Horn speakers , high efficiency but not “shouty”

I've heard that speaker with the voxativ driver.  It sounded very good.  I think you have a speaker that can go toe to toe with almost anything on the market at any price.

I've heard the Charney Companion speakers at two audio shows and I was extremely impressed both times.  This speaker system is a rarity--a single driver full-range system that does not have a rough, peaky response, has reasonably strong bass, and retains all of the positive attributes of single driver system (very lively and dynamic and very clear sound).  I also liked how rich and harmonically saturated the system sounded.  I've heard it with both the Voxativ and the AER driver option.  Both are good, but for me, spending a bit more for the AER driver option is well worth the money--the frequency response is a bit more extended, particularly on top.

With the exception of the Bhaava, I have not heard Rethm speakers in quite a long time.  The Bhaava that I did hear a couple of years ago was very good sounding for the money.  

Good luck on your search.

A lot of the horn and other high efficiency systems I like that manage to tame excessive midrange peaks and nasal colorations are quite expensive (e.g., Goto horn systems, G.I.P. Laboratory drivers, Feastrix drivers).  The Charney, Volti and the Klipsch heritage systems are the exception (particularly something like the Klipsch Cornwall IV).  The Classic Audio field coil speakers are also not excessively colored or peaky, but, for my taste, they are a little too bright and a little to hard and brittle sounding (I still think they are certainly worth a serious audition).

While I thought the Charney speakers I heard played loudly enough, I did not hear them pushed really hard.  I would not expect a single 8" driver to be really capable of extremely high volume levels, but, on the plus side, I like horns and high efficiency systems because they sound very dynamic and lively without having to play at high volume levels.

I like Maggies too, but, as is the case with all speaker types and models, they have their own set of strengths and weaknesses that may not fit the particular priorities of any given listener.  For me, the biggest issue is that they come alive at a volume level that is a little bit too high.  The other issue I have with them is that they don't pair well with the type of amplifier that I much prefer--low-powered tube amplifiers.  I've owned Maggies, and can very comfortably live with them, but, I prefer the particular horn system I've assembled.

The Charney and Rethm systems the OP is asking about have very limited distribution and are really only known to audio cognoscenti, while Maggies are ubiquitous.  I am pretty sure the OP and anyone who are interested in them have run into Maggies before and for whatever reason, are not considering them.

newtoncr,

I like your approach of narrowing candidates to a few that you can realistically audition.  As it is turning out, you are looking at single driver or single driver used as wideband driver in a multi-way system, rather than traditional "horn" systems (compression midrange driver).  Personally, I've not heard many single driver systems that I would consider completely successful (Charney and Voxativ being the exception).  I really do like systems where a driver intended to be used as a single driver is used as a wide band driver in multi-way systems.  I've heard drivers that I thought were very rough and peaky sounding become remarkably well behaved when used in two and three way systems.

I have heard a couple of different Horning systems and I do like their implementation of single drivers in multi-way systems.  Their speakers are very lively and vivid sounding.  I find them a touch bright, and a bit ragged and sibilant, but, this is a matter of taste, and overall, I do like them.  I cannot recall the electronics used in the demonstration, but, it may have been Tron one time and Thoress another time.   A friend has Tron electronics that I think are quite nice sounding.