Good horns are "in your face" alive like nothing else. None of the big Klipsch speakers I've heard can deliver the very bottommost bass via the horn - it would have to be too large - but that never bothered me while listening. The condition of the crossover and tweeter really matter and upgrades can be very effective. To me tiny Class A tube amps - the DHTs in particular - sound best with them. These setups can stand your hair on end and blow it back.
Paul Klipsch said that the world needed a good FIVE watt amp. The average home speaker produces about 87dB sound level output at 1 meter with 1 watt electrical input. Klipschorns, I believe, produce 105dB. Remember that each 3dB increase is twice as loud... the Klipschorns will play 64 times as loud as the average speaker with the same input power. With the horn acoustically loading the drivers, they also present a very benign load to the amplifier - unlike screen speakers they are an easy load for tube amps no matter how small.
Paul Klipsch said that the world needed a good FIVE watt amp. The average home speaker produces about 87dB sound level output at 1 meter with 1 watt electrical input. Klipschorns, I believe, produce 105dB. Remember that each 3dB increase is twice as loud... the Klipschorns will play 64 times as loud as the average speaker with the same input power. With the horn acoustically loading the drivers, they also present a very benign load to the amplifier - unlike screen speakers they are an easy load for tube amps no matter how small.