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?

128x128coachpoconnor

Copy that Erik, guess I was confused, but it was JBLs fault😂, they compared true horns with their compression versions in the write-up. Either way they are excellent sounding, and thanks for the clarity!

This puts it better.  As you can see from the article, the raison d'etre for compression drivers IS horn speakers:

 

 

 

Great info, thanks…maybe I should spend more time reading and less listening?

cohicks4,

I had the Array1400's too. They are excellent speakers, and the looks are a knockout. Nothing else looks like them.

Altec's here. HeathKit AS101, basically Altec Valencias in much nicer cabinets. New crossovers and 902 drivers to replace the stock 806 drivers. Sounds fabulous, haven't heard anything yet that makes me feel deprived.

Using Mac MC40 for power and everything else is tube as well. Love it.

 

BillWojo