seeking ‘HORN’ ideas apart from Klipshc Lascalla


hello all!

Horns, and just now, the Klipsch Lascalla interests me and as a new purchased items, ala, $12K MSRP, are doable.

to gain a wider perspective what other avenues, choices, or options in competing brands could be suggested as alternative selections in the $8K to $15K new or used arena?

i’m aware adding sub (s) is a likely necessity with the Lascallas, and possibly many other such speakers..

power is up in the air and nothing yet is set to stone, but any speaker candidates will be used with tube or SS amps. Tubes predominately of course. albeit, not necessarily SET Flea wattage amps, e.g., 2a3, 300B, etc., though I’d not wish to rule out these types as a later down the road application .

I’ve heard only at shows sevewral brands and have not been thrilled by Avante gard Duos or uno’s especialy.

I have enjoyed immensely the Classic audio T1s but am having issues justifying their near $40K entry fee.

overall, i do enjoy the idea of the sheer impact and presence horns produce but feel from my brief listening experiences in show venues imaging often lacked yet contributed this attribute to room conditions and or the LP itself being perhaps too close.

truth be told, even cone speakers are not totally off the table as considerations, as some ‘hybrid’ bass powered systems appear to be quite easily driven;.

predominately, my main caveats here are size of units and the room dims. they will be set.

for a bit , room size will be 13.5ft x 21ft x 8.5ft and using the short wall.

albeit the current room dims will increase, it is not yet known to what extent, though the desire is to land in a larger, but not huge dedicated listening room. likely a tad wider one in any event

secondly, given present room dims, it seems to me placing speakers in there which are taller than about 4ft or so, is going to be excessive…. ?

lastly, imaging is usually a pet peve of mine. the better the imaging the more involved the presentation seems to be IMO. certainly imaging is not the whole shooting match and orgainics, speed, leading edge def, decay, lower register deliniation, and presence all play quite significant roles.

as I’m at the onset of putting together this outfit any suggestions are definitely appreciated in terms of speaker ideas other than the Lascalla per se.

alas, DIY, or kit options are off the table as assenbly is no longer something I’m comfortable doing..

as for power, consider what ever amps are involved, I’d probagbly use what ever quality amps whose outputs are 25wpc or greater, be it one chassis or two. the plan is to acquire more than one sort of power amp in topology and or output along the way.

huge thanks, .
blindjim
I have a pair of Klipschorns Model KC-BR with sequential serial numbers purchased 05/1980. Lightly used in a home. They have been listed on Audiogon. Located in Fresno, California. Let me know if you have some interest. 
As you are aware, there is a wide variety of horn speakers available. As ozzy62 suggested, how about a nice pair of Cornwalls?

As I have posted in other threads I'm currently running a pair of 2-way JBL L200T3s in my living room. There are essentially the home version of the 4425 monitor. Cheap ($800 on craigslist), in perfect condition and they sound great. My wife hates the baby butt cheeks horn flare (aka Dolly Partons) but I love them. Mate them with the right amp and they really sing. A very different sound than the Klipsch Heritage speakers but more to my taste.

I'm not suggesting that you look for a pair of L200T3s, but you could do worse. I am suggesting that there are a boat load of different horn speakers out there, including many brands and models you don't read about on Audiogon. Do a little research based on your musical and SQ preferences, your gear, your room and your budget.

Blindjim I am curious if you are blind? I recently lost 85% of the vision in my eyes due to a stroke and the optic nerve.  

If you were looking for horn speakers I would recommend you find my forum titled Horne speaker recommendations dated July 12, 2019.
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    I received over 150 different responses to my thread.  It is worth the read if you have the time.

I spent a year prior to me losing my eyesight traveling the country trying to find Horne speakers that were of interest to me. I ended up ordering Viking acoustic grande voix speakers.  They are being custom made and painted as we speak. They are made in Santa Fe New Mexico and the owner David Counselll is a great guy and he has a variety of horn speakers in different price ranges. I would highly recommend you take a look at the Viking website and give David a call.  The Berlin line seems to fit your budget but maybe David has some deals.  I listened to Avantgarde, Klipsch, JBL, Charney, hORN Universum, hORN Symphony, Deja Vu and Pure Audio Project to name a few.  

As for amplification, I ended up ordering canary audio grand reference 300 B mono tubes with the C1800 pre-amp.  Good Luck with your search.

This will probably be the least popular reply but.....Have you looked at vintage Altec ? I do currently have a pair of A5s in my listening room. Now to be honest, I have $2000 crossovers (Altecs crossovers are beyond bad) 416 woofers from GPA at around $400 each, a pair of Altec 288 drivers for mids  at $1000 for the pair with new diaphragms, Altec 1505b horns at $1500 a pair, Faital pro super tweets at $500, Markus Klug multicellular tweeter horns at $700 a pair and custom double thickness birch cabinets laminated in Osage Orange that will be $3000 when complete so it’s about 9500 total. I drive them with a 3.5 watt 2A3 amplifier and my SVS PB16 ultra sub struggles to keep up with them. I’m building a GSG Devastator right now to help tackle the low end because they don’t do a lot below 80hz but geez they do vocals and piano like nothing on Earth. It’s worth researching if you have time. With Altec, I prefer the large format compression drivers to the small format, although I own both types.  Good luck