From an interview with Edgarhorn engineer Dr. Bruce Edgar:

Bruce: Yes, though there were some people at the show who didn't like
the direct radiator subwoofer. I don't blame them, but they just
totally turned off. I've had a number of people listen to the system
and tell me, "I have been through four or five different speaker
systems," and start listing the expensive speaker systems they've had.
With each one, they finally just had to give up and sell it, and go on
to the next. Then they heard one of my horn systems and said, "This is
the only system that I can listen to." Another interesting thing that
I hear from customers is that when they get my speaker system
installed, they have to go back and listen to their whole CD or record
collection because all their favorite source material now doesn't sound
very good, and the material that was unlistenable before now sounds
pretty good. My explanation is that the unlistenable records had a
wide dynamic range, and the original speaker system couldn't handle
it. Now that you have all the dynamic range that you 'd want,
suddenly the record that was breaking up your older speaker system
sounds live, and the records that you liked before sound very
compressed. I have to go through many CDs and records to find good
material to play on my system, because if the material is compressed
it will sound lifeless.


One of the other interesting experiences is to hear various pieces of
electronic gear through the horn system. Before the single-ended
amplifier revolution I was using solid state gear-Bill Chater's
MOSFET amplifier. When Joe Roberts started publishing Sound Practices
and advocating single-ended amplifiers, I asked him if he knew anybody
that had single-ended amplifiers in California. Well, he gave me a
couple of names, and I had one guy bring over his home-built
amplifier. At first it sounded pretty good, but then I started hearing
a certain amount of muddiness. I thought something was wrong with my
speakers, so I finally dragged out my old MOSFET amplifier, plugged it
in, and everything sounded good again. My experience is that horns are
a double-edged sword. They are very, very sensitive, and it doesn't
take a whole lot of amplifier power to get good sound out of them, but
that watt or so of energy needs to be extremely clean because if
there's any distortion in your electronics chain, it will show up. I
think one of the reasons that horn speakers have gotten a bad rap is
that the electronics associated with them were not all that great.
Sure, they had problems with response peaks, but I think the
electronics were also part of it. As the single-ended amplifiers have
improved, my horns have sounded better.


Dave: How did you connect with Electra-Print?


Bruce: I've had a very good working relationship with Cy Brenneman and
Jack Elliano at Electra-Print. One day about two years ago, they called
me and said, "We've heard all about your horn system and we've got an
amplifier we want to try." It was a mono push-pull amplifier. It
sounded very good on the horns. When the opportunity came up for the
'95 CES, I asked them to supply an amplifier for my horn system. Since
the Vaic people were sponsoring a room, they modified their newly
developed 300B amplifier for the Vaic tube, and it sounded pretty
good. We worked between the '95 CES and the '95 Stereophile show to
correct the problems that had shown up at the January show. Everything
came right together right before the show, and we were all positively
amazed at how much better the amps and speakers sounded. People at the
show said, "It sounds great, it must be those horns," and I said, "No,
it's the horns and the tube amplifiers." The Vaic tube is one of the
cleanest tubes I've ever heard, better than any 300B. I am at the
point now where I can pick out the distortion in a 300B amplifier
because I've heard the difference.


Dave: And in fact, we're sitting here now looking at a prototype of an
Electra-Print preamp, which I would guess we'll be seeing at that show?


Bruce: Yes. One of the nice things about the cooperation between us is
that for every improvement that the amplifier people do, it shows up
immediately on my speakers, and that allows me also to listen more
closely to my speakers and identify things that I can improve. It's a
very synergistic relationship.