Horn speakers have characteristics which make them excellent for certain applications. They are ideally suited for sound reinforcement systems because they can be designed for constant directivity. This maximizes gain before feedback and allows multiple arrays to cover large areas in public spaces with the best possible uniformity. They are very efficient and can be designed to handle lots of power with enormous undistorted output. This also makes them valuable for use in public spaces. It is probably safe to say that most if not all large venues have horn speakers installed for sound reinforcement.

However, they have definite drawbacks as home high fidelity speaker system. To get satisfactory bass from them they must be very large to enormous. In most people's homes in the United States, that means that a pair of them would dominate even a large room and are completely impractical for an average to small room. They generally do not reproduce the lowest octave of bass unless they use the best drivers and are well executed folded designs. Furthermore, large horn speaker cabinets are heavy and expensive. One of my all time favorite systems, the JBL Paragon weighs 850 pounds. Even in my very large house (by American standards anyway) if I owned a pair, they would have to go in the basement. Therefore, for most people, they are not practical. Worse yet is that horn tweeters simply can't compete with other designs such as domes when it comes to dispersion, a critical factor in high frequency performance IMO. If you look at a photo of the Paragon, you will see a curved surface in the front deliberately calculated as a reflector to improve lateral dispersion of mid and high fequencies.

If you are not restricted to very high efficiency loudspeakers because of amplifier power limitations, then IMO, for high fidelity in the home, there are much better choices. Of course, if you like the sound of horn speakers, well that's your business.

I argue with RGA because he parrots back rediculous blanket statements from someone manufacturing and selling a particular product who would have you believe that he alone has the corner on the market for high quality audio equipment and can therefore charge whatever he feels like. It doesn't bother me to challenge him about this at all. If it bothers you or anyone else, I urge you not to read my postings on the subject.