You can drive horns to ear-splitting levels if you are not careful, that's one reason why they are usually matched up with tubes. A friend drives a single Klipschorn in mono with an SET amp that puts out just half a watt. I am currently driving my Cornwalls with the PrimaLuna Dialogue 2, so I get a choice of triode or ultralinear mode. You might give horns another chance, Stereo. No other speakers can give you so much dynamic difference (on the soft end as well as the loud), and they image fantastic. They also create bigger and more realistic soundstages, and resolve instrumental and vocal timbres better than any other type. Since I listen mainly to full-scale orchestral works and opera, these things are very important to me. However, they also sound great when I listen to a jazz combo as well. I just listened to the Oscar Peterson 6 Live at the Montreaux Festival (from I think 1975?) the other day, and you could clearly hear EXACTLY where each musician was placed on the stage, almost as well as if I had been there.