LaScalla "horn" sound compared to "maggie" sound


I am quite satisfied with the sound I have with my current system, but am looking for a little spice and variety in my life.  There is a set of circa 1977  LaScalas available in my part of the country and I wonder how the sound might be as compared to my current Magnepan 1.7 set up?  I know it is apples and oranges, but I like both.  Chocolate is my favorite ice cream, but I also like strawberry sometimes.

My general understanding, or perhaps misunderstanding, is that the Lascala/horn type of speaker has the wonderful life-like midrange, are quite dynamic, won't go real low in the bass region, and may be sweet or ragged on the top end depending on who you talk to, set up, and what you feed them.

I could go listen to these, but the sources are inferior and the room would be different from mine.  I really can't get a good grip on a different sound until I can sit back in the Hefty-Boy and assimilate it slowly.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

My current system is:

TT- VPI Classic 1 with Soundsmith Zephyr cart.
Phono stage- Herron Audio VTPH2
Digital/CD- Simaudio Moon Supernova
Preamp- Herron Audio VTSP3A
Power Amp- Bryston 4BSST2
Subs- Rel T5's
abnerjack

Showing 1 response by whart

I went from planars to horns back in 2006, sort of the reverse process--though it was Quads, not Maggies, and Avantgarde Duos, not Klipsch. So, I can't speak to the specific speakers you are talking about (though I played with Maggies many times back in the day), I can tell you about my experience in general. The horn speaker, for me, was more persnickety about everything upchain--and the SQ varied dramatically based on the rest of the system. Midrange was comparable to a good stat, but with a far more "in the room" quality and that so-called "jump" factor.  Same issues of bass lightness or discontinuity as stats when it came to mating woofers- of course, the original big K-horn solved that by corner loading. Size of image- Maggies present huge. It's fun, great for large scale music, my recollection was that they didn't have the pinpoint imaging that stats did- though more modern Maggies with ribbon tweeters and judicious set up may improve that. Horns- you don't even care about image, as such, because the of the "in the room" quality. --'Tis fun to have both. I just got my old Quad '57s restored. My horns are in storage awaiting a new room.