Why not horns?

I am responding to a few of you. My system sounds wonderful on all music. I compare what I hear to live unamplified music, as stated previously. I particularly mentioned this recording because many systems I have listened to (I bring this with me) fall apart in one or more ways. I will tell you I have heard horns and horn based systems I did not like. I have heard planar and box type speakers I have liked. I have owned many of these types. I have not said I love horns. I have said I love "my" horns. The Klipsch Lascala. The fact that they found their way very quickly into peoples homes for music listening is what got me interested in them many years ago. My 1st Klipsch Heritage speaker experience(a long long time ago) was Khorns with Marantz 9s/7C in a room properly dimensioned. Sources at the time were vinyl and 15ips master tapes. Loved the musicality and the voicing. The full range bass horn was more melodic than anything I had heard before( in a 20x26 ) room. It is an experience I will not forget. My box speakers(B&WDM6,AR3A as examples) sounded constricted and ill defined. My DQ10s imaged better than the Khorns, but everything else seemed lifeless. These Khorns were owned by a college professor of mine, and we spent a lot of time swapping equipment around at his place. I never had good corners for Khorns. As an audiophile, I have to say I did not like any speaker in or near a corner. Then Paul Klipsch designed, at least for me, his best design. So I am saying again, I love MY horns. I will be happy to continue any further discussion or debate but I must go... cheers.

Mr Decibel , Fair enuff and thanks for responding, it works for you, that's a fact no one can dispute and the lascala has been around long enuff for most to hear, my self included and are relativity easy to acquire...

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/trends/ta10_3.html

From 6 moons:
The La Scalas have their own way of conjuring up the magic of music. They are so un-hifi that you won't bother to look for the pin-point imaging or high resolution layering - and yet nothing is missing from the total sonic tableau. You are listening with your heart rather than with your ears.

Ahhh, I do have 2 friends with the same Klipsh speakers and while i do not mind the sound , i have no heart, pure ears! . -)

PS: The Klipsch are from a by gone era , i do like the nostalgic value of it , along with old altecs and JBL's , i did have an Altec in the 70's , before discovering panel speakers...

Weseixas, I find problems with the stock Lascala, mostly box resonance of the doghouse(a Klipsch forum term for woofer housing). I have completely eliminated this problem, which I can tell you is present in your friends units. The new Lascala II uses a beefier cabinet to get rid of this coloration. I talk about it in an earlier post. Tubes are from a by gone era, but look at the popularity and, resurgence, of the topology. The Heritage series was ahead of its time, and many designs have not caught up. Let me also say I have owned MLogans and have much experience with ESL63s. Nice sound. But they are congested in their dynamics, "at least to me ". Now what will they do at 100db and above? Once again, this is all based on my ears, then my heart...Thanks....

I can see and do agree that the Mods you listed would make a huge difference on that speaker. Also agree with your assessments of ML and the quads 63. Never heard an ML that i could take home , OK , But !!!

I did have a 63 with custom subs and upgraded power supply and they were not bad , actually pretty good dynamically but not a super speaker in the dynamic world. I would wager the 63's with the custom subs would walk all over the lascala, ear busting SPl's not withstanding..

Without the Subs and the a for mentioned Mods.. errr worthless IMO ...

Really good panel speakers or Dynamic speakers will give nothing up to horns in the SPL dept, in a conventional home environment IMO.

I do believe if you heard one done and setup correctly you would not go back to Horns! Of course if i ever hear a mega zolt Macumba horn system that blew my mind, I would be the first one here singing there songs of praises.

I do not speak of this lightly, I'm not biased to any topology , only to good sound. Just Last week i had the privilege to listen to a custom horn setup , fully active 3 way (BMS driver, no tubes) and i was very surprised of the clarity in the upper ranges (the top end was actually excellent) the overall sound and presentation was good on soft rock type music, but still found the presentation fatiguing and with poor perspective and tonal quality.

Another was the Acapella Acoustics, La campanella , better than the custom BMS setup IMO and I would have liked to play with them a bit, as these were not bad , but still no cigar..

I'm still waiting , listening and all ears .....

The only horn speaker that I honestly would change to, given my room dimensions, would be the Jadis Eurythmie. I was the chosen fellow, for 3 days doing the demos at the '96 Stereophile show in NY at the Waldorf. I also got to hear them for an extended time period in a home environment, properly set up. As far as the Quad /sub system you feel would walk all over the Lascalas, let me remind you I listen at over 100 db and peaks above regularly. I do not think the panels would handle it for long. I am enjoying our differences and respect your opinions. As you said earlier, this is a very personal topic. Let us all enjoy !