Lamar Audio Engineering builds replica Western Electric 15A horn
The Western Electric 15A horn design is very popular – several companies are trying to recreate it. Hornsolutions presented their reading in September, and now two versions from Lamar Audio Engineering have arrived: one that completely repeats the dimensions of the WE15A and a slightly smaller one, but with the same geometry, called the WE66A.
Both horns are said to have been made according to original drawings and from original materials – three layers of high quality 3mm plywood. Everything is cut out on a CNC machine, which, according to the developers, guarantees a perfect fit of the elements.
Finishing can be either classic black or any other at the request of the customer: veneer, paint, varnish. The company also assured that they managed to achieve some success in strengthening the structure of the horn, and it is possible to create a strengthened version – again, at the request of the customer.
A proprietary compression speaker is installed in the horn – if you believe the description, any of the three produced will do. The peculiarity of these speakers is that they have a ventilated rear chamber, the parameters of which can be adjusted to a specific horn. All of them are based on Western Electric emitters.
In 2016, Lamar Audio’s WE15A replica cost €12,000 for the horns and €1,450 for the speakers, including European taxes.