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Best sounding "Horn Speakers" in the planet.


RAPTORMAN

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Ah, yes, MH, I spent many happy years in France...

But, your post reminds me of small town Texas mayor, Homer Pfeil (of German ancestry), who would tell new people he met, "My name is Pfeil, pronounced FILE... the "P" is silent as in 'swimming'!"

And now back to pooling our "maximo" horn thoughts. -HornEd

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Right you are, Sunnysal! I was so intrigued with the design... including the curve of the front panel which supposedly radiated the stereo sounds in a way that increasingly blended the two channels for a better sound stage. A great try... and not cheap as I recall.

A business mentor of mine, the late Ray Monson, bought one. He also bought the first TV in our neighborhood... so long ago in San Francisco... one channel... and a couple of dozen adults in Ray's living room marveling at "Howdy Doody" on a seven foot console and a five inch black and white screen! Sadly, the Paragon didn't measure up to my early monaural Klipschorn acquired from a North Beach audiophile Beatnik down on his luck.

Hmmm, Colin welcomed me back to the Forum on another thread as an Old Hippie... little does he know that my rebellious nature was nurtured in the coffee houses of North Beach long before the Hippies found Haight-Ashbury...

Meanwhile, has anyone every heard this Italian macho-twin subwoofer horn? Check out the update at: http://www.royaldevice.com/custom.htm

-HornEd 10.gif

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I met a guy who got a Paragon for FREE when the Playboy Mansion was being sold in Chicago right as Hugh Hefner was relocating to Los Angeles in the 70's. It was sitting outside in the backyard and he was able to haul away the Paragon and a bunch of Marantz tube gear--I don't remember what, but it was good stuff.

Anyway, a nice, factory built (there were some homemade Paragons too) Paragon is worth about twenty grand.

I have always wanted one. Never heard one--just think they're b!thchin'! Even if it wasn't the bees knees it would find a home in a second system I am SURE!

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Not only did I go, but it was in such a coffee house that I read from my first poetry collection ("The Null & the Void"... a heady concept for me in those early years) as progressive jazz laid a far out background. Interestingly enough, Eric Nord, who was the true leader of the Beat Generation, used to be a member of the resort I now own in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Los Gatos, CA.

Eric and the faithful core of the Beat Generation headed out for the tall timber once "Beat" became popular... leaving Jack and the pretenders to make of it what they might. It sure was a lot different in person than in the storybooks! Eric and a few of his ilk were classic free spirits... Jack and the rest took money and smoked spirits.

Eric was the originator of the "hungry i"... he had the concept down right but he wasn't the businessman Enrico Banducci was. It was Banducci that catapulted the "i" to popularity that brought fame to many of that generation's controversial comics... and to such groups as the "Kingston Trio"... which started on the Stanford campus, about 45 minutes from my mountain retreat. A much more received group by sincere Beats was "The Limelighters" an irreverent group of graduate students from Cal who all had other careers postponed by their musical success... except for the lead singer, Glen Yarborough.

When Eric left... the commercial rendition of the Beat Generation changed what might have been... and I became a division manager of a San Francisco land development corporation. But through it all, the free-spirit born in Beat Generation coffee houses long ago... continues to sustain the joy of living... and the joy of Klipsch! -HornEd

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ENRICO BANDUCCI!

When I was an undergraduate at Cal in the 70's I used to play golf as much as I could--Tilden Park, Lake Chabot, Alameda, Lincoln Park, Harding, Pacifica. Anyway, one day I walked on at Harding and joined a threesome--one of the guys was Enrico Banducci who took a real liking to me (I really helped him with a couple of tips that morning) and ended up taking my phone number. He called me the next week and invited me to play "his" course which turned out to be The Olympic Club!! He was SUCH a gracious man--really old world charm. I must have played golf with him 25 times over a three year period and eventually he invited me to become a MEMBER at Olympic!! At the time it was a cool $125,000 to join and I was DEAD BROKE.

I really liked that old Italian guy!! Haven't thought about him in YEARS! Thanks, Ed!!

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Alan, it's so good to hear someone else remember Enrico. My father used to caddy at the Olympic Club. My great grandfather was its middleweight boxing champion for many years. And its head chef is an old culinary friend. I was born in San Francisco (St. Luke's) and raised in Daly City (the foggiest place on the West Coast... the actual venue of the Olympic Club.

I used to caddy for my dad (a politician who was quite welcome at just about any course in the Bay Area) at Harding Park... where I learned what a grouch Ken Venturi can be! My dad also played with Enrico, who knows, you could have met him. He was a southpaw and was always a hacker no matter how much he spent on his clubs! Between caddying for him and being blind in one eye, golf just never became my game.

Anyway, Alan, thanks for the memory. Just thinking about those early days of poetry, coffee and jazz brings so much joy to my heart. On Sundays in the summer, I bring live acts for concerts on the lawn. Last week it was Alex Lipadus and his "Tasting Room" quintet. His roots are in Brazilian Jazz and fusion with other jazz forms.

With all the emphasis on music and movie playback, it's nice to have a little live music in our lives for Saturday night dances and Sunday concerts. Of course, our PA is pure Pro from Shure 57s and 58s to EAW speakers and QAS monitors. This Sunday it's the Blues... on the Old Oak Stage. 10.gif

Well, enough of this fun, it's time to get back to work! -HornEd 3.gif

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I always thought Rexroth a rather fine poet.

Confusion

I pass your home in a slow vermilion dawn,

The blinds are drawn, and the windows are open.

The soft breeze from the lake

Is like your breath upon my cheek.

All day long I walk in the intermittent rainfall.

I pick a vermilion tulip in the deserted park,

Bright raindrops cling to its petals.

At five o'clock it is a lonely color in the city.

I pass your home in a rainy evening,

I can see you faintly, moving between lighted walls.

Late at night I sit before a white sheet of paper,

Until a fallen vermilion petal quivers before me.

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----------------

On 8/16/2005 10:00:10 PM RAPTORMAN wrote:

So, what do guys think is the best sounding "Horn Speakers"--Past and present. You can include DIY ones.

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To me, one of the best horn loaded speakers I've had (and heard) is definitively the Lamhorns 1.8. While they don't have the bass of my ex-khorns and my acual Cornwalls, they have this midrange that leaves the Klipsch (CW and Khorns) in their starting blocks. Above 100 Hz, they're just perfect. Below... well, they're OK until 50 Hz. Below that... Not much. A fast sub is required for playing bass heavy material. The Lamhorns are quite finicky about room interaction too. Less than the khorns but much more than the Cornwalls.

lamhorn_single.jpg

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I've seen this Lamhorn before, kinda reminds me of a Lowther Medalliion. I wonder if it's sonics are close to the Medallions. I have not heard any of them. I've heard that the medallions are so so in bass as well.1.gif Well my interest are big horn speakers. I don't know, I just have this thing about large horn speakers. That's why when I saw the Khorns3.gif I said-- I gotta get myself a pair of those3.gif3.gif . Now my interest is into the Edgarhorn Titans. We'll see how this would turn out. The thing is I usually get what I want.2.gif2.gif

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Hi Sunnysal , Thanx for the Paragon picture . As a kid I was allways intrigued by the design . Someone on this thread said that an original one could go for 20 grand . Wasn't this piece $4500.00 new back in the 70's ? If so it would have been a great investment . Again thanx for the photo . 10.gif

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