Will's Horn Finalists

[Sablon Audio]

And a nice rug too! Mahi Tabriz?

 

[MJG]

So essentially you are saying we both don't like duos, you haven't heard trios for 15 years, you haven't heard Anima, universum, DIY horns, and we have different tastes? All those speakers are very different sounding, btw. If you just are itching to make a purchase, go ahead and spend a lot of like on the Odeon which is the least good sounding of all of them also less than many inefficient speakers, and doesn't work with your current amps. Or hold off from the purchase and investigate a bit more with the DIY community

After a visit to Christoph's and my place you wrote on 12th April 2017:
"...we moved to a neighbor of Christoph’s, who too has the same speakers, a model lower (Odeon nr. 32) with Lamm M1.1, and in his room they really sang. The room was much smaller (yet a reasonably sized room), and the bass and integration seemed to match it. The Odeon nr.38s are seamless through the crossovers, and playing Bruch Scottish Fantasia, Emperor’s Piano, Scheherazade, and Winterreise through them was extremely enjoyable."
I wonder what changed your mind since.
You are cordially invited to pay me a visit in Liechtenstein and to listen to my present set up (Odeon nr. 38.2, Aries Cerat Impera II, Concero 65).

 

[bonzo75]

After a visit to Christoph's and my place you wrote on 12th April 2017:
"...we moved to a neighbor of Christoph’s, who too has the same speakers, a model lower (Odeon nr. 32) with Lamm M1.1, and in his room they really sang. The room was much smaller (yet a reasonably sized room), and the bass and integration seemed to match it. The Odeon nr.38s are seamless through the crossovers, and playing Bruch Scottish Fantasia, Emperor’s Piano, Scheherazade, and Winterreise through them was extremely enjoyable."
I wonder what changed your mind since.
You are cordially invited to pay me a visit in Liechtenstein and to listen to my present set up (Odeon nr. 38.2, Aries Cerat Impera II, Concero 65).

I would love to, if we could fly now.

I just find universum much better, as I do some bespoke horns (which admittedly are not widely available commercially).

If someone has Odeon there is no point in changing, but if someone had not yet spent the money, there are other options available for the same price that I prefer more.

Also, in the case of Exilibris, he already has a set of electronics that does not work with Odeon, so it would have made more sense to order a speaker that worked with it, rather than one that didn't, hence I was suggesting he explore the Canadian DIY scene as they have various options there he could listen and order (he does not have to build himself)

 

[Exlibris]

Very nice.
It is agreable to have a beautiful view while listening to wonderful music

And you have the most beautiful view I can imagine.
For me, the decision to move the speakers to that "wall" is more about trying to deal with the problems I face with my room. I'm trying to go with a setup that is closer to one of the recommended ones from Cardas.
http://www.cardas.com/room_setup_rectangular_room.php

 

[Exlibris]

And a nice rug too! Mahi Tabriz?

Thank you. I'm no expert but I think it's Tabriz.

 

[morricab]

Thank you! I look forward to hearing your impressions.
When I demoed the No. 26 I started about 5m back but enjoyed it better at about 3m. I never tried moving closer however.

I would say 3 meters is probably a better distance than 2. Since my Odeons are 2-ways they will probably work closer up than the 3-way 33s.

 

[morricab]

I'm going to try putting the speakers along the short wall (the window wall) rather than having them along the long wall. I could place the speakers on top of the rug and have them 2m apart, on-centre. I'd bring that love seat down to the other end of the rug and use it as a listening chair. I'll try sitting 2.5m from the speaker plane and then I'll try sitting 2.5m from the speakers themselves.
View attachment 62630

I don't know if this will give you the bass you want...windows and bass are problematic...

 

[Exlibris]

I don't know if this will give you the bass you want...windows and bass are problematic...

I think you might be right.
Ideally I'd have the front of the speakers 2m out from that glass wall. I don't think I'd want to rely on that glass wall to reinforce bass.

 

[Duke LeJeune]

I posed the question to the manufacturer and they recommended at least 2.5m.

