Odeon Tosca Magnificent German horns

These Odeon Tosca are among the most musical and satisfying speakers I’ve ever listened to, providing effortless authenticity, fleet-footed nimbleness, and sweet seduction (which is not a euphemism for rolled-off top end—these speakers will let you hear every breath, every finger tip on a string, every nuance of the music in amazing detail). They are German horn-loaded speakers with a 1-inch compression tweet in a spherical horn and an 8-inch woofer in a horn that fires toward the floor, which helps even out the bass frequencies. The range is 31-20,000 Hz. They’re both sensitive and efficient, with 93db and a very flat 8-ohm load. I’ve been using them with an 845 SET, which provides real authority, and I have driven them very satisfactorily with 10 watts. The cabinets are built like tanks, with massive internal bracing. And the outer finish is a book-matched walnut burl that is spectacularly beautiful. The dimensions are 43” high by 9” wide by 16” deep at bottom, tapering to 12” at the top. And the boxed weight is 75 pounds apiece (with a third 20-pound box containing the bases).

Over the years I’ve had Magnepans, Acoustats, and several other major speaker models, but these Odeons are the ones I ended up staying with for the long term (In fact, I’m only selling them now because I’ve had a catastrophic hearing loss in my right ear and can no longer listen in stereo). I find that the Toscas give me all the advantages of a horn speaker—efficiency, speed, detail, and a live sound—without the cupped-hands sound, shoutiness, or other artifacts that people sometimes complain about with other horns. I often listened for eight hours at a stretch without any listener fatigue; I only wanted more.

The speakers are in excellent condition, with the only notable thing being a slight wrinkle in one of the dust caps on the woofers, which does not affect the sound in any way (you can see this in the photos). The speakers were originally $6,500, and I’m asking $2,400 for them. The buyer pays shipping, and I’ll split the PayPal fee with the buyer. I paid to have them professionally packed.