Travis In Austin

Have you come across any CDs that either didn't have rolled off bass or the hump?

Please elaborate. Analogman I am interested in this as well. My understanding is that earlier vinyl mastering had tu utilize limiters on the high frequencies so you didn't burn up the cutting head, but eith helium cooled cutters such as Neumann and Westrex. On the low end the only thing that prevents long ultralos passages is space, even with RIAA eq. The Teldec recording of 1812 overture has sections recorded at 8hz, the cannons. All the way up to 35 khz. Having said thay, most mastering engineers mill mix everything below a certain frequency as mono to save space. Sone choose 70 hz at tge point to tie it together. But vinyl is perfectly cabeable of being recorded between 20 hz and 20khz, at least they are with Helium cooled cutting heads. The Neuman SX 74 heads are flat plus/minus 0.5 db form 20 hz to 20 khz dead flat, -3db will get you down to about 7hz and up to 25 or 30 khz 2nd and thrid order harmonics. The lp comes with a disclaimer I thought was ibterestibg when I bought it: "The cannon shots captured on this LP are extremely difficult for most phono cartridges to track. The inability of your phono playback system to play these cannon shots is very typical and not an indication of either your cartridge or record being defective. Acoustic Sounds will not accept returns of this product for reasons of mistracking due to the cannon shots on this record." My kind of warning. You should here the 1812 at about 110 to 110 dbs on Jubes.

You are really going to enjoy it. People that I know who have purchased them are still using them, some for over 8 years. I looked at that mojo cartridge and I am probably familiar with it without realizing it. It is a specially made Ortofon with a user replaceable stylus which makes life so simple and easy. Really interested in hearing your impressions when you have it all hooked up. Travis Travis

Here is a link to the Needle Doctorsite on the 7.1, there are some informative customer reviews to check out. Where will you be placing it, on top of audio rack, other type of furniture? Is the room that it is going in on ground floor, is the floor solid or does it bounce? The reason I ask is that my vinyl rig was upstairs and even light foot traffic went right to audio rack. I ended up getting turntable wall mount which completely isolated it from floor. When I saw some Regas displayed a few years ago they had an optional wall mount that was designed specifically for Rega. You might want to look at that aspect as well. http://www.needledoctor.com/Music-Hall-Turntable-MMF-7-1

Earl, I have many attorney friends I have turned on to vinyl here in Austin and for those that want to purchase a good quality new turntable I reccomend either Musichall or Rega. Both are excellent tables at the range you are looking at. We have an excellent dealer that sells the MH and amother one who sells Rega. Is it from a private party or a dealer? The main thing is having a dealer you can go to for set up, etc. The table is excellent. I have no experience with that cartridge and cannot offer anything about that. Travis

That Vector tonearm is awesome. I'm running that as are Gary and Larry in MD. I don't have the VTA adjustment on mine, it can be upgraded by AJ but I just havent seen the need to do it. You should really be liking that rig now?

Great post. How is that even possible, amazing.

Hope you had a wonderful birthday Deano. Youthful indiscretions, hmmmmmmmm?

Hope you had a wonderful birthday Deano. Youthful indiscretions, hmmmmmmmm?

Welcome to the forum Scott, and I join with others thanking you for your service. There are at least a couple of forum members in Germany, one has Jubilees and very active in attending audio events and shows. I hope you enjoy your time here. Travis

Chris, That is true, Al's meltdown did include Greg Roberts and that thread still exists. The threads where he personally attacked Trey and Roy have been removed. I believe the run in with Trey was over testing of K77 and other tweeters. Trey was going to test three different versions in the chamber and share the data with everyone. The run in with Roy was over a passive he had designed or passed along to someone that ALK disagreed with. As suggested by you, the op, and others in this thread, there are ways to suggest a better mousetrap, to discuss a difference of opinion on crossover design, etc. in a civil and diplomatic way. Multiple people suggested that to Al, and he was either unwilling or incapable of doing so. I just wanted to set the record straight on why he isn't on this forum. He couldn't tolerate anyone disagreeing with him or having a different opinion. Travis

No Al ran himself off. He boasts anout being banned from at least four forums. He directly attacked two Klipsch engineers on this forum. He was incapable of playing by the rules suggested in this post. So I guess he was in a sense run off, Amy was unwilling to allow his attacks of Klipsch and two of it's engineers to continue. She told him and he left. Those theeads do not exist any more. Travis

ETH2, I think your original post was excellent and your objective admirable. However, I am not sure I understand your reference to Al K. If you are suggesting Al ran people off by his cvitrioliccomments then I would completely agree with you. If on the other hand you are suggesting that Al K was run off by responses to his posts, that is not my recollection at all. He began to attack the methods and explanations of two Klipsch engineers who used to post frequently and then he had his famous meltdown of 2006 where he "rresigned" from the forum. He went over to Audiokarma forum from which he also resigned. Here is a comment he made on DeanG's facebook page: "Albert Klappenberger As an old hand at starting riots on the Klipsch forum I got to agree! Doing that does have it's good side though. Being banned turned out to be a good thing! I wouldn't get back on there if they begged me!". Yes I do remember Al K, all too well. If you want this forum to be a gentler and kinder place you do not want the likes of him around. Travis

I would like to see it taken bact to that Taverna in Greece, now that was a great time.

