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How much of High End Audio is Horn Speakers?

An audio friend of mine had been discussing my future speaker purchase. We discussed, Harbeth, Devore, Spendor, Audio Note and other more traditional speaker brands. A week or two later he called an asked me what speakers I had purchased. When I told him Klipsch, there was a little silence on the other end of the line. Our call probably ended a little sooner then usual. I could tell he was disappointed in my purchase. Is it the Klipsch name that illicits this type of response or is it Horn speakers in general? After thinking about some of the other Audiophiles in town, a good deal of them are on the low power high efficiency speaker route and more than a few I know are using Horns. Does anyone know how the high end market share is divided? Is there a stigma associated with certain lower cost Horn speakers? Or is this just Klipsch? I now own a pair of Klipsch Cornwalls and am enjoying the journey associated with tweaking the sound to my taste. Is there an unwritten rule that friends don’t let friends buy Klipsch?

128x128coachpoconnor
jonnie22
42 posts
 

To answer the OP’s question, we have to define ’horn’. Probably an XO-point of 1 kHz or lower, give or take 100hz for driver-integration.

This includes reviewed & discussed brands Tannoy, Emerald Physics, Spatial Audio and of course reg horns like JBL & Klipsch.

Others that seem popular incl Avantgarde (esp after-market), Volti and Pure Audio Project. There are more horns, but they get expensive (Oswalds Mill and Classic Audio). 

More are buying them, as their colorations are reduced, they blend better w/ cone bass-drivers and transistor-switch noise (in SS amps) is removed.

mozartfan
2,143 posts
 
Is there an unwritten rule that friends don’t let friends buy Klipsch? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yes, this is true.
mozartfan
2,143 posts
 

we have to define ’horn’. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ easy Avant Garde

 

Avantgarde (esp after-market)

 

~~~~~~~~~~~Yeah , new are very expensive.

I like my FR, which is next best thing to horns w/o the issues that come w horns.

 

mozartfan
2,143 posts
 

no intentions of ever being connected in my system ever again. It’s true that you may encounter some issues with electrostats

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

The ~~~TRUTH~~ of the matter of which you speak,, is that horns have their issues and ESL/Stats also have their very own signature issues. Lets all be frank and truthful for a moment. vs FR, I find has the least issues. (actually in my set up and requirements, perfect as perfect can be = zero issues, all ++++’s, no negatives)

Here i can make this easy

Horns /Issues

ESL/Stats/Issues

Full Range /issues?? where, how, in what way.

mozartfan
2,143 posts
 
the fact that so many that own them are so quick to start changing them trying to trying to figure out exact what is the problem ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are horns,, and then there are ~~THe Royal Horn Systems~~~~ 2 types, The 1st type are not mega expensive,, but as you say,, after some time start to wear a bit thin,, fatigue sets in,,, Then we have ~~The Royal Horn Systems~~~ Mega bucks, requires Buchingham palace suze listening rooms and many other issues. Which folks hang on to with their mega priced SET amps.
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