What does one purchase after owning horns?


I have owned Avantgarde Uno's and sold them because of the lack of bass to horn integration. I loved the dynamics, the midrange and highs. Now faced with a new speaker purchase, I demo speakers and they sound lifeless and contrived. The drama and beauty of live music and even the sound of percussion insturments like a piano are not at all convincing. I have an $8k budget for speakers give or take a thousand. My room is 13'X26' firing down the length. Any good ideas will be appreciated. My music prefrences are jazz/jazz vocalist.
renmeister
Inna,
the subs on the smaller avantgardes are a compromise to avoid having to
use a huge bass horn to produce low frequencies. If you have the space & cash they have the Bass horn. But this would probably be to big for many users.
Soundlab if you have the proper amplification.
What amps are you going to use?
What amplification for Sound Labs?
I used the somewhat dry, but very, very quiet and seemingly distortionless Halcro. Then, the DK (later LSA) Integrated amp, which has 150 Watts and doubles into lower impedences.
One of the reasons I bought the DK company back in 2005, was based on its comparative performance with the Halcro...frankly, I was stunned.
The sound in my room (large by my humble standards) 23x26x18 feet, open into a second story loft, and behind me, a vaulted kitchen (two casement doors 6' each)--so lot's of cubic feet, and they filled it up, for MY taste, in terms of volume and musicality.
Just a comment--likeing or even loving one product is not an attack on another. I like some horn speakers, but they, to my ears, have a coloration that I do not prefer.
Dynamic, yes, muscical, somewhat, integrated with bass, somewhat. Generalizations all--yet if Duke is involved (Audiokinesis) they're going to be really, really good.
I respect his opinion and work.

Good listening (don't forget to buy Renee Olstead)

Larry
Planars and electrostatics are "coherent" in the mid range, which creates magic. They are also great with stage holography, if set up correctly. However, there comes a point with the volume control that they loose this magic by congesting, as most dynamic speakers do (ime). I think it is important to understand what the listener wants and what the habits are. I do not listen at a low level(hence my Agon name) through my main system. My normal levels exceed 100 db. I am not sure how many of you listen at this same level. So, for me, a good quality horn is the way I went. Being a ss guy, I much prefer an amp with 2 output transistors per channel than say 8, 12 or even 20. My speakers allow this. My system is a good compromise(yes I said it). It has the ability to take my recorded music and simulate a performance, based on what "I" want the performance to be. It does have detail, proper harmonic structure and tone, coherence, spatial holography and all of those other "audiophile" things. However, I have said it before. Without being excellent in "PRAT" and dynamic swings, it would not approach that "live" perspective I value so much. It is critical to listen for yourself to determine what it is that you want a system to do for you. Also, tweaking everything is also critical. I think many people on Audiogon, and elsewhere, do not know what they want.The last statement. I am at a point that I do not think of changing a thing in my system, which says it all. I wish everyone happy listening......MrD