What does one purchase after owning horns?

I'll probably make it to Capital Audiofest again this year and will be looking to hear those!!

Mrdecibel - In the late 80s I was a salesman at a Klipsch dealership in Boulder, Colorado. My comment was made with full awareness of the models you mention. The Volti appears to be a far more refined and better realized revision of PWK's best efforts. If so, I think it warrants closer investigation.

Macrojack, not how I read it, but fully accepted. Mods and parts upgrades for Klipsch have been available for many, many years now, and there are a great number of proud and happy owners, including myself of course. Other forums are out there with a greater number of "Klipsch" or "horn" fanatics. On these forums are a great number of individuals who offer these upgrades. I am a die hard PWK follower, and he still leads the pack in "design", with his "Heritage" models, imo. If ever in Central Florida, you are welcome to stop by and hear what a $2K investment, with lots of time, can produce. Maybe not as good as a Volti, but excellent non the less, and hard to beat at anywhere near the price. Thank you for you time. MrD

MrD. - It is my plan to have the words "never set foot in Florida" included in any eulogy I may inspire. Thanks for the invite nonetheless.

Concerning PWK, just stay happy. Those who have delved deeply into horns and their behavior feel that Klipsch was something of a pioneer but has long since been eclipsed by the efforts of others.

I think you'll find that Tom Danley is the most esteemed horn designer today. My own guru, Bill Woods, has many admirers and Earl Geddes is developing a strong following on Audio Circle and with the DIY gang.

Classic Audio Reproductions and Audiokinesis have great reputations and Volti looks like he deserves similar recognition.

Horn loudspeakers are thriving and should be seen as a growth area within hi-end audio. As hobbyists mature and develop the realization that there is more to be had than "Recommended Components", the field broadens and the excavation becomes deeper and more thorough.

I remember laughing at the Asians back in the 1980s for wanting all our big, ugly old theater junk when there were Vandersteens and B&Ws to be had. What a bunch of suckers!!

Then, about 20 years later, I started to learn that they weren't so foolish after all. Single ended tube amps and horn speakers, even in their early stages were superior to the products that elicited Harry's Hosannas in TAS. Now I know full well that there is nothing superior to the best horn designs when driven by well crafted, small output single-ended amplification.

Perhaps modified Klipsch can qualify as a player today (I have no experience with them) but the PWK Heritage stuff in stock form does not compete with a good many of the designs that followed. In fact, I'm afraid that many of the time worn objections to horns may have been born of Cerwin Vega or Klipsch horns being driven by Adcom or Crown back in the day.

Macrojack, thanks for the response. Modified Klipsch do qualify as a player, and maybe with the exemption of other horn designs, are far superior (imo,ime) to everything else out there (again, for what I want). One of the areas that is very hard to beat is the full range bass horn. The speed, agility, power and naturalness are second to none, and, the "coherent" nature moving into the mid horn is something that I have found difficult to blend in multi horn systems (keeping in mind the OP). The designer of the Volti Vittoris speaks of this bass horn design on his web site, and I cannot do better than his wording of the magic he speaks of (which is a PWK design). So, I will keep what I have, thank you, and, I am quite happy. P.S. Florida is not for everybody. The winter of '95 was a deciding factor to leave NY to come down here, and we have just a few regrets ( family, friends and professional acquaintances). Again, it has been my pleasure........MrD.