Horn based loudspeakers why the controversy?

I have three systems and five pairs of speakers. I bought the Klipsch KLF-20's brand new back in the day of their last year and never regretted it. They are my only horn speaker and are currently hooked up in one of my systems and I will never ever sell them as they are that good. I have been thinking of getting new speakers but every time I audition the new speakers I end up liking mine the best.

exron,
It's really interesting for me to see another listener whose journey has been similar to my own. I've been through many fine speakers; ProAc response 1s, which were known for their precise imaging, and Spendor SP100s which were known for their mid range neutrality, just to name two. There have been many others. My Klipsch Epic CF-4 speakers have stayed with me longer than any of them. Huge though they are, they disappear when playing music (on Sistrun SP 101 stands) and image as well as the little ProAcs, and have a beautiful mid range like the spendors, all the while having far better efficiency and dynamics than either. They're not perfect, but they are overall more satisfying than any speaker I have ever owned. I think part of the secret is that the majority of the music is reproduced by that single 2 inch horn loaded compression driver. I makes for a very coherent presentation.

It's true that they have higher distortion when they are run at anywhere near the rated power but they also have vanishing low distortion if they are run at about 10% of full power. So when you hear them coupled with  horns usually you're not hearing the amps distort.   Solid-state is the opposite at about 10% of its full power it will have quite a bit higher distortion  then the SET amp at 10%.

+1  I think most people don't understand this simple fact about SETs and thus don't get to hear what they really do!

Try Everest DD66000, K2 S7500, S3100, K2 S9900, M2.. etc.

I have a customer with K2s- powered by our largest amp, the MA-3. They are amazing and does not hurt to have that kind of power behind them (our amps haver very low distortion at low power levels unlike most push-pull amps; I think that is why he gets away with this).

I am enjoying a pair of Klipsch Lascala speakers, which are my 3rd pair. These have the " AL " crossovers, which I understand, were not designed by PWK, but by another engineer at Klipsch, designed to be a more " audiophile " crossover. I have dampened the horns, the drivers, the cabinets, and have dampened and isolated the crossovers. I have owned so much gear in my 50 years of this ( including many speaker types, and brands ), and, all I can say, I am extremely happy.  I do use subs for the lowest octave, and run the LS's full range. Thank you, MrD