Good, Affordable Horns?

I am a major league Klipsch Heritage fan as I own3 pair. 1981 Cornwalls, 1983 Cornwalls & 1989 Industrial La Scalas. One key in my opinion to improving the sonics of Klipsch Heritage speakers are installing new after market crossovers. I have 3 pair of DeanG(Klipsch Forum) crossovers.Type B in the 1981 Cornwalls using Auricaps. Type B in the 1983 Cornwalls using Jensen Aluminum PIOcaps. And type A using Jenesen Aluminum PIO caps in the 1989 Industrial La Scalas. Bob Crites & Al K also make aftermarket crossovers for Klipsch Heritage speakers.I realize that Klipsch Heritage speakers are not eveyone's cup of tea and like their sonic flavor.I use both SET amps & solid state amps with my Klipsch Heritage speakers. Welborne Labs Moondog 2A3 SET amps with the 1981 Cornwalls. deHavillandAries 845 SET amps with the 1983 Cornwalls. I have to disagree about the use of solid state amps with Klipsch Heritage speakers. In my opinion, using the right sonic flavor of SS amp will mate very well with Klipsch Heritage speakers. Mcintosh autoformer SS amps sound excellent with Klipsch Heritage speakers. I have a Mcintosh MC 7150 amp and have used it with my Cornwalls.I use a Llano Phoenix CAS 300/VA2 Mosfet SS/Tube Hybrid amp on my 1989 Industrial La Scalas. The separate VA2 voltage amp uses either 6N7, 6SL7 or 12SN7 tubes. Have a pair of 12SX7 tubes in the VA2. I have a George Wright AU1000 12BH7 tube preamp with the Llano amp. The Wright AU100 preamp has tone controls like my Mcintosh C38 preamp which I like. My other two preamps are purist-no tone controls-Welborne Labs Reveille 6SN7 tube preamp & deHavilland Verve 6SN7 tube preamp.I am a music lover and the Llano/Wright combo sounds excellent to my ears. I am not an audio purist and I do use the tone controls on the Wright preamp to my liking. Some people do complain about the lack of bass in La Scalas. There is no lack of bass with with this combo.Excellent dynamics with glorious midrange.

Well OK, if you are comparing the Klipsch cabinet quality with new Polks, Bose, KLH then yes they have good cabinet construction. If you compare them to B&W, NHT, Dynaudio ect..then they are built rather poorly.

As a matter of fact, no, I was not comparing the Klipsch cabinets to any of those speakers you mention. I did not comment on the cabinet 'quality' at all, except to say that they could benefit from some additional internal bracing. I also questioned how a wood cabinet could 'ring like a bell', as you suggested. More importantly, regarding the Klipsch speakers, what I said was that the horns that are being used in the Klipsch Heritage line do not depend at all upon the cabinets for any aspect of how they perform (other than being held in position). The midhorn and tweeter would sound the same whether or not they were held inside a cabinet, or supported firmly in space by a simple stand. The folded horn and bass drivers are the only aspect of the performance of those speakers that would be effected by cabinet 'quality'. If you are referring to visual and aesthetic 'quality' I agree with you completely: there are many other speakers that are built and finished better and are more pleasing to most folks in comparison to the rather utilitarian (deliberately so) look of the Klipsch Heritage speakers. As far as how they sound, it's largely a matter of synergy and personal tastes. The bass response could be improved upon by better bracing and more solid cabinets. Most of the magic of the horn speakers are in that midrange though.

It does not surprise me one bit that there are those who do not like how they sound, nor does it surprise me that there are just as many who do. I would say the same thing about any speaker or component. You'll always find someone who likes it and someone who doesn't.

The Klipschorn was designed back in 1945

And it is still in production! Continuously....for over 60 years! Why, I wonder? How many other speakers can claim that longevity? I can't think of any others, can you? I can't really think of any electronic product that can make that claim. We've come a long way since then, yet a 60 year-old design can still wow quite a few very serious music lovers. It ain't perfect..plenty to improve upon, but a damn find foundation IMO. If there were one perfect speaker, wouldn't all of us agree and covet the exact same thing?

Marco

The Ohms are a great value. They do tend to take somewhat of a bashing on this site though. Many purists who know the history of this line can't get over the fact the current CLS drivers used aren't as sexy as the older, problematic Walsh drivers and have to be hidden in a metal can because they are ugly otherwise.

