Calling all Horn lovers

Great Post Bill.

Might I add that volume also depends on the size of the room. We have a similar system in two rooms, a big one and a smaller one. No matter how much I raise the volume on the smaller room it will never sound as big and loud as the big room.

The Volti Vittoras have been well received at audio shows and there is also a rave review by Art Dudley. What do the knowledgeable horn people here think of them?

I've heard the Volti Vittoras at 4 shows---2011 Capital Audio Fest, 2011 RMAF, and 2012 and 2013 Capital Audio Fest. I like the Vittoras a lot, so much that I seriously considered buying them after my first exposure to them at the 2011 CAF. They combine very impressive dynamics and pretty good detail with an overall coherency that is pretty unusual in a 3-way speaker.

The main thing I did not like so much was the lack of adequate low frequency weight when they were run without a sub. I realize Art Dudley says they sounded just fine without a sub so perhaps a different room might be a better match, but what I heard in the small hotel rooms was not full range until the sub was switched in. Unfortunately, the Vittora was not as coherent when run with the sub. I have had enough experience with subs to know that I would end up playing them without the subs and for my tastes they did not go deep enough. I also noticed a trace of "pro sound" coloration in the Vittoras but I can't say if that may have been due to something else in the system.

For whatever it's worth, I didn't feel the Vittoras sounded quite as good in the other shows as they did in my first exposure to them at the 2011 CAF and RMAF. I believe the designer Greg Roberts said he made a number of changes to the Vittoras during this timespan and he considered them improvements, but I enjoyed the sound in 2011 more than the other occasions.

I also have to say that I haven't warmed up to Greg's other models. The Vittora is the one with the magic.

I have Wavetouch GT speakers for my integrated (Home Theater and 2ch) sound system. These speakers are efficient, loud, small, pretty, smooth natural sounding, and dynamic without typical horns' characteristics such as honky, screechy, shouty, coloration, ugly huge cabinet, etc. It's the best of both horn and dynamic speakers. There is a review of GT speakers in Stereo Times.
STEREO TIMES.

I agree with the reviewer's conclusion "need to start the search at about $20,000 and escalate from there." I think GT speakers are the best in the world in 40~27,000hz range. I've heard many >$100k sound systems at audio shops (Los Angeles, CA) and audio shows.

I don't get around on the Agon site as much as I used to so I am very late to respond but I am an owner of the Edgarhorn Titan system with single bass horn. Yes the bass horn is the size of a refrigerator but I can use it for a casket someday so it came as good value.

I have been a music lover forever and tried very hard over the years to get realistic music performance in the home. After many attempts with many very quality dynamic box speakers with quality drivers, big planar speakers Solid state amps., PP tube amps., I discovered that most hi-efficiency speakers driven by a good SET tube amp. just sounds better to me as mentioned in this thread...right on but to each his own as long as you are enjoying the music.

IMHO if you are missing the dynamics then the rest of the spectrum just falls behind and you never get it right. I confirm this every year at the RMAF.

I first discovered Avantagrde Duos back in 2002 and they gave me the dynamics I was striving for but to me they had coloration in the midrange and I never got the powered bass sub. to have coherency with the rest of the system so I moved on and I tried a lot of loaner gear for experimentation but something always annoyed me.

Then in 2004 I attended CES and discovered Bruce Edgars room with his Titan system and Cyrus Brenneman 845 amps. with silver transformers (drop dead gorgeous) and I knew the speed, low distortion, coherency, imaging and tone was what I was looking for. Hell there was even one couple in the room that became teary eyed after playing their romantic classical piece and these can do it.

After later traveling to California for further evaluation I committed to the 1000 lb. system for my dedicated 15 X 20 room and I have never looked back but beware there has been much experimentation and changes to get it right. As mentioned these things are microscopes so everything has to be right and gear has to be of highest quality with precise gain match.

I won't bore you with the changes I have made or the summation of my system but Horns are not plug and play systems unless you do your homework first and seek out someone who has spent the time to get it right.
Once you get it right I am not aware of any system that gets you closer to live music that a dialed in horn system if you can deal with the pain to get there and you will suffer if not correct. All good things in life come with effort so just be aware.

gwalt