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Time to listen some music tonight ...starting with Roy Buchanan and his wonderful album " You´re not alone " from 1978 Polydor Label

We had a great spring week, averaging 68 F and 12 hours of sunshine daily, wonderful. I use these days to go to Holland for a few hours every day. To Venlo , a nearby Dutch border town. Venlo is a Dutch city and municipality in the province of Limburg. As of January 1, 2022, the municipality had 102,128 inhabitants. The river Maas flows through Venlo. The city is about 1 hour drive away. Many groceries are cheaper here and also especially fresh, so I like to shop here. Especially fresh here is the fish and of course all the delicious cheeses. The Dutch are a totally laid back lovely people, I love spending time there. Some impressions ...... Of course, because it is legal in the Netherlands, I occasionally visit a Dutch coffeeshop. Looks like that " Snoop Doggy Dog " was here as well

Last one for tonight:

a real great Jazz Funkrock Record....Jeff Becks´s " Wired " 1976 CBS Records

Bought from a member in the DUAL Forum. Gently used: I only ever knew "Keiyleigh" from the radio, looks like i´ll like the rest of the album too. Is it just me or does the singer sound like Peter Gabriel sometimes?

Well, I could buy from the Australian distributor if I had a lazy NZ$36,000.00 hanging around, but unfortunately my lotto ticket didn't come through this week. I did consider building a pair, but all the timber, CNC cut works out around NZ$2,000.00, then all the electronic bits and pieces, not to mention staining and varnishing, and the speaker covers, and quickly gets to NZ$10,000.00 for a professionally finished pair of Speakerlab Khorn copies. Plus all my time and effort. That was the dilemma I was faced with. So I have trawled eBay and after 9 months have finally managed to negotiate an acceptable deal for a pair of La Scalas. Landed and tax paid (twice!) they will cost around $6,000.00, plus the Crites A crossover kits which I should be able to assemble/fit myself.

Flipped through the records and had to put this on Well recorded in live format and voiced with so much feeling Artist - Amy Winehouse Title - At The BBC Album ID - https://www.discogs.com/release/5660869-Amy-Winehouse-At-The-BBC

Now now boys No talk of my horns are bigger than your horns We all know that it’s not the size that matters it’s the performance 🎭

Big wave riding is fun to watch. Fairly impressive how fast they have to go to catch the wave and also the speed of their ride. By the way, the music in the vid is from Erik Satie, a composer I listen to from time to time.

I had to interrupt my vinyl session because I received inquiries for cables again. So I have just sent several offers by email. Since then, my streamer runs with quiet jazz lounge background music....

That Kenwood amp is beautiful, and it probably sounds pleasing, but the new gear, like that Yamaha unit you mentioned, will have more detail and clarity. If you save up a few more euros, you could get a Yamaha model that’s higher in the range, and that would be even better. Years ago, I went from a mid-range 1977 Yamaha CR-1020 to a used bottom-of-the-range 1998 RX-V392, and the difference was surprising. I had to remove the 1980s Yamaha EQ-70 graphic equalizer from the system, because with the newer receiver, it was obvious that it put a “veil” over the sound. With the older receiver, you couldn’t tell that the EQ was in the signal chain. I took it out of that signal chain and instead used one channel of it to EQ the subwoofer, reducing some peaks and dips in its response. It was fine in that role, because our ears don’t hear low bass sounds with such accuracy and detail as we hear mid-range sounds. PWK was right about that. The next year I got a new 2005 RX-V750 (better again, quite clearly), and in 2016, a new RX-A2060 (Aventage Series, even better again). The lesson for me was that the engineers at Yamaha (plus Kenwood, Klipsch, and nearly every other audio gear company, presumably) have not been drinking coffee and making paper airplanes for the last forty years. They’ve been improving the gear, and it’s easy to hear how much more clear and accurate the new stuff is. In short, the new stuff sounds much more clear and has higher fidelity, and isn’t that what we’re all after, with our high-performance speakers and everything that goes with them? The old gear looks great in some cases, and may sound kind of good, but it’s a bit like watching a standard definition TV fed by a VCR. Okay, I should have just used that sentence at the start.

Very nice amp ! Get it if you can ...with 2 phonostages ! Make sure you´ll get him in good technical condition

By the way, I´ve been thinking about getting a pure stereo amp for some time now. My first choice was one of the recent mid-tier Yamahas. But now I my go the vintage way, seen a lot of nice rigs lately, for pairing with my Heresys and TT. I like this one a lot, Kenwood KA 8150:

NO WAY ...The Singer on this Album was " Fish " . He left the band ..... Read it ...... https://thomaszimmermusik.de/clutching-at-straws-das-ende-der-fish-aera-bei-marillion/

Many here will enjoy this list. Apologies for the avalanche of ads, however... https://whatculture.com/music/10-essential-1970s-progressive-rock-albums

Update, Ordered a 4x lighted magnifier on a stand and I had missed the overhang using the jig by a longshot on the initial setup. Corrected that with a big improvement in sound but still seemed it was lacking full soundstage. Played with VTF first and settled on 1.92g for now, 2.0g recommended. A little better. The big improvement came with VTA. The vm750 cart is 17.3mm tall with a tracking angle of 23⁰ not the usual 22⁰. The chart in manual says set VTA dail to "0" since that is the minimum cart height without modifications. Arm was still not level and still to high in back. Bass was very broad and open not tight and punchy like it should be so I added a 3mm thick leather mat on top of the stock rubber and wow, there's an orchestra under all that and all the instruments fell into their proper place with correct VTA. That's the warmth and soundstage the Shibata is known for. I had to work at the setup compared to my previous tables but the effort is definitely worth the reward. I have to say the Technics jig is pretty good. It sounds good. Can it be better? I'm about to start that endeavor and so begins the perpetual tweak, In Search of the Lost Chord.

This is a good question. They don't appear to ( I may be wrong). Quite amazing when you think of the billions (or trillions) of vibrations they produce over the years.

Pot meet kettle..

Rest In Peace

They were a lot better than most pop music. I liked a good bit of their stuff . I'll have to go back and look at that spooky stuff that just put out recently

Never been in surf remotely that big but I do have a lot of experience in the getting worked part .

Open baffles are amazing. My favorite speakers in the world are the Klipsch Heritage series and open baffles. They’re really amazing for jazz. I have many videos of them here.

You are a cheeky bugger mr @dirtmudd In Australia you would be known as a Larrikin ( look it up to find the meaning ) But that’s why I like you 🥰

I have experience with the Altec 604E. It was used (along with other speakers) at Wally Heider recording studio and Swanson sound services. The sound reminded me of Klipsch and JBL horny highs, but without quite as much very high frequency "air," "sizzle," "zing," etc., etc. I could live with any of the above. Here are some curves. The 604Es I knew were c. 1974 in large bass reflex enclosures. They were fine. As I remember, they were a bit warmer -- less steely -- than the Voice of the Theater A7, not as powerful sounding as a Klipschorn, or the big, old, studio monitors of the '70s like the JBL4350 (two 15" woofers, a low mid, high mid [horn], and super tweeter), or the Paragon, etc. With studio monitors, I found that getting used to what you used was the key. Engineers, producers, musicians, students, intimate partners, etc. would take first generation copies home, or over to the friend's house with the good sound system, and think, "that needs a little more/less treble/bass/midrange," etc. and gradually get a sense of how the balance, transparency, etc. of the monitors that lived at the studio with which they were familiar compared to the speakers "out there." Of the readily available speakers out there, for music in general, not necessarily strings, I'd guess that the Klipsch Jubilee might be the best (haven't heard it yet), then the Klipschorn (have lived with them happily for the past 45 years, and put in two factory upgrades), then the Klipsch La Scala AL5 (definitely needs a subwoofer below 60 Hz, IMHO), then the Altec 604- 8H-111 (haven't heard it), then the 604E, both in large, ported enclosures. The Klipsch Forte III might be a contender (haven't heard it). In the good old days, you might be able to walk into a store and hear the models of each of these current in that time, sitting there side by side. Around 1980, Pro Audio (Oakland), Christopher's Audio (Berkeley), Berkeley Custom Electronics and you might have run into Paul Klipsch, Joe Minor (engineer and owner of Berkeley Custom) and Arthur Fiedler, conductor of the Boston Pops -- who knows? But that was then.

I can't get over those undersized guards on that team. Lotta heart though I guess.

That's actually a cool show.

Saint Peters!!! They don't want to go home! A 15 seed in the Elite 8? First time ever.

That is a beautiful piece of music

At least MY horns are up and running! What are you doing with the 4 sets of Klipsch that you own? NADDA! Comn up to post 666, care to make a comment, Mike?

go blow your horns somewhere else!

I have to have a deeper look for this Record , as I like her so much ! Thanx , new for me !

You will have greater flexibility in positioning the La Scala’s And if you require more bass you can add an active subwoofer Also have a look at my crossover build as I have spent a great amount of time perfecting them

Bob Crites tested both and published curves.

Plasma Tweeter from Lansche Audio . economics aside of course -

As much as I like flea watt amps, I could not resist adding this Cary to the fold: 60 watts triode or 120 watts ultralinear. I am glad I replaced the HVAC in that room last week. 😀

Right now, the tables are synced up, listening test in progress👍

This will probably be a slow moving project, but I will provide updates. I removed the corners trim, the handles and started the paint removal. If I was just restoring them, would have patched, sanded and painted them but, the veneer and glue to be used on this requires bare wood and moving the braces out of the way. So far, one cabinet got the chemical paint stripper. The other was subject to the belt sander. The thick black paint will require both methods of removal for a good prep. On the remaining surfaces, strip first then sanding.

Gail Ann Dorsey who played bass for Bowie was no slouch either.

When I was a young man I spent a couple years as a painter - not the artist type. I learned from the best and we did mainly commercial but also a lot of real high end homes. We did a job for a couple who lived on Amherst Island in lake Ontario off from Kingston. A beautiful home over 200 years old made from lake stone - it had been an officers residence back in the day for the British navy before Canada was independent. It had been part of a naval base used against the Americans during the war of 1812. They were very wealthy and hospitable and spent quite a bit of time discussing the history of the home and island. He was a big wig retired engineer for Ontario Hydro. He met PWK at an engineering convention in the states way back, bought a Khorn ( back in the mono days), and then built a second when stereo became a thing.They also fed us extremely well and weren't shy with beverages at the end of the day. I spotted the Khorns early in the job. The old boy was impressed I knew what they were and had us sipping pints and having listening sessions every evening. They literally shook the place. They would have been from the early 60s. He gave me an old post card sort of thing that had a cut away diagram of the Klispch horn. He had a bunch of them.

Shes a keeper for sure.

Great thread. I have been using some very modest chef knifes that I keep as sharp as possible. I also have a very heavy and very sharp Chinese cleaver which is perfect for certain uses. I'm definitely in the market for a good quality chef's knife and a proper carving set. I've never owned one and have been carving with the chef knife which isn't ideal.

Deang, Thanks for those. Generally it seems to me they follow the AES article. Could you tell us a bit about your testing conditions and microphone placement. LMS has a gated function you might have used. I'm not sure that the AES article describes the conditions. I'd think that the anechoic chamber at Hope is only valid down to 200 Hz or so. JBL and NASA probably have larger ones. Of course the issue is to establish some "valid" or agreed to condition to test bass horns. There may be an outdoors trihedal corner at Hope. But then no room effects. If in a room, which room? Smile. Microphone placement is another issue. I've seen some suggestions of putting it close to the mouth (but where?). Maybe on the floor one, two, or three meters in front, or at some elevation. Your thoughts are very welcome. WMcD

Maybe Roy would accept the job of designing a resin form of a K-5. Its directional pattern is probably different than the K-400 and maybe better in some ways. I think PWK had a version of the metal throat to use larger format drivers. Using some modern manufacturing techniques a K-5 could be made and Roy's pledge to not alter Paul's original designs honored. WMcD