You might experiment with different ear heights. For example, whether your ear is midway between mid and tweet, or at tweeter height, might make a noticeable difference. I'm guessing that ears @ tweeter height would work best up close.

The crossover between woofer & mid is 320 Hz, and imo that's low enough to not be a limiting factor as far as vertical plane cohesion goes. I would expect the 1.8 kHz crossover and 14 inches vertical spacing between mid and tweet to be the limiting factor.

 

[Yakamozan]

Dear all,
i‘m quite new to the forum and this is basically my first post even though i keep reading in this forum for a while now.
I will move into a new house with a dedicated listening room ( approx. size 10000x7000x4000mm), where my actual speakers will not be sufficient for that room size.
I‘ m looking into a new horn speaker for my rigg.
The finalist that i‘m considering so far:

- Horns Universum ( preferred looks of all the speakers i consider at the moment )
- Odeon 33 or 38
- AA Duo Mezzo XD
Did anyone had a chance to compare those speakers and maybe can share some impressions ?
The horn will be paired with my Aries Cerat electronics ( Genus, Talos, Kassandra ).
Mostly listening to jazz and rock, but classic and vocal is playing quite frequently too, just as Massive Attack and Trentemoeller does. Pretty much throughout the genres i’d say, with a preference for rock and jazz.
Would love to hear your insights about the mentioned speakers and their differences in sound, ease to drive and match with my electronics.
Cheers
Yakamoz

 

[Ron Resnick]

Welcome to WBF, Yakamozan!

 

[bonzo75]

Dear all,
i‘m quite new to the forum and this is basically my first post even though i keep reading in this forum for a while now.
I will move into a new house with a dedicated listening room ( approx. size 10000x7000x4000mm), where my actual speakers will not be sufficient for that room size.
I‘ m looking into a new horn speaker for my rigg.
The finalist that i‘m considering so far:

- Horns Universum ( preferred looks of all the speakers i consider at the moment )
- Odeon 33 or 38
- AA Duo Mezzo XD
Did anyone had a chance to compare those speakers and maybe can share some impressions ?
The horn will be paired with my Aries Cerat electronics ( Genus, Talos, Kassandra ).
Mostly listening to jazz and rock, but classic and vocal is playing quite frequently too, just as Massive Attack and Trentemoeller does. Pretty much throughout the genres i’d say, with a preference for rock and jazz.
Would love to hear your insights about the mentioned speakers and their differences in sound, ease to drive and match with my electronics.
Cheers
Yakamoz

I would say the universum is quite better for classical, vocals, and jazz, but not for rock and electronica. That said your preference sounds more rock and jazz and much less classical

 

[Tango]

I would say the universum is quite better for classical, vocals, and jazz, but not for rock and electronica. That said your preference sounds more rock and jazz and much less classical

And eventually you will manage to turn around your recommendation to Tannoy and DIY Altec.

 

[Yakamozan]

Very nice.
It is agreable to have a beautiful view while listening to wonderful music [/Q

I would say the universum is quite better for classical, vocals, and jazz, but not for rock and electronica. That said your preference sounds more rock and jazz and much less classical

I would say the universum is quite better for classical, vocals, and jazz, but not for rock and electronica. That said your preference sounds more rock and jazz and much less classical

Thx for the quick feedback Bonzo!
May i ask what you believe the shortcoming of the Horns speaker is when it comes to rock and pop music ? Also compared to the other two models ?

 

[Yakamozan]

And eventually you will manage to turn around your recommendation to Tannoy and DIY Altec.

That, most likely is not going to happen ???

 

[bonzo75]

And eventually you will manage to turn around your recommendation to Tannoy and DIY Altec.

I never said I liked tannoy more than universum.

