Krispy Kirk

I've heard a few different Magnepans over the past 30+ years and they always sounded...pleasant to my ears. It's easy to hear why electrostatic loudspeakers (ESLs) are so popular: they get phase correct and can image like a holodeck. But... If you are into rock, funk, fusion, metal, EDM, hip hop, or any kind of electronic heavily produced pop music, you will get bored with Magnepans pretty quick. You also might want to stock up on watts, those things are power-hungry. That said, the most amazingly awesome in-store listening experience I've ever had was about 20 years ago with a pair of Sound Lab Pristines. Gigantic soundstage, totally 3D imaging, and more detailed than anything I'd ever heard; those speakers had everything that I wanted at the time plus they sounded great with rock music. Unfortunately, I had neither the cash nor the space for them. If you handed me $2500 today and said "buy some good flat speakers!" I'd trot down to the stereo store and grab those MartinLogan Theos that I've been lusting after for years. They aren't super picky about amps or rooms, and, thanks to being a hybrid (each panel sits on a woofer in a box), they do dynamics and punch better than most ESLs.

I approve of the binding posts.

As the original owner of a pair of 26 year old Forte II's (no "harshness" ever!), I have followed this thread with interest. My takeaways: 1) The crossover network - especially the capacitors - in any speaker over 20 years old should be suspect. Make no judgements until these parts are confirmed to be working within specification. Otherwise replace the crossovers. Bob Crites makes the best ones. 2) Your room will always have the biggest impact on your final sound. Not your amp, not your source, and not even your (awesome) Klipsch Forte II loudspeakers. Put down thick carpets/rugs. Bring in some overstuffed furniture. Fill all bookshelves with, um...books? Or records. And hang some thick drapes on your windows. All of these things will tame a "wild" room and help bring out the best in your system. 3) Placement is crucial with the Forte II. Distance from the back wall and side walls must be worked out and optimized, toe-in must be used judiciously in small amounts, and distance between speakers and listening position should be maximized. This is not a "near field" speaker system. For anybody still interested in getting the most out of their their Forte II's, here is an old review from Greg Smith (who went out on a limb and actually said nice things about Klipsch on an otherwise conventional/conservative high end audiophile website). Enjoy!

If you're going to start all your sentences with the word "so", then you should go all the way and end all your sentences with the interrogative "right?" It's like apple pie and cheese.

After re-reading this entire thread I now see that I had stepped into the middle of a (pre-existing) flame war when I innocently (or so I thought) commented on Matt's choice of binding posts. My comment (unfortunately) went off like a grenade in a bunker full of wounded defenders. I am now beginning to understand why folks had their blood up and a few seemed itching for a fight. That wasn't me, flame wars aren't my style. But since I do have decades of experience with online forums, let me also point out that this one thread exhibits many of the things that are wrong with our thinking when we sit down at our keyboards to do virtual battle: 1) Incorrect assumptions. It was incorrectly assumed that I called Matt a "troll" (posts #140 & #142). It was also incorrectly assumed that I claimed that there were audible differences between binding posts (#131, #159, et al) which served as another handy strawman for why I was even pointing them out in the first place. I mentioned WBT as an example of a quality OEM parts manufacturer and the incorrect assumption was that I believe hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars should be spent on this manufacturer's top shelf parts (#132 & #161). 2) Poor reading comprehension. Jumping to conclusions is easy when your emotions are running hot. Slowing down and carefully reading what has been posted is often the most difficult thing in the world to do on a forum. Just as a carpenter is encouraged to "measure twice and cut once", I encourage all of you to "read twice and respond once". You might even want to read your response twice before you hit "Post". Full disclosure: I was an ME major in college. Circuit designs and power response graphs do little for me even though we all know they are like porn to an EE. What I am interested in when it comes to any piece of audio gear is the construction of the thing. How does it feel under my hand? Is it solid? Do the moving parts work positively and smoothly? The parts I will likely be most critical of, therefore, are things like terminals, feet, potentiometers, switches, fasteners, and cases. Fit and finish are more important to consumers the higher you go up in the audiophile price range. Ergonomics become even more important. This might be the opposite of conventional wisdom ("If it sounds good, it is good!") but when I spend multiple kilobucks on a piece of gear, I want something that looks and feels expensive. I will have already assumed that it sounds expensive. These considerations seem to get lost whenever we sit around and worshipfully gush over - or, mercilessly tear to pieces - a new piece of gear from a new manufacturer. Neither excessive praise nor irrational criticism was my intent when I blundered into this thread. I merely wanted to offer a viewpoint that was different from the typical armchair Electrical Engineer's. I'll get out of your way now so you can get back to your talk about circuit designs and total harmonic distortion.

