Horn speakers are really bright?

Horn speakers especially high frequency horns can sound sharp or brightr or screechy or whatever but properly done will do trhings that the ubiquitous dome tweeter simply can't. Mounted on a waveguide and using severe toe-in provides a very wide sweet spot, about as wide as the speakers are apart. Also the wavegude when positined as mentioned prevents or limits the damage strong early reflections cause. Hard to go back to domes after hearing a good horn/waveguide setup.

Pink Floyd never played through dome tweeters!  😈

I just got a pair of klipsch kg4s this week and they don't sound harsh or "shouty" to me. On the contrary they (to my ears) sweeten rock music of the 60s and 70s. I've been listning to them for hours all week with enjoyment. Do they reproduce sound to RIAA standards? Not even close. But if you want to crank some alice cooper they are really fun. The horns add a clarity to vocals and guitars that just can't be beat for $250.

I wonder how much of your experience is the speaker position next to all that equipment tv screen and so on. The normal horn dispersion is getting reflected by the walls and equipment including the tv most probably.

I have a different category of horns, hand turned American maple and a super tweeter set up powered by Luxman M900u, etc. my experience is based on at least a four foot clearance around the horns. A better layout here could improve your experience I’m thinking if you can drop to two shelves or reconsider the locations and set ups. Watching Acoustic Fields Dennis Foley offers loads of information.

That said my horns have never been bright or harsh. Only using an Esoteric K03Xs did I find it too harsh not even on horns and sold that unit. No regrets.

You’ve got two great sets of equipment that might even give you greater pleasure and experience if you can experiment a little. Others comments on certain equipment and synergy factor here too. Room acoustics and speaker positions are a strong part of that mix.

 I have JBL 1400 Array's with a horn loaded compression midrange and super tweeter. They certainly are not "bright", the sound overal is mellow.

 It depends how well a speaker type is implemented, some horn type compression drivers are definitey horribly screechy.

horns can be bright, any type of speaker can be bright if not properly impemented. The example of Khorns with a Crown DC300A is a perfect example of how NOT to implement them. 

The idea that horns are always bright as some have opined is ridiculous. Check out my system.. nothing bright about it

https://systems.audiogon.com/users/herman