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The Pros and Cons of Horn Speakers

Posted by cawson@onetel.com (A) on August 21, 2024 at 05:19:58

In reply to a critical posting on another forum about horn speakers that the OP had heard to at Audio Shows, I replied as follows. It would be interesting to hear from others here who use horn speakers.

Responding to the OP's plight, I'd need to ask which horn speakers has he heard at shows that have disappointed him?

Secondly, he's dead right, horns do have a small sweet spot because they are very directional. This means that at Shows where many seats are set up for listeners (and potential customers) the exhibitor has a real dilemma. Does he set them up for best sound - for the guy in the centre front seat? Or does he deliberately compromise this ideal and set them up so that all listeners get an idea of the sound, yet no one gets the full benefit? I've personally been in this position when I loaned my horn speakers to a tube amp manufacturer at a UK show. We took the compromise route by facing the speakers far more directly forward than they would be if installed in your home. Despite this, many visitors commented that this combo of tube amps and speakers produced the best sound in how.

So, please don't judge good horn speakers by how they may sound at a Show - they simply won't be set up for best performance. Visit a reputable dealer showroom where hopefully they can be set up for the listening chair - then arrange a home demo or loan if sufficiently impressed!

Because horns are so directional, they offer big advantages as well as a disadvantage. The disadvantage, as suggested above, is a small sweet spot so ideal for you to listen on your own leaving any other listeners with good but not best sound.

The advantages are that well set-up horns will deliver the best (of all types of speaker) imaging - the ability of the listener to close his eyes and be able to point unambiguously at each instrument and vocalist at the original performance as if he is sitting in the best seat at that performance. That's a pretty good test and is overwhelmingly won by horns, with perhaps electrostatics next and omnis last and the best of conventional box speakers somewhere between.

The other huge advantage that horns offer is their tolerance of room anomalies. With most speakers, you need to place them x ft from the wall behind them and well away from side walls if you want their best sound. Horns, being so directional ignore the proximity of walls or other obstacles - but they still need precise positioning in terms of toe-in, distance from listener, perhaps tilt for optimum sound. Get these things right and I challenge any other type of speaker to deliver the degree of excitement and detail that you get from the original live version of the performance you are listening to.

Perhaps like the OP, I had seen fancy horn systems at shows and walked past them, even without listening to them - if they look that bonkers, the designer must be concentrating more on looks than sound quality! It was only when I bought the speakers that I'd been hankering after for years, only to be seriously disappointed (these were ATC Active 50s), that I seriously started research mainly via Stereophile that I was then (2002) subscribing to. I read Robert Deutsch's excellent and highlly descriptive review of the Avanthgarde Uno speaker that I'd noticed had recently picked up their "Speaker of the Year" award. Robert described EXACTLY the sound that I was looking for and so different from the ATCs. After a 10 minute demo in a grubby London basement showroom, I was convinced and bought a pair. 17 years later, I upgraded (after an unsatisfactory excursion into electrostatics) to Duos and more recently into the Duo XDs I currently own.

I'll grant you there are lots of pretty poor horn or "honky" speakers around, but that's largely because these are at the cheaper end of the market. The best horns are unrivalled in their ability to recreate the original performance with startling detail and accuracy. I hope the OP will look again at the pros (and cons) of horn speakers and arrange a proper demo.

PS - With sensitivities of 100+ dB, only a handful of watts are required so no massive outlay on monstrous power amps is needed. I use a first-class Class D amp after previously using SETs. Both get my horns singing just like the artist was at the original performance!

Edits: 08/21/24 08/21/24 08/21/24 08/21/24 08/21/24 08/21/24

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