Best speaker brands for transient response

The interesting thing about horn systems is that they sound particularly good at lower volume levels and tend to work well in small rooms--controlled dispersion of the mid and high frequencies help to lessen the impact of room acoustics.  Big horn systems in tiny rooms are common in Japan where rooms are small and listening levels have to be kept low to not disturb neighbors.  I don't see the 12-foot distance to the speaker as a big problem.  Still, I can understand the anxiety over not having the right to return the speakers if they are not to your liking (they have a sound I think almost everyone will like, but of course, you may be the exception).

From a measurements perspective, improved driver impulse response could be equated (to some degree, one component) to improved transients.

This translates to small drivers playing respective frequency band, and increased number of drivers to achieve sound power.

Drivers themselves can’t be too compliant (signal reversal, phase shift ) or too stiff (resonances, stored energy, waterfall). Many poor drivers i’ve tested that go into some "high end" speakers don’t cut it, it’s one thing or the other.

A poor crossover design will introduce big electrical phase shifts and so on (nullifying benefits accrued from the above mentioned).

It appears that some big horn speakers mentioned on this thread have defied all physics, engg design, material science, etc and achieved unmatchable transients, as per the sales crew. No, they did not, but, whatever helps to sell your stuff.

What you sell is apparently always the best at everything, no exceptions indeed! (They don’t just win some/lose some as the engineers would admit, but, they just excel at everything according to the sales crew....NOT)

The best transient response I've ever heard, are ion plasma tweeters. 

It's hard to beat drivers with zero mass.

Lansche and AvantGarde Acoustics both have very impressive transient response behavior. 

Next in line would probably be ribbons and electrostatic.

The interesting thing about horn systems is that they sound particularly good at lower volume levels and tend to work well in small rooms

Yes in my old house I used the Studio 590s practically as near field (4 ft away) and they worked great with these massive speakers the size of coffins. Horns do some special things.

For their relatively low price I could take the risk, but for the price points we're talking about I'm just worried I don't have enough of a room for them.

deep_333 wrote:

It appears that some big horn speakers mentioned on this thread have defied all physics, engg design, material science, etc and achieved unmatchable transients, as per the sales crew. No, they did not, but, whatever helps to sell your stuff.

Maybe you are blowing things a bit out of proportion here. Who claims that, and are you referring to below quoted paragraph by poster larryi? 

A dealer in the Washington DC area, Deja Vu Audio, builds custom speakers using modern and vintage components.  These can be tailored to one's specific taste, which is a BIG advantage of a custom build.  They employ vintage midrange horns and compression drivers because there is very little out there that can match these old drivers except VERY expensive drivers from the like of G.I.P., ALE, Cogent and Goto.  These systems truly deliver excellent dynamics while retaining a sweet, natural and relaxed sound; the weight and sense of large scale is particularly good when very large format horns are employed (some of these horns are monsters).

There's no hyperbole in above text by Larry (not by dealers), but rather what appears to be honest reporting of impressions - again, if that's what's really the source of your gripes.

Have you heard very large all-horn systems? And no, a pair of JBL Everest DD67000's (just a thought-up example) aren't big by that measure, and they're also only horn-loaded from ~700Hz on up. The Klipsch K-horns are fully horn-loaded, but severely undersized as such.

All-horn systems that plays down into in the 25-30Hz region, that are non-truncated down low and controls directivity in their entire range on up on the other hand are very large, and that's just with 1/4 wave bass horns (full-wave bass horns, as you know, are impractical for most for obvious reasons). What they nonetheless do compared to their mostly undersized and hybrid brethren - and this is important - is actually (and just barely) complying with physics, not defying them, and therein lies a big difference.

If anything it appears speakers of such size defies the acceptance in the minds of those audiophiles who've grown accustomed to their neatly small box speakers, and who would still have their cake and eat it too - I guess not least aided by those dealers who've sold them these speakers and filled them with marketing BS in the process. 

As to the relevance of transient abilities in a speaker and all that implies, it seems that area has now become a bit washed out, subjective in nature and with brands rather than general physics and design as the prevalent factor. That being said, if we're speaking leading edge cleanliness/transient prowess in most of the audible frequency spectrum, and effortless at that at most any desired SPL (i.e.: easy of reproduction is not trivial here), large size and efficiency in addition to proper design/technology - from my chair - is inescapable.