Are horns and hi-eff designs becoming more popular

Well, they certainly do have a following.

Horns + tubes offer a different kind of listening experience from SS and conventional box design speakers, so I personally do find some appeal there. Not necessarily better or worse..but different, that's the key.

Also, I have an old fashioned streak in me and I find there is a special romantic appeal with horns...they are a throwback technology of sorts and beckon back to the "olden days" when things were simpler, kind of like a techni-color movie from the golden age of Hollywood on TCM. Nipper and the "His Master's Voice" RCA logo just makes me feel good, for some reason (see my system pics).

I haven't taken the horn plunge yet to date, but have spent time seriously studying the options. I may pick up a pair of inexpensive, small modern Klipsch reference series speakers at some point just to test the waters in my two channel A/V system.

Honk would be a distortion. Many horns are not of proper design for hi-end music use. Some folks have had poor listening experance with PA horns,poor designed,vintage designs with failing crossovers and thin dry cabinets. So horns have got a undeserved bad reputation. Much of this false info is just passed on as truth, never questioned I was told horns sucked for hi-end by many folks in audio when I was new to it. Think folks today are finding out that horns are much better than they where told. And now the horn is exceptable by hi-end but most still call it a wave guide. So now more folks are trying them out. Size limits sales of horns. I sell a few giants but most folks want under $2500 and vintage horns like yours fill this need nicely. I design little speakers, loudspeakers of most all types and I can own most any design type. I get to play with much costly kit but I keep coming back to giant front horn systems with small mostly SET amplifiers but I also use SS designs. Size maters in loudspeakers. But most cant afford, can not house,wife- SAF wont allow,or audiophile just doesnt want to look at, move install giants....So I dont think large sized loudspeakers will ever become popular.

One thing I must say is, other than mass market Klipsch speakers targeting the A/V market mainly in Best Buy and Tweeter, I has never seen any horn designs on display for audition at any high end shop I've been in in the last few years that I recall, and I've been in many along the DC/NY corridor.

Horns may be more trendy or popular on this site lately, but if this was a larger trend, I would expect that most high end audio shops would demo some good horn designs alongside all the other designs which you do see/hear.

AM I reading into this too much or is it possible that horns just do not sell well if stacked up side by side against other designs?

Many large horns are DIY efforts. I do have 3 audio shops within a few hours drive that demo sell horn systems. But most audioshops are geared more to HT or the old dynamic with massive amps. Since I design loudspeakers of most all types not just horns I hear horn systems against standard designs most everyday. The weak spot of the horn is size and another reason why you dont see many audioshops selling such. Some of the horn systems I have built where 18ft wide without seperating loudspeakers thats with horns touching ea. other so not many shops can handle such. So if one doesnt DIY they can order custom built horn systems. Or buy from the many manufacters of horns. If you want a all horn loudspeaker with deep bass its going to huge....And after owning designing many of these I have a hard till going back to wee dynamics in slender towers that need minimum 200 watts just to have some dynamic range. But most audio types seem to be happy with this system type...Probly because the wife is;)

Size maters in loudspeakers. But most cant afford, can not house,wife- SAF wont allow,or audiophile just doesnt want to look at, move install giants....So I dont think large sized loudspeakers will ever become popular

Quite agree. "don't want to look at" beats the greatest sound 99 times out of a 100...and yet this hobby is supposed to be about the sound....you only have to look at the beautiful cabinet work on the highest end tall narrow elegant speakers to realize that big horns don't really stand much of a chance.