Horn based loudspeakers why the controversy?

I had a pair of home version Altec A-7's (846B Valencia) back in the early 70's. They were dynamic, had gobs of mid-bass. Problem was, their response curves were very ragged, and the high frequencies fell off quite rapidly above 12k. They also had a very upfront forward soundstage. I moved on to higher quality audiophile speakers after that. Yes, I know, I could have used better amps with them as I used all SS back then, but the overall colorations of those speakers were too hard to endure for the long run. I do agree the latest horn based systems have probably come a long ways vs. those old designs. I just haven't taken the time to listen to them. Much of what I said above could be said for the old JBL and Klipsch designs too......

https://www.stereophile.com/content/listening-125   2013 stereophile article about Altec Valencia

It rings in my ears for next few hours after listening horns. The biggest and the quickest listening fatigue. As outdoor speakers horns are OK.

Obviously horn loaded speakers are used commonly in larger public venues.    Many of those sound really bad as well compared to a good home system, but in many cases it is due to poor or echo-prone acoustics commonly found in those places.  Still tends to give horns a bad rap.

My gym is a good example.    High efficiency horn loaded pro speakers are used in the various exercise rooms that are all basically big echo boxes.   Pretty hopeless to want better sound quality there.  

I don't hate horns. I personally don't have any reason to use them. It's frustrating to see horn fans insist that they're the only way to achieve certain characteristics because a) they are not, b) they're not ideal in many environments, and c) their virtues can be hotly debated. For every virtue horns are said to embody, there's a well regarded speaker that seeks to achieve the same results with a polar opposite approach. Horns are highly direction. MBL thinks omnidirectional is the ideal. Horns simulate a large radiating surface. Electrostats are huge radiating surfaces, and many might argue superior. Others try to simulate a point source and get pleasing results. 
For me personally, I listen to very few things in my natural day to day environment that simulate large, directional sources of sound. Sunday I attended a concert at my daughter's school which featured a choir, bell choir, brass band, and an orchestra in an auditorium of decent acoustics. My system at home portrays a comparable sound to what I heard. Generally I feel that the dynamics of events like that are less than what people want to be hearing on a home stereo. I'm not sure 130 dB of dynamic range reflects reality very often. I don't believe that should be the goal of an audio system at the cost of other virtues.