Horn based loudspeakers why the controversy?

That sounds like a very reasonable assessment of the situation. That's kind of my problem with AMT based speakers. At some point you're crossing over to a conventional cone and it kinda falls apart in some way. 

Having heard the newer Klipsch offerings, I’m going to go out on a limb and say horns need no longer be so controversial. Affordable good sounding ones are out there. Like anything else some will like them and some will not. Their clear advantage is the extra efficiency which may well matter quite a bit for many. No harder to drive than most others at a minimum as well it seems. Probably much easier to drive properly than most.

Aside from their Heritage line, it doesn't appear that Klipsch makes anything that would quality as "high end". I just scoured their website for something that would compare to what I'm listening to right now and they've apparently abandoned their high end hybrid designs. It looks like your Klipsch options are either Best Buy-grade 2 ways or their Heritage line. 
This thread made me do reading on horns and my opinions about them aren't swayed. Horns have problems that aren't cheap to fix. I went back and read up on Avantgarde and the retired premium Klipsch line. I'd like to hear the Avantgarde's I read about, in part because HR described the dynamics of my Focals being close to them. Nothing I read about any Klipsch product tempts my curiosity. I'd never tolerate a speaker the size of a small dresser, period, and I consider the placement demands of K-horns a design failing that unavoidably constricts them to less than ideal placement in any less that ideal room. 

Regarding horn use and abuse, I use a pair of Mackie 10" 2 way P.A. passive (passive aggressive) speakers (with a beefy Mackie sub since they’re good to maybe 60hz) daily for my mindless but important electric guitar noodling in my mindless noodling studio setup. Note that the these little gems are the original version that cost around 300 bucks a pair new and seem to be made from some sort of plastic cement (heavier than the latest "neo" magnet woofer version which I imagine also sound real good). Interestingly, if you put recorded music through these (as opposed to my noodling tracks) it sounds sort of great. Heresy again. Plus, I’m not sure I spelled "noodling" correctly but it looks right.

kosst reads about how things sound not listens. And adds so much unsupported BS like this gem [ Horns have problems that aren't cheap to fix] no list of problems no hands on experience with said problems. I say kosst why even comment on horns when your experience levels zero and your bias towards what you own is 100%? And why do you think a corner is a bad place in a room to house a speaker designed for it and about a meter or more out is somehow more room friendly? And since you have no hands on why should I value your other bold proclamation of no klipsch being high end. Come out from under the bridge.