seeking ‘HORN’ ideas apart from Klipshc Lascalla


hello all!

Horns, and just now, the Klipsch Lascalla interests me and as a new purchased items, ala, $12K MSRP, are doable.

to gain a wider perspective what other avenues, choices, or options in competing brands could be suggested as alternative selections in the $8K to $15K new or used arena?

i’m aware adding sub (s) is a likely necessity with the Lascallas, and possibly many other such speakers..

power is up in the air and nothing yet is set to stone, but any speaker candidates will be used with tube or SS amps. Tubes predominately of course. albeit, not necessarily SET Flea wattage amps, e.g., 2a3, 300B, etc., though I’d not wish to rule out these types as a later down the road application .

I’ve heard only at shows sevewral brands and have not been thrilled by Avante gard Duos or uno’s especialy.

I have enjoyed immensely the Classic audio T1s but am having issues justifying their near $40K entry fee.

overall, i do enjoy the idea of the sheer impact and presence horns produce but feel from my brief listening experiences in show venues imaging often lacked yet contributed this attribute to room conditions and or the LP itself being perhaps too close.

truth be told, even cone speakers are not totally off the table as considerations, as some ‘hybrid’ bass powered systems appear to be quite easily driven;.

predominately, my main caveats here are size of units and the room dims. they will be set.

for a bit , room size will be 13.5ft x 21ft x 8.5ft and using the short wall.

albeit the current room dims will increase, it is not yet known to what extent, though the desire is to land in a larger, but not huge dedicated listening room. likely a tad wider one in any event

secondly, given present room dims, it seems to me placing speakers in there which are taller than about 4ft or so, is going to be excessive…. ?

lastly, imaging is usually a pet peve of mine. the better the imaging the more involved the presentation seems to be IMO. certainly imaging is not the whole shooting match and orgainics, speed, leading edge def, decay, lower register deliniation, and presence all play quite significant roles.

as I’m at the onset of putting together this outfit any suggestions are definitely appreciated in terms of speaker ideas other than the Lascalla per se.

alas, DIY, or kit options are off the table as assenbly is no longer something I’m comfortable doing..

as for power, consider what ever amps are involved, I’d probagbly use what ever quality amps whose outputs are 25wpc or greater, be it one chassis or two. the plan is to acquire more than one sort of power amp in topology and or output along the way.

huge thanks, .
blindjim
DIY is the best way or find someone to build you a great horn system, off the shelf horn options are pretty pathetic things compared to whats going on in DIY 
I have heard a lot of horn-based systems (mostly DIY or custom builds) and I own a "sort-of" horn system (compression driver and horn for midrange, twin 12" drivers in an Onken bass reflex cabinet, and a bullet tweeter).  The compression drivers are Western Electric 713b's  that were made around 1939.  I say it is a sort-of horn system because the bass cabinet is a variant of a bass reflex cabinet and are not supported by a horn.  Still, it has the attributes of a horn system, including a 99 db/w efficiency that allows use of low-powered amps (my favorite kind).

I agree with johnk that there are not that many off-the-shelf horn systems that sound really good.  I happen to be fortunate in that a local, Washington DC-area dealer, Deja Vu Audio, makes their own custom designed systems built around compression/horn midrange drivers, and for top models, compression field coil tweeters.

I have heard a really good, and reasonably priced, system that has the sonic attributes of a good horn system, but, it doesn't use conventional compression drivers or a typical horn waveguide.  The speakers I heard at a show that really impressed me are made by Charney Audio.  The use a full range driver firing forward, and the back of the driver fires into a quarter wave back-loaded horn cabinet.  This system has the immediacy and dynamics of a horn system with minimal horn coloration.  It is, like real horns, very efficient (around 100 db/w), but unlike most horn systems, it is quite compact in size.  It might be hard to audition, but, I think it is worth search for and giving it a try.