Hi
During most of my audiophile life, I have been a fan of panels... I've had Quad, ML and Magnepan for the most part... I've heard tons of speakers during my audiophile life and to this day, in my subjective experience nothing compares to what horn can do in term of dynamic verisimilitude. The best horns simple do better in that verisimilitude department. I would like to know why. I wouldn't dismiss it offhand because it doesn't show on some measurements. I do understand that there is such a thing as a bias .. perversely my bias has been against horns for years because ... well .. they weren't "audiophile" enough... It took me a while to realize and admit that ... this is a fact.. Horns, even when those that aren't that sensitive , some under 90 dB such as the JBL 530, a smallish 86 dB/W/m speaker BTW, do sound, for the lack of a better term, more dynamic than most speakers... If you are in front of something like a JBL K2 or S9900 then you would know what the deal is.. I know we want to be fact based, then this is a phenomenon that needs to be investigated: Horns sound more dynamic, more "alive" than (most?) other speakers.
Most acoustic music has its "meat" or foundation in the bass/lower to mid midrange, where the levels are higher than the rest than the rest of the frequency response. The majority of commercial designs do not horn load in the lower areas of that region, it gets too large for home installs. Not to say I'm discounting using a horn/waveguide higher up, in that region I personally think they're more important for pattern control, dynamics are nice benefit.
These are all taken from dynamic segments. Window set to 1024, linear. I wish there was a way to get more resolution in the 20-1000 hz region.
Bruckner, S5 Wand from Finale Adiago. Average performance, I happened to have this on the computer so here it is:
Brahms Concerto for Violin and Orchestra from the Allegro Non Troppo (Oistrakh/Svetlanov). Highly recommended.
Annie Fischer Beethoven Sonata 5. The greatest Beethoven piano sonata cycle I've ever heard. Recording quality is average by classical standards, but decent enough that anyone would be able to pick out she is playing a Boesendorfer.
Bartok Concerto for Orchstra, Solti. Another great performance.
I'm a ESL57 lover, though I don't consider them high fidelity by modern standards but they are lovely to listen to with certain classical and jazz. I'll more than likely always keep mine for a different room/house not really worth the hassle of packing and shipping them.