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Specimen Products Hornling Speakers

Hi,

I've recently purchased a pair of Hornlings from Specimen Products in Chicago.

For those who haven't seen these, here's some info:.

http://www.specimenproducts.com/hornling-horn-speakers/

I visited their shop and listened to them on their custom tube amps, in which I plan on moving to in the future and they sound incredible. Currently, though, I am stuck with a B&K AVR 305 that I've been using to power my current system. My use is 70% music, 30% film and it's been great at producing a warm sound w/o a tube amp. It powers my Stax headphones perfectly but I am worried about how it'll handle these new Horn speakers.

Would hooking a simple L/R + sub setup directly to the AVR be too powerful for these and distort the sound? I'm hoping this won't cause any issues at least for the next 6 months until I am ready to full switch over my setup to tube amps.

If anyone has any experience using Specimen horns with powerful solid state amps, that would be great!

Thanks
jknibbs
bpwalsh
1,202 posts
 
Having lived with a pair of Little Horns and one of their stereo tube amps for a while, I will say they can be fun to listen to. They are not 'audiophile' speakers, though. I would be reluctant to use SS amplification with the speakers, although their powered sub with the built in stereo amp for the horns makes up an OK inexpensive system. The Hornlings may be less efficient than the Little Horns, but I wouldn't put big SS power on them.
specimen
1 posts
 
Thanks for the bring down Brian. They will sound splendid with a big SS amp. The Hornlings are three inch full range drivers that create a stunning three dimensional effect by rear loading a compression chamber through a geometric flair. Like blue jeans in the seventies.

What else would you recommend for a 3" rear loaded full range?
bpwalsh
1,202 posts
 
Sorry to rain on your parade but IMO horns tend to benefit from tubes if fidelity is what you are pursuing.
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