 MaxxHorn Immersion, which is the
subject of this review, is of the opinion that crossovers would
impose such sonic contaminants as “time smearing, softening of
dynamic transients, and a reduction in the timbre texture of music.”
Robert Spence, president of MaxxHorn, stated that:
“…live
music is made up of very complex arrays of random and sporadic
frequencies performed at different sound pressure levels, reproduced
simultaneously (in the case of the MaxxHorn) by a single driver.
This is an almost impossible task and can only be executed
properly if the excursion of the driver is reduced to the point
where the driver can faithfully track the extremely fast transients
of the music as performed.”
With tonal purity as the supreme design parameter, Johan began
research fifteen years ago on finding a solution to all
single-driver horn speaker systems’ two predominant predicaments of
limited dynamic output and bandwidth capability. He identified
driver excursions in inefficient speakers as the major culprit
against bandwidth extension, while imposing excursion constraint
would only curtail driver output further.
Johan thus proceeded to engage the use of complex, state-of-the-art
computer design software to calculate the various algorithms and
equations in search of the perfect horn that is capable of
traversing beyond the 3 to 4 octaves’ range of standard horn
frequency range with ease at high volumes, which, at the same time,
is complete devoid of the horn nasality. During his journey, he
founded the pro-audio enterprise of Rhino Acoustics with David Lee,
which supplies concert subwoofers based on his own
BassMaxx Technology™.
In 2004, Johan
and David were joined by Robert Spence, an audiophile and
entrepreneur that Johan met at a local club gathering in Texas.
Together, they began exploration of the ideas and possibilities
as envisioned by Johan at once, and in recognition of Johan’s
talents and visions, Robert coined the separate enterprise MaxxHorn to signify their
pursuit of “the maximum in horn design, in order to maximize our
passion for the live music experience in our homes.”
 A considerable
source of enthusiasm from Robert and David stemmed from the
revolutionary ideas that Johan put forward. He envisioned a
radically new design of horn with its driver mounted not at its
throat but on its side to reduce throat distortion. Secondly, he
also envisioned such a horn to have no decoupling chamber behind the
driver so as to effectuate a radically massive air-loading property
inside it, which would effectively dampen the driver cone’s tendency
to ring. Then, Johan adopted Paul Voigt’s legendary tractrix horn
design with its inherent wide-bandwidth advantage to complement the
new horn.
Johan also
envisioned a 45Hz bottom-end reproduction as part of the Immersion’s
performance portfolio. Consequently, bottom-octaves reproduction was
via the established
BassMaxx Technology™
from Rhino Acoustics, in which a downward-firing horn of extended
length was fitted sideway into the Immersion’s cabinet, and was
further tuned to prevent from storing rampant frequencies, as well
as to avoid fast frequency roll-off. A free-standing diffuser in
the form a small pyramid fitted at the speaker’s bottom flare
propagated the bass dispersion, as well as inhibiting its backfiring
up into the horn.
 Construction of the
Immersion was via the Dado carpentry technique to attain maximum
durability and rigidity. A CNC router performed precision cutting
to create perfect angles and junctures throughout the cabinet,
eliminating instances of miniscule flexure and resonance. This
expensive and lengthy process was complimented by an even more
thorough measure in securing a zero-energy storage cabinet, by a
design of the rear cabinet that removed the very structure itself
from the sound path of the horn, and was then sand-filled to absorb
and transfer all remaining resonant energy.
Interestingly, the
folks at MaxxHorn prefer the Bentonite brand of clay anti-bacterial
cat litter sand as the filler of choice for its clay-laden
properties. Keep your MaxxHorn away from all felines…
In the interim
between the founding of MaxxHorn and the Immersion’s launch at the
2005 Rocky Mountain AudioFest, Robert Spence researched the
viability of various drivers for Johan to experiment. Robert stated
that:
“Virtually every
stock driver was researched that met the specification guidelines
Johan gave me for his horn technology. I tried some of the most
promising drivers/ tweeters, and combinations thereof, before
finally selecting the superb PHL 1240TWX.”
 The 6.5-inch,
French PHL 1240TWX driver is not a full-range unit, and yet
MaxxHorn’s adaptation of this driver resulted in an effective
frequency range of 45 to 5k Hz, with only a very limited, 3.5mm
range of excursion, thus ensuring the full, 7-octave bandwidth
reproduction of the driver’s frequency range. While signals from 1k
to 5k Hz are radiated directly from the driver, frequencies above
5kHz through 20kHz are gently crossover-ed to a concentric tweeter
via a cap and an inductor. Then, the back loaded horn behind the
PHL driver with its down-firing port sustains the frequency range of
45 to 1k Hz. In addition, the PHL driver is directly coupled to the
mid-cabinet Vampire Wire BPHEX/CB
binding posts mounted in parallel height to the PHL driver with no
crossover, and wired with Chimera Labs hand braided true litz wire.
