[NEW! hORNS Aria 2 horn loaded loudspeakers review on Hifi Knights]

Finally after lots of successful feedback that the Aria 1 loudspeakers collected worldwide, from both – happy customers and the reviewer’s boards,  we got a chance to get their bigger sister – Aria 2 on test. How it turned up at the end, just read through to find out. By Marek Dyba.

intro:

” … You may remember a review a bit extravagant in form and great-sounding Mummy (see HERE) model. It was actually my first review of this brand’s product. As you might have guessed, it only encouraged me to get to know other products from hORNS’ lineup. In fact, we’ve known each other with Łukasz Lewandowski, the head of hORNS, for quite a few years. His loudspeakers are usually used in, as I call it, the Polish room at the Munich High End Show, but you might have seen them also during the Audio Video Show presentations, in recent years often in more than one room … I have been a fan of horn loudspeakers for many years. First of all, I simply like the kind of performance such speakers usually deliver. Secondly, most of such designs are perfect partners for my favourite tube SETs. Since we have a manufacturer of such loudspeakers here in Poland, my interest in their products seems absolutely natural …  “

sound description:

“…  I used to seat various people in front of them and play some music (or let them play whatever they wanted). I can proudly say that most of them after such a session changed their opinion to at least some extend acknowledging that horn speakers can deliver a really good performance. This allows me to boldly claim that horn loudspeakers can perform remarkably well (and it’s not only my opinion), and that in some respects they can even outperform other types of speakers (which in turn have their advantages in other aspects of the sound). The Aria II turned out to be another perfect example of a very good horn-based performer … And yet, although it was a bit amplifier-depended, it was the bass (particularly with Shinai) and the treble (especially with Ayon) that made the biggest first impression on me. And, which is extremely important (at least for me), the former was achieved without this ugly „boomy” effect that seems to be almost an intrinsic feature of the b-r designs, and the latter did not display any signs of aggressiveness or harshness. The former feature often repels me from relatively inexpensive b-r vented speakers, the latter is often described by their opponents as a common flaw of horn speakers …  it was also clear that hORNS have one of qualities shared by many horn loudspeakers – the foreground seemed to be extremely close and tangible, which translated into an impression of extremely direct or intimate contact with music and musicians. This was particularly obvious when I played some live recordings …  “

summary:

” … if something is able to catch my attention, it always confirms its class during a review. It is no different with the hORNS Aria II loudspeakers that wowed me during AVS and confirmed that impression during weeks I spent with them in my room. You may agree with me or not, but I think that hORNS’ products offer amazing value in terms of make&finish and above all performance, for their price. The tested model is by no means an exception. The Aria II offer several sonic qualities  characteristic for horn speakers, such as directness of the presentation, they are very fast, they build large phantom images that are exceptionally present in a room, they are able to nicely recreate an ambience and vibe of many high quality recordings. At the same time, this particular model also manages to avoid coloration of the sound that is often associated with horn speakers … “

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