Music wrote:

Hello Horn Lovers,
Please don't tell me the pro's & con's of Klipschorns, we all have opinions on that issue. What I want to know is, if you owned them, what did you buy after you were no longer able to keep them for whatever reason. Everyone has features they look/listen for in a loudspeaker, for me it's "dynamic range", that's what's most important to me with the type of music I listen to. The Klipschorn and some Altecs I had were the most dynamic speakers I ever owned. Life goes on, and circumstances change. I had my Klipschorns for 17 years, then I retired, sold the house and bought a condo. So when I no longer had a room that the Klipschorns would work in, I looked for something to take their place. 90% of what I listen to is orchestral music, so I still wanted something with great dynamic range. I bought a pair of Athena S.5's for a second room system, but when I set them on top of the Klipschorns for a comparison, I was amazed at how similar they were voiced, of course they didn't have the bottom end of the Klipsch, but they sounded similar in every other aspect. I figured if these sounded that good, maybe I'll try the floorstanders. The Athena AS-F2's were overload for my room, but the AS-F1's sound almost as dynamic as my Klipsch did and are a better fit. I haven't looked at every single test result for every speaker, but I've only come across a couple with more dynamic range than these Athenas, but for a whole lot more money than these cost. So tell me.... what did you replace yours with?

I replaced my Klipschorns with Wharfedale W70D speakers in the late 1960s, for similar reasons. They weren't great speakers, but they were fairly good and not terribly expensive.

I have been through many speakers since then, but the ones I have now are so good that I doubt that I will ever want to change again.

I have the Vandersteen Treos, and they are excellent in every respect. I DO have a NHT B12D subwoofer that I turn on for certain recordings that have ultra-low organ pedal notes or massive kettledrums, but the bass of the Treos is pretty good and quite adequate for most listening.

They do require an amp with at least 150 watts per channel. I use the Musical Fidelity M6PRX, which puts out around 300 Watts per channel at 4 ohms, and the sound is wonderful. I think Musical Fidelity makes some of the best-sounding amplifiers available.