The EMGCR horns do indeed sound at least as good as the originals (I too have been lucky enough to spend periods of time listening to both). That's no surprise - they are even more dimensionally precise than the originals, and other things being equal, the material a horn is made from plays only a negligible part in the sound produced. There's been another thread on here recently discussing this - there are fine musical instruments successfully manufactured in unusual materials such as fibre glass and plastics, so these materials are equally suited to horns and waveguides. Vastly more important than the material's intrinsic properties are the mathematical curve, impedance matching with the soundbox, airtightness, and the surface reflectivity properties.Frankia wrote:That's just what I would have thought myself until I heard some original EMG Oversize horns and also those made from fibreglass. I've listened for hours to the originals and have listened for a year and a half to the fibreglass. If there's anything in it, the fibreglass may even be a slight improvement acoustically on the original papier applique. Certainly as good. I was most pleasantly surprised!
On the latter point, owners of EMG/Expert horns should be cautioned against varnishing - or at least, to use varnish giving the right surface properties (whatever exactly they are?!) - if the interior is too reflective, stray resonances result. I definitely wouldn't take the chance with either of mine.