Horns: Why don't they image well?

The room sounded about as dead as mine at home and roughly the same size. They dynamics didn't particularly strike me while listening, but their absence was obvious while listening to Personas. The reason the dynamics didn't really catch my attention is that they weren't all that much more pronounced than what I'm used to hearing in my Focal. 

If I had a major thing for single ended amps, and bass wasn't a big consideration, I might consider them. But.....

The imaging was 7 out of the 10 referenced to my 936's and the bass was totally out to lunch at 32Hz. The lack of width and slightly diminished depth were where imaging lacked, but the sound stage was certainly tall and very precise. 

So... I have heard good horns that I genuinely like. 

I agree that there isn't any bass way down low. They actually play very well with some solid state amps, and other more powerful tube amps as well. Like any speaker, it brings out different strengths and weaknesses.

When I read certain descriptions about speaker imaging, I’m reminded of Akira Kurosawa’s biopic.

Shooting on a live volcano, he had to add a lot more smoke. Think about that for a sec. He's on a real, actual live volcano in Japan but he had to add smoke for "realism."

The problem was the limitations of film. If you are standing on a volcano, you feel the heat through your body. You don’t need visual or audible clues to tell you that you are standing on top of one of nature’s furnaces.
Translating this to film though, Kurosawa had to add a lot of smoke effects in order to convey the sense of heat that was impossible to transmit through the silver screen.

I often think that there is such a thing as exaggerated imaging in speakers. For instance, listening to a live chorus, can you pick out each singer? I can’t, but with some speakers I feel like I can.

Is this a faithful rendition of the sound anymore? I’m not sure, but perhaps this makes up for the loss of visual perception?

And as you may know, there are some tricks to tweaking a FR like a dip around 2.4 kHz (conveniently often a good crossover point) which can accentuate this.

Horns/waveguides focus the sound more directly at the users making for a smaller sweet spot for imaging.  But Good ones set up well accordingly can image as well as anything.   I've heard it so I know it can happen.  

I very much liked the dynamics and crisp presentation of the Klipsch La Scala iii at Capital Audiofest. A wide soundstage was not part of that experience though.  I also love the asthetics of these and would love to own a pair just for fun. 

Mapman, is there a Klipsch Lascala series iii ( 3 ) ? I cannot find anything about it. Kosst, I suppose you brought this thread back from the dead. I am glad you got to hear a pair. Did the Lascalas you heard share the room with other speakers ? The best showrooms I have appreciated are those that demonstrate single pairs by themselves, particularly with larger speakers. Other speakers sharing a room will " play along " with the connected pair, and this effects the pair you are listening to. You should all know by now, I am an old, longtime Klipsch fan, specifically the 5 original Heritage model designs, by PWK himself ( including the newest iterations ). I never claimed perfection, but have always stated, that they do so many " musical " things correctly, that for the money ( with some mods, tweaks and careful room set up), imo, and with my experience, they are hard to beat, and, they are so easy to drive. Enjoy ! MrD.