My personal experience came on a small scale some years ago; I had music playing outdoors at a small festival through some older JBL horn loaded cabinets (4560BKA) which are fully horn loaded for the woofer at 200Hz and above.

The old literature stated that 4560's were for use in listening distances of 80 feet and beyond. I walked down a street and up a hill where go-kart races were taking place, and was really suprised what kind of presence and volume these two simple cabinets had at about 450-500 feet distance. Much different than a non-horn box at any volume level. I listen to them in my workshop area and the response below 200hz suffers since the horn is only so long.

My 4560's never fail at outdoor parties to impress people, particularly when they realize I'm only running a watt or so average much of the time.........Lucking into these cabinets some years ago is what made me a (very) amateur JBL pro gear fan.

Now, give me reasonably near-field listening and I'm plenty happy with a non-horn woofer arrangement. I've hired a guy for years to do a smaller outdoor festival, 200 feet wide, 400 feet deep, 1000-2000 people, and he uses McCauley cabinets. Not as efficient, obviously, but they are fine.

Again, however, check out what Turbosound or JBL uses for the long-throw situations..........geez, am I wearing this out, or what?