We are proud to announce that well renowned German magazine Stereoplay just published in latest issue an excellent review of hORNS.pl top of the range horns :Universum 3. Please have a look at an excellent pictures and read it if you can. If you can not do not worry. We are just working on proper translation of the text to re-post for our customers here, so please stay in touch and check out for an English translation to come.
Universum 3 Stereoplay { 2013 / 04 review } in German [ PDF ]
Please find English translation bellow:
Universum 3 Stereoplay { 2013 / 04 review } English translation [ PDF ]
hORNS Universum 3
( review published in Steroplay 4/13 – original German PDF attached above )
Rock concert volumes from just a few watts? If moving in the area of single-ended triodes and wanting a dynamic output, one needs one thing above all others: efficiency! To gain an acoustic signal above 100 db from just 1 Watt (or a mere 1/2 Watt) the horn principle with a pressure chamber drive unit is still the best solution. To achieve effective results, the mouth of the horn should not be to small – a requirement that the Universum 3 of hORNS definitely fulfils, much to the disappointment of removal firms.
Origin and genesis of this gigantic high efficiency speaker are rather unusual: The creator of the construction, Lukasz Lewandowski, is neither English nor US American, and he has not been experimenting with amplifiers for the last 50 years. His path to High End originates from sheer enthusiasm. He normally runs a bodywork plant that specialized in upgrading and restructuring glass fibre cars and snowmobiles. This explains the flawless construction and the high quality paint work of the Universum´s horns for tweeter and midrange and the hornlike shape for the bass. The unusual shape is not just a gag; development and acoustic balancing are highly professional.
Horn of horns
The hart of the Polish superhorn is the midrange bell. It is not driven by a conventional cone but by a beryllium cup which works on a pressure unit and then sends the sound waves into the bell via a transmission element. Whereas other high efficiency horns are designed to transmit a wide frequency band, the hORNS` midrange horn transmits a narrow band from 3500 Hz to 300 Hz. The reason is simple: A Horn cannot be optimized for a universal frequency band; thus hORNS would rather have transmitted three octaves clearly and without distortion instead of five octaves with distortion.
The horn does not have the common funnel shape like a Tractrix- or Exponential horn that has a so called JMLC-shape and delivers an excellently even directional transmission without any resonance.
The tweeter horn, a miniaturized model of the same shape, is placed above and slightly back from the midrange horn. The reason: To avoid any acoustic interference and to guarantee a correct temporal transmission both bells have to be placed on almost identical plains. The frequencies below 350 Hz are not transmitted via horns but rather directly via a downfiring 15 inch unit that works reversely on a funnel construction that is open at the top end, and does neither depict a bass reflex system nor a transmission line, but resembles a defined ventilation of a rather well known snail. Impuls exactness of the bass had priority over low frequencies and maximum sound level.
When connecting this giant the listener will be surprised: Bass and midrange have to be connected individually, the bass comes with its own amplifier. Thus the Universum 3 does permanently work in a bi-amping modus and hence its midrange horn can be driven by a triode of less than 1 Watt. The sound pressure that we measured in the Stereoplay laboratory was 95.6 db at two Volts and thus was far above of what “grown-up horns” can normally deliver.
Another important factor when using single-ended triodes and other sensitive amplifiers is a relatively constant impedance. Lewandowski could keep it continuously constant for the midrange horn by integrating a correcting device.
The biggest for the smallest
For the auditioning stereoplay used “quiet journeyman” from its fund, starting with the Unison Simply Italy delivering a mere 3.3 Watts on 4 Ohms. But what a surprise: It was just breathtaking what power and suppleness this “little one” could unleash form Fleetwood Macs ´Rumors`. Ultradynamic, precisely to the point, with a driving and precise bass and a simply breathtaking holographic positioning of the instruments is how the Universum 3 started. Not the slightest decolouring or any inadequate resolution of the high range horn could be heard. Just the opposite: Even with orchestral works like Mahler´s 4th symphony (conductor:Janson) she bubbled with correct details and even managed to peel out the finest information from the SACD. She presented the orchestra rather in width than in depth, and directed the voice of the mezzo-soprano to much towards the listener. For friends of a “Lean back” listening she would hardly be first choice.
“Straight forward” that’s how she performed. Peter Gabriel´s “Up” with its extreme low bass frequencies sounded unbelievably rich, fast and free. If you prefer more pressure and volume form a live concert, you may use an amplifier of an upgraded class. That could be a tube amplifier- but it mustn’t be one as the Ayre V-5xe has proven.
Picture 1, page 36
The midrange unite has a 1.75 inch membrane that works on pressure unit that fires the horn. Both are kept in balance by a steel frame.
Picture 2, page 36
The 15 inch bass represents a downfire system, the spikes guarantee the correct distance from the floor and ensure stability for the whole unit. In the box at the right is the connecting terminal and the frequency switch over unit.
Final Verdict
The hORNS Universum 3 achieves 65 points for sound and 87 points for overall performance and sells for € 26,000.00. It ranks 24th amongst 94 tested speakers. Many speakers are of the same price range or even more expensive.
Translated by Manfred Jäger