HLCD Help.

[Nextiii 9]

Im trying to learn more about hlcd's and I only know of two brand which is illusion audio ch 1 and the krypt audio one. The illusion audio is cheaper but I cant find a website to even purchase them. Can someone just do me a favor and just post some links to different brands of HLCD's?

[Impious 1,476]

You can't find the Illusions anywhere because they are no longer available. Illusion hasn't been around in probably 10 years, their website is active because they have been claiming to be coming back for about 4 years now but nothing has ever really come of it. Only option is to find them used.

The Krypt audio that I can find are horn loaded co-axials, not the same thing at all as car audio style horn loaded compression drivers. They are extremely prevalent in pro audio and you can find dozens of them at places like parts express but I would highly advise against them in car audio without having very extensive knowledge in installation and those particular driver's behavior.

Only other real options are USD Audio which I don't believe is sold anywhere online and Image Dynamics which is now semi-defunct. In both cases your best and most viable option is to find them used.

There were some other smaller quantity options that you might find along the way as well, but they are far more rare. Veritas made some horns many years ago that were a good design and metal bodies but extremely rare. Crystal made some horns for a very short period of time but I don't believe their horn design was that great. Audiobahn believe it or not made horns for a short period of time as well, there are a couple sets here and there but I wouldn't even bother with them. The horn design was good because it was literally a direct copy of the Image Dynamics horns but made out of much lower quality material and much lower build quality.

[Impious 1,476]

Forgot to mention there is also the option of just finding the horn bodies themselves and purchasing your own compression driver to mate to the horn body. It's not plug-n-play necessarily as you need to find a compression driver that will properly mate to the horn body and throat but it's possible to do.

Also might be possible to contact Eric Stevens (former owner of Image Dynamics) directly and see if he is offering any horn bodies/HLCD at present as I'm not really sure if he has any old stock he's selling and such.

Though I will caution that I usually only recommend them on here in more extreme circumstances and they require proper tuning to obtain good sound quality and that's not something easily mastered.

[///M5 2,833]

Though I will caution that I usually only recommend them on here in more extreme circumstances and they require proper tuning to obtain good sound quality and that's not something easily mastered.

Sums it up well, but basically they are the ONLY option for getting really loud and not sounding like shit. Of course without someone who can tune them they can still sound like shit.