Horns were around in the earliest days of audio. The later invention of ‘Talkie’ sound motion pictures saw the installation of many large horn systems in cinemas making the best of the very low powered amplifiers then available.

Attempts were made to reduce these systems to domestic proportions. The most well known being the Klipshorn - which made use of a folded bass horn and room corner positioning. In England, Paul Voigt’s Tractrix horns gave many people their first taste of real Hi-Fi, after the second world war. In fact most ‘top end’ favourite loudspeakers of the 1950’s featured some form of horn loading, including Quad’s Corner Ribbon loudspeaker. But the 1960’s with stereo (needing two speakers) and smaller listening rooms becoming the norm, horns largely vanished from the scene. Even so, the remarkable clarity and dynamics possible with horn speakers spurred many enthusiasts to continue to construct large horn systems.

Brian Taylor of Aspara has been experimenting with horns since the 1970’s and this research led to the Impulse horn loudspeaker range. These were relatively compact compared to earlier horn designs and also low in colouration. More recent research has produced the Aspara horns which are significantly more sensitive than the earlier Impulse designs and are therefore ideal for use with the very high quality, but low powered amplifiers now available.