Horn Speaker Recommendations

Reading a lot here about Fortes and Chorus and other "Heritage" speakers. Now the Belle and La Scala and KHorn are all horn speakers. The rest of the Heritage line still has direct radiator woofers so they are not pure horn speakers. Those new Jubilees by the way are cheaper then KHorns and sound far better and the KHorns sound better than La Scalas so there is your audio food chain.OP asked about pure horn speakers.

As a true pure horn setup you would have to go along way to beat the Klipsch Jubilee with the monster 402 horn lens on top of it. Dynamic bass which only a true horn can give and not at all thirsty for wattage. Any genre of music sounds good with it and I believe they are under $10,000.

Klipsch Cinema has some fabulous gear and it might not be as pretty as some would like but if sound is paramount it is the best I have heard. Had a set of three way MCM 1900's and while they might be made for a 600 seat theater played at lower volumes they are eminently suitable for home use. The dynamic presence and articulation is stunning and the sweet spot extremely wide. None of this don't move your head more than a foot or you lose it junk. Remember if you meant what you said about pure horns size is the only way to get that super crisp clean thumping bass. A direct radiator bass bin can't give you the "right there" thump a horn will. You want a kettle drum or Star Wars explosion to rattle your cage go with a horn.
  Go to the klipsch site and check out the bigger all horn Cinema systems. To make them really sing you will have to bi or tri amp and set them up with DSP to but when you do the Wison etal megabuck dudes you invite over will leave quite distraught. There is nothing to rival a pure horn Klipsch Cinema system. Don't believe me go hear one. Before you buy anything. 

" they fall into a category of similarity to the monstrous horn speakers johnk was talking about. The projection, presentation, and pressurization ( the 3 Ps ) of these, would be too much in a typically sized room. "
  Well monstrous I guess is in the eye of the beholder and anyone can go to the Klipsch cinema site and get exact dimensions to plan by. There are more of these in houses than people might think because they do not overwhelm anything but rather bring stunning big stage realism to even moderate sized rooms. You control the volume and if you want it stupid loud you can go there. If you want striking fidelity at any level loud or quiet you can go there too only it adds presence smaller speakers and half horn and half direct radiating speakers only dream of.
  Before Paul Klipsch died these were being developed as the next stage after the KHorn. Subsequently they made it only to the Cinema line we Klipsch guys figure because they are twice the sound of KHorns and half the price. Pro speaker buyers are a lot more fussy about price combined with superior sound for that price. About that 60' piano. Sounds good but in reality if the recording has the piano centered in the room so will the Jubilees  and crap recordings might give you a 60' sound stage good ones give you a regular piano with precision.

  OP before you let people fill you full of their opinions on why things like Jubilees WONT work go to the klipsch forum and find out why they will work from people who have done what you want to do. If you are really seeking sound and not status you simply can't ignore what horns bring to the table. Projection and presentation and pressurization making these unsuitable is nonsense. Talk to those who have done it and see what they have to say. You pass the idea up of a pure horn system you will regret doing so if you ever hear anything like those Jubilees.