Currently, MaxxHorn
is offering an introductory pricing on the Immersion at $8,600 per
pair, with an industry-first, 60-day in-home auditioning plan.
The MaxxHorn
Immersion’s official retail price is $12,500 per pair.
AUDITION
With the 47
PiTracer CD transport and the Audio Note DAC5 Special as the initial
digital front-end, a task also assumed by Wadia’s 270se CD transport
and 27ix v3.0 Decoding Computer afterwards, I drove the MaxxHorn
Immersion with the $16k Loth-X JI300 300B integrated amplifier
primarily. Accuphase’s $10k E-550 solid-state integrated amplifier
also partook the latter half of the review process. Primary wirings
to the Loth-X and Accuphase were via the RCA and XLR versions of the
Furutech Audio Reference III that I recently reviewed. The
company’s Speaker Reference III drove the MaxxHorn.
For initial set-up,
Johan spent 2 hours fine-tuning the speakers’ positioning in my 12
feet wide, 27 feet long and 8 feet high listening room. The result
of his labor situated the MaxxHorns all the way up against the front
wall, 26 inches away from each side wall, 6 feet apart from each
other, completely toed-in so one could almost see each speaker’s
outer side panel and with each speaker’s front baffle measuring 14
feet away from the listening position.
 At this position,
the enormous, Loth-X-driven Immersion construct fulfilled its role
most impressively in generation and regulation of bass output from
Telarc’s
The Stokowski Sound
CD, producing prodigious sub-30Hz discharges in bass-drum and
pipe-organ bottom-ends, a function of bass horn extension in close
proximity to the wall behind it. Sounding considerably more
uninhibited in lower-octave manifestation and unremitting in
bottom-end vigor than any horn-loaded designed woofers I’ve
experienced, the bass reproduction via the wall-coupled Immersion
attained force and speed, the likes of which front-row classical
concert-goers can instantly relate to.
After further
listening on my own, I came to the conclusion that Johan’s setup
generated considerable in-room resonance inadvertently during replay
of piano, trombone, cello, et cetera. The symptom was somewhat
remedied by pulling the MaxxHorns 20 inches into the room, at the
expense of a truncated bass output. Subjectively, at the distance,
the MaxxHorn would sustain a bass output at upper 50 to lower 60Hz,
and was still able to create transients in the low 30s when pushed
by the Accuphase during transitory bottom-octave bursts.
Although the repositioned Immersion’s powerful low-registers from
the Telarc disc took on a lighter footing, it in turn produced
dramatically improved dimensionality that cast the instruments into
a deeper soundstage. Despite my preconception of what the
small-diameter PHL driver could do, its presentation of layers and
walls of subtle localization clues and tonal shading was at once
replete with scale and sophistication.
Another most
impressive feat displayed by the Loth-X-driven Immersion was its
ability to hold its composure when pushed to deliver overwhelming
volumes. Via the MaxxHorn, the mass of brass in Maestro Herbert von
Karajan’s final recording of
Bruckner’s Symphony
No. 7
for Deutsche Grammophon before his death was protesting and urgent,
amidst an underlying lucidity and solemnity. In addition to the
mind-etching spectral coherency that the concentric, single PHL
imparted, there was distinct delicacy and liquidity attached to
every note amidst a background of enormous scale.
Besides the fact
that I haven’t heard such sound from anything costing less than the
$20 Audio Note AN-E SEC Silver, I felt such purity in sound
possesses the power to draw you in with the playing of your own
favorite discs. For example, despite the horn’s display of a mild
aptitude of tonal bleakness when compared to the sound of the $39k
Audio Note AN-E SEC Signature, especially in the portrayal of the
sheen of the brasses, the modified PHL driver churned out a rare
textural density retrospectively in delineating the brass, which
helped raise the intensity and urgency of the music.
