Great W.A.F Very good construction Every thing said in review.

If there is a weakness it would be that the speakers take a considerable time to break in.

I've been using these speakers for a while now and they are getting better with age. I have had the privilage of using modified Proac Response 3s,Totem Model 1s,and various other good speakers that don't come close to the quality sound that The Horns make.It's like listen to my music collection for the first time.For such a small driver,they can play pretty darn loud.They are the most revealing,detailed,natural sounding speakers that I've encountered even more coherent than the Reference 3A DeCapo.What they do from about 50Hz on up is what Harry Pearson might call continuity.The Horns have the right amount of bloom and air that is very realistic and excellent tonal balance.They are very revealing of source and cable changes in system.What more can I say? The best $700.00 that I've ever spent. Equipment used is AH Tjoeb 4000 CD player(modified),Decware SV83M monoblocks,Musical Design SP2B preamp(to be replaced by Decware ZSLA-1 preamp)and CAT-5 cables and silverplated speaker wire courtesy Ed Schilling which replaced JPS superconductor cables(good)and Kimber 8TC wires.

Similar Products Used:

Totem Model1,Proac Response 1s and Response 3,Near 50ME MK II,Sound Lab Quantum,Maggie 2.6R.Also had the opportunity to hear 3A DeCapo.

The Horns allow me to play music at low volumes clearly and moderatly high levels at times(When the neighbors are away of course). The combination of Horns and tube amp, let me really listen to the artist instead of the electronics. Diane Krall, Michael Franks and other Jazz recordings have room presence that is difficult for me to explain. I am now experiencing what all the hoopla is about. Tonal quality has a 3D sound commonly found on much higher priced gear. The midrange and treble are sweet with out being bloated. The speaker cabinet is hand-made and rather small for a floor stander. Yet the small footprint allows for multiple placement. They look like sound reproducers that produce music instead of the high gloss higher priced speaker which looks good but sounds just like other high priced speakers.

Placement is extremely important. Other reviewers have indicated that in order to reproduce lower signals the horns have to be placed in or at corners? I have placed them in the same spot as the stand mounted Missions and TDL's. The sound is clean and natuaral, provided the source material does not have heavy bass tracks. Sound compression does occur when they are pushed to hard and because I have not been able to find their SPL specs and power handling capacity, I must tread lightly.

I browse a lot of the high-end audio salons, listening to the sound of diferent high end stereo gear. I have listen to and have purchased about 20 pairs of loudspeakers and 3 amplifiers in my life. My first pair of speakers were part of an old Panasonic System which included a pair of Panasonic Thrusters with the passive radiator, to a pair of used KLH 9's, damaged of course Infinity Kappas. I even had a pair of Frazier(No crossover) speakers. However, I could not achieve the sound that I had been looking for, at a resonable price until I found a used pair of the Horns. They were singing away using a Moth flea powered amp. The sound was breathtaking. At home,I was currently listening to a newly purchased pair of Mission 771's and a pair of older TDL NF1 loudspeakers, depending on the mood. I was powering the system with a rebuilt Gas Grandson power amp through a modified Adcom 505 Passive Pre-Amp. I listen to mostly CD's. While the sound was nice, It had a dark quality to the music. Once I attached the horns to the system, I was concerned about the combination of the 40 watt power amp with the Horns. The sound was better, but not as smooth as when they were in the audio shop. I experimented with various types of solid state integrated amps, Audio Refinement, Acurus 100 and even a Audio Research LS2 Pre-Amp on loan from the local high end shop. The sound was much better, yet still lacking the soul from the Moth. Once I hooked up my first all tube integrated amp(Jolida 102jD),to the horns using AudioQuest 4 speaker wire, I was back in audio heaven.The sound coming from the horns was just as I first remebered. Smoooth! Airy! and disappeared in my dedicated stereo room. Now I do not have to turn off the lights to imagine sitting at a live jazz house. Jolida JD102B Integrated Amplifier Cambridge 300 CD-Player Kimber interconnects WBT terminated AudioQuest Type 6 Type 4

Similar Products Used:

Mission 780's Moth Cicadas and Paradigm 5M, I think.

Great natural sounding speakers that dissapear into the room. Excellent soundstage...great dynamics. Acoustic instruments and vocals sound amazingly lifelike. Small in size...big in sound. With Fostex drivers they are very pleasing to look at. All sorts of custom finishes available.

Long break-in. But worth the wait!

When these speakers arrived the first thing that hit me was how heavy they were. They seem more dense and substantial than my Definitive Technologies BP2002s! The second thing was how great they looked. Because they are handmade, I was able to perfectly match the finish to complement my furniture...something that is usually found only on the 5 figure speaker systems. It makes the wife very happy. They are also a lot smaller than I thought...which was another plus. I liked them even before I heard them! SInce I had spoken with Ed at length about the break in period before they arrived, I was not dismayed by the sound when I hooked them up to my analog rig (Bottlehead Foreplay preamp and Paramour 2A3 monoblocks...hooked to an MMF5 TT). that''''''''s not to say that the sound is bad...they were amazingly good right out of the box...but it does not compare to what they sound like when they "pop" after 50 hours of playing or so. It''''''''s almost an audible change that happens all at once! (That may just be the way I perceived it). Overall I can say that I am very pleased with the purchase and the fact that I spent less than what just ONE of the other speakers I was looking at cost. I have yet to audition an Oris Horn, but I''''''''ll be very surprised if listening to them will make me want to replace my Horns from Ed.