" Place them in a 15 by 20 room, a standard sized listening room for many, and yes, they would be overwhelming, both visually, and acoustically. Now, knowing who you are, I can understand your viewpoint. "
LOL yeah they are not real esthetic I have to admit. I find that I listen to music quite often at 70 to 80db though so it is not like I have them thumping a lot. Way to easy to harm your hearing.  I went through a lot of speakers to get to this point though including many La Scalas. I have four sets in the shop right now in various stages of restoration so I am quit familiar with them.
 What started my love affair with bigger was a set of KP-450's which were a two way system with two 15" woofers and a fairly large horn with the 1132 driver on them. The sound was so compelling and so superior to La Scalas that I never looked back. People that have owned both the next generation which was the KPT-456, which sounded even better, and KHorns, which as you know is better than La Scalas, prefer the KPT-456's.  Problem with older used gear is they are quit scarce and you can look today for these and find KHorns or La Scalas most every day. But not the KP or KPT's because once the movie theaters sell them off and they get into private hands they stay there and are not sold again except between friends from what I see.  What I have really been seeking over the years was something that could play classical organ music like Toccata and Fugue in D Minor just like I was there in person. I wanted to hear and feel it just like real life. But then also play Cello or bagpipes or classical rock or blues just like I was there too. It is amazing how many low five string bass notes people have no idea even exist in music because their system cant play that low or big kick drums. And yes large horns deliver the crispest most precise tight bass out there along with punch you can feel and direct radiating speakers don't. Although I have to admit the KPT 456 came somewhat close but with muddier sound.
 I went to Metropolis Outfitters in Paducah KY once because Cory had the new La Scala III's and a Jubilee with the 402 horn on top in his sound rooms. The La Scalas looked really nice but paled into insignificance compared to the Jubilees. Now the La Scalas III's are as good a speaker as many will ever hear since they have gone to 1" sides and the resonance problem is gone. Problem is there is just so much more that can be had for the asking.  I can tell you flat out though that big speakers do not overwhelm rooms and there are guys on the Klipsch forum with those fabulous MCM 1900 systems in their houses along with Jubilees. I have personally sold 10 sets of KP450's and KPT-456's to home owners and they are for 200 seat theaters and they love them. Kind of industrial looking for sure but the detail and superior listening experience at any volume just works in any room. If you are ever near southern middle Tennessee you are welcome to stop in and hear them just PM me.

" A lot of love for Klipsch speakers on this thread.  Hmmmm, I wonder why there are so many for sale on the US audio mart website? " 
  Might be because there are 33,000+ forum members and who knows how many buyers of Klipsch so yes they do show up and don't last long unless grossly over priced.
" 60 foot sound stage LOL sounds to me like someone has no experience with large horn systems. I sit in my office listening to a community leviathan system in nearfield low level rooms 14x17 it images wonderfully massively low in distortion interacts little with walls floor etc has a normal soundstage like a normal speaker would as do my Shearers my giant RCA front horns my electronluv horns my WE horns etc etc all just reproduce music in a natural real way. I just don’t get why state absolutes when you have never experienced what you say all big horns do? I can understand size issues but the rest is just uninformed bias. "
100% agree. Looked up that horn and it looks like they were thinking like Danley but years earlier. I would like to hear those some day. Near field indeed LOL!

" I am wondering if Roy Delgado would feel the Jubilees would work in a 15 by 20 room. Sorry if I offended you. Enjoy ! MrD. "
  No not offended at all I just think people get cheated out of some systems because they don't realize how they really function. Met Roy at the last Klipsch gathering and here is a bit of Klipsch history for you. A select group of speaker owners were invited to Klipsch to preview the Jubilee and none of them were, as far as I know, professional sound stage guys representing theaters or industry. Claude and Coytee on the Klipsch forum were two of them and still active there and they probably would fill you in on the details if you go there and ask. Suffice it to say Roy would approve of their use anywhere I believe. It was the last speaker he and Paul Klipsch worked on together so it has a place in his heart. Would he say so in public since Jubilees are far more sound than KHorns at half the price? We think this is why the Jubilees are kept industrial looking so as to not compete with the much more refined appearance of veneered boxes. Plus it is pretty hard to make the 402 horns on top of them pretty with zero WAF.
  My main goal in pushing these horns is based on the food chain many of us waste our time and money on. We keep spending a little more looking for that great audio and then go through way to many sets before we find what we were looking for. I had to waste a lot of time and money before I had ever heard my first real good 2" horn driven pro speaker and I just wish someone would have shown me those when I first became interested in Klipsch.  By the way, if anyone reads up on those Super MWM's the 3D or 2D files are freely available to anyone who wants to build a set for personal use. This is not permission to start making these for profit.

" My only advice for you. Try and listen to everything you can, before you buy, and, if possible, to listen in your new room "  The best possible advice you can get. You might not get them in your room but find someone who has what you are interested in and listen first and also find out how they feed them to get them to sound right if you like them..

