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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
ditusa's avatar
ditusa
1,689 posts
 

@cohicks4,

You’re welcome! Lets not forget it was a horn that brought down the walls, of Jericho. LOL

Mike

ditusa's avatar
ditusa
1,689 posts
 

ALL SYSTEMS are sensitive to proper set up. But good horns will tell you exactly what’s on the recording and not everyone likes to know. 😎

      I agree!

mahlman
433 posts
 

I got a call one day for a set of Chorus I's I was selling on Craigslist. the guy was desperate and the some of the people on Audiogon had convinced him that the minimum he had to spend for entry level high end stereo was $80g. He was distraught because as a retired postal worker he did not have that kind of money. Out of desperation he was considering Klipsch and then said he had been advised against Klipsch because IT WAS TOO LIFELIKE!! My jaw hit the table. I happened to have some KPT-456's also and I told him for $1500 he could have something really good. He bought a set and on his way out the door I asked him what he had heard that these were similar to. He only mentioned expensive B&W speakers which by the way he said did not sound as good as the Klipsch KPT-456's.

 He later fixed them up to look quite nice and got them featured on Steve Guttenbergs home owner systems page. I have no idea why the animosity towards Klipsch but I find it pretty strange considering how odd signature sound from expensive speakers can sound at times. The goal for me is lifelike sound replication and not some flavor of trendy distortion.

 

  I have not heard the Forte 4's but I have heard the CW 4's which are simply superb in accurate sound reproduction.

lemonhaze
409 posts
 

@zinda, That's a long first post, welcome to the forum.

I think you are a little confused regarding crossover caps and ESR.

Hint: ESR is a non-issue for XO caps. We are talking audio frequencies here, not RF

bjpricing
14 posts
 

I have a set of khorns purchased in 1982 that were upgraded to the full volti audio treatment in 2017. I also switched to tubes shortly thereafter and the set amplifiers I use are the path to Nirvana for me. I have no desire to look for any improvement. My dream system is here!  IMHO

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