Good, Affordable Horns?


I've often thought about adding a pair of horn loaded speakers, like say a pair of Klipsch La Scala, to my collection, but I've not heard enough horn loaded speakers to really know the differences, or what works and what doesn't. What are some good ones for under say $2K? What do these give up say compared to some of the larger and more expensive horn loaded speakers I've seen in AUdiogon user systems? The Jadis Eurythmie are one such pair I've seen that appear out of this world, but also must cost a small fortune.
128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xmapman
For affordable horns, the most obvious answer is Klipsch.
Since 1945, the people at Klipsch have improved the components in their Heritage line products. Including the Klipschorn.
I beg to somewhat disagree: the old Klipschorns used alnico drivers. Alnico is now ruinously expensive (at least, cobalt is) and for the past 30 yrs or so, the driver quality has had=to go down. IMO, etc. Regards
You might want to take a look at the quirky collection of horn systems available from ossaudio.com. Be sure to look under closeouts for more affordable options. BTW, I picked up a very nice pair of Zingali horns from these guys a few years back at very reasonable cost.

Good Luck

Marty
Hi Mapman. The Cardersounds are really great. Highly recommended.

Regards
Paul
pauly,

Read your review.

They sound fabulous. The top/bottom loaded design seems perfect for big soundstage and impact.

Do they work best close or near to the rear wall and out from the corners?
Mapman, I am assuming your question is related to bass augmentation of the rear wall/corners.

My personal experience is that they work best about 5 to 6 feet from the rear wall. They most certainly don’t need a corner or rear wall to augment the bass – I actually used a little poly-fill in the horn to dampen the bass a little. Even now my friends as me where I hide the sub.

I do have a pair of single mouthed KCS BLH speakers based on the Fostex 126E driver (as used in the Ty-Bone) which also seemed to work best about 5 feet from the rear wall, so I am pretty sure that Jeff’s Ty-Bone would not need to be placed in the corners.

I auditioned the Ty-Bone and it was a close call for me to go with the Madisons. The main reasons I went with Madison is that I already had a 126E based speaker and I really needed something a little more efficient.

If your layout does force you to put the speakers close to the rear wall or corners you can easily tune the bass down a little if you feel you need to using poly-fill.

Regards
Paul