How much of High End Audio is Horn Speakers?


An audio friend of mine had been discussing my future speaker purchase. We discussed, Harbeth, Devore, Spendor, Audio Note and other more traditional speaker brands. A week or two later he called an asked me what speakers I had purchased. When I told him Klipsch, there was a little silence on the other end of the line. Our call probably ended a little sooner then usual. I could tell he was disappointed in my purchase. Is it the Klipsch name that illicits this type of response or is it Horn speakers in general? After thinking about some of the other Audiophiles in town, a good deal of them are on the low power high efficiency speaker route and more than a few I know are using Horns. Does anyone know how the high end market share is divided? Is there a stigma associated with certain lower cost Horn speakers? Or is this just Klipsch? I now own a pair of Klipsch Cornwalls and am enjoying the journey associated with tweaking the sound to my taste. Is there an unwritten rule that friends don’t let friends buy Klipsch?

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Showing 4 responses by astolfor

Avantgrade for me, I have  3 different pairs. 

TrioXD

Duo Primo Xd

and 

Duo XD.

No distortion from the horns....due to mechanical amplification nature of these horns

@vladtheimpala blanket statements like that are never true. If you have never listen to a naturally warm, engaging and add any other adjectives you want horn speaker, then you have never listened an Avantgrade in a good system.

The Duos Avantgrade, as good and in many cases better than my Sonus Faber Aida, the Trio leaves the Aida in the dust, as it does  my Tannoy’s, or any of the other speakers I own, including the Wilson.

if the Avantgrade sound harsh, then it is either the system connected to them or the music or the room placement.

if you are ever around Barcelona, let me know, I will let you listen to them with any of my amps, including my Audio Signature Ginrei and the soon to come The Legend. If you don’t like it and find the music to be engaging and as real as you have listened, I gladly buy you dinner.

I love them, I just bought another pair for a small living room in my house in the USA. 

@vladtheimpala Another example of how different our ears listen, because with my Avantgrade, I have no issues playing at low dbs and getting as good and engaging, if not better, sound as my Wilson Alexx V and  Sonus Faber Aida.

Clearly they all have their own signature, that I like or I would not have bought them, but I tend to listen most of my Classical and Spanish music on the Avantgrade, Jazz and rock on the Wilson and Sonus.