ZHorns or Hornshoppes?

The Decware forum is THE place to find an answer to this question.

http://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi

I am not currently a Decware owner, but I know several people who are. They "hang out" at the Decware forum and could likely provide feedback. BTW, there are lots of Hornshoppe owners there.

I have heard numerous Decware amps and if I were in the market, I would get the cheaper Zen Select and a pair of Dave Dutill's Parker Audio 95 mkII's. The 95's were built SPECIFICALLY to get the most out of the Zen amp.

http://parkeraudio.net/

I have heard lots of different speakers with the Zen and Dave's are some of the best. They are $650 with a money back return plan. You can't go wrong. They work well with the 1.8watts AND Dave will give you a refund if you don't like them. BTW, they have MUCH BETTER bass than the small horns that I have heard.

Check 'em out. Tell Dave I said "Hey"!!!

Enjoy,

TIC

(Tom In Cincinnati)

my good man........go to the following site www.omegaloudspeakers.com.........very nice sounding and louis is a great guy...

Check out Audioasylum, Harmonicdiscord and Audiocircle. They have more info on these speakers. There is also a comparo between the Cicada and the Horn on TNT somewhere. Just do a search. Sorry, I never used any of these speakers tho but did read up on them as I was contemplating on getting one of these speakers.

Hi there.
I can't help you with a comparison but I have owned a pair of hornshoppe speakers for over a year and I consider them to be the best of the entry level single driver offerings that I have heard. The Zhorn looks great, and I have been meaning to check out the Omega speakers as they also fall into this price category.

If you can find a demo deal on Loth-X speakers you may like them. I own a set of Lothex Auras and they are pretty wonderful, but they are pricier. Cain and Cain make a beautiful entry level speaker (The Abby) but I have not been greatly impressed with the sound, and at over $1500 for the pair you are better off with the Zhorns or hornshoppes.

If you're going for a bigger budget you should consider the Totem Hawk transmission line speakers. Also there is a line recently imported from finland,Amphion, which is really intriguing. It utilizes a broadband driver with a built in sub and super tweeter and has the reviewers going nuts. They have several models and you can do a search at audiogon and find at least one dealer. I have yet to hear a single driver speaker which is really satisfying on the bottom end and many lack the ultra highs as well. It seems to be a trade off: From single driver designs you can get a smoothness and warm midrange and unbelievable depth of field and imaging. But the ultra highs and lows remain problematic. Hope this is helpful

Jaguarmusicboy

12-15-03: Bemopti123
I recently, or more like 1 month ago, bought the Garuda cabinets from Tom. I placed my own Fostex 208 Sigma drivers, still available at Madisound, as well as putting some spiking feet on them. To drive them, at first I had a Assemblage 300B Platinum edition and as a preamp, I had a First Sound Presence Deluxe. For source, a DVD deck, as well as a Bel Canto DAC-1.0. When I began listening to them, I was not necessarily impressed with the sound. Nevertheless, after spiking them up, and setting them up correctly, I was rather astonish at the resolution, as well as the fluidity of presentation that these set up gave me. Just after I set them up first, I decided to get new amplification, not that the former was any worse. I got the 47 Labs Shigaraki Integrated, after reading some reviews, as well as what Tom told me about them. Since I connected the Shigarakis, to the Z-horns, they simply deliver the sound, effortlessly, as well as very expressively. The bass, for what is worth, is more than sufficient, but because of me being a little basshappy, due to my other dynamic speaker set ups, I have gotten a subwoofer, to take care of low. Now, the set up is complete, the subs take care of what low needs to be reproduced and the mid, as well as the highs are GLORIOUS. The Bel Canto DAC 1.0 is gone, being replaced with a DAC 2.0. For cabling I run the 47 Labs OTA for the horns, for the subs, a pair of audioquest cables. All is Great and ALIVE with these new set up. ZHorn designs are affordable and a great bang for the buck.
I personally feel that the other outfit, the hornshoppe horns are rather overpriced for the performance.

I used to own the Ion BS-1, from Loth X. Sold them.