Ooh, yeah, Klipschorns and Ultravalves. Anybody want to send me donations for this experiment? C'mon, its Christmas !
Earl's speakers have all the dynamics of K-horns, but none of that typical horn sound. They're better than any other speakers I've heard, regardless of price. (The Salk speakers I heard weren't horrible, but they seemed to be overly polite and the highs were kind of tinkly. They definitely didn't even come close to the Orions, which were the best I had heard prior to hearing the GedLee Nathans.)
I like Jim and Dennis seems to be a really nice guy too. Jim is giving people pretty good value, based on what he puts into his speakers (in terms of material costs and effort). His cabinet work is excellent, although I can't say that I care for the shapes of some of his speakers (for instance, the HT1, HT3, and SoundScape all look awkward).
If I were looking for well-done mundane speakers (what Aczel called monkey coffins) that looked like fine furniture, I'd be calling Jim right away. However, I don't buy speakers to look at, I buy them to listen to.