Similar Products Used:

First single driver horn speaker I''''''''ve owned.

Transparency, dynamics, speed, imaging,....

Light in the bass range, but can be fixed.

This is a fantastic speaker if you take the time to break it in!!! Took me forever it seems like (3+ months)but now it is singing! Don't despair if it sounds harsh initially...it really needs time and volume to open up. My wife and I were amazed to hear it sound more open than the Audio Physics!! These speakers cost 7X the price, and we expected them to sound it...but the horns were amazingly transparent, and that with a few watts from the tube amp. Just for reference, I am using a Naim CD5 CD player, and Chord interconnects and speaker cable.

Finally, I have to add, because it's not said yet, the Horns are really fast (rimshots sound like a machine gun),and the dynamics are unbelievable.

And ED, thanks for a great speaker, and taking the time to spend with me to finally break the thing in!!

Similar Products Used:

AudioPhysic, Sound Dynamics, Celestion, ProAc, Etc..

Continues to impress me a picky guy

None for the money

Even though the "break-in blues" still going on, I recently added a REL Storm III subwoofer, and now the Horns sing with authority and weight. Users who place the Horns in the corners may not need a sub, but my out-in-the-room location and perhaps my various choices of music DO benefit from a sub. And what a sub the REL is! It integrates well with the Horns and the ZEN amps that I tried very hard but couldn't tell the bass is actually from the REL, not the Horns. Let me stress here, that without the glorious sounding ZEN/Horns combo, adding a REL wouldn't make such a subtle but significant difference to an already sounding good system, except for the increase in bass extension.

Similar Products Used:

NHT, Snell, RDL Labs

Could sound nasty during break-in thus requires some patience

This will be ONE of my last speakers. Driven by the Decware ZEN amps, they SING loud and clear. That impression is after only 10 days of break-in. The Horns may have the bass of a minimonitor, but from 50 Hz and up they are hard to be bettered even by multi-thousand dollar speakers out there.

IMO, lower distortion due to crossoverless single driver is the key. Also critical is the choice of the 4" driver, either standard Radio-Shack or Fostex, made by Ed.

Please consider this a sneak preview due to the short time I have experienced with the Horns. They will only sound better after one month or two, and I will post a follow-up by then.

Associated equipments:
CAL Delta -> Kimber Illuminati D-60 -> Meridian 518 -> D-60 -> CAL Alpha with Amperex Bugle Boy 12AX7 -> Kimber KCAG -> ZEN monoblocks -> Kimber Monocle XL -> The Horns.

Most are plugged into PS Audio P300 and PAC IDOS using various power cords from Kimber, PS Audio, and Monarchy Audio.

Similar Products Used:

MMG, NHT, various JMLabs (in dealer's room)

Dynamics, coherence, efficiency

not for high-powered amps

If you own an SET amp of less than eight watts, and you don't own high-efficiency speakers (92dB or higher), I bet you wish you did. But you look for recommendations and people are suggesting refrigerator-sized horn systems or complicated DIY projects or whatever, and you find this sort of thing impractical. Besides, the only horn systems you can recall hearing are in stadiums, and that's certainly not what you have in mind.

You are in luck. Right now, there's an incredible bargain available to you via the internet. (No, this isn't one of those e-mails...)

The Horn is available at the website www.thehornshoppe.com and I suggest you SET fans ( I guess I should explain that SET means single-ended triode for those who don't know about these things, and suggest you find out about them pronto if you don't) get over there right away. Do you hate the fact that everyone on AudioReview goes overboard and claims that every product they own is the biggest value in audio today? So do I, so I'll restrain myself and simply state that The Horn is the biggest bargain in audio history.

It is a single driver system. No crossover, so you're not dissipating your precious first watt as heat. And you don't have to worry about notches at the xover points, or different speeds of different drivers making things sound confused. The Horn produces a seamless sound picture.

It is rear-horn loaded. The back wave of the speaker driver is sent into a folded horn enclosure exiting at the bottom rear of the speaker. It is designed for corner placement to reinforce the bass frequencies. I was rather suspicious of this approach at first. I now laugh at those suspicions. The bass from these speakers is of a very high quality, lively and melodic. In my small room I don't get much in the way of really deep bass, but let's just say that on a good jazz recording the bass player will sound just right. If you want to shake your walls, though, I guess you'll need a subwoofer. Good luck finding one with the speed to match this 4" driver. I have no intention of trying.

Are you currently using a "monitor" box speaker? The Horns will demonstrate that you have been listening to a miniaturized presentation. But, the imaging? you ask. Well, the picture the Horn produces is good enough for me and reminds me of what I hear in a concert hall. In fact this speaker recreates ambience marvellously well.

I am using the Fostex drivers, which increase the price to 700 bucks. Steve Deckert, manufacturer of the Zen amp I use, feels that the standard drivers are actually better!

Trying to describe the overall sound of this system, I would use words like natural, dynamic, palpable, open, and, at times, delicate. (Hardly a word you associate with horn, huh?) You can look at my comments on the Decware Zen amplifier at this site for more about my experiences with the Horn.

The only caveat I can think of: I don't know what the power handling of this system is, but I would guess not very high. Be very careful if you are using some such brutish thing as a 40-watt amp (!) This is just my guess. Talk to Ed Schilling, Hornshoppe proprietor, for more reliable info.

In fact, talk to Ed anyway. He's a friendly, enthusiastic guy who loves his product. For very good reason, as you'll find out if you take the plunge.