In recreating the
piano sound, the Immersion also exhibited a complimenting
ability in portraying the instrument’s overtones throughout the
registers. For instance, the lower registers from Evgeny Kissin’s piano in the
Victor RCA 20-bit Chopin Four Ballads CD was punctual and
reverberating via the massively-dampened PHL driver, transfusing
into the band of mid- to upper registers that was exquisitely
incisive and polished. This type of sound nicely satiated this
piano admirer’s cravings for a queer, lyric nimbleness in
concordance with the intermittent episodes of compulsive pounding.
True: the Audio Note speaker has no peer in its colossal scale of
dynamics
and lack of
compression, among other winning qualities; but I reckon the
MaxxHorn Immersion was the most balanced-sounding horn below $20k.
The aforementioned piano wunderkind’s ability at constructing notes
with seeming effortlessness was even more appreciable when the
Accuphase E-550 was vanquishing the MaxxHorn Immersion, as the horn
progressed into a being of subjective compulsion and lyricism in
sync with Kissin’s submergence into his inner world. Perhaps the
Accuphase was able to accord superior transients tracking to the
horn speaker than that from tube amplifiers, as should be expected
from a top integrated iteration.
CONCLUSION
There have been
leaps in loudspeaker design advancements in the past decade that the
gap of performance between speakers of the 80’s and those of present
day has widened beyond imagination. The most substantial
breakthrough in horn implementation I have had the privilege of
experiencing to date was the $26,000, German horn speaker of La
Campanella by Acapella, the horn of which traversed the frequency
range of 70 to 30kHz single-handedly. Retrospectively, the Acapella
also traverses the cost-no-object path in attaining perfection in
horn speaker technology.
Retailing at $12,500 per pair, the MaxxHorn Immersion is still more
expensive than the only other sub$10k horn speaker that I have
personal experience of that can challenge its dynamics in the
domestic environment: the Klipschorn. Yet, there is no argument
that the single-driver Immersion has none of the triple-driver
K-Horn’s insistent coloration throughout the spectrum, nor does it
succumb to imminent loss of utmost coherency in the employment of
multiple horns.
Adorned with a modified 6.5-inch PHL 1240TWX full-range driver, the
Maxxhorn was expeditiously apt at dynamic portrayal, and the
diaphragm hardly moved even during high-level playback, effortlessly
flooding the room with liberal concert-level dynamics.
Contrary to what the 100dB efficiency of the MaxxHorn Immersion
would suggest for an ideal union in amplification, actual listening
in my room proved that the Immersion was also imminently compatible
with high-caliber solid-state amplification, such as the Accuphase
E-550, with which the MaxxHorn’s finesse in bottom-octaves rendition
and transient portrayal was further advanced, rendering a most
uniform spectral presentation with potent but unpretentious,
well-controlled dynamics.
In terms of positioning, although I settled for less bottom-end
output from the MaxxHorn Immersion for the utmost clarity and
wholesomeness in classical music presentation, the resultant
lower-registers remained surprisingly agile and robust, so utterly
remarkable that its display of control via the $16k Loth-X JI300
integrated amplifier also surpassed that from the $19k Tannoy
Churchill Wideband, and thus securing the accolade of the horn
speaker with the least colored bass horn in the industry.
Though costing twice as much as the Klipschorn, the MaxxHorn
Immersion mutes arguments against the horn method and its viability
in the modern marketplace. I also found my experience of its
encompassing compatibility with tube and solid-state amplifications
most rewarding, an advantage and trait missing in many renowned horn
designs. It’s about time we had a horn like the Immersion.
Purging my proven preconception of single-driver horn speaker’s
output limitation, the MaxxHorn Immersion rose to heart-pounding
volumes with ease via the meager-output Loth-X, joining the rank of
other reference-caliber loudspeakers in my household for
high-fidelity high-output competency, including the Acapella, the
Audio Note’, the GamuT and the Tannoy.
The MaxxHorn is a most unusual horn of stellar dynamics and
openness, as to be completely liberated from the ineptitudes of the
vast mass of other horn iterations. For $12,500, the MaxxHorn
Immersion represents a respectable, serious value in offering a most
advanced and unique iteration in horn loudspeaker technology
available today. At nearly 32% off its $12,500, I feel that the
Immersion’s introductory price of $8,600 is akin to selling a
Prowler at a Civic’s price.
Powerful and yet subtle, the MaxxHorn Immersion redefines, reaffirms
and revives the horn once more as the reference transducer
technology of our time.
Also read Constantine Soo's reviews of:
Acapella La Campanella
horn speaker
Accuphase E-550
solid-state
integrated amplifier
Loth-X
JI300
300B
integrated amplifier
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editor@dagogo.com
©Dagogo
2006 |