This is a frequent question: how low? Well, I guess that then prompts another question, how low do you want to go? Vintage lovers feel that the bigger Western horns like the 15a, 16a or the venerable Western Electric 13a go low enough and scoop down low with some unparalleled ease. If one is into vintage and its sound then this is certainly true, I’ve been there and set up many systems like that, so some are happy to use these big horns with no bass channel. On the web and social media some do post live listening recorded on smartphone. BTW does a smartphone even get close to recording low deep bass? Also we can hear on YouTube easy playing tracks but do these do they go challenging real bass reproduction, and is this kind of music even going there? Short answer: no. Then we have the laboratory frequency sweeps of 555 replica drivers done in an attempt to demonstrate that they are equal if not better than the originals. When we know a little bit about sound reproduction we understand the difference between the lab and “real life” there is a gap.

Enjoy a well made western electric horn, with serviced original 555 or GIP driver, bass units designed to work with the horns topped with bespoke tweeter solution and in just a fraction of a second you know what you’ve been missing if you’ve only ever heard the big horns alone or with a “regular” capacitor to tweeter and maybe bass reflex , closed box or open baffle. Agree yet again with my good friend JC Morrison who is another great advocate for bass, read « race for the bottom » https://www.labjc.com/?p=4230

With JC we are working on « race for the top »….now that’s another story to come.

13Audio took that lonely road thinking outside the box. Currently the off the shelf solutions found in the “hifi” or “high end” are not the best match to the ultra fast and dynamics of WE horns. They are designed and to be matched to conventional and lower efficient speakers that live in most homes. 13Audio build is another option and many proven bass designs are at hand, you see a few exotic high end boutique brands unsing these adding fancy finishes in the mix. Those can be front loaded bass horns, or the likes of, etc…Having tried these numerous designs I can say they offer a better option than anything in the main stream market. However my thing is making big solid wood WE horns so what the hell would I be doing making « bass units » that if you want to excel requires know how and experience to achieve the best. I’ll stick to the mid range and the big horns. In house solutions then don’t totally cut the mustard, too slow, too soft, not enough detail and articulation there. Now give me deep, speed and micro detail please! The usual solutions just can’t keep up with the big horns, it’s that simple, laws of physics are there to be worked with not insulted with inferior solutions claimed to be as good by bending the rules. Move on.

So?….outside the box…enters the collaboration with pro audio the guys that do approach things from the technical angle not the « eared » one. Oh…, vintage buffs are screaming now. My good friend « L » pointed me to a young company and namely the king of bass Rune and NNNN. NNNN and 13Audio back in 2020 agreed on a challenge to develop a bass solutions to match 13Audio big horns,

NNNN was at that time a very young company suited to work with the one man operation 13Audio. Could their patented bass horn technology meet my expectations? on the paper it made sense with parameters that far exceed anything that’s out there. Could they been tuned to suit the big horns, could they blend between the 2 lowest octaves to the ultra dynamic and fast freedom of the WE horns? After years of working closely together with NNNN it has become a « yes ».

13Audio now only uses the NNNN & 13Audio solution for bass, that includes bass horn, amplification and bespoke 13Audio filtering. Nothing else even comes close. The recommended bass units are custom 13audio units associated with dedicated amplification along with onboard settings that delivery effortless and dynamic sound of all music genres. We are a far fetch from vintage here. This is still still no plug and play solution, if anyone wants plug and play optimal setup from a western electric horns setup … please stop dreaming it just isn’t going to happen, period. However engage open minded spend the time and have the patience and you will be rewarded, enjoy the journey and please « All fun… »

Anyone who has been led to believe that western electric horns are only for jazz, vocals, etc…should get to hear a 13Audio setup with associated 13Audio bass and tweeters. You’ll reconsider in next to no time! It will maybe just leave you wanting that sound.

13Audio has for several years also been working on the higher frequencies whilst keep the glorious midrange the big horns have to offer, more on that later. Needless to say that the solution isn’t rooted in anything vintage.

More than 15 years ago 13Audio opened a door by offering to the world the opportunity to own a solid wood western electric horn setup steering away from the common sheet steel or plywood solutions. Before then it was only in the reach of the deep pocketed crowd and “if” they could even find any, originals are just so rare. At that point in time 13Audio was about the vintage WE setups…time moves and so do we.

With over fifty 13Audio installations around the world I am one of the very small people who have played with WE horns setups both vintage and non conventional in a very wide variety of setups and rooms. It’s all fun…

Today 13Audio mixes vintage technologies from 100 years ago with cutting edge technology of our era. Mixing the best of both worlds it what I strive to do.

All is aimed at enjoying and listening to music, that’s all that counts here.

All Fun…. founder of http://www.13Audio.com