"Horns are the opposite, they direct more energy to your ears before it
is dispersed into the room"

I have some doubts if this is indeed what is happening.

If you are positioned on direct axis from the emitting source the energy will just simply come directly to your ear - and reflections from walls, etc. will reach you later.

If you are off-axis by some 30-45 degrees - frequencies from a direct radiator will be reduced by some 40-50% (ballpark) - if a horn is used the reduction will be some 10-15% (ballpark) -- because the horn 'shape' has allowed the frequencies to be emitted from an angled surface - they will still obey the maximum energy at a 90 degree angle to the emitter - but the emitting surface will have moved away from the zero point because of the horn effect.

I believe it is this geometry working with the 90 degree principle that allows for the wider dispersion and is completely independent of sounds coming later from those waves that did not reach your ear directly.

That does NOT mean that the acoustics of the room and subsequent reflections and absorptions are not relevant to the quality of sound but the first and primary influence (assuming that the room acoustics are not TOTALLY horrific) is going to be a function of higher frequencies being emitted 'off-angle' thanks to a good horn.

[This message has been edited by John Padova (edited November 25, 2002).]