At the risk of sounding like even more of a troll... Can we please stop talking about $612 binding posts? That was a total strawman Matt concocted to make my suggestion of a higher quality part for his amplifier part seem ludicrous and easier to mock. I am looking at page 77 of my 2015 Parts Express catalog and I count three different models of WBT binding posts and the most expensive one is a mere $57. You guys might think I'm nuts but the connection between the amplifier and the speakers is mechanically one of the most important areas of an amplifier - any amplifier. Granted, I've never built an amp from scratch but I've built plenty of speakers and restored a few old amps and I always install the best terminals I can afford. Plastic nuts on binding posts strip, crack, and fail to hold on tightly over time. That's all I was pointing out. Now don't you feel silly Fjd? Next up: I grill Matt about his choice of tube sockets!

OK, so you can't buy $26 binding posts at Radio Shack, and few manufacturers will put top-shelf WBTs on their amps because it will price them out of their desired market. I think we settled that. I also think I complemented Matt sufficiently on his fine products. My fear is that he will wither in the face of real criticism (beyond my cosmetic nit-picking) when the time comes at a show or in the listening room of a critic who writes for an audiophile website or magazine. Matt hasn't even been on the Klipsch forums for three weeks and he's already cracking up! We're here for you buddy.

If you have any experience - good or bad - with Pangea Audio products, let's hear about it. I found a few threads on here that mention Pangea (mostly their AC power cables) but, if a glance at Audio Advisor's catalog/web site is any indication, Pangea Audio is now making everything from speaker stands to equipment racks, from power cables to interconnects. Two hallmarks seem to define the brand: a) beefy, over-engineered stuff that looks like it's the "real deal"; and unbelievably low "Budget King" pricing (likely due to off-shore production and low overhead). I, and I suspect a few of you out there, are intrigued enough to sample some of Pangea's product line. If you're a Pangea owner (for better or worse), use this thread to either talk us out of it or to give us that little shove we need to pull the trigger on a $50 power cable or a $200 equipment rack.

No problem Carl, the question was purely rhetorical. I have no intention of replacing my Response Audio Bella EXtreme Platinum 3205 tube integrated with Tool Shed amplifier. I was merely pointing out that the choice of output terminals appeared less than optimal given the asking price. The answer I got was exactly what I expected: "You want the good stuff? You can't AFFORD the good stuff!" Much respect by the way for the job you and the other moderators do around here. I was a moderator at a (now-defunct) drumming equipment manufacturer's forum for the better part of a decade and I've seen it all. We should compare notes sometime. The topics and the forums may change but the trolls are always the same wherever you go!

Let's face it: we're all freaks on this bus. Have any of you met a human being who truly hates music? I haven't. This means we're all at least tolerant of it and in most cases derive a modicum of pleasure from it. Now, how many of you personally know (forums don't count) at least THREE adults who have similar, equivalent, or superior stereo systems to yours? I don't. Most folks just can't be bothered with all the wires and boxes and things that go everywhere. It's a "messy", technical, expensive hobby that tends to scare the women away. Give most folks a Bose WaveRadio and they have everything they will ever need. Bottom line: music lovers are a dime a dozen. Audiophiles are a nearly extinct species that once roamed the Earth in large grunting hairy packs as recently as the 1980s. If you own Klipsch, I would say that you are at least appreciative of high quality, lifelike sound reproduction. If this forum is any indication, there is a high probability you are also an audiophile. Deal with it.

