Best horn speakers under $7500/pair

[Mort]

I'd really love to try a good horn speaker. I know a bit about the theory behind them but less about the consumer options and prices. Maybe $7500 / pair,?

What should I be considering? What models are pretty neutral?

 

[Dave Zan]

I'd really love to try a good horn speaker. I know a bit about the theory behind them but less about the consumer options and prices. Maybe $7500 / pair,?

What should I be considering? What models are pretty neutral?

There is a fairly common opinion that (better) horn speakers have certain qualities that can sound wonderful.
I don't think this is just an audiophile myth, I think it's definitely worth a trial listen.
I expect it has to do with lack of compresssion on transients, or some similar behaviour, but I don't know of much research on the topic, so take it as you wish.
The cannonical "impressive horn speakers" are JBL.
The 4367 measures pretty well and the sound impressed even objectivist reviewers.[Review link]
There's a second hand pair in the US on HiFi Shark for $6,500.
If you want new then an option is the next tier down, the 4349, reviewed by Amir, about $7,500 at the time, full price.
Probably still within your price when on sale. { Edit: I am told these are discontinued but they are listed as current in Australia, presumably the warehouse still has stock. Probably can still find them in the US, they must have discontinued reasonably recently]
Older horns still have the dynamics but typically have inferior frequency response, maybe audible as the infamous "horn honk".
So I'd start with the two above, and, if they come up at a tolerable price, the JBL K9800 or K9500. They are not so old.
I have the later, and like them a lot.
[Edit: The K9900 is spectacular too, but unlikely to be in your price bracket, even second hand]

Best wishes
David
.

 

[Mort]

There is a fairly common opinion that (better) horn speakers have certain qualities that can sound wonderful.
I don't think this is just an audiophile myth, I think it's definitely worth a trial listen.
I expect it has to do with lack of compresssion on transients, or some similar behaviour, but I don't know of much research on the topic, so take it as you wish.
The cannonical "impressive horn speakers" are JBL.
The 4367 measures pretty well and the sound impressed even objectivist reviewers.
There's a second hand pair on HiFi Shark for $6,500.
If you want new then an option is the next tier down, the 4347, reviewed by Amir, about $7,500 at the time, full price.
Probably still within your price when on sale.
Older horns still have the dynamics but typically have inferior frequency repsonse, maybe audible as the famous "horn honk".
So I'd start with the two above, and if they come up at a tolerable price maybe the not _really_old JBL K9800 or K9500.
I have the later, and like them a lot.

Best wishes
David
.

That's super helpful. Yeah, I expect to get something from the horns that sounds 'different.'

 

[Multiway]

Here's a left of field suggestion for you..

If you are in the US you could visit Danley Sound Labs and have a listen to their smaller offerings.
SM60s with a sub would be in budget i reckon.
They also have other pretty amazing offerings Paraline and so on.

I've built and evolved 4 / 5 horn systems over some 14 years.
I've also heard many systems.

Before that I had several 2 / 3 way floor standers and a few Tannoy offerings to.
True horns kick them totally into touch - for me..

Then I built Multi Entry Horns ala Danley, but with my choice of drivers..

I'd not go back to 4 or 5 separate drivers / horns again.
Multi Entry Horns do so much right and are more compact and easier to place.

If you DIY you could build your own - Jmods for example, for a much reduced sum. So much satisfaction to be had with DIY..

Edit: oops just looked at the price of new SM60s! Second hand would be in budget.. as would the Paraline.

 

[Multiway]

Just to add.
I've had several visits from various hifi enthusiasts to listen to my Multi Entry Horns over the last year.
3 of them are actively building MEHs now, 1 is planning to!

 

[Purité Audio]

Danley’s HRE formerly known as ‘Hyperion’ were easily the best horn loudspeakers I have heard here, they made Avantgarde, Cessaro etc look expensive nonsense.
Keith

 

[Audio Science Pal]

I'd really love to try a good horn speaker.

Will it be possible for ASR to review the Meyer Sound ULTRA-X40 and/or ULTRA-X20?

Will it be possible? There are multiple versions of each of those speakers such as ULTRA-X20, X22, X23, etc. with, if I am not mistaken, the main difference being the coverage pattern. https://meyersound.com/products/?by-category=point-source

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[fpitas]

There is a fairly common opinion that (better) horn speakers have certain qualities that can sound wonderful.

From my purely subjective viewpoint...I agree! But I have had several people comment that voices and instruments sound "natural", whatever that means. Certainly, sounds float in the air. Some people like that, some don't.

 

[Pareto Pragmatic]

That's super helpful. Yeah, I expect to get something from the horns that sounds 'different.'

What I get different is not from the horns (which vary in dispersion of course), but compression drivers. And the difference I hear is in the attack of notes.

Crisper, more defined stick strikes on drums and plucks of strings for sure. Other than that, properly set up and EQ'd, I don't hear a great deal of difference compared to other speakers. But the attack stands out.

If I wanted one single pair of speakers to serve as AVR, casual listening, and critical listening, I would go JBL in my room. But since the three pairs I have in the room do all that fine, and I don't want to spend the coin, I won't.

 

[Chris A]

Danley’s HRE formerly known as ‘Hyperion’ were easily the best horn loudspeakers I have heard here

...except the price is nowhere near the limit proposed by the OP.