The law copying a DVD or BlueRay disk is a bit in turmoil. This is the best summery of the controversy I have come across. "The controversy became a major concern when the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998 passed into law. The DMCA was the ratification of two World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties, which amended the United States Copyright Law. Prior to 1998, Supreme Court decisions and laws passed by Congress were clear and consistent. Passage of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) makes it illegal to bypass DRM on a CD or DVD for any reason. Hence, the common practice of changing one’s entertainment media from one format to another became prosecutable. However, The Family Movie Act, passed by Congress in 2005, allows DVD owners to edit content (which requires CSS decryption) such as offensive language and scenes from their DVD movies." A bill was introduced in congress a couple of years ago to resolve all of this, but it went no where. The copying part of it is not the problem, it is the bypassing of DRM. This last summer the UK passed a law making it ok to copy DVDs for personal use. Hopefully things will get clarified here as well since it is clear that it is very easy to do for legitimate purposes. The making of a backup audio recording is still allowable under the "fair use" doctrine as far as I know. Do you can record an lp to a CD to listen in your car, you can make your own cds from tracks of other cds that you own, and you can burn a copy of a cd as a back up. You are allowed to sell CDs and DVDs (and records, but you are not allowed to rent records) under the "first sale" doctrine of copyright law. It is all complex and ever changing. We need Gil to chime in here. Travis

The Hindenburg Syndrome is a a reflexive fear of hydrogen. Airships went out of military vogue in the US because our helium airships, the Akron and the Macon crashed due to weather, that and improvements in power plants significantly reduced the power to weight ratio to the point where the advantages in airships over fixed wing aircraft, and rapidly developing rotary wing aircraft, became negligible. I remember reading about the US government investing in airships for shipping needs a couple of years ago. It looks like they are making significant progress. http://gizmodo.com/the-aluminum-airship-of-the-future-has-finally-flown-1301320903 In terms of sound, I never heard the Quad of the 70s. It required so much money it wasn't even a remote possibility to me. Two extra speakers, a new real to real player. Mallette, if you have a four track R2R I can send you some prerecorded tapes to check out that I have picked up over the years. My impression, after the demise of Quad, is that multichannel sound has tracked movie sound, not audio, and that is going to be the way it is going to continue for the foreseeable future. Bell Labs had developed 8 channel recording as far back as the early 1930s. It never took off even though people were astounded by it. Digitial technology allowed for multichannel format to be easily stored on a DVD to be used in the home. We went from 2 channel VCR to DVD with 720 resolution and 5.1, to HD 1080p and 7.1 and 9.1 in Blue Ray, now we are at UHD 4K and the 11.1 system, and right around around the corner is 8K and Hamasaki 22.2. The digital multichannel audio components, SACD and DVD-A, don't seem to have taken off with multi-channel, it is all in HT equipment. I am not sure if digitial audio downloads, regardless of quality, will embrace multichannel. Obviously the technology is there, I don't think it is a Hindenburg Syndrome because Quad crashed so terribly, I think it is SACD, DVD-A crashed and burned. Analog guys are never going to go for it because there will never be 4 channel records again, or tape. For good multichannel audio to happen, you are going to have to be either able to download it, or be able to play in on your DVD/Blue Ray/ or 4K player. If it takes off in that domain I would think that there would be a market for the audio world to take a look at it. Right now, it seems to me to be that people are at two extremes, they wear ear buds during the day and watch a multichannel movie on their HT system. I am perfectly happy with 2 channel when it comes to music listening. It looks like hydrogen cell vehicles are about a year or two away. I am much more afraid of an Ford Pinto gas tank then I am of hydrogen.

Bob Katz is great. One of the three best mastering engineers of all time in my opinion. He wrote "the book" on mastering and has been a leading proponent of getting the use of compressors/expanders under control in the industry. Thanks for linking this great reply article.

How are those Qbs sounding? From what I have heard they sound pretty good for the price. I think when you hear a pair of Heresy speakers would will have a great point of reference in what a small size horn driven speaker can do. Heresey should be about 10 times more efficient then your Qbs, it will be interested as to what you think the comparison between the two is the the bass end. The real key is the sensitivity of the two speakers. The Qbs are about 89 as I recall, and the Heresy's are going to be about 98 or 99db sensitive. Which, as you know, are going to produce a much greater amount of sound at same power level. All things being equal, at 1 watt, the Heresys will sound 10x louder than the Qbs. I am not sure how the 4 ohm impedance of the Qbs with the 8 ohm impedance of the Heresy is going to effect that. Are you able to play the Qbs up to a volume of your liking? You should have plenty of power to get them where you want to be. I have heard that many used Qbs have hole or tears in the EMIT tweeter material. You may want to take a close look at that to see if there are any problems. Travis

The glue actually works but is not very time efficient or cost effective. I have tried them all, and for me a good basic turntable cleaner vacuum system such as VPI with Disc Doctor brushes and cleaning solution beats them all. I would like to see and hear more about this ultrasonic cleaning system. Just doesn't seem to me that it was address grunge in the grooves, like spilled coke, cigarette smoke residue, etc. The Disk Doctor system works without a machine but is more time consuming. But quicker than glue. Travis

How often, if ever do you listen to the radio? Have either the MX 113 or the Mac 4100 been updated? They are both from about the same era, the receiver was sold for a few years after the MX 113 ended. Some people swear by the EQ feature on the mac equipment, other people swear against it. I am not technical enough to know whether or not it complicates the signal path even if set to "0". If it did, for me