I've used single-disc CD players (Sony, Sherwood, Rotel, Philips, Onkyo) and various carousel (Panasonic, Technics) and cartridge (Pioneer) CD changers (anyone remember those?) over the past 30 years. Some were good and a few were pretty great, but they all got the job done. If convenience is important to you and you feel that staying seated between discs enhances your listening sessions, then why not just get a couple of those gigantic 250-disc "CD jukebox" style players and never, ever touch a CD again? Better yet, why not just rip all your CDs to a digital music server and control the whole collection from your iPad? You see, there is really no practical limit to convenience. First you find yourself not wanting to handle the software because it keeps you from "relaxing", and soon after you find that you'd rather the hardware make all your decisions for you (i.e. shuffle play), finally you just surrender to a streaming service like Pandora. I've watched this happen to a few friends and it's disturbing. Yes, they are listening to more music in many cases but overall they are less involved with the act of listening. To me, CD changers are the first slide down that slippery slope. Today, I use a single-disc CD player for the same reason I use a single-disc manual turntable: I have to do things when I use it. This doing of stuff when you listen to your music is part of mindfulness. If listening to music is your end goal when you power on your system, you are being "autotelic" when you sit and just listen. If music is merely a mood-setter or a pleasant background sound that you like to create while you do other things like cook, eat, read, or text on your phone, then you're not really listening to music and a CD changer (or an iPod on shuffle, or Pandora) might be a perfect fit. This is not meant to imply that everyone who listens to a CD changer is incapable of mindfulness while listening to music! But mindfulness means being present and centered in the moment and listening to one thing at a time - one note, one bar, one song, one album. Besides, who here hasn't changed their mind and not wanted to listen to discs 3, 4, and 5 after loading five CDs into a carousel player? Most times, I get halfway through a loaded changer only to discover that I suddenly feel like listening to something totally different and I end up having to reload the danged thing with five new discs that I think I want to hear now but might not want to two hours from now!

Wow. That's 1000 posts in about 16 months. How do you do it? I've been on these forums pretty much this entire millenium and I've barely put up 50...I feel so inadequate!

Flavoring cheap bourbon with common kitchen items is wrong on so many levels, it's much more fun to just find a good cheap bourbon and skip the chemistry experiments... http://evanwilliams.com/ There you go. You're welcome!

If I shell out $2800 for a Genesis 6, can I ask for upgraded speaker terminals (like, say, WBT's)? I'm sure they have zero effect on the sound, but from a purely cosmetic standpoint there are much better choices than those $3 RatShack parts bin lookalikes that are on the back panels of Toolshed Audio's (otherwise beautifully finished) amps.

Anybody considering the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon should seriously consider getting the "DC" version since it includes a built-in "Speed Box". Just make sure there's a "DC" at the end of the name and you're in business. No "DC" in the name means no Speed Box. Shop around and you'll find that there is often little-to-no difference in price between these two versions of the Debut Carbon.... "What's a 'Speed Box'?" you ask? Well, it's a small unit that uses a quartz-controlled DC-regulated power supply (vice AC-regulated) to better control motor speed. Normally sold as an outboard unit ($130), it noticeably improves the pace and timing of your PJ turntable and eliminates the dreaded motor hum too. As an added bonus, having a Speed Box allows you to switch between 33 and 45 rpm on the fly without having to futz around with the belt. http://www.project-audio.com/main.php?prod=debutcarbondc&cat=turntables〈=en

Definitely spend the extra green for the Acoustic Sounds pressing of "Just A Little Lovin'". I cheaped out and got the Lost Highway pressing and it sucks. One of the noisiest new records I've ever heard. Maybe because they pressed it on clear vinyl? The CD absolutely slays it. I almost never say that...

I wanted that same turntable this past summer when the upgrade bug bit me but waited too long to pull the trigger. Pro-Ject discontinued the RM 5.1 SE a year or two ago and I got the 2Xperience Classic instead. I only mention it because it also comes with the Blue Point No.2 from the factory. But there was something about the sound of that cartridge that I couldn't quite put my finger on - a midrange roughness that never let me forget I was listening to a tiny stone being dragged across plastic. I had two other cartridges in the house - a Sumiko Pearl (MM) and a Denon DL-110 (HOMC) so I decided to swap out the BP2. The Denon, which had worked so well on my previous Pro-Ject RPM 1.3 (my preamp is a Vincent PHO-8), was an immediate improvement over the BP2: smoother overall, more detailed, more extended and tighter bass. There was also a dramatic decrease in perceived surface noise with the Denon cart compared to either of the Sumikos (likely due to a narrower stylus profile that rides lower in the groove). The funny thing is that Denon sells for nearly half the price of the Blue Point proving that expensive doesn't always equal "better". I have friends who rave about their Ortofon 2M (insert color here) carts. That line seems to offer good value. The biggest draw might be the fact that you can change/upgrade the stylus without having to buy a whole new cartridge.

