DIY Horn Speakers - Step 1: Research

I've wanted to build a front-loaded horn speakers for a while now, but the low (maybe even negative) WAF factor put the big ixnay on my plans. Moving to a house with a basement reignited my plans--they will be sequestered to the basement and they can be as large as necessary!

What's there not to love about beautiful, large horns loaded with massively heavy compression drivers calling back to the early days of audio? Maybe I'm just a romantic. After hours of researching how to build wood horns and searching Google Images for "wood horn speakers" (audio porn), I found some sites that would help an everyday guy like me understand what it would take to build my own horn system (audioaslylum, diyaudio, edgarhorn (for inspiration), and volvotreter) as well as some oddities and the horn systems that could house a small family.

The best site by far (probably has everything you need) is volvotreter (see image of his system). Erik manages the site, most of which is dedicated to DIY horn systems. He posts all the plans you need and includes a lot of detail. My first project is to replicate his "Current System," consisting of 320Hz tractrix horns, 77Hz mid-bass horns. We'll see what I end up deciding on to complete the low end (below 100Hz). In the next several posts, I will share my experience building the ultimate front-loaded horn speakers. First stop--acquiring a lathe.