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 1 response by dweller

My recently purchased Forte 4s sound wonderful with my 12 yo Onkyo HT receiver. I bought them to use with low-powered SS and tube amps (which tend to be more affordable than hi-powered amps). Dying to drop them in my BAT/B&W reference system but the holidays have me feeling too mellow. Maybe after new year.

As for your friend, maybe he was disappointed that you used your own judgement instead of taking his advice. People can be a little weird. BTW, our friends, the Japanese, were way ahead of the curve regarding horns. This was a craze in Japan 30 years ago.