opinions on modern horn speakers

I listened to the Avantgarde Duos quite carefully in a friend's system with good associated equip including SET tube amps. Very dynamic, as they claim, and a fundamentally "pure" sound, probably due to needing very few watts. But in the end I could not live with them. There is a very definite residual horn coloration to the sound. Maybe others can ignore this, as it isn't nearly as bad as older horns were, but I can't get past it. It is nearly impossible to design a (practical) wide-band horn that completely eliminates this, despite what some may claim. The laws of physics can't be revoked, only bent.

In addition, the plastic horn cones themselves were significantly coloring the sound due to internal resonances. I know Avantgarde hypes this material, but anyone with any knowledge of materials science knows that their particular approach is bound to have serious resonance problems. It's economical to manufacture, but lousy for acoustics. There are other horns that avoid this problem by machining the horn from solid laminated wood, for example. Vastly superior and also much more expensive.

Lastly, the physical separation between the various drivers was highly audible to my ears, making it impossible to relax into the music and believe the illusion of "being there".

I don't want to sound too disparaging. They do some things spectacularly well, dynamics being at the top of the list. But everything is a compromise, and I personally can't live with the compromises being made here.

Marakanez, i do not disagree with your take on Beahorn Virtuoso, i believe you were talking about. However, they sure sound way too good, despite those shortcomings! That was the only way i would listen the SET amps!

You have never heard dixieland jazz reproduced well until you hear it through a horn speaker. Just switch to a different speaker for other kinds of music.

Von Schweikert has offered an alternative to the horn market with their DB-100's, which are 100-db efficient. They are paired with twin 600 watt SS woofers. I have 300 hours on them so far and I think they are terrific. Extremely dynamic with the bass response horns can miss. Their's no coloration that I can detect.

I have 42 watts in triode pushing them which is more than enough. I have gone back and forth on an SET but I think I wouldn't get the slam, even with 100db.

And, the price was very right. 6k which included delivery. It seems like almost noone has mentioned this speaker. It's received glowing reviews from the few that have heard it.

Karls,I have owned the avantgard duo 2.2 and heard some of the plastic colorations but they are slight [all speakers have colorations] ,I also have had problems with vibrations in my oris 150 trihorn but since its DIY I tuned them out for the better .I also did not like the driver integration on the avantgard or my oris horn but again DIY solved that problem by using dual horns perside and lifting the woofers up the the aqustic center of the speaker.Iam also working on a metal plastic composite horn should have no resonace problems,Thanks for your reply JK