Change to Horns or stay Dynamic

Sorry for a late response, I have been away from my computer. I have tried Lowthers on M.King transmision line, on Open Baffle and on Front horns, really the best setup for lowthers is front horns they sound very sweet (unlike to how they sound on boxes), even on front horns that load down to 170 hz they dont really go that low, on OB I was cutting them a 100 hz and they were having trouble with that...I do believe Lowther to be the most Dynamic dynamic speaker...lets rephrase that, the most dynamic cone speaker...It gets totally killed by compression drivers, I compared head to head Lowther DX3 and Altec 906 and the difference was night and day (plus I hate whizzers)
For a limited range you can even find more dynamic cone drivers than lowthers (Beyma, 18sound) but for a longer range Lowthers are indeed very good, the thing is that they step on Compression driver territory (500-800 hz) and they have nothing to do there in comparison!
I am actually using a Beyma 1" driver from 1.2khz instead of the Altec 906 I had (I may be changing these soon for either Radian or Beyma 750) I have a 170hz Exp horn with an 18sound driver that goes lower than the Lowthers did and have a fuller tone.
I do have a Supertweeter from 6khz up, the Compression Driver was having trouble on complicated symphonic passages going all the way up.

I love huge Symphonic music I used to have a pass for the local Theater but traffic jams have kept me starving for music. On the best dynamic system I listened to I never could get a full orchestra to play correctly and so I lost interest on reproduced Classical music, once I got into front loaded horns and got a system that could play Classical music properly I almost only listen to it when doing critical listening, for gatherings or parties I play everything.
Once you can listen to the violins on the left, Violas on the center-right and cellos on the right, trumpets on the right mainly and Precussion on the back left you know it is getting there, Last night I was playing Borodins Plovtsian Dances and when the percussions came in (minute 3:10 Antal Dorati version) I jumped off my seat!

Not to say Girl with guitar music doesnt sound good, it sounds wondefully deatiled dynamic and present, but once you have the luxury of a full orchestra playing just for you, its hard to pick something else!

JohnK, thanks for correcting me. I know that you are very much more experienced with horns and I certainly haven't experimented with all configurations, including my own Edgarhorns. I have heard of folks with the same horn system as I use that listen near field. Myself, I sit about 12 feet away.

Anyway, I give a big thumbs up to horns!

There is a pair of KCS Oris horn's for sale here on Audiogon.
I almost bought them, but they are blue and could not convince 'her highness' that they go with an antique red looking sofa!
I bet they sound Incredible. For what you are getting for the price you are getting them, they could be such a bargain. I seriously doubt you could buy a better pair of speakers for the money.These sort of speakers are hard to shift secondhand. Don't know why personally. Maybe a bit big and ungainly, but surely for sound quality alone they are worth their weight and size, not mention the very reasonable price.IMHO

Dgad,
You mentioned that you recently heard the Cessaro "Beta" horns.
Can you tell me a little about their strengths and weaknesses?
I thought that the Betas were only available in Germany and Asia. Did you hear them here in North America?
I'm told that they are great speakers but that the TAD drivers can sound a little "hi-fi-ish."

Exlibris,

I heard the Cessaro Betas in Germany in a home system. They were slightly modified from standard using a Field Coil Midrange and TAD drivers for tweeter & super tweeter. Also folded horn TAD woofers. I think 4 drivers for the bass. There were limitations to the sound. Primarily the room was small so bass couldn't generate 100%.

The system uses an adjustable crossover on top. I felt the treble could be turned down a touch. So in that regard, they could be taken as slightly high fi ish. But...I am wondering how a Fostex Supertweeter would compare and has me curious.

There was a certain magic in these speakers that defies all electronics etc. Hard to explain, but resolution and a lack of distortion was present at any volume setting. If you closed your eyes, you could not find the speakers (within the sweet spot) and the speakers being fairly tall gave a very realistic image size. The body on male vocals was spooky to say the least. With acoustic guitar the strings came to life. You didn't strain to hear any detail. It was there. Not unrealistic just there. It makes you question where to put your money. Speakers vs. electronics. This was run with I think 1 watt.

I will give you a little of my listening biases as they have matured. I have been looking for a speaker that can play well at both low & high volumes. I have found speakers that sound OK loud but then very poor at low volumes. And speakers that excel at low volumes only to distort at high volumes. Actually, I want to crank it up once in a while at close to 100 db. Yes, crazy, but here in Aruba there aren't many concerts to go to. I am extremely sensative to distortion of any form and work endlessly to eliminate it. To date no dynamic speaker I have heard aside from some truly Giant multi driver arrays have been able to handle such a task. My Maxx IIs have thier limits. Also they don't have the detail of the Cessaros at any level. They have been older designs. And the crossovers have been audible. Another huge sensitivity for me. Most speakers get very congested at loud volumes. They lose detail and smear. I would say this is room related to some extent, but after hearing the Cessaros this was no longer the case. You can listen at 100db and not even know you are listening so loud. No distortion etc. And everything remains stable in space with a transparency that is hard to believe. There is no horn coloration at all. The crossovers are seemless, all 1st order. Many horn people love the speed a horn can give. I like the speed but find more important is the lack of distortion.
Thus I am now progressing to setting up a 2nd system w. horns in the future. I am trying to learn as much as possible to get a sense of direction and find setting up a horn system quite a daunting task. Too many options and I need to learn the benefits. I won't mention many of the popular horns I have heard that many love. Suffice it to say, they all have been colored (horn sounding) and the crossover has been detectable.