Done.

Ignore the "scare quotes" people...proper set up is only scary to those who choose to ignore it. Congrats JimJimbo and the new vinyl spinner!

Seriously though. Whatever happened to proper turntable set up? I've scoured this "new & improved" forum high and low and can't find one comprehensive collection of turntable set up tips and wisdom. If I missed it, could someone please post a link here for everyone's benefit? We'd all appreciate it....even if it does skewer a few golden calves. Personally, I've found it can take years to get a set up right. I had to go through three turntables, five cartridges, several mats, multiple phono preamps, and scores of tweaks (including isolation platforms, racks, cables, cleaning methods, brushes, weights, and clamps) before it finally hit me: there is no substitute for correct azimuth, cartridge alignment, optimum tracking force, table leveling, and VTA. Bottom line: if you've neglected proper turntable set up then all this endless hot air about RIAA curves, cork mats, wiring, MC carts, phono preamp circuitry, and wholesale equipment upgrades is, in the immortal words of former Stereophile enfant terrible Corey Greenberg when discussing CD tweaks, "like deciding which pit to spray with Right Guard."

Has anybody mentioned VTA* yet? I waded through many pages of really wild speculation about what the problem with the OP's turntable might be but didn't see any mention of the obvious. You see, most "decent" turntables have a height adjustment at the base of the tonearm pillar. Go here and download/read the manual for the AT-120. On page 4 you will see a diagram of controls and the things they adjust. It appears that item #21 is a control that allows you to adjust the height of the tonearm assembly. What is yours set to? Dial it up and down while a record is playing and listen as the spectral content of the music coming out of your speakers shifts from thin and trebly to thick and bassy. I go away from the Klipsch forums for an entire decade and when I come back I see that nothing has changed. There are still three basic responses to every plea for help with audio gear: 1) you bought the wrong gear, spend more! 2) you set it up wrong, spend more! and 3) who cares about your gear? WORSHIP MY MIGHTY RIG! *"VTA" stands for "Vertical Tracking Angle"** and it's, by far, the quickest, easiest, and cheapest way to get more bass out of a vinyl rig. Thicker, heavier records tend to lower VTA and hence will sound like they have more bass. Thin, cheaply made records sound thin and lifeless. Why? Because your tonearm's VTA actually increases when you play them which usually sucks much of the low-end "oomph" out. **This angle is more accurately referred to as "Stylus Rake Angle" (SRA) but only hardcore vinyl snobs call it that.

rplace, "HoCo" is Howard County. You know, that yuppies-gone-gray bedroom community in the crotch between DC and Balmer. I think we're on opposite sides of the state bro. My pick was "II" in case y'all were wondering. Bonzo is God!

If it were my house (and I ain't holy!) burning down, I'd grab my Led Zeppelin DVD!

Well here it is 2006 and XM sounds fantastic. I hear nothing that is remotely MP3-like on my amazing little Delphi XM2GO unit. Great sound, even greater programming. XM is the way to go!

If you currently use Bose, rest assured that the SP-1s will perform better in both 2ch stereo and 5.1 home theater situations. In good condition, $500/pr. is a fair price. Remember that when you buy a pair of SP-1s, you are in effect getting two 200 watt subwoofers for "free." As an SP-1 owner, let me offer you a few nuggets of wisdom: - the SP-1s contain powered subwoofers. This means each speaker must be fed a "subwoofer out" signal (aka "LFE" channel - the .1 part) from a true 5.1-capable receiver. If you don't do this, the SP-1s will produce no bottom end and will sound like minimonitors. - the SP-1 will sound best in a smaller room where the 8" subs won't be overworked. Something around 200-300 sq. feet is perfect for these speakers. - match them with any Synergy-series center and a pair of Synergy-series surrounds (check eBay for good deals - usually a coupla hundred bucks or less for all three if you time it right.)