D-MAN

W-T-F?!!!

IMO: Yamaha, by all means. Pioneer has quality control problems, I wouldn't go there. Denon is alright but not as good as the Yamaha. I own Denon 6-channel. I've owned Pioneer Elite which I regretted. If I were buying new, Yamaha, hands down.

I've hauled Khorns to every place I've ever lived ('cept one) and NONE of those spaces were "good" for the horns. I may NEVER live in a place that is "good" for the horns. The question really boils down to this: Can I live without them? Answer: NO. 'Nuff said. DM

You will easily find a balance. It will only take once. I set my Mac preamp vol to about 11 O'clock and select the input switch to the Denon. I then use the Denon volume control for the entire system. You can adjust the main volume(s) like all of the other channels. It really isn't a problem. DM

Nobody in their right mind should stop upgrading because of a couple of puny show tunes. ESPECIALLY SHOW TUNES. DM

I run my 2-channel McIntosh gear from the main pre-outs on my Denon 6-channel. The mains are 300 watts per channel vs. the Denons 90 watts per channel. Two volume controls. Not too tough. DM

Ok, dude. Time to officially update your equipment list. DM

I remember drooling on those back in the late 70's when I was a punk in high school and couldn't afford them (of course)! The pair I saw was part of a bi-amp rig. Very nice. Bet they heat up the house nicely! Congrats, DM

Sort of off the subject, but another McIntosh preamp tale: I've got a McIntosh C40 preamp and I did a test by bypassing it, running my cd player directly into the output MC300 amp, which has gain pots on the input channels that I could use to control the volume. Then I A/B'd the C40 with the same cd, etc. I expected to be able to tell a difference hand down, but the bottom line was this: The volume knob on the C40 was more convienient to use. THATS IT! the difference in sound quality was not enough to dissuade me from including the preamp in the circuit. It ain't being lazy, it's just too close to make a change, even to a passive volume control... I previously had an Audio Research preamp that had a "direct" input on it. Not even close to the C40. The C40 is hands down the best preamp I've ever owned. DM

It usually involves a switch that cuts one or more grids out of the circuit of an operating pentode circuit, thus making the pentode tube act like it only has 3 elements in the circuit, like a badly designed triode tube. Since the feedback is no longer being sent to the tube to an active grid element, the tube now operates less efficiently, which either 1) reduces the frequency response, 2) reduces the output wattage, 3) both. Sort of a "poor-mans triode" amp. Not the real thing at all. I recommend running the pentode as a pentode rather than cutting off its you-know-whats... DM

Good one! Damping the woofer basket of a K33 in a Khorn is probably the most anal bit of tweaking that I have ever heard of... but I am not saying that I am against doing it! I haven't heard a dampened one vs. an undampened one, so I have nothing to judge by, but facts won't stop me from having an opinion anyway. Whereas the build quality of the modern K33E is far less than I would really like, they do have a particular quality in the sound that they produce that I cannot find in other drivers I have tried... I cannot really describe it, but as close as I can get would be a "natural transparency" to the sound. For my part, I think that there are other area's more deserving of tweaking that would give far more "return" for the effort expended... but don't let my opinion "dampen" your enthusiasm! DM

No, in this case, it doesn't matter. The resistor can be on either side of a non-directional cap as the circuit alternates in polarity, the cap discharges only in one phase. The signal phase (+ or -) chosen for discharge is unimportant as they are equal. DM

Dougdrake is right. Do not attempt to bridge monoblocks amps together unless they are specifically intended and designed to be by the manufacturer. DM

Wow, 2 full pages and everybody is still civil! I have been called names before in threads on this subject. But I gotta hand to you guys, nicely done, and things learned. DM

They will fit, remove them from the boxes (if any), turn the bass bins on their sides, use two people, and move one end at a time through the door jam. I have never heard of anyone having a problem with this, even through a bedroom size door and around several corners, etc. Haven't you ever seen a Klipschorn bass bin in person? They are tall and wide but fairly thin (19 inches) due to the triangular shape. However, they are quite bulky and heavy and will take 2 people to move safely. You may need ample refreshments after moving them, during setting them up, and definately while listening to them. Go for it and enjoy! DM

There are 3 possible causes that I can think of that may put some light on this: 1) overdriven (you) 2) amp channel is bad (amp) 3) quality of driver in question (them) including "over-rating" or improperly spec'd Assuming that the speaker is rated at well under the wattage being used, woofers typically handle the most wattage in an speaker array. The crossover has ONLY to do with a woofers high frequency rolloff in matching it to the midrange crossover point, i.e., without a crossover, the woofer will rolloff naturally at its high frequency limit even with no crossover as it simply cannot physically move fast enough to reproduce higher frequencies; the physics involved will not burn out a woofer as higher frequencies take less wattage, and so forth. If the crossover had a direct short in it, the speaker would not make any noise at all and the amp channel would probably fry; if it was open, again no noise, but the amp channel would be unaffected. The fact that you can still hear noise out of it is indicative that the crossover is more or less intact. So I would doubt the crossover as having anything to do with a woofer frying or becoming otherwise "stuck". Remember, we are only talking about the woofer here... You reported the first time as being "frozen". This can be from either a voicecoil frying to the magnet structure (from exceeding the wattage capability of the driver) or from a physical cone/capstan alignment failure. The report of distortion indicates excessive excursion (in my estimation) or a mis-alignment of the capstan/spider/cone elements. There may be rubbing of the voice coil on the magnet structure, etc. This is indicative of (a) poor quality control, ( mislabeling causing one to believe that the wattage levels are safe when in reality they are not, or © excessive cone excursion do to overdriving. It doesn't matter that it is not being overdriven NOW, only that it occurred to a damaging point in the past causing mis-alignment. Not knowing the rated wattage capability of the driver in question, I would go for the excessive current theory, too much wattage. Only a physical examination of the problem driver would tell you where the problem really lies. On the other hand, it could be a problem with the quality control of the driver manufacturing itself. This includes the quality and type of glue employed, and the care in alignment and even the storage and shipping that the driver has been subjected to. Typically the manufacturer is not going to admit to the consumer that the speaker drivers may be inferior in any event, although they probably know due to other warranty repairs being made. In such a case, there is nothing that you can do except demand your money back and see what happens. Good luck, DM

Double post! I reek!

