Anybody heard Aspara HL horns?

[Colin]

Other horn speakers were not serious contenders. No names please. Some horn loudspeakers have followings I simply cannot comprehend (e.g. Avantgarde). I have heard some others sound good but only with more power than advertised (e.g. Acapella). None of this is by way of criticism. All speakers have issues; and I found myself ever more picky about speakers since it was the last piece in the puzzle. A mistake could undermine my entire plan. And a less than perfect speaker match would leave me in roughly the same place I had been for the bulk of my audiophile life: so close I can touch it, but just far enough away to feel that the quest would prove hopeless.

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/superioraudio/equipment/0409/aspara_hl_reference.htm

The Aspara HL Reference is a large two-way horn loudspeaker; it would create an aesthetic challenge in most listening environments. The speakers checks in at just under 57 inches tall and 21 inches wide. The woofer section is nearly 32 inches deep and the free standing tweeter horn is roughly 21 inches deep. The speaker is solidly constructed using hardwoods and a range of finishing veneers is available. The speakers I had in for review were finished in a light wood whose tonal color was somewhere between birch and bamboo. Each speaker weighs in at nearly 200 lbs. The 12-inch woofer is sourced from Fane Acoustics. The bass horn is constructed of 18mm birch ply suitably braced, to which is added 6mm of MDF panels. The veneer finishes are then glued to the MDF panels. The horn mouth is four square feet situated at the bottom of the speaker firing at the floor. The speaker sits on four wooden legs creating the necessary space between the mouth of the bass horn and the floor. The high frequency driver is a 2-inch titanium compression driver also sourced from Fane. The crossover feeding this is unusual in that it boosts the extreme top via a bye pass network. The driver feeds a radial horn that is molded from glass-reinforced plastic. The high frequency driver is more sensitive than the bass driver and the overall sensitivity of the speaker is 100dB/W/m.

...

In my listening, this feature of the Aspara had three consequences that detracted from the otherwise exceptional performance of the loudspeaker. First, relative to the compression driver midrange/tweeter, dynamics are marginally suppressed. Second, the lower frequencies are not quite as transparent or immediate as are the midrange and upper frequencies. Third, the bass is not quite as well pitch defined as is the rest of the speaker. There is no problem of integration between woofer and tweeter. In this regard, the HL Reference is a major improvement over the H-2. But there is a difference in character between the woofer and tweeter that is small but noticeable: differences in dynamics, pitch accuracy and transparency. These are minor issues that do not detract in any way from the overall success. In every way the HL Reference is a world-class speaker. Like every speaker it has its imperfections. It opened my eyes as well as my ears. Find a pair and listen to it; I am betting it will open yours.

[Cut-Throat]

At over $20 Grand a pair, it better Be !!

[ZAKO]

HO HUM !!!!! Another horn breakthrough..

[Bill H.]

Nice review. I am glad you liked them. It is nice to hear different Brands of Speakers !.......................it does open your Eyes and Ears.

I was surprised ..................a speaker that makes the Pallidium seem Budget friendy with WAF...................

[huck finn]

I have a pair of Aspara HL horns.

My Turntable is a Raven two with 2 arms one arm sporting Decca jubilee on a Ortofon 12" and the other is a custom Zu 102 Denon mono on a Jelco.

My Phono stage is a (ss) JLTi or (tube) PURE SOUND plugged into the LEBEN 660 amp bypassing the pre with Walmart DYI outdoor extension cords aka speaker cables hoping for the most direct and shortest path into "Rosy the robots" sensitive cousin "woody" Aspera HL.

these look like wooden robots they are huge blond wooden boxes with big horns on top -the kind of thing we can only buy between girlfriends and you're daughter is away at collage.

But i love the way they look and fit next to my mid century Gibbons blond hutch the TT and amp sit on.

i live in the middle of Manhattan and during a week day the current is so bad that i don't even bother to play records.(forget about conditioners)

but on weekends or later at night it can be amazing.

these speakers are strange as noted above that when you are up close or pick them apart you wonder "what is going on" but step away it fulfills the promise.

what separates these (for me) for example from the big Wilson's a friend has is like what separates a giant photo from a giant painting such as... lets say Monet water lillys, where up close you cant see anything but smudges but step back and it is not only beautiful but emotional and realistic in a way a photo could never be but the photo looks better close and doesn't change when you back off from it..

one hundred years after monet painted it this aspect is still disconcerting to some. its counter intuitive .the sound stage being so distinctively farther way works better somehow.(the wilsons sound good up close and back.)

also there is no place to hide for bad records, dirty or beat up or poor pressing or down stream editions or just poor engineering or these new digital remasters,you can hear it all. so i quickly started separating first team records from the 2nd and so on when i got these speakers. and forget about most mainstream rock that we grew up they sound filtered or distant even in mono these records sound bad compared to a small pressing of some one like jimmy reed and i quickly learned to appreciate how well a JJ Cale record is engineered .but put on original mono "lush life" Coltrain= end of story - his horn though these horns? is most live sound i have ever wittiness from recorded music.

same goes for components, these speakers are not going enable something on the blink or something inferior .(i have room for improvement there.)

Ok i tend to like heavy and these Aspara's are like what i drive- a Chevy diesel pick up with the most torque of any pedestrian car on the road ever ,there for with the raven turntable that weighs 50 pounds and that is as sure as the atomic clock and super touchy decca jubilee under the right conditions with a crisp record running through a good Leben Japanese push pull tube amp into short homemade ugly white speaker cables that are like open windows give these 200 pound apiece speakers the sound of actual music that happens with no since of a container.

they get out of the way.