Horn speakers are really bright?

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

I have klipsch speakers and I think they are quite awful. Terrible for music with the exception of maybe rock and a few other genres. I tried a bit of everything and couldnt get them to sound good.

I now use them exclusively for home theater and I think horn speakers are well suited for that

My comments above are strictly regarding the Heritage series. The only other Klipsch speakers I have owned were KG 4.2s and they were just ok.