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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?

128x128coachpoconnor
coachpoconnor's avatar
coachpoconnor OP
376 posts
 

tomic601– That is in the plans! Mr Decibel and I have discussed via text, I believe The Boston Audiophile has a video that accurately shows what Mr. D has described. I also have changed some interconnects

coachpoconnor's avatar
coachpoconnor OP
376 posts
 

The red “Swing” album is recorded wonderfully! 

femoore12's avatar
femoore12
683 posts
 

Glad to see the Measurement Patrol showd up!
 

They always do. 

willgolf
932 posts
 

First and foremost, if you like your Klipsch Horns that is all that matters.  Screw everyone else.  I have owned higher-end Wilson Audio and Sonus Faber Speakers.  I now own horn speakers and will NEVER go back.  I listened to over 50 different pairs of speakers around the country before deciding on Viking Acoustic Grande Voix Dual horns.  

IMO, horn speakers are not as popular in the USA and there are not a lot of horn dealers.  That in itself is a problem.  Then you have the WAF factor.  Some horns may not look like they would fit into room decor.  Horns are very popular in Europe and Asia and some of the better horns are made in Poland.  I had considered Klipsch, JBL, hORN Universum, BD Design, Tune, Deja Vu, AvanteGarde, Charney, PureAudioProject, Aer, Cessaro, Volti to name a few prior to ending up with Viking.  

Klipsch and JBL are readily available in the USA so they are more popular at a nice price-point.  Enjoy your Klipsch and don't worry about your friends.

sns
3,003 posts
 

And, as some of you may know, a lot of horns conducive to modding, many sources for attaining your sound preferences. Volti mid horns part of my mods, so, yes Volti another horn to pay attention to. I did try damping my original mid horns, not to my liking, band aid approach, Volti tractrix fit the bill.

 

Sound staging, imaging was concern of mine coming from Merlins, speakers designed from scratch for maximal ss and imaging. My Klipschorns don't really give up much to Merlins here, even in stock form not bad at all, always strong dimensional phantom center image. With mods, strong aspect of overall performance, and I'm a sound stage, image freak.

 

My take on horns is timbre purists assume you can't get natural timbre out of horns, not true. Horns come in many flavors, well designed, engineered horns made with natural materials critical in attaining top flight performance here.

 

Speaking of field coils, couple years ago visited Classic Audio Loudspeakers Brighton Michigan, specializes in field coils. Didn't get a chance to listen as he was leaving for show that particular day. Had lots of JBL cabinets at time I visited, been meaning to return.

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