  "Seems many who have a horn bias have never heard a proper set. Since many of the things, they insist all horns do I never hear out of a proper setup full front loaded horn system. My horns systems disappear when on.                                                                                                        Music sounds real whole complete and in realistic space not emanating from a source. I don't get overly large image size I'm not limited in any way on music type or SPL even very low SPL. I can and do fit large horns in small and average spaces and get great results seems I'm not alone in that lookup Japanese horn systems. I can do that with almost any type of loudspeaker. I just don't get why simple system set up and synergy eludes so many in this hobby."
  You are 100% right. When people start chiming in with things like Fortes when the OP asked for all horn systems you have to wonder what people even think all horn systems are.  Mine is a two way system that goes from 18khz to 27hz. The bass bin is a derivative of the MCM 1900 MWM modified to be deeper and taller and is 60" wide at the mouth and 60" deep and 106" of travel from the woofer cone to the mouth of the horn. The Klipsch 402 horn lens crosses over at 500hz and goes to 18khz. Center to center they are 17 feet and I sit back from them normally at 12 feet or so. By listening to what many have for room size this is not out of the norm. The DB meter tells me that my favorite level is generally around 80 so I don't have these things loud most of the time. But when I do it is chest thumping perfect fidelity that is possible only with a horn.
 These two ways just disappear and the sound quality will raise goose bumps on your arms at times and all you horn nay sayers just have no idea what you are missing. All these negative comments on horns just tell me there are a lot of people who simply have never heard a set but they can tell you all about what they can't or won't be able to do. Anyone near southern middle Tennessee is welcome to stop in and hear for yourself. PM me and we can go from there. Twist my arm real hard and i will stop my day to listen to music;)

 

OK correct me if I am wrong but going to the Avantgarde site I see this speaker has two woofers for the sub section but no horn for them. So if this is a cabinet sub and not a horn once again someone does not understand what was asked by the OP. Namely a pure horn set up.
  People it is plain and simple. Horn subs, true horn subs can't be small to produce the sound. A true full range horn system with good or better bass will not fit into these silly fru fru ultra modern cool looking designs. The very smallest commercially available worthwhile hi fidelity all horn full range speaker I know of is the Klipsch Jubilee. It is not however pretty like this Duo thing might be but it IS all horn.

"I understand the considerations in regards to interior decoration, but if you’re really into sound reproduction let your speakers be a main priority in the allotted space they’re given - with the adherence to form-follows-function as far as it goes, and not vice versa. As it often happens, to my eyes at least, the really interesting physical shape of speakers comes via an uninhibited accordance with their function as dictated by physics. Even a much smaller, typical slender square box speaker can be seen as an outright nuisance in a home setting because it’s just that: a tall, rectangular square box oftentimes finished in a rather sterile manner, and one that’s placed well into the room, at that."  Precisely right and  much of the speaker world, no let me restate this to 95% of the "high end" speaker world is form before function and then trying to make them to work well within the physical parameters of the pretty, avant-garde or techno-artisto box. OP wants pretty and decent sound which I can understand is the choice of most but when I close my eyes I want to pretend I am truly in one of the best seats in the live performance. I want spectacular sound and looks just don't matter.

"So, if I can find great sound and good looking speaker, then I am a happy camper. "  Absolutely and if you can do this you can't ask for more. If you find something that meets these standards in your eyes that is what matters.
  In my search for my audio standards to be met I could not find what I wanted and ended up building what has turned out to be in most eyes a visual klunker no doubt, but the sound is amazing and it is produced by the laws of physics in which best functional form can't be evaded. Properly done pure horns systems are unbeatable by any direct radiator systems and they do this by correct audio producing shape which can be done no other way. Side benefit to horns is also super efficiency and you don't need lots of power to run things.
  It is a shame this forum does not allow for pictures. It was mentioned to me that a build thread would be interesting and there were not enough of them here but I can see why. Can't post build in progress pictures nor finished results nor can you post actual measured audio results for people to see so it ends up being talk and no evidence. Can't post REW or TrueRTA graphs showing the benefit of doing things certain ways nor can anyone share screen captures of active digital settings that would work with Xilicas to balance and time align systems.

That's a tough place to be in for audio quality and you have my sympathy. Hope you find something she likes and produces great audio too. I never told my wife this but this ordeal of building a new house and having to deal with the spouse during the process is why we will never have a new house. I get some say in what happens too or it does not happen.

  Finding showrooms or willing owners to audition can be hard to do. Forums are a great place to find owners and I would rather go to someones house where they have dealt with setup and rooms and do not have magic salesman snake oil going on.

Precisely. WAF over sound quality