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?

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Showing 4 responses by ditusa

First and foremost, if you like your Klipsch Horns that is all that matters.  Screw everyone else. 

      Well said!

@cohicks4,

Hi,

I've been running JBL 4435 Monitors in my audio rig since 1983. IMHO: They are eargasmic! The Array1400's are nice speakers, design by Greg Timbers. FWIW; All horns are waveguides, not all waveguides are horns. Good read on horns by Don Keele, he also designed the horn in the 4435/30 monitors. See below. 

https://www.xlrtechs.com/dbkeele.com/papers.htm

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?10643-1400-Array

Mike

 

 

@cohicks4,

You’re welcome! Lets not forget it was a horn that brought down the walls, of Jericho. LOL

Mike

ALL SYSTEMS are sensitive to proper set up. But good horns will tell you exactly what’s on the recording and not everyone likes to know. 😎

      I agree!