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

[Bjorn]

The sweet spot is often relatively small…but unnatural? Sorry, can’t at all agree with you on that one. I have heard a few examples that to me are the most natural sound I have heard and they were not CD horns.

I have both CD and non-CD horns I can exchange in my DIY setup and tend to prefer the spherical Tractrix horn over the FEA modelled CD design.

So what CD horns have you heard?
With wide band CD, the sound can actually be great everywhere in the room.

 

[abeidrov]

Amazing 15 Hz - 40 kHz system, powered by a 20 watt set amplifier. Simple and elegant. Although a little bit on the expensive side . Is it comparable or better than Avantgarde Trio / Vox Olympian?

 

[adrianywu]

Amazing 15 Hz - 40 kHz system, powered by a 20 watt set amplifier. Simple and elegant. Although a little bit on the expensive side . Is it comparable or better than Avantgarde Trio / Vox Olympian?

I partly own a pair of Olympians with Elysian horn sub-bass that are installed in a music venue, and I have set them up at different venues over the past few years. Having bass horns that extend all the way to below 20Hz is something that reflex loaded bass cannot compare with. On the other hand, I use a pair of Acapella plasma tweeters at home, and they are by far the best tweeters I have ever used. The Olympians use a trumpet horn for the tweeter and also has a slot loaded supertweeter on top. The frequency response is well extended, but dispersion is narrow, and they are designed to work over a larger distance. I have not heard the Acapella Sphäron, but I did spend quite some time listening to the Hyperion in Munich this spring. I did like the sound, but I feel the bass integration is not as seemless as a well set up Olympian. The Olympian however does require very careful set up and room matching, and the speakers allow adjustments in various parameters at the bass and sub-bass crossovers, as well as physical time alignment between the various drivers. Kevin Scott will set up the speakers at customers's homes anywhere in the world.

 

[LL21]

I partly own a pair of Olympians with Elysian horn sub-bass that are installed in a music venue, and I have set them up at different venues over the past few years. Having bass horns that extend all the way to below 20Hz is something that reflex loaded bass cannot compare with. On the other hand, I use a pair of Acapella plasma tweeters at home, and they are by far the best tweeters I have ever used. The Olympians use a trumpet horn for the tweeter and also has a slot loaded supertweeter on top. The frequency response is well extended, but dispersion is narrow, and they are designed to work over a larger distance. I have not heard the Acapella Sphäron, but I did spend quite some time listening to the Hyperion in Munich this spring. I did like the sound, but I feel the bass integration is not as seemless as a well set up Olympian. The Olympian however does require very careful set up and room matching, and the speakers allow adjustments in various parameters at the bass and sub-bass crossovers, as well as physical time alignment between the various drivers. Kevin Scott will set up the speakers at customers's homes anywhere in the world.

Fascinating! Thanks for that insight. Was just reading about the Hyperion recently. The challenge as always with 'having it all' in sound is often the space the speakers take which can deliver this. Vox Olympians and Horns, Acapella Sphaerons, Genesis Ones, Avantgarde Trios and dual-bass horns.

 

[morricab]

Amazing 15 Hz - 40 kHz system, powered by a 20 watt set amplifier. Simple and elegant. Although a little bit on the expensive side . Is it comparable or better than Avantgarde Trio / Vox Olympian?

They are very good but I doubt anyone can give you a direct comparison of these extreme systems. The Hyperion was one of the best systems at Munich this year but IMO the Vox Olympian is head and shoulders above the systems you mentioned…probably more competitive is the Aries Cerat Contendo 2.

 

[LL21]

They are very good but I doubt anyone can give you a direct comparison of these extreme systems. The Hyperion was one of the best systems at Munich this year but IMO the Vox Olympian is head and shoulders above the systems you mentioned…probably more competitive is the Aries Cerat Contendo 2.

Presume you mean you find the Vox Olympia head and shoulders above the Acapella Hyperion as well?

 

[morricab]

Presume you mean you find the Vox Olympia head and shoulders above the Acapella Hyperion as well?

