Horn speakers are really bright?

So, I am NOT trying to be rude here, but horns belong on the top of poles at high school football stadiums because of their great dispersion characteristics.

No matter what you do, a horn has a sound characteristic that distorts the music. While Klipsch and others have done a remarkable job trying to "tame" these issues, when you listen to them next to any Magneplaner, you hear the issues with your own ears.

To the poster who said Maggies are "bright," my suggestion is to find an installation that was properly done and you will not have that same opinion. Maggies put out what you put in. SO, if your source is "bright," that is what you will hear. This is why Magnepan and Audio Research were marketing together in the beginning. That paring was MAGIC, and remains so.

Maggies can be difficult to set up properly, and you must have top quality hardware driving them, so I get it that some find them "off" in some ways. AND, as we all know, your ROOM is the most important element of any sound system, so...

HOWEVER, thousands of customers have them and LOVE them from all across the listening spectrum, so they must be doing something right.

Cheers!

Of course horn speaker are bright, when paired with Mc.

Hahahahaha.

Jallan,

I agree that the Deja Vu custom builds are fantastic, albeit expensive.  But, some of the builds are much less expensive than what has been brought to Capital Audiofest  and they deliver much of the same sound as those you have heard.  In any case, those builds do demonstrate that sharp and unpleasant peaks are NOT INHERENT to horn/compression driver speakers. 

Even the Klipsch speakers that a lot of people have heard and don't like can be made to sound quite decent with the right setup and associated gear; I've yet to see a commercial setting where the proper electronics were used.  

Variables include amplification, room, horn materials, for example plastic, metal, wood, quality of crossover. physical layout of mids and tweeters, for example some Klipsch  align  tweeter closer than mid, result may be excess brightness, high frequencies travel faster than lower freq, and they may beam more based on horn design.

If timbre incorrect, brightness perceived. Timbre most difficult thing for horn speakers to get right, IMO.

As mentioned already, Klipsch speakers can be as bright or dull as your room and components allow. But once you get it right, not much else compares to horns. The key is sweating the details, these are not plug n play speakers. If you aren't willing to devote some time and money in placement, room treatment and a good front end, move on to something else.

Oz