Why not horns?

There are no two horn speakers that sound the same. There are mediocre ones, good ones, very good ones, and some that are unlistenable. There are some with qualities BUT flaws (like most vintage Klipsch designs for example) that you can either live with or not, depending on your sensibilities. Modern horns, new horn designs don't sound "honky" anymore. Rejecting all horns in block makes absolutely no sense. It's such a vast world with extremely different designs and ranging from budget to ultra high end, cost-no-object... then there's the synergy with the room, with the system... no, you just can't "loathe all horns". That's just ridiculous IMHO.

Also I'd like to add that what a lot of audiophiles are calling "horns" are in fact merely direct radiator speakers with horn loaded mids or treble. A true horn system is fully horn loaded and very often sound more coherent. it's not easy to match a horn with a direct radiator mid/woofer and that is often where the design is flawed.