Horns....Avantgarde vs. Cessaro

Ron Resnick

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Jan 24, 2015
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Do other members also corroborate this contrast/difference?

I am sensitive to screechy treble;

I corroborate this contrast/difference generally, yes. I, too, am sensitive to screechy treble.

Every time I have heard an Avantgarde Duo I found it bright and analytical. For me possibly only a very pure and warm-leaning SET amp could tame that sound. (I am perpetually baffled that Avantgarde likes solid-state on their speakers.)

My friend’s Cessaro Zetas do not manifest the brightness and analytical-ness I hear from Avantgarde Duos.

I don’t know anything about the Cessaro Chopin. I do have a general feeling that horn loudspeakers, like planar loudspeakers, tend to need to be on the larger side to work the way we hope for and to “do their thing.”
 
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Argonaut

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Jul 30, 2013
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[please forgive my poor English]

Interesting, thanks.
Do other members also corroborate this contrast/difference? Or is it so dependent on the partnered equipment (and room) that no generalization can be drawn at all?

(see also question in §2)




PERSONAL PREFERENCES
I attend live acoustic unamplified concerts (mainly classical), and I favor full-bodied, natural presentation and "flow". I am sensitive to screechy treble; I like it highly detailed and highly "various" (not a mono-chromatic tss-tss), but natural and perfectly integrated with the midrange. I like the Raal ribbon tweeter, the Esotar 2&3, but most of all, good AMT tweeter implementations. Compression drivers I know less: I listened attentively to the excellent Thrax Lyra and was a bit puzzled by its compression tweeter (sounds amazingly 'live', but does some "quirky things" I nevertheless could live with would you offer me a pair of Lyra).
I am not a bass-freak (if cello is OK, I'm happy).
I don't know a lot of horn speakers, but all the ones I heard are fatiguing at best, a bit shilly, or blare at worst [those words care maybe too strong; I am a non-native speaker]. The remarkable exception to this is the gob-smacking Aries Cerat Symphonia horn speaker (which does it all, except deep bass), but is totally beyond my budget ($ K100?).​

UPGRADE TOWARD A CHOPIN?
Therefore I wondered if a Cessaro Chopin with their CNC-milled tweeter horn (made out of a solid piece of wood, like the big 50Kg midrange horn of the Symphonia), their half-horn/half bass-reflex bass guide and their heavy enclosure, could not be considered as a kind of "mini-Symphonia" (for smaller rooms, as @morricab suggested).
But...I have never heard Cessaro's (you don't find them on every street corner). And no dealer in my country (but Germany is nearly next door...).​

MIDRANGE IS IMPORTANT
My fear with any 2-way (except Harbeths) is always: where is the midrange? (when I see a 3-way, I am relieved - BUT: I can't afford none of the Cessaro's 3-ways).
For instance, on lieder (voice & piano), a monitor like the little Harbeth M30.2 Anniversary favors voices (very natural and lifelike, full-bodied, fairly expressive with the right amp) over piano (sounds too soft and rounded, lack of speed and attack). But I can live with that contrast (in a 2nd system), whereas I would be very unhappy if a speaker would reverse that contrast, and would deliver all the directness, speed and attack required to reproduce piano in a credible way (fine!), but would play voices leaner instead!​
(the Aries Cerat Symphonia horn speakers, again, subtract nothing of that sheer naturalness on voices, which remain full-bodied, but then gain a breathtaking and genuinely lifelike expressiveness).​

ROOM
The room is 40 square meter; plenty of space around the speakers (no close rear wall possible, as recommended for the Chopin); former stable; very good acoustics; no neighbors; very silent; low ceiling, but small curved ceiling brick vaults.

Thanks.
Hi Oliver,

For my part I do not feel that Cessaro Chopin ( even were you to find a pair for sale within budget ) would really deliver upon which you are seeking , You have been unfortunately poisoned badly in this regard ;)

I would recommend perhaps an Altec based solution with Ferrite 288g and multi cell midrange or 288g Alnico with a metal Vitavox horn, there a number of configurations that may well meet your music predilections and remain within budget, you do have the room also.

There are several audio videos available on the forum and on YouTube for your perusal with a number posted by Kedar.

One left of field suggestion , were you not put off by the somewhat Flash Gordon styling ( which I quite like ) might be the Sadurni Acoustics Staccato which when I last looked were quite reasonably priced. Joshua Masongsong has hands on experience of these horns and might offer more advice .



 

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