Are Horn Speakers good or bad or simply a complete joke?

I have to add my 2 cents worth since every other post seem to say they are wonderful. I have been listening to speakers of every make and model at high end shops and low end shops for 30 years and have NEVER been impressed by horns. Was turned off in the 70's by Klipsh and the other day was in a stereo shop and the salesman showed me more Klipsh. I couldn't believe it, same old stuff! Scratchy, irritating sounds eminated to the point I had to go turn it down. My wife thought there was a serious "problem" with the amp or somthing. I guess everyone must apprieciate different things because they still make horns. If horns were the only thing that existed I would not be an enthusiast.

Well, I suppose you haven't listened to the newer offerings of this old principle nor have you read all of the above posts. Otherwise I agree with you. Cheers,

To cut to the chase, horns are not to my liking. While the Avantgards (the best horns I've heard) are not offensive sounding (unlike many of the cheaper horns I've heard), their midrange colorations are unacceptable. Additionally, their subwoofer does not integrate well with the horns.

I find it interesting that many horn lovers seem to choose them because of their ability to work well with low-powered SETs. However, I think most everyone agrees that the speaker has a far greater impact on the sound than any other component. Thus, my approach is to choose the speaker most to my liking, and then select an appropriate amp. Admittedly, such amps are higher-powered, and invariably more expensive than the horn-friendly SETs, but it is the only way I can achieve the kind of balanced, tonally-accurate sound I desire.

It is a curious phenomenon that while there are hordes of individuals who swear by horns, (1) horns are rarely found in high end audio shops and (2) the horn displays at audio shows (e.g., CES, the Home Entertainment Show, etc.) are rarely crowded.

Larry

I owned a pair of Klipshorns for a year and was never able to make them sound very good. This could easily be blamed on my room and electronics but I finally gave up and bought an M&K satellite/sub system that I used happily for about 20 years.

I wonder if anyone has experimented with some of the speaker correction hardware that has become available in the last few years. If you could take the good attributes of horns like dynamics and low distortion and correct the anomalies, I think you'd have something really great.

I have settled on the Köchel K300 horns coupled with Atma-Sphere M60 amps and have no intention to look elsewhere. I might consider some subwoofers down the road, after settling on a digital source and some further tweakery. I don't get to listen to many other systems, but I have a truly difficult time imagining a better setup. I don't doubt they are out there, but Lord this is good.