Horns with good timbre and tonality?


I’m looking into buying a pair of horns for my next speaker. I sold my Sonus Faber Elipsa SE. Looking for a more realistic, more lively sound. I’ve heard the Triangle Magellan and enjoyed the sound, but wonder if there is better.

I appreciate speed and dynamics with good timbre and tonality. I know horns are good with speed and dynamics, but not sure if they can do timbre and tonality like SF can.

Looking at German Blumenhofer FS1 / FS2, French Triangle magellan, Fleetwood deville, Avantgarde.

It will be paired with Mastersound 845 Evolution SET or Auris Fortissimo amp.

Room size 40 x 15 x 8 feet

Must realistically play Solo Piano, Cello and full scale symphony.

 

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Showing 3 responses by larryi

Today, I heard an exceptionally good midrange horn.  For comparison purposes, one channel of a stereo pair was equipped with a wooden horn with a mouth opening around 16” wide and around 13” tall.  The other channel had a wooden replica of a Western Electric 22A horn (around 28” wide by 28” high).  The bigger horn was astonishingly more lively and clear sounding.  This horn was better than the 22A horns I’ve heard before. 

I've heard most of the speakers mentioned here, but not the Blumenhofer or OHA speakers.  I like a lot of these speakers, but, I prefer the custom builds I've heard, particularly because they are specifically tuned to the buyer's taste and room acoustics.  The builder in my area, Deja Vu Audio, utilizes a mix of vintage and modern drivers and parts, but the key ingredients are rare, vintage midrange drivers and horns.  

Most of the systems mentioned above are quite good, so any specific ones I particularly like are those that happen to fit my personal preference so they are not necessarily better than the others.  For example, I like the JBL Everest even if the overall tonal balance is not quite warm enough for my taste.  I have heard many vintage JBL horn systems and that company has remained pretty consistent in its overall sound.  Likewise, I like the Classic Audio systems--the JBL Hartsfield reproduction and the field coil speakers, but, they are too bright for me to truly love them.  Avantgarde Duos and Trios are very nice too, but, for me the bass does not match the rest of the sound and seems a bit "slow" and lumpy (still a fantastic sounding brand).  Its been a while since I heard the Odeons, but, I liked them too.  Voltis are very good for the money, and have very well built cabinets, but, the ones that look like Classic Klipsch speakers sound like improved Klipsch and don't quite have the magic of the very best horn systems from the past.  The smaller Volti (is that the Razz?) is a nice and lively system, but, the bass does not quite match the rest of the sound (still a very good speaker at a very reasonable price).

Someone mentioned the Charney Audio speakers.  I don't know if they qualify as horn systems, although the cabinet is often called a quarter wave back loaded horn (I think of horns as having compression drivers for the midrange/tweeter). They are, to me, fantastic sounding, particularly for the money, and they most certainly do sound like horn systems.  They don't deliver truly deep bass with impact, but, that is not a big personal priority and they do so much of everything else so well.  The same goes with Songer  Audio's field coil speakers--not horns, but horn-like in sound (very fast, dynamic and lively sounding, particularly at low volume levels). 

The builder Deja Vu Audio is rushing to build and show a system at Capital Audiofest with twin 18’ woofers and a large square horn sitting on top with a straight horn that is 38” long (hence, the horn cannot be built into the cabinet).  The big wooden 22A replica horn I mentioned above  came from Japan and cost $12,000 plus $4,100 for shipping.  
All of these Deja Vu horn systems are NOT at all like Klipsch or Altec or EV systems—they are not nasal or peaky or rough sounding.  They are closer, tonally speaking, to Edgarhorns, but they are more alive and engaging.  I like JBL Everest, but these custom systems are warmer, and to me, more natural sounding.

There are non-horn, high efficiency systems which should be in the same discussion because they have similar attributes.  As I have mentioned before Songer Audio and Charney Audio systems using fullrange single drivers or two-ways using such full range drivers are also in the same game.  Another system I really like is the Cube Audio Basis Nenuphar (widerange driver plus a powered woofer).