Horns can be as smooth and transparent as any speaker made. Like any other kind of speaker technology there are bad examples and excellent examples as Duke pointed out earlier.
Horns don't have to be all that big. For example you can have a quarter wave rear loaded horn in a small floor standing cabinet, that can go down to 50-60Hz. At that point its easy to set up a subwoofer system (keeping it below the critical-to-human-hearing 80Hz), which is not a bad idea anyway if you don't like standing waves messing with the bass at the listening chair. One of the best distributed bass array systems is the Swarm made by Audiokinesis; if set up with a quarter wave horn as I just mentioned, you can have a compact and efficient system without sacrifice of sound quality compared to much larger systems.
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Let’s assume you find two pairs of speakers you like enough to buy, one pair horns.
Horn’s high efficiency sets you up for SUCCESSFUL lower power needs. That saves money, and the amp size/weight goes down, thus location flexibility increases.
High efficiency, horns or not, are always my recommendation to allow an easier entry into tubes, when lower power size truly saves money, size, weight, heat output.
Generally, if horns, the midrange horn size usually leads to a bigger woofer, thus less need for a subwoofer. That protects bass imaging, so, that could be considered a related advantage of horns. Of course, larger enclosures only work in certain spaces, and want to be out away from rear and side walls. I go for heavy enclosure on 3 wheels (3 wheels always wobble free and more pounds per wheel), push back for more circulation space, pull out for dedicated listening. |
I have had some Ref 3A de Capos in my main system for 10 years. stand mount 2 way speakers no crossover. Love the sound.
A few years ago we bought a cabin in the mountains and i needed to put a second system together. I had just bought a 2/6 watt tube amp so needed some hi eff speakers. Had a choice of some wonderful Cornscalas (99db) or some Klipsch Quartets (97.5db). Both horns. heard them on Quicksilver minis and both were great and the Quartets were $400 in the box with crites upgraded crossover and Ti tweeters and about $600 less. Very different sound than I was use to, much more shouty. I like to think of the difference with my setup as the de Capos give a more recorded sound and the Quartets a more live sound. They both work just different. Now I wish I had bought those Cornscalas.....
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I heard the big JBL’s once, they went for almost 50K for the pair. If I could afford them and had the room to support them, I would have bought them in a heartbeat. Nothing beats the dynamics of good horn speakers, but the good ones are very expensive. |
At various times my main speakers were Bose 901s, Series 1. Magnepan IIAs, Acoustat 2+2s and three way d'Appolito Dynaudio towers. When it comes to the realistic portrayal of music of all scales and types none of those systems could hold a candle to my present fully horn loaded, DSP controlled, tri-amplified DIY speakers. Properly executed horns can be splendid.
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Not much love here either.
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My folks loved to dance, they would fire up the console, drop the tone arm and about 1 min later the Metregon would start sounding pretty good.
Horns, you can spend your life trying to get there. Horn people, are horn people.
There are some neat looking ones through the years. Jensen, JBL, Klipsch, Altec. A LOT of handmade, one of a kind setups too, crazy looking stuff.
I had Imperial horns in my teens and early 20s, few speakers of the time were better. Of course I'd say that..LOL
I thought they were the Coolest Daddio. |
if you have sweet sounding amp,go for horn speakers:)
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I think that a listener's preference for horns (assuming that they are good ones) will be in good part based on how much they value realistic dynamics, and the sense of ease that horn loudspeakers display.
That is not the priority of every listener.
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Needlebrush wrote: "I’m curious if there are any who are first time horn speaker owners after having owned other types of speakers for many years, and are you glad you switched?"
I don’t fall into that category. My (condensed) back-story is, I was a thriving SoundLab (full-range electrostat dealer) with a solid anti-horn background and accompanying bias, then at CES nearly 20 years ago I heard two horn speakers that abruptly shifted my paradigm. They were the Classic Audio T-1 and the Edgarhorn Titan. I’m still a dealer for SoundLab but now I am also a horn speaker manufacturer.
Georgehifi wrote: " Not much love [for horns]🤷♂️
"Try switching the question around the other way and you’ll probably be killed in the rush."
I dislike most horn speakers, but not all have an audible "horn signature". Imo the problem is that horn design is deeply rooted in the PA world, where acoustic amplification was the top priority. But it is possible to design horns which prioritize low coloration. The devils are in the details.
Just as not all dome tweetered speakers are created equal, so too not all horn speakers are created equal.
Duke
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You might want to read my forum...Horn Speaker Suggestions. I went through a very long process before deciding on horn speakers. Never in a million years did I think I would end up with horn speakers. I listened to tons of very high end non horn speakers before deciding on Viking Acoustic Grande Voix speakers. What sold me was the clarity of sound. I love hearing each instrument and that is what horn speakers do for me. |
Horns bring a couple of interesting dimensions. Dispersion control (less room tuning to worry about) and high efficiency and dynamics.
There's a good reason why JBL's top end home speakers use them. :)
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Not much love 🤷♂️
Try switching the question around the other way and you'll probably be killed in the rush.
Cheers George
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