Best Horn Speaker under $250K?
- Thread starter caesar
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I really love the Sadurni Acoustics Staccato. The sound is liquid and absolutely intoxicating. MSRP $40K.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfMGtap0pQ8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caDo_p6Mszs
Western Electrics, above and below 250k. Includes Vox Olympians, Magico Ultimates.
That said, the owner of Hyundai, who can afford all speakers, has 10 of the WEs, I think, different models, or maybe more
Cessaro Carmen and Cessaro Beta II (it was an upgrade from an original Alpha at customer place in Bali, unbelievable)
It would be interesting to hear some of these speakers in a darkened room against some Geddes horns.
It wouldn't even be close. Geddes makes good speakers and his work has been influential, but he doesn't use drivers or crossover parts that are in the same league vs Cessaro and the 2-way design is more of a compromise vs 3 and 4 way horn systems.
You don't need a darkened room. Differences between horns can be much larger than those between horns and boxes. If you really think blind testing works heard horn speakers
There is a JBL K2 66000 in Copenhagen with an ex dealer listed at 30k EUR if anyone's interested. You will probably be able to bargain it down. Attached is a pic of just one of the speakers. The sub is not required but he uses it coz he has a very large room, and a lot of glass. It still isn't required in that room but he prefers the boom boom.
Gentlemen,
I appreciate the replies. How good is the midrange in the better horns? Most realistic midrange I have heard belongs to the Soundlab. The most detailed, "transparency to source" midrange I have heard belongs to Martin Logan CLX, despite the hype from the biased folks in the audio media.
What I love about the horns is the tonality and micro and macro dynamics that bring immediacy of the performers and help me suspend disbelief. Anyone compare horn midrange in recently engineered horn models to that of the best stats?
I appreciate the replies. How good is the midrange in the better horns? Most realistic midrange I have heard belongs to the Soundlab. The most detailed, "transparency to source" midrange I have heard belongs to Martin Logan CLX, despite the hype from the biased folks in the audio media.
What I love about the horns is the tonality and micro and macro dynamics that bring immediacy of the performers and help me suspend disbelief. Anyone compare horn midrange in recently engineered horn models to that of the best stats?
You need to hear it to determine for yourself. There are many great midrange speakers, but they are all different. Ribbon planars like Analysis can sound better than Logans, while Logans do female vocals equally well, Analysis are thicker due to a tick midbass and do male vocals better. Your MBLs have a great midrange that's very different. Acapella, Cessaro, Anima, all have a different midrange and everyone who loves that particular speaker will tell you that midrange is the best - all are excellent, but different. Nothing beats WE for me though. Where you will struggle with horns is the bass integration. I will stay away from 2-ways. You really need to listen to horns for yourself, and horns is really not a generic description. For all my love of horns, I wouldn't want a lot of them
Thanks. Bass integration is not a deal breaker for me, unless it is really, really bad. It bothers me when I hear the older Logans, but I don't notice it on the MBL, while some do. Soundlab has nailed it, of course.
But apparently, if you trust Valin, Avantgarde seems to have solved that problem. If it is an issue with the other speakers, it is just a matter of time until they find a way to catch up to their competitor.
PS. I wish I had time to follow in your foot steps and do a horn tour also.
That is only with the Trio with the bass horn. You will be surprised how bad it is on others, but depends if you listen to orchestral. If you are listening to Diana Krall, shouldn't be a problem
Logans and MBL integrate better than many horns. Horns are amazingly bad at bass integration
I made the transition from stats to horns in 2006. I was a Quad ESL listener since the very early '70s- first the original panels, then a pair of Crosby-modded '63s. (Still have 'em all). I bought then new Avantgarde Duos in 2006- at the time, with the updated woofer. The speakers have since gone through many updates and changes, but mine are still basically original; once unpacked, they have remained in place. The critical aspect to these speakers is not just set-up, but associated gear. (I've been using them with Lamm ML2 SETs, after briefly owning the Audiopax 88- which was a preferred combination at the time). I've heard a variety of good horn systems over the years. The JBL K2 with ViVa amplification was great, as was whatever Cessaro/Tron system Jeff from High Water was using a few years ago.
The transition from stats to horns was easy. The midrange--which is the first 'tell' for me- if grainy or boxed in--is exceptionally good, even on my now aging Duos. There is no crossover between the mid-horn and the amp and using custom made jumper cables (from Kubala) made a considerable difference. At least on these older Duos, bass integration is an issue. If you get the woofer level to match the horn in output it is too reticent. If you get the bass 'right' it is too evidently different. I gather AvG is now using digital processing to smooth the way. I love the "in the room" quality of a good horn system- "audiophile" attributes like 'sound staging' and 'imaging' are pretty much beside the point. The music is just 'there' with fewer obvious barriers between the source and your ears- fewer cues that you are listening to a reproduction. Obviously, that is a best case scenario- and is very dependent in my case on the sonics of a particular pressing. This is what led me to focus more on different pressings of older records (I'm vinyl only) and less on the gear. At some point, I'll restore all the old Quad stuff, but I've been saying that for years.
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