I do tend to listen to speakers, not look at them. Those JAdis Eurythmies are so cool looking though!!! I think I like the distinctive looks of horn speakers and as a speaker affectionado, I want to have a pair to look at almost as much as to listen to. For example, I would love to have an old Victrola just because of what it represents from an audio engineering sense even though the technology is antiquated in a sound quality sense.

Anyone want to sell me a pair of Eurythmies in my price range?????

i get bored with my hi fi stuff all the time....i do like the klipsch cornwalls and heresys, but i know those ohms have that magic balance that many agoners have yet to find, regardless of speaker type or cost.

Thanks for the feedback so far.

Touche' on the bored comment. Sometimes I like to look at new options just because I can.....

I guess I'm just always looking to try (or hear) something different.

I still don't know if there is a single speaker that works best for all kinds of music.

I don't think I have anything currently that would resemble the sound of a good horn loaded design.

The tube/horn point is probably very well taken. I'm not looking to go to tubes in general.

My Carver c-6 does provide pre-amp outputs with a "tubelike" response (God bless Bob Carver...always looking to innovate and provide something different)as well as the solid state outs that I currently use and prefer given my current SS amplification and brothel of speakers.

I think currently, my Ohm Walsh's are still my favorites in general. If I had to keep just 1 pair of speakers, it would probably be the F-5's.

Well OK, if you are comparing the Klipsch cabinet quality with new Polks, Bose, KLH then yes they have good cabinet construction. If you compare them to B&W, NHT, Dynaudio ect..then they are built rather poorly. Klipsch most certainly needs tubes to tame them nasty, bright, colored mids and highs.

If you want a good horn speaker look at some single driver speakers with rear loaded horns. But to each his own. Like I said I have owned many Klipsch & I will never go back. The Klipschorn was designed back in 1945, we have come a long way since then. People still like them but I strongly feel there are much better speakers for the money. It's like a bright TV, it will catch your attention right away but give it an hour and your eyes/ears will hurt.
IMO

For around 2k plus a few dollars you maybe able to could pick up a pair of Oris 150 horns, like I have here on the 'gon'. They give a very high end sound without the high end price, well I think they do anyway. Heard loads of speakers at hi-fi shows Including the expensive Campanile, and the extremely even more expensive Triolon Apacella's and I don't think they are any better than the Oris 150's,
They are IMHO (of course) the true hi-fi bargain for the money.

Klipsch Heritage are great horn speakers at a price most could afford. Their magic is in the midrange which is not at all cabinet dependent (the horns, mid and tweet, do not use the cabinet for anything but physical support). There are many techniques to tweak those speakers, which do include cabinet bracing to address the bass cabinet (the only aspect of their performance that would be affected by the cabinet), as well as other simple and elaborate tweaks. I have owned five pairs of Klipsch horn speaker and none of them had a cabinet that "rings like a bell" - I'm not sure how wood could ever do that? If Krellm7 is referring to the metal horns ringing, that can be easily addressed with damping material. Before getting into any of the actual tweaks, which can be found elsewhere in the forum archives and at the Klipsch forums, I'd have to side with Jaybo. Given your current amplification I would never steer you towards Klipsch Heritage speakers. Though some like the combination, I've never liked them much with SS amps and they can sound quite harsh. PW Klipsch designed them for tubes. To my ears that is what they sound best with. If you are sticking with SS amplification, try something different if you want to try new speakers. If you really want to try Klipsch speakers in the price range you stated, and have the room for them, I'd pair a set of Klipschorns off with some great tube amps and save a bit of money for tweaking them (replace the tweet and Xover would be the first thing I'd do). LaScalas do not do the bass very well - they drop off severely at around 50hz. They do mids brilliantly. If you need bass, and don't have the corners for the Khorns, I'd look at Cornwalls. There is a Frankenstein version of those that Bob Crites came up with that he calls "Cornscalas" that might be a direction to pursue if you're a DIY guy too. Again, tubes are where its at with horns IMO.

Marco

klipsch makes great horns...but honestly, your ohms are the benchmark loudspeakers. i think you're just bored at the moment.

Klipsch are not good horn loaded speakers. I should know, I had 6 pairs over the years before I realized I was doing it all wrong. Knock on a cabinet of a Klipsch, it rings like a bell.