hORNS No.110: Side-Firing Bass Meets AMT Precision

The Polish horn speaker manufacturer hORNS has built a reputation that extends well beyond their signature horn-loaded designs. Their product lineup includes speakers tailored for smaller spaces that forgo the horn configuration entirely. Enter the 5degrees series—a testament to thoughtful acoustic engineering.

The 5degrees nomenclature speaks to the series' defining characteristic: each speaker is angled back by precisely 5 degrees. This seemingly subtle geometric adjustment serves a crucial acoustic purpose—synchronizing the arrival times of high and low frequencies to achieve phase coherence. While this series abandons the horn topology, it embraces another high-performance transducer technology: the AMT (Air Motion Transformer) tweeter, renowned for its exceptional horizontal dispersion characteristics. This design philosophy permeates all three models in the series.

The No.110 distinguishes itself through a bold architectural choice: a large-diameter bass driver mounted on the speaker's side panel. This configuration extends the frequency response considerably while maintaining a civilized front baffle width—a nod to contemporary living spaces where visual discretion matters as much as sonic performance.

Technical Architecture

At the heart of the No.110's high-frequency reproduction lies a 1.8-inch AMT driver, its pleated diaphragm capable of remarkable detail retrieval. The midrange duties fall to a 7-inch Seas driver featuring a Nextel cone—a material prized for its damping properties—crowned with a distinctive bullet-shaped metal phase plug that helps control dispersion and reduce distortion.

The architectural masterstroke comes with the side-mounted 10-inch aluminum-cone bass driver. By relocating this substantial transducer to the speaker's flank, hORNS achieves two objectives: maintaining a reasonable front baffle width and enabling the use of a larger bass driver than would otherwise be practical. This configuration pushes the low-frequency response down to an impressive 30Hz, while the AMT extends treble response to 30kHz—a bandwidth that captures the full spectrum of musical content with room to spare.

Technical Specifications

Type: 3-way, 3-driver bass-reflex floor-standing speaker
Drivers: 1.8" ribbon tweeter × 1; 7" paper cone midrange × 1; 10" bass driver × 1
Frequency Response: 30 Hz – 30 kHz
Sensitivity: 85 dB
Impedance: 8 ohms
Crossover: 12dB/octave
Dimensions: 235 × 1000 × 305 mm (W × H × D)
Weight: 60 kg

The No.110 represents hORNS' commitment to acoustic innovation beyond their horn-loaded heritage, delivering full-range performance in a package that respects both sonic principles and domestic sensibilities.