What are the Top Horn Speakers in the World Today? Vox Olympian vs Avantgarde Trio vs ???

[Al M.]

So you actually have relatively high efficiency speakers, and 20–40W SET amps should be quite suitable for driving the PranaFidelity Dhyana under normal listening conditions, where thermal compression wouldn’t be an issue. I had thought you owned low efficiency speakers like Magico or YG.

That is what a friend of mine, who has horn speakers himself, commented on when we first heard the speakers together at T.H.E. Show in Southern California in 2023, that they "sound like high efficiency speakers".

 

[bonzo75]

That is what a friend of mine commented on when we first heard the speakers together at T.H.E. Show in Southern California in 2023, that they "sound like high efficiency speakers".

No kidding, I was once told I look a bit like Sly Stallone (in his younger days). It is still a joke referred to in my school group.

 

[PeterA]

Slightly different iteration of same system

I remember commenting favorably on this video before. What makes it a slightly different iteration? The system has the immediately and impact necessary for this kind of music. Perhaps not the last word in clarity which is vital for large scale complex symphonic music, but it is excellent for rock.

 

[Daro]

It's hard to beat Altec on dynamics. That's true, says a guy who's owned over 200 different speakers, and 70% of them weren't horns.

I'll be in Bulgaria on the 18th, but on the beach

Congratulations on the Altec system from Sofia, Bulgaria.
I have an Altec A4 myself, so I know how much fun this toy is.

 

[PeterA]

There is no sense in trying to convert Horn / Set lovers with logic

They want the .........


View attachment 157457


Horns sound better / more dynamic / neutral with SS , AV came to that conclusion hence the built in I tron amps in the AV trio G3

Some people approach it differently. They prefer the sound of an SET and then they find the speakers that are the appropriate match. That too is a logical approach.

 

[Daro]

 

[bonzo75]

Congratulations on the Altec system from Sofia, Bulgaria.
I have an Altec A4 myself, so I know how much fun this toy is.

The Aries Cerat contendo that Kozak asked about is in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Altec 817 isn't there it is in a remote town in Bulgaria. The Altec A7 that was shown playing Scheherazade is in UK

 

[bonzo75]

Perhaps not the last word in clarity which is vital for large scale complex symphonic music, but it is excellent for rock.

My favourite for those, as well as for others

 

[andromedaaudio]

I didnt know Altecs were your favourite lol ?

 

[bonzo75]

I didnt know Altecs were your favourite lol ?

Well done 817s always were always in top 2/3, after Yamamura, alongside Pmoe Vyger Red Sparrow, and a couple of other dual FLHs. I won't use the general term Altecs because there are many bad altecs as well. But the core design of 817, and the original drivers, are excellent. Crossovers and some enclosures/horns need modding.

 

[Daro]

The Aries Cerat contendo that Kozak asked about is in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Altec 817 isn't there it is in a remote town in Bulgaria. The Altec A7 that was shown playing Scheherazade is in UK

Thank you for your answer, I meant the Altec 817 from Bulgaria, I like everything from vintage Altec, of course

 

[DasguteOhr]

I have heard them with Aries Cerat amps…no worries . Grandinote amps aren’t the only ones delivering great dynamics…

That said, Mach 9 is 99 dB and Mach 8 XL is 98dB and both are easy loads.

I'm happy to believe you; the devices I heard from Aries Cerat were really good. But a Ianus Aperio costs four times as much if you also want 35 watts amp. Shinai is a bargain for me. I don't know of anything for 11k (new price) that sounds like that.

 

[Argonaut]

Usual drill , headphones or good IE’s and crank it up …

 

[Amir]

Of course, Amir's marketing-driven, illogical opinions, as a dealer for brands like TAD, Vitus, ASR, and Weiss, may not be too surprising. I had seen his posts before in the Audiophilestyle forum, where, back then, he was just a regular audiophile expressing his genuine, personal opinions and following the path of high-efficiency systems. But since he realized that his favourite brands like Living Voice, Audionote, and AN tube amps don't have strong marketing, he set aside his own beliefs and turned toward high-tech, more heavily advertised brands with greater marketing potential. These are the same brands he used to criticize harshly in that forum, calling them lifeless, boring, and saying he didn’t like them at all. Now, he claims their dynamics and musicality are on par with high-efficiency speakers and horns.

