Horn speakers , high efficiency but not “shouty”

Speakerlab 7's - 12", 10", 15" horn and 7" horn. Both horns are plastic. No "bite"! SQ beats any Heresy and Cornwall. Bass goes down below 40 hz. I bought mine from Habitat for $100 + $50 delivery. I can live with the flat black white speckle finish!

One of my relatives is an experienced audiophile in the Midwest and he has one of the massive Klipsch horn speakers.  The sound is super impressive and alive sounding.  He uses very expensive Japanese mono tube amps.  I think Shindo or Wavac.  Like fifteen or twenty grand a set.  It is really a wave of sound coming at you head to toe.  To me it is very exciting but maybe a little exhausting if it is a long listen.

No proper horn is shouty. Cheap undersized poorly designed horns over a ported box can have issues since midrange is so much more efficient most compromised to make them smaller cheaper. A proper horn is fully front horn loaded to at least 100hz not many like this exist that audiophiles would buy so they opt for small poorly designed horns then go online saying that all horns shout or some such BS.

Indeed; all things more or less equal the bigger the midrange horn the less it sounds like a horn (and almost akin to a large panel speaker), although in the lowest octaves horn size - i.e.: length, overall volume and proper/corresponding mouth area - mainly dictates frequency extension and SPL, and so is set according to the desired parameters here. That is to say: in the bass department there's no cheating out with bass horns with regard to the size required in relation to extension (and SPL) needed, although variants of bass horns, like tapped horns, can further maximize the output for a given volume/horn path length in summing the output at the mouth of both the front and back wave of the driver, where a front loaded horn can only take advantage of the driver's front wave.

What's missed with smaller midrange horns more technically is dispersion control in the lower end of their frequency range. Some of them may be able to be high-passed at and sound rather well down to ~500Hz, but dispersion control has flown out the window an octave or more above. Maintaining dispersive pattern (preferably similar to the driver segment covering the range below it) and control at the cross-over that's offered with the big midrange horns isn't trivial sonically speaking. As proposed by you a proper designed and sized midrange horn doesn't sound shouty, as in at all, or what people typically associate with bad sounding horns. Smaller midrange horns, even though they're well designed, generally sound more aimed-at-the-listener, less enveloping and more agitated vs. a larger midrange horn covering the same frequency span, that by comparison sounds more relaxed, physically realistic, dynamic and with a better fill of the sound throughout the listening room. The smaller horn may impress at first with its "lively" imprinting, but it really stands more in the way of the music and ultimately can't hold a candle next to their larger, well designed brethren. 

better fill of the sound throughout the listening room. The smaller horn may impress at first with its "lively" imprinting, but it really stands more in the way of the music and ultimately can't hold a candle next to their larger, well designed brethren.


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I am sure there is  so much more to my classical  music with a  big well designed, high quality horn system.
Completely blow away my speakers performance for sure. 
I'll keep this in mind for a  down the road project. 
Probably start researching now, see what each lab has to offer. 
For full symphony, its quite likely big horns are the best of the best,,
AS I am now done with the wide band project, at least in the high end designs. 
I plan to swap out my 4 inch wide band for  the bigger brother    6.5 wide band $400/pair. 
This will hold me over til I can snag a  good deal on a  used horn, down the road. 
Good  horns are not found often on the used market. 

I hear shouty just as atmasphere describes it. In stock form my circa mid-late 80's Klipschorns certainly had it, one major infraction was the K-401 mid horn. Exponential horn, metal, rang like a bell, bad throat design, etc. I could have never lived with those mids, timbre anomalies I would describe as shouty. My replacement Volti tractrix horns were one of the most important upgrades I made to Klipschorns, although further improvements were necessary to get natural timbre throughout frequency spectrum. Quite an experience how my Klipshcorns evolved with each modification, so many components amenable to upgrades! And yes, increased loudness shouldn't cause a single bit more stridency, hard to do with horns.

It seems many don't like horn speakers, I get it, but one bad experience doesn't make for an overarching conclusion. Proper horn loudspeaker design and execution, proper room treatments and sympathetic system matching can bring an illusion of live performers in room that's intoxicating. I've been through many types of speakers in over thirty years as audiophile, these Klipschorns have required the most involved system building and modifications yet, ocd has been required. My Klipschorns expose everything, such great efficiency, absolutely requires even a single watt of signal boost to be high quality, every link in audio chain must be optimized.