 

[christoph]

Dear all,
i‘m quite new to the forum and this is basically my first post even though i keep reading in this forum for a while now.
I will move into a new house with a dedicated listening room ( approx. size 10000x7000x4000mm), where my actual speakers will not be sufficient for that room size.
I‘ m looking into a new horn speaker for my rigg.
The finalist that i‘m considering so far:

- Horns Universum ( preferred looks of all the speakers i consider at the moment )
- Odeon 33 or 38
- AA Duo Mezzo XD
Did anyone had a chance to compare those speakers and maybe can share some impressions ?
The horn will be paired with my Aries Cerat electronics ( Genus, Talos, Kassandra ).
Mostly listening to jazz and rock, but classic and vocal is playing quite frequently too, just as Massive Attack and Trentemoeller does. Pretty much throughout the genres i’d say, with a preference for rock and jazz.
Would love to hear your insights about the mentioned speakers and their differences in sound, ease to drive and match with my electronics.
Cheers
Yakamoz

Hi Yakamoz

I own (as you might see on my avatar picture) and really love the hORNS Universum and I owned before the Odeon 32 and Odeon 38 (and know the Odeon 33 quite well, too).

I am not too fond of the AA speakers because I find the Universums tonally and timbrally more natural and organic sounding with excellent tranparency.

Your room will be fantastic with those generous dimensions

If you like electronic music a lot, then you might want to add subs to the Universums eventually.

Elecronic music would speak for the AA with their active subs, but for me that I rarely listen to that kind of music, I prefer the Universums performance on the other genres too much to go AA.

Where are you located?

 

[bonzo75]

Thx for the quick feedback Bonzo!
May i ask what you believe the shortcoming of the Horns speaker is when it comes to rock and pop music ? Also compared to the other two models ?

It is the type of excursion. Odeon is more like a cone speaker. Also I find the upper mids and highs of beryllium horn drivers like TAD and Radian, similar to electrostats, not the best for rock. For rock I prefer less detail, more density, fullness, like with Altec highs.

For rock, a properly done Altec is much superior to all these, also for others as an overall rounded speaker. Universum mids and highs will be better than altecs if you value electrostat style transparency and transparency to recordings more, and classical

Vintage tannoy gold is better than universum, duos, and Odeon for rock and blues. Now trios are another matter.

Just to be clear, simply an observation, but when someone says I listen to all genre and some classical, I don't think the person is evaluating the same way as someone who listens to 80 percent classical, and does not really evaluate on transparency to recordings and on tone in the same fashion. A few audiophile classical recordings like Stravinsky firebird suite don't count.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Yakamoz, geeetings. It's not the XD Mezzo, but I've had the good fortune to regularly listen to the AG Duos Omegas (2010 vintage) on the end of 45 tubes/Java line stage, w SGM2015 server/Aqua Formula XHD front end. In a hugely well worked system (all Sablon cbls/Taiko Daiza isolation), small but sympathetic room 19x11x8. Owner is WBF member Blue58.

I've heard the system over 5 yrs (not right now of course), evolving thru sources, ancilliaries, and optimising the Duos. And always on a wide range of music, from Ryan Adams to Rush to Nina Simone to Bach to Genesis to Rimsky-Korsakov to Duke Ellington to Niels Frahm to James Blake. And Blue's Duos are really adept across the range of genres. They are really compelling on a lot of bass heavy material like James Blake "Overgrown", absolutely nail material w sparse beats and uber space like Niels Frahm, eek out as much staging from flatter material like Genesis and other 70s prog and fusion, bloom beautifully w well recorded classical, voice and jazz, compelling w reproducing the space and ambience and accurate timbre in much acoustic music.

Indeed a 24/96 version of a Nina Simone song remains one of my fave experiences ever in a home audio system, testament to both the revealing but warm nature of Blue's Duos.

If you're after a chameleon spkr, sold on horns, adept across genres, revealing, warm, immersive, and unlike a lot of horns, able to totally convince on deep bass cuts, the Duos should be top of yr shortlist.
I can imagine the XD Mezzos will go at least two steps further Lol.

Reach out by PM to Blue58, he doesn't always read and respond to threads.

Good luck on yr final choice.

 

[MJG]

Hello Yakamoz

Although I love Christoph‘s Universums for their transparency I prefer my combo of Odeons 38.2 on Aries Cerat Amps for its plus in weight, live like solid bass performance.