The XHYDE 290 is a newly introduced cast aluminum horn by SB Audience. Mark from SB was kind enough to send me two samples for review and testing.
I have the 65CDN-T compression driver for the testing, which is the most popular compression driver right now in the DIY world, able to provide a linear response up to around 17kHz. The published data also uses the same compression driver.
I was impressed by the horn when I first took it out of the packaging. The textured powder coat finish is actually quite nice.
I tested the horn naked without being mounted in a cabinet. Flush mounting the horn in a cabinet may or may not improve the performance. So I decided that open air would be the best baseline of performance. Some may consider simply mounting the horn on top of a bass cabinet, which is entirely reasonable to do in the DIY world.
I measured the horn's response in 5 degree increments off-axis, and plotted the overlays out to 90 degrees. This allows you to see the consistency between measurements. If there is small deviations then it would indicate reflections/diffraction from the horn.
Using the same data I plotted a colored polar map which helps viusalize the overall listening window across the frequency range. Generally, the horn is characterized as gradually narrowing across its usable bandwidth from 800Hz to 20kHz. The horn narrows from a 120 degree listening window to 60 degrees at 8kHz as indicated by the -6dB downpoint (yellow regions).
The compression driver has some breakup at 17kHz which affects the normalization function in the ARTA measurement software. If will limit the graph settings to below 15kHz then the normalization is fully red and correct.
Generally, the horn is very well behaved with no indication of reflections that would introduce the common horn coloration that many complain about.
Showing the frequency response again, the horn is devoid of any first order reflection which would introduce a bump in the response in the 800Hz. This means that the horn could be used successfully with an 800Hz crossover point and there would be no unusual sounds near the horn cutoff frequency. The peak at 1.8kHz followed by a dip at 2kHz is a little concerning.
My review of the 65CDN-T was featured on my YouTube Channel four years ago
here. The peak at 1.5kHz is not present when I tested on my ES-600 Biradial Horn.
This may be a function of the 29cm horn diameter which is exactly the wavelength of sound for 1kHz. So there may be some benefit to mounting the horn in a rectangular baffle. The published data on the horn is mounted in an IEC test baffle and shows a smooth response through the region.
The XHYDE 290 is a welcome addition to the DIY community which offers virtually zero coloration but at the expense of some narrowing in directivity. It should be mentioned that the circular shape also prevents closer driver spacing offered by rectangular horns, and also makes it difficult to integrate into a 3-way design if wanting to use the XHYDE 290 as a dedicated midrange driver. It is my plan to use the XHYDE 290 in some new DIY turn-key build plan sets later this year (2026).
