| I'd like to add a couple of comments here, Larry. I agree with you that some horns will "project" out from the end of the bell much better than others. Some horns will "radiate" off the outside of the bell flare at about 90 degrees from the axis of the horn or from the different surfaces of the inside and outside of the bell better than others (back to that photo of the bell resonating at different frequencies). Some horns are just plain DEAD!
I've had the pleasure of sitting immediately next to our CB lead player who plays a Yamaha 6310-Z; I've also had the pleasure of sitting one, two, or three chairs away beside him. I've had the distinct lack of pleasure sitting immediately in front of him. That thing splits the hair on my head and I cannot hear myself playing whatsoever when I have to be in front! I don't know if I'm playing a Bb or a D...I just hold valve #1 down and hope for the best. Our other 1st player (or alternate lead) plays a Bach 37. He's strong...and has even more range... but at least I can hear myself when I'm playing directly in front of him.
My initial tendency would be to think that the Z horn, being lighter, would tend to have a higher "secondary resonance" (my own term for the sound that radiates off the bell surfaces) than the Bach... and that would mean that the Z horn would be less efficient in terms of what the audience hears... but apparently this isn't so! The Bach is definitely louder when I sit beside it than the Z horn (in fact I can barely hear the Z horn when I sit right beside him...I like to be two chairs away so I can pick up some of the sound coming out of his bell). So then how do we square this with the commonly held belief that a Bach is preferred because of it's "solid core" of sound that projects to the audience? I have absolutely NO IDEA!!!
Sure hope this discusson develops to explain this apparent contradiction to me! |