Speakers, speakers ,speakers.

[YNWaN]

For me it's not so much a dispersion issue as a speed and character of loading. The best horn systems I have heard have used front horn loading for all frequencies - inevitably this has made them huge (or they haven't gone very low). In general, I'm not a great fan of smaller horn systems as the compromises needed to reduce size are too sonically invasive IMO.

[YNWaN]

Is that an Acapella model Paul?

No, it made by Cessaro and called the Liszt. They don't use plasma tweeters - TAD compression drivers.

[Reffc]

No, it made by Cessaro and called the Liszt. They don't use plasma tweeters - TAD compression drivers.

That's the ones Mark. The tweeters are a modified version of the TAD compression drivers using beryllium diaphragm and cobalt magnet. I didn't hear the bass integration problems Justin mentions tbh but wasn't listening to bass heavy music but rather some piano and light symphonic where they excelled.

[YNWaN]

They didn't play any bass heavy music did they Paul? When I heard them they seemed determined to play very middle of the road twiddly stuff.

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User211, your vid won't open on my iPad . Fixed now, seems to be a Tapatalk issue.

[Reffc]

They didn't play any bass heavy music did they Paul? When I heard them they seemed determined to play very middle of the road twiddly stuff.

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User211, your vid won't open on my iPad .

Not when I heard them, but what I heard was sublime. Would I swap mine for them? no, probably not, as overall, I'm more than satisfied with the RFC Canterburys. For the Cessaros, you'd really need a large room, high ceilings and not want to be sat up too close. A product for the wealthy. Mind you, I will be joining the Tron club as I've decided to replace my several box solution for the MC phono preamp with one of Grahams.

[YNWaN]

Yeah, I read you were getting a Tron phonostage - nicely made stuff.

[User211]

User211, your vid won't open on my iPad .

The only good contemporary horns are expensive Mark, no question, and large. And there aren't many I think are that great.

iPad? Bad luck. I don't have one to test, and I'm too busy to investigate.

[Macca]

The only horn system I've heard that I could live with was Speedy Steve's multi-way effort. But if that was retail it would cost hundreds of thousands I suspect. All the others are okay with acoustic/simple music but not with rock music.

You don't tend to see horn speakers in recording studios so that is possibly why.

[Reffc]

The only horn system I've heard that I could live with was Speedy Steve's multi-way effort. But if that was retail it would cost hundreds of thousands I suspect. All the others are okay with acoustic/simple music but not with rock music.

You don't tend to see horn speakers in recording studios so that is possibly why.

The problem Martin is that horn systems need huge bass horns to get anywhere close to being full frequency, and the size precludes them from most domestic spaces...think Western Eelectric 15 or 16A or larger. The really large ones that I've heard do things so differently though to conventional speakers that I can see their attraction. The music just appears to be there, and the dynamic swings and immediacy have to be experienced with these ultra high sensitivity designs. Trouble is they were never designed or meant to be for domestic spaces, most of the so-called high end horn systems today using active bass crossed over to passive mid/hf and that is something really hard to get right. The Cessaros I thought did a good job but again, I didn't experience them with bass heavy thump-thump music and guess that those wealthy enough to buy them aren't into electronica or dubstep!

[User211]

I'm not sure you need huge bass to hear the issue I have with the Liszt.

The horn is up high and I found it really easy to detect obvious differences in sound by moving around a bit. I also became quite acutely aware of mid to high band sounds emanating from quite a height, even though I was sat way back.

Bear in mind I am used to a speaker that emanates bass/mid and treble from the same height. So maybe that makes me more sensitive to it than usual. The sound varies with my speakers as you move too, as it does with most, but I felt the Liszt to be more uneven that most in this regard. But even in a good listening spot with the Liszt, I can hear a difference in the way the sound is dispersed by the horn over the LF section.

Not saying I have brilliant hearing, but I know it would and did annoy me a bit.

Everything has flaws. Liszt is not the kind of flaw I'd want to dump multi-tens of thousands on. Others might feel differently. I also know one other person well who thought the same about the Liszt, so I am not alone.