Why not horns?

Several years ago I conducted a controlled blind listening test, administered under the guidance of a leading researcher in the field of psychoacoustics. In the questionaire that the listeners filled out, one very experienced listener wrote that he knew what kind of speakers we had behind the curtain: Electrostats. He owned electrostats and was sure he recoginzed their signature clarity, detail, and freedom from coloration. Just so you know, guessing what kind of speaker was behind the curtain was not part of the test.

Well, he was wrong. They were hornspeakers - rather unconventional ones, but still that's the category they'd fall in.

Fast-forward to a recent audio show. This was posted on another forum:

"As an audiophile for 40 years, and a high-end dealer for 15, I have my preferences of what works and what don't. When I first stuck my head in the room and saw the horns, I immediately judged the speaker and walked by the room. Every horn speaker I have ever heard always screamed at me one way or the other, I hate horns.

"But since I was there for a couple of days, I found myself back into this room. [They] sure made me eat those thoughts. Smooooooth, musical, and detail.....it was awesome. I went back more than a few listens, I knew they were going to start screaming at me eventually, I was wrong."

Those of you who, like this guy, hate horns, I'm not saying you haven't heard colorations. What I'm saying is, you may not have heard from among the best of the low-coloration hornspeakers yet.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer

"You are comparing 2 amplifiers that obviously have differences other than max power and saying it is definitely because they have more power. It seems you jump to a lot of conclusions."

Well, for starters, the output impedance was cut in half.

"Prez, so there is nothing you could possibly do to improve the sound of that system?"

At this time, no. But we are always searching.

"How do you figure the efficiency of the "basshorns" given it is an active system?"

Easy. You raise to volume to a specific SPL and then measure the output of the amplifier. The rest is just math.

Incidentally, I'm trying to give the benefit of the doubt but so far I'm not entirely certain you understand the full breadth of sensitivity and the ways to achieve it.
FWIW, a serious argument could be made that it is better to use 6 individual drivers to achieve the same sensitivity of just one and a huge horn due to the way the 6 different ones will average out their non-linearities.

Sorry, let me clarify one thing.......
The two 150watt amplifiers in question versus the one 75watt were simply monobloc versions of the same amplifier.
Identical in every way expect the fact that the monobloc has paralleled outputs.

What amp was being used by the Cathedral Audio setup?

@ Duke: I remember reading that same account of the guy who hated horns until that experience. I just can't place it.

But I disagree. I've heard everything that has gotten any press in the last 10 years and more. Some are better than others. But I maintain my ultimate conclusion. All horns sound like horns to some degree or another. Some are just better at hiding the fact.

But like we "horn haters" have said over and over..... To each his own. Its all a balance of compromises, no matter how you look at it.