Horn speakers , high efficiency but not “shouty”

i have had good well respected horn speakers, and also heard some very very tip top horn systems

Apparently not the tippy top yet, or something to that effect :)

Many systems can be shouty; this is caused by distortion. You don't need horns for that, just poor setup.


The mark of any good system is you can't tell how loud its playing. It should never sound 'loud'. To that end horns really don't have anything more or less to do with it except that its easier to do with horns since amplifier distortion plays an enormous role in making this work.

I concur with johnk.

Apparently not the tippy top yet, or something to that effect :)

well if we specifically define non shouty horns as ’tippy top’ then i suppose you are correct

over the years i have heard avantgarde duos/trios, sadurnis, klipschorns and cornwalls, tune audio animas, cessaros ... maybe none designed properly or were set up correctly

i have not heard western electric theater horns in a domesticated environment though...

@jjss49 I've found that you have to be careful with the amp that you use on a horn. It must have a clean first watt! If it has distortion issues like higher ordered harmonic generation (a problem with many solid state amps) you can certainly wind up with shouty (although it really won't matter the speaker). A good horn is a very revealing device and you do have to have your ducks in a row to get the best out of them. But OTOH that can be quite rewarding.


And to be clear some horns do have problems! For example the TAD machined wood horns have an artifact caused by an error in the throat design- its got an unpleasant peak at the bottom of its response. But with a bit of careful computer simulation I know of a modified version of that horn (Classic Audio Loudspeakers) that does not have that artifact and so is very smooth and relaxed, yet very fast and detailed. When you have those qualities together that's when you are making progress as they point to low distortion.

Speakerlab 7's - 12", 10", 15" horn and 7" horn. Both horns are plastic. No "bite"! SQ beats any Heresy and Cornwall. Bass goes down below 40 hz. I bought mine from Habitat for $100 + $50 delivery. I can live with the flat black white speckle finish!