There is a lot of anti-horn sentiment out there. I had no interest in horns prior to 1980's era Klipschorns falling into my lap. Prior to that I had used a series of open baffle and box speakers, very much liked sound staging of open baffles, box speakers not as much. But then coherence and timbre were extremely important to me as well. Last speaker prior to Klipschorns were extreme modded Merlin VSM-MM, I was not unhappy with Merlins (still own), but intention for any replacement was another open baffle speaker.
This is when Klipschorns came into my possession, certainly curious how they'd sound but with with very little expectation I'd like, thought I'd flip them if not enjoyed. So, first listening, totally original including crossovers, this sense of live performers in room struck me, I'd never heard this characteristic to such an extent prior. I had issues with timbre, coherence, tonality, but this uncanny sense of live performers in room made me keep them, with intention of modding to fit my needs. And so, here we are a few years down the road, my modded Klipschorns will stay in my possession til I die!
I'm no Klipsch Heritage expert, I've never even heard other Klipsch, but I assume this uncanny sense of live performers in room is initial fascination with the line. Even in stock form, highly resolving and transparent, and I see continuing evolution in attaining more natural tonality, timbre.
Add to this ability to run horns with various low powered SET, each with special characteristics, one can really voice or flavor system to heart''s delight.