Understand that the HRE1 is just an SM60 on top of a couple of side-firing 8" woofers (direct radiating) with internal crossovers and amplifiers, dialed in to have flat phase down to ~30 Hz and ±2 db magnitude response on-axis (anechoically, psychoacoustic smoothing) via FIR filtering.

Note that two SM60s with suitable active electronics and one or two tapped horn subs in-room (I'd recommend the DTS-10 if there is space for it mid-wall somewhere), dialed in with a good DSP crossover having enough FIR taps to flatten the phase response, would more than equal to the HRE1s, and probably at a fraction of the price.

It seems that FIR filtering and active electronics instantly add a price premium nowadays that at least doubles the price of the loudspeakers. Good class AB amplifiers with very low "first watt" noise and DSP crossovers can be had for much less money. You can get remote help using in-room measurement and remote dial-in capability to setting up those using FIR or IIR crossover. I know of at least two people that can do it--and one charges no money at all...

JMTC.

Chris

 

[Purité Audio]

Two 2x 15” I am sure a DIY version would be much cheaper.
Keith

 

[Chris A]

It's clear that Tom Danley designed the HRE1 to cater to those audiophiles that want turn-key performance in a smaller enclosure (which compromises freedom from bass modulation distortion performance) without actually learning how to put the whole enchilada together yourself.

If you've got $24K per loudspeaker and can't be bothered by the details, then the HRE1 is definitely for you...

Chris

 

[DanielT]

Horns—especially for bass—are mostly DIY projects. My advice is to aim for a horn that delivers good mid-bass punch. They don't end up being insanely large, unlike if you want to go down to 20 Hz (in which case we're talking physically HUGE horns).

Here’s a tip: It fits within your budget.Buy the construction plans from Joseph Crowe for his 15" Back-Loaded Horn No. 2095.

Here is what he says about them himself:

Subjective Sound Quality

Back-loaded horn No. 2095 provided excellent bass and mid-bass slam, unmatched by bass-reflex or open-baffle configurations. The cabinet's ability to deliver sheer power is unrivaled. I experimented with various amplifiers and found that even my Fosi TDA7498E (50W/channel) could deliver concert-level bass. When connected to the Hypex FA501 (500W/channel), I could easily achieve 114 dB at 1 meter from a single bass cabinet.

15" Drivers Tested

• Beyma 15LX60V2 ($370 USD each)
• Supravox 380EXC Field Coil Woofer ($1,370 USD each)

He presents measurements—frequency response and distortion—in the same thread:

15" Back Loaded Horn No.2095

In this blog post I test a new back loaded horn (BLH) cabinet that I designed and built. BLH No.2095 is part of a 3-way system I've developed. But this blog post focuses on the objective test data comparing two drivers... 15" Drivers Tested Beyma 15LX60V2 ($370 USD each) Supravox 380EXC Field...

josephcrowe.com

Hire a carpenter to build them if you can't do it yourself.
Then add top speakers to the setup—perhaps compression drivers, by the way. Take a closer look at how Joseph Crowe did it.

Edit:
If you’re going to hire a carpenter, shop around for price quotes for the job. The cost naturally depends on the complexity, but here is a rough indication from Gemini AI:

 

[Space is the place]

Funnily enough was talking to someone earleir this week who's DIY'd some Jospeh Crowe's and now he's building some Danleys...

When i saw this illustration i thought of Keith -left in the illustration- explaining to his wife what's arriving next

 

[Mort]

Crisper, more defined stick strikes on drums and plucks of strings for sure. Other than that, properly set up and EQ'd, I don't hear a great deal of difference compared to other speakers. But the attack stands out.

To what might this phenomenon be attributed?

 

[fpitas]

To what might this phenomenon be attributed?

My guess is that the horn can easily put out tremendous peaks compared to cone drivers, without requiring much drive power.

 

[Flaesh]

What should I be considering?

The choice is not very large compared to the 6.5"+1" dome, but there is more than one option. Some JBLs and Danley have already been mentioned. Here's the Colibri thread https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/upgrading-to-avantgarde-colibri-c2.71548/
Here's an event, I think it's in LA, with 4675C:

Here's a completely different system with a JBL from the same cinema line:

and so on..
Do you need hi-fi speakers from the store? Will you be using subwoofers or not?.. Acceptable sizes?..

:

Recommendation for a $3-4k bookshelf speaker (upgrade from Ascilabs C6B)

Fritz, Revel PerformaBe, Philharmonic.

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[fpitas]

Some basics on horn shape. Those trumpet-shaped horns, although loved by some audiophiles, have a dispersion pattern that collapses with frequency; i.e., they "beam". So, you sit right on-axis, or else the high treble disappears. Most professional horns by JBL etc. have a much wider pattern.

 

[fpitas]

If you do consider restoring old horn speakers, be aware that many have been "rode hard and put away wet". Flippers get them and use the cheapest possible parts to "repair" them.

 

[Tom C]

What I’ve read is that the horn provides acoustic coupling between the driver and the air in the room. That is, a typical dome tweeter faces very little mechanical impedance when operating. A horn increases the load faced by the driver, which increases its efficiency.