The Tune Audio Anime (show conditions):
I had been interested in horns going back all the way to my original post as I've always valued dynamics highly. Historically though, I've heard horn colorations (cupped hands) pretty easily on Voltis, Chopins, and some others. I also get concerned about integration, coming from 6.5 years of owning FRD-based loudspeakers previously (Zu). Finally, I was curious how horn bass in a relatively small horn would work - that said, the Anime is a full 3-way horn unlike the JBLs, Ocean Ways, etc.
The Animas were setup on the long wall at THE Show and used a Nagra digital setup into Wavac preamp and EC300B amp. There was no streaming or vinyl rig, so I was stuck listening to audiophile demo music and not my own. I was seated in the middle for over a half hour in prime time seating position, albeit right against the back wall. The first thing I noticed is that they project a huge amount of space - I feel like this is why the classical guys feel horns can convey an orchestra better. And I get it. Dynamics not surprisingly were exceptional and "alive." The next thing I noticed was the hanging female vocal (almost dripping) in front of me - which to be fair is usually what I have heard on SET amps in the past.
But as we continued to play other cuts, the cupped hands veil was clearly obvious - didn't matter the instrument or voice, but there it was. Also, images were unnaturally large - to be fair, this might be due to the speakers being 15' apart. He played some well known jazz (forgive me, forget the exact cut right now) and some of the horn shout also came into play. I do believe setup wasn't ideal, but was expecting better - and those who know me offline understand that expectation bias was actually in favor of the Tunes coming into this demo. The last track we played had drums and string bass and this is where the second big negative came - the absence of real bass. Like total absence. These speakers must roll off hard below 100hz as it was clearly obvious they struggle down low and had no bass impact (even in a hotel room). I asked about the bass and the only thing you can play with are footers underneath the bass horn - which appeared to be an inch or two off the ground. Whether this is a difference between horn bass and cone bass, I do not know.
So I returned with an electronica CD on Saturday to give it another go on my own music - St. Germain to be exact- to test sound stage and bass. I actually enjoyed the sound stage and didn't find the imaging objectionable. But there just wasn't any thunder down under - and this cut doesn't have 20-30hz bass at all, so its not even that challenging. For reference, I had played the CD the same day in the VSA room and the bass was excellent, tuneful, and full of energy! So a clear comparison was made. I asked the show attendant if any changes had been made and he replied there wasn't. I didn't notice as much shout in my seating positing the second time around, so maybe my positioning was better - it was clearly smoother. For final kicks, I transferred from my wheelchair to the seat (2-3" lower) for the final track to see if my height was a disadvantage - nope. Still heard the same issues.
So where does this leave me with horns? Well the Anime and by corollary the Cessaro Wagner don't make any sense - the bass just isn't there. I feel the Avantgarde Duo XD is probably the only horn that might work for my tastes.
ps. I wasn't a fan of the Altecs as much as others due to sensing a coherence issue between the horn and the cones. It was pretty easy to hear what sounds were coming from which driver. On the Tunes, to their credit, i didn't get an incoherent sense although a larger room would be necessary to fully adjudicate that issue.