From what I heard, yes. I will say though I don’t think the amps and ancillary electronics were ideal for Hyperion and I think Kevin Scott from LV knows how to squeeze the best from his speakers.

 

[LL21]

From what I heard, yes. I will say though I don’t think the amps and ancillary electronics were ideal for Hyperion and I think Kevin Scott from LV knows how to squeeze the best from his speakers.

Thank you.

 

[gleeds]

Has anyone seen or heard the horn systems for Admire Audio. Very clean and interesting designs to my eye.

 

[morricab]

Has anyone seen or heard the horn systems for Admire Audio. Very clean and interesting designs to my eye.

Heard them in Munich but sounded unbalanced…there was a hole in the midbass if I remember correctly.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Another big horn loudspeaker system up against the front wall. WHY???



(Photo courtesy of Matej Isek)

 

[PeterA]

Another big horn loudspeaker system up against the front wall. WHY???

View attachment 127578

(Photo courtesy of Matej Isek)

You could just as easily ask about the turntable sitting on an antique side table or the stacked electronics on the floor. Why? Where are the cable lifters and TubeTraps?

Here, I think it is about lifestyle, not about an optimized listening experience. The owner may be very happy and just not care. Why should anyone care? Seriously.

 

[bonzo75]

You could just as easily ask about the turntable sitting on an antique side table or the stacked electronics on the floor. Why? Where are the cable lifters and TubeTraps?

Here, I think it is about lifestyle, not about an optimized listening experience. The owner may be very happy and just not care. Why should anyone care? Seriously.

i actually thought that room can be great. If I like it or not will depend if I like the speaker amp combo there and the recordings the owner is playing.

 

[PeterA]

i actually thought that room can be great. If I like it or not will depend if I like the speaker amp combo there and the recordings the owner is playing.

Yes. Can’t tell. Good looking speakers though.

 

[Bjorn]

If the horn is large enough combined with narrow directivity, it can be placed up against a front wall or in a corner without a detrimental effect. But we're talking much larger horn then.

 

[Audiohertz2]

Another big horn loudspeaker system up against the front wall. WHY???

View attachment 127578

(Photo courtesy of Matej Isek)

Using the front wall and corners for Gain is a known known when using under powered amplification, most low wattage SET setups benefit a lot from it ..!



Regards

 

[Chop]

Another big horn loudspeaker system up against the front wall. WHY???

View attachment 127578

(Photo courtesy of Matej Isek)

WHY indeed...
It looks lovely, and I bet it sounds nice, but there are any number of "free" set up things you could do with this system to TRANSFORM the quality of sound in the room.

 

[morricab]

Using the front wall and corners for Gain is a known known when using under powered amplification, most low wattage SET setups benefit a lot from it ..!



Regards

Usually that is to boost bass, as horns are not usually long enough to get well into the bass range and the walls extend this, and not so much due to underpowered amplifiers. A speaker that is well over 100dB sensitivity will do just fine with a 2-3 watt amp in most domestic situations.

 

[bonzo75]

Usually that is to boost bass, as horns are not usually long enough to get well into the bass range and the walls extend this

Compromised horns need that unless they have hybrid solutions to boost bass (which is a different compromise), not horns in general. You don't have to have a long straight 2m horn, that is only one strategy.

 

[morricab]

Compromised horns need that unless they have hybrid solutions to boost bass (which is a different compromise), not horns in general. You don't have to have a long straight 2m horn, that is only one strategy.

All corner horn designs like JBL Hartsfield, Vitavox CN-191 and Klipschorn use the corner walls to extend the horn and get lower bass cutoff. Back in the days of mono there was no concern about corner placement affecting imaging and soundstage...it was mono. The speakers size was still some concern but you only had to accommodate one of them. None of these are hybrid or have bass boost (like Avantgarde bass horns, which are part horn and part sealed box). Folded horns are how most people who want true horn bass do it and there are other solutions. The Pnoe is long enough but it is huge. The Aries Cerat Symphonia is long enough as well but doesn't get as deep as a big vented box, for example. Pnoe and Symphonia don't need a corner but the gain from a corner or rear wall will help them as well...when they are well out into a room they can sound somewhat lean.