Horn speakers are really bright?

Most horns to my ears sound like swords ripping the music. There is a searing, tearing edge, made worse if, for example, you try to run Khorns with a Crown DC300a as I was forced to do in a shop I sold at.

I heard this tearing sound, along with the classic hood on voices and the disembowelment of the bass from everything else, on a few horn systems at the Capital Audio Fest. I just don’t get horns, my bad. I do like Vu’s horns, but they are unobtanium for me. 

Having owned Khorns and LaScalas for many moons, they were far from being bright. I did own a pair of Hersey II's I found to be bright in 2 channel, but then used them as rears in a Klipsch 5.1 system I had 20 years ago. If they were bright the Velodyne FSR18 I used definitely fixed that issue. 

in homes i've heard mellow klipsch speakers and harsh klipsch speakers, sometimes among the same model. i've heard sharp khorns and mellow khorns, i can only conclude it was the room and/or electronics that did them in. in the showroom, the tower klipsch speakers invariably sounded "hot" and "upper-midrangey" compared to the speakers next to them. 

I have listened to Klipsch speakers since 1975, I have found everyone painfully bright.

Not quite (technically) horns, but the waveguides on my JBL 4349's are delightful.  I can listen for hours with no fatigue and they fill my room very well.  Took a bit to get the right amp and preamp match though.