Of course, many dealers in this forum are passionate audiophiles who represent brands they truly believe in, not just for financial reasons. They don’t turn to brands or paths they previously criticized and didn’t genuinely like, nor do they become representatives of brands they once found soulless, just to take on their representation for financial gain and blindly defend them.

My Summary about Computer Audio Music Server

before reading my post please note my idea may not be useful to you , My taste may be different to you because I just like sound of audio note and living voice , if you like over 100w solid-state amplifier and 90db or lower sensitivity speaker then there is no relation between my taste and your t...

audiophilestyle.com

My Setup Macbook Pro

My Setup : Macbook Pro Retina 2014 (USB 3.0 output) MAC OS X Yosemite Audirvana Bit-Perfect EAR Yoshino DAC 4 D/A Converter EAR Yoshino HP4 Headphone Amp All purist Audio Neptune Series Cables (USB Anniversary , Interconnect , Power Cord , ...) Sennheiser HD800 Headphone ifi iUSB 3.0 Wavelength W...

audiophilestyle.com

Amir's opinions about his current brands and efficiency in that forum:

"My taste may be different to you because I just like sound of audio note and living voice , if you like over 100w solid-state amplifier and 90db or lower sensitivity speaker then there is no relation between my taste and your taste and my comment is not for you"

"make long story short : I think most audiophiles (over 90%) like stereophile recommendation list, they enjoy 500w amplifiers with 86db 3way huge loudspeakers. some audiophiles (less than 5%) like old tannoys , living voice , old kondo amplifiers , old horns. I share my ideas for those 5% not for 95%"

"if I prefer horn/low power amps it means I like micro dynamics of sound"

"i do not like upsample DACs , i like minimalist zero oversample , no jitter correction , true multibit , bit perfect DAC.
ypsilon , Audio note are good."

"EAR DAC4 is good in 8k$ range.

AMR , Audionote are good also.

Weiss sound is not my favorite.

If you use “comparison by contrast” method you will find Audio Note DAC has more transparent and more resolution sound in comparison by dCS/Weiss/MSB"

"please go out of theory and speak about real life , in theory many thing in audio could be ideal like flat frequency response of speakers or zero distortion amplifiers but in real world those ideal measurement speakers/amplifiers sounds crap to my ears."

"I have heard many many many audio systems in Tehran , all expensive (over 200k) brands like kharma marten Wilson focal dynaudio TAD Gryphon krell Vitus ASR CJ AR and so but none of them sounded like tanoy red (old model) or audio note uk speaker.

when you hear low efficiency speakers with high power ss amplifiers you just have macro dynamics not micro dynamics.

for checking micro dynamics you can check these items:

- decay of sound when it goes to hide

- liveness and fullness of sound when you decrease the volume

micro dynamics in music inject energy and without it the sound has no soul.

listen to FM Acoustics or Vitus Audio , they are king of transparency resolution smoothness and pinnacle of every audiophile but where is the soul ? where is the emotion? me and some guys (may be 5% of audiophiles think like me) do not like these sounds. it is boring to us.

listen to Audio Note Kondo Japan with Living Voice horn they are not in super resolution category but they give you true life true music true enjoyment."
___________________________

I should mention that when he became a dealer for his current brands, which weren't particularly appealing to him, and was forced to leave that forum, he removed his profile picture and changed his location from Iran to the UAE. However, he couldn't delete or edit his previous posts.

I think your comment about me shows you are not a normal person and I guess your name is Mr. Vahid Sharafi. It seems You live in Tehran, Tajrish area and you have Wilson speaker, purist cable, PS audio P20, … you follow Roy Gregory, Jim Smith and Kedar and just repeat other theories and opinions. Please share your playback picture and let me know who you really are?!!!!!

In my city Tehran (Iran) some audiophiles like Arash Najafi and … are active in audio forums but they hide their real name. They post with fake names and nobody knows who are they?!!!

I have read your pervious posts in WBF because I think your reaction is not normal.

My history is very clear, my name is Amir Hossein Akbari, my audio weblog www.hifi.ir is active since 2000 and I never was active in audio business before 2018.

actually I wrote about Weiss, ASR, Vitus in my weblog around 2007. Around 2007 In my weblog www.hifi.ir I recommended ASR (class AB for low to mid efficiency cone speakers) and Vitus (class A for mid to high efficiency cone speakers) amplification.
Around 2007 I also recommended Kondo Audio Note amplification for Living Voice horn speakers.
All of my opinions shared in my weblog and every audiophile can read it.

my WBF topic is here :
https://www.whatsbestforum.com/thre...0-c600-m700-r1-review-2022-tehran-iran.34892/

 

[Amir]

It seems you read Romy too literally. He wasn’t saying speakers “like” certain genres. He meant high-order crossovers smear phase and kill microdynamics, which makes subtle music like classical suffer, while only loud, compressed music still comes across OK. It was exaggeration to make a point.

Romy never said high order crossovers kill micro dynamics.

You have nothing to say and you just copy/paste other ideas so it is better to copy/paste without adding your wrong opinion.

“It is impossible for any electronics (including loudspeakers) to favor a particular musical genre.”

But your statement is scientifically correct.

The problem with that argument is that it’s just a theoretical model. it means the author did not perform actual measurements on a real loudspeaker. Instead, he relied on a mathematical model and computer simulation, using assumptions such as the thermal capacity and mass of the voice coil, the cooling time constant, and the applied power. From this, he concluded that voice coil heating does not cause dynamic compression. The issue is that such a model only reflects idealized and simplified conditions, not the realities of loudspeaker use, things like imperfect cooling, airflow variations, mechanical limits, or very high SPL. In other words, it’s an analysis on paper, not real-world testing. That’s why the claim is overly optimistic and doesn’t match what real-world measurements and listening tests actually show. Power compression is well documented by Stereophile, AES papers, even Wikipedia mention several dB of loss.

Not exactly. High efficiency speakers usually preserve both macrodynamics and microdynamics more effectively because they require less power and run cooler. Low efficiency speakers can still deliver good dynamics, if they have proper cooling and sufficient amplifier headroom, although in more controlled and less lively way.

Do you know what micro/macro dynamic means?

Please stop

 

[Amir]

May I ask what speakers you have? I own the Sasha 2, and like you, I don’t really notice dynamic compression at high SPLs. But when I compare them to SET/horn setups like the AG Duo, or to high efficiency cone speakers I’ve heard before, such as the Sigma Orchestra 2.9 or the Grandinote Mach series, I’m always struck by their lifelike dynamics and natural flow, especially with classical music. They feel more direct and give a much stronger “you are there” experience.

IMO, Voice coil heating and power compression are real, measurable phenomena; they can be demonstrated with graphs, formulas, and lab tests. However, what truly matters is not just the measurements, but how much these effects impact the musical experience. The loss (or preservation) of dynamics, liveliness, and emotional engagement in the sound is something that listeners perceive more directly through real-world listening than through theoretical models alone. In the end, it’s the ear that reveals the true extent of these effects, not the numbers.

Please let me know where you listened to AG horns??

Please share some photos.

I guess you never listened to AG horns.

 

[Argonaut]

Shame about the excessive panning around on this one and he didn’t pan out for the full effect :

 

[Amir]

And actually, Sasha 2 were Wilson's best after the older X1 (haven't heard Alexx), but they are better than all the 1 series, such as Alexia 1, Sasha 1, and are better than XVX, Alexandria X2S2s, and X1S1s. They were more coherent and together than the bigger models

Kedar, Small wilsons never sounded good in comparison by old big wilsons.

Sasha 2 is very average speaker. I really wonder what you say.

 

[bonzo75]

Kedar, Small wilsons never sounded good in comparison by old big wilsons.

Sasha 2 is very average speaker. I really wonder what you say.

With Big wilsons if you can't hear the lack of coherence and struggles between top half and bottom half, and lack of dynamic range, you should simply quote Romy, David, and Roy. Of course NLs go for "bigger" bass and "bigger" scale as perceived by height of speaker.

 

[Amir]

With Big wilsons if you can't hear the lack of coherence and struggles between top half and bottom half, and lack of dynamic range, you should simply quote Romy, David, and Roy. Of course NLs go for "bigger" bass and "bigger" scale as perceived by height of speaker.

Bigger wilsons need more accurate setup and accurate time alignment. Please upgrade your information