Has anyone heard the newest version of the Klispschhorm?

@mglik --

"... I guess the Khorns now have a different and better tweeter."

The newest AK6 version I heard a few months back sported a somewhat problematic upper end, as I wrote earlier. A quality tube amp pairing might be preferable, as some here have suggested, but still I wouldn’t expect it to completely ameliorate named shortcomings.

Can’t speak for Ralph and the Classic Audio Loudspeakers, but I would expect them to better the Khorns from the central midrange on up. They extend deeper as well, but are direct radiating here nonetheless. Not to say they don’t deliver excellent bass, I’m sure they do, but horn-loaded bass (and up to lower mids) just sounds different.

@johnk --

"The Jubilee uses DSP since the Celestion Axi2050 doesn't have much upper range unless EQed and processed. I use the same driver as Jubilee in a better non-CD horn design and with a proper tweeter set up so I need no DSP and can just let the Axi2050 roll-off gently mating it to a proper tweeter. The sound quality once done is one of the best in compression drivers."

What's your general issue with Constant Directivity horns - the frequent use of diffraction slots here, abrupt mouth termination (straight-sided horns), falling HF response, other? And what (older?) profile are you referring to as "a better non-CD horn design"? 

Certainly a CD horn/driver combo can be in need of some EQ to ameliorate falling HF response, which would be less ideally achieved with a passive cross-over due to the likelihood of filter complexity. Active XO's/DSP's are the better choice here, but such a configuration is not your cup of tea, I know. Above a certain HF frequency the horn becomes more irrelevant, and here the driver itself will be a co-determining factor with regard to upper extension and the roll-off rate here. In that regard the axi2050 doesn't help. 

In my own actively configured CD horn/driver combo I use no shelf filter to attenuate HF response, but rather a few filter notches, a peak suppression, and a mild wide-Q PEQ gain at close to 20kHz. Filter notches and peak suppression were eventually derived from my own measurements and, at an early juncture, more crudely from the manufacturer's supplied measurements of the same horn/driver combo I use, to which there was a rather close correspondence with my own measurements. Determining the exact frequencies for these mild filter corrections was essential for them to have the most sufficient effect; indeed, what quickly stood out from that outset was that "less is more," and that achieving the most smooth and natural sound with these corrections was the primary concern. 

"Flat" HF response, more easily achieved with non-CD horns, sounds unnaturally tipped-up to my ears, and moreover the increasing directivity here can lead to HF-beaming and more prevalent issues with finding the correct placement. What may more readily persist with CD horns is diffraction issues, but theoretically at least those emanating from the diffraction slot area of my own CD horns (what some perceive as the "frying bacon" phenomenon) are not a concern until well beyond 120dB's - if they are at all. 

It comes down to actual listening, and I've never been able to provoke any issues with my speaker setup here, although I've never reached +120dB's - certainly never felt inclined to. Question is whether diffraction issues would present themselves sonically at much lower volumes, and how that would imprint as a "signature" of the sound. Comparing with quite a few other horns and waveguides I've heard - i.e.: a variety of non-CD horns, OSWG's and other - I can only surmise that it's a non-issue at any SPL's I've cared to try out. If anything the sheer size of a large horn like my EV's is an advantage. 

Begging the question: when is a problem a problem, and how does it apply to a given context. I guess it all depends. 

I’ve heard the Khorn AK6’s. Overall I find they’re sonically rewarding and engaging speakers that only all-horns can really sound like. They’re quite a few horn hybrid speakers out there with midrange and tweeter horns/waveguides in conjunction with direct radiating woofer/mids, but it’s rare to see the important "power region" (~lower midrange and down) horn-loaded as well, and this in particular is the distinctive sonic feature of the Khorns. The bass is wonderfully layered, smooth, enveloping and effortless - quite unlike direct radiating bass, really, in a positive sense - and has great impact, scale and dynamics, especially when placed in corners. There’s some "character" in the upper bass/lower mids sections (the upper range of the bass horn), but it mostly amounts to a bit of added warmth. The central to upper mids is open, direct/present, very clean and informative. No honking in its true meaning, but ever so slightly "beamy" or intense that may have to do with the midrange horn being no larger than it is. The lower highs on up, in the setup I heard them, is where I find the Khorn AK6’s to be the least capable in that this region is a bit too tipped up and coarse sounding as well. I heard them via quality solid state amps and a digital source - perhaps a tube amp pairing might have provided for a more "forgiving" imprinting in the upper octaves, but I suspect it wouldn’t be enough to completely ameliorate named tendency here.

Every speaker, regardless of price, has its shortcomings. What is "coloration"? Audiophilia seems to have monopolized in a sense the distinction of coloration, glaringly overlooking the importance of vital aspects such as dynamics, presence, ease and scale that, if negated, would seem to them a relief almost as something that more readily accommodates a "cultivation" in sound that has come to encapsulate "hi-fi" as it is typically known, as has for some time now. That is to say: a duller, less lively sound that’s not least bred from a desire to kill resonances at large from a physical package severely compromised in size. The Khorns are more or less the antithesis to this type of sound, and it makes them all the more acoustically interesting and compelling in presentation, to my ears; more emotionally real and (a)live.

To reiterate: a fundamental quality of the Khorns has to do with the horn-loading of the lower midrange and down, which also - in some areas, at least - makes them a more coherent and of-the-same-cloth sounding speaker. Indeed, to more accurately get a bearing on horn qua all-horn sound, the Khorns are definitely a viable way to experience it.

@johnk --

Great looking horn setup there. 4-way with bass horns in the background?