Calling all Horn lovers

Kiddman,

I was one of the devout anti-horn guys and it was a lowly Klipsch that opened my mind to the possibilities. All it took was a pair of Cornwalls to unseat my Reference 3a Grand Veenas. And six months ago you couldn't make me believe I would give them up for anything.

Shakey

Kiddman,

I have heard everything on your list, with the exception of the Magico horn, and I agree that these are well designed systems. But, entirely free of tonal coloration? No, they all have their characteristic sound. With the Classic Audio gear, I like both the reproduction gear and their modern fieldcoil designs. I think that we disagree more in terms of degree than anything else.

It is also, to some extent a matter of taste. While I really like the speakers mentioned, I have my own particular preference, which is for a bit warmer sound and less of a hard edge to the initial attack of the note than speakers like the Everest and most of the TAD drivers. You are correct that these speakers do not have the characteristic horn-type colorations (honky, or upper midrange peak, or shouty quality), but, they do have their own characteristic sound, like all speakers. I have not heard these in my own system, but, I know I could easily live with any of them and could probably tune the system to better fit my own preference.

I do think you have made a very good point that there are horn systems with quite a different set of characteristics than what is considered the weakness of horn systems. To say that "proper" horn systems "sound sweet, smooth yet detailed and dynamic" is something we agree on. The difference we have is on a matter of degree and what constitutes the best balance of various characteristics. That is where the "art" comes into play--good engineering gets one most of the way, but, tuning a system, even if that means deviating from supposed technically correct approach, is important for that last measure.

I will probably never have a chance to hear the Magico horns. If you have personal experience with them, I would welcome a brief description of their sound, particularly, how they differ from the sound of Magico's conventional dynamic speakers (a sound I particularly hate--very dry and brittle sounding).

Kiddman: perhaps you were being politic by not lumping the Avantgarde in
with the Klipsch in terms of proper design, but over the years of improving
associated equipment, the overall performance has markedly improved. I
also find that the source material itself plays a role. For example, Chris
Bellman's remaster for Classic Records of Neil Young's Greatest Hits has
some tracks from the album Harvest. Those tend toward the strident at
times, but a first pressing of Harvest doesn't 'bite' the way the Classic
remastered version does (which sounds 'fiddled with' in other respects,
bumped up bass and splashy highs, but a certain ''thinness" in the
mids). Perhaps I'm just hearing coloration on coloration (i.e., some
complain that the original Harvest sounds 'congested') but much sonic
improvement resulted from changes in associated equipment and it wasn't
simply a matter of going from a mediocre line stage or phono stage to a
great one- more of a 'lateral' change, but one that seemed to bring out the
best in the Avantgarde. (Not being defensive about those in the least,
would love to make room at some point for some vintage WE, or at least
the big Tannoys). I did hear the JBL K2 with a small Viva amp some years
ago, using my turntable, and it was marvelous.
Are you in the industry? You said you don't sell any horns, but I could read
your statement to suggest that you do sell other products. BTW, no garage
pontification on my part- I don't pretend to know more than my actual
experience. FWIW, i think you came off a bit harsh, but part of that may
simply be the nature of the written statement.
Best,
bill hart
PS: Shakey- thanks for the kudos- what's nice is that I'm not as caught up
in the gear at the moment and having great fun listening to music. I've been
spending a huge amount of time tracking down old pressings- and learning
a lot.

Larryi and Kidmann,
I appreciate both of your informative comments and perspectives. Larry I've heard about a half dozen Magico speaker(various models) demonstrations and have to say our impressions of their sound is very
similar.
Charles,

Kiddman,

As the author of the "garage pontification" you object to, I suppose I should respond. One of the drawbacks of this type of forum is that we don't really know each other. Sure, we may get some feel for how people think through their written posts, but we don't really know much about each other's background or abilities. I think that if you knew more about me and the many years that I have spent designing and building speakers and tube electronics, you might have used different language, but perhaps not. It does appear that you have greater faith in "good" engineering than I. In my experience, good engineering is a necessary starting point but what distinguishes a good from a great sounding component is the musical sensitivity of its designer. That is what I call the "art" in design.

Now I need to get back to my garage.