John Warren and Q-man, Thanks for the replies, I learned something new. Dantfmly, Voight came up with an expansion rate/horn mouth equation in the 30's that theorized that the waveform in a horn was basically circular, like a balloon expanding as it moved through the horn. The Tractrix horn is designed for this and results in a horn the expands more rapidly at the mouth than other horn designs. It is sort of like a trombone bell, etc. It results in a shorter length horn for the same frequency cutoff as compared to an exponential horn. The exponential horn expands in an exponential manner, its expansion rate is more gradual at the terminating mouth. This results in a longer horn for a given cutoff frequency than a comparitive tractrix horn. It should be noted that the tractrix has proven unsatisfactory for bass horns but has many proponents for midrange and upper frequency use. That's it in a nutshell, DM

John Warren and Q-man, Thanks for the replies, I learned something new. Dantfmly, Voight came up with an expansion rate/horn mouth equation in the 30's that theorized that the waveform in a horn was basically circular, like a balloon expanding as it moved through the horn. The Tractrix horn is designed for this and results in a horn the expands more rapidly at the mouth than other horn designs. It is sort of like a trombone bell, etc. It results in a shorter length horn for the same frequency cutoff as compared to an exponential horn. The exponential horn expands in an exponential manner, its expansion rate is more gradual at the terminating mouth. This results in a longer horn for a given cutoff frequency than a comparitive tractrix horn. It should be noted that the tractrix has proven unsatisfactory for bass horns but has many proponents for midrange and upper frequency use. That's it in a nutshell, DM

There is really no reason for a high quality tube amp to produce less bass than a SS amp. Flat frequency response does cost more in general with tubes than with SS gear especially when an output transformer is involved, so the manufacturer makes some choices concerning costs that reflect in the product, of course. The circuit design employed and the quality of components, etc., all would have a bearing on the performance, so I would hesitate to lump all tube amps into this category. Too many variables to take into account. I will say this, though, tube amps of a high quality tend to cost more than a SS amp of the same quality. Do they actually "sound" different? I would think that the better they are, the less distinguishable they get from each other. DM

Now that is a call that only you can make... My experience has been that the environment determines the amount of bass, whether "tight" or "boomy", etc. Simply moving furniture, etc., around the listening area can change the flavor of the whole thing. However, I am an tweaker at heart and my approach is that if it can be tweaked, it should be. And crossovers are always a good place to start. My recommendation would be to get a good handle on the environment first before you introduce another variable into the mix by making mods to the crossover. You will then theoretically be listening to the mods alone (or at least recognisably) and can more easily estimate the effect(s). I would go after the environment first with some experiments with moving furniture, wall and corner treatments, etc. To make the room listenable and nice looking at the same time can be an art in itself. Have fun, and tweak away! DM

If I understand the question, I think that the answer is yes. For clarity, I'll rephrase. In this example, we are assuming a midrange compression driver and that the crossover point is "adjusted" to match the lc of the horn and driver combination... If a horn is selected with an appropriate cutoff (that is the fc of the horn is equal or higher than the driver's lower range rolloff)within the "safe" operating range of the driver, the answer is yes a larger horn mouth can be employed and you will have a lower midrange response from the same driver (in as much as it is rated). Again, the driver in question must be capable of safely reproducing the respective frequency. I am also assuming that the horn throat is also the appropriate size for the driver. One should not exceed the driver's recommended low freq cutoff as the lower one goes in freq, the more wattage (and excursion) is required by the driver. This will blow the diaphram in most cases. DM

---------------- On 2/20/2004 9:28:21 PM John Warren wrote: >>That was not the point I was trying to make. ---------------- Hi John, Well, then please elaborate... Are you talking a single full-range driver, like a Lowther or Fostex, or such? I might have to agree with you in that case! But the tradeoff in bass frequency reproduction compared to a Klipschorn!? I can't decide!! ARGHHH!!! But seriously, all of the speaker designs exhibit tradeoffs in one aspect of reproduction or another, we all know that there is no one perfect speaker. What aspect about a direct radiator do you like best? Why do you think that it is the most appropriate for home use? DM

Paul, You've got a point there! Silly me! DM

Hi, John. Well, as you can see, I'm a horn fan. I've always been a horn fan, but I strayed from my youth, I listened to AR's, Electrostatics, KEF model 4's and the others, I owned reflex enclosures, I bought big wattage solid state amps, but I've finally heard the light, and returned like the prodigal son to the horns of my youth! With respect to horns, what about the inherent modulation distortion from a direct radiator, due to the extended excursion required in propogating low frequencies directly into the atmosphere? MD is definately reduced in a horn-type speaker due to the less excursion required to produce the same SPL... I will grudgingly admit that you have a important point: direct radiators are certainly more space efficient for the respective output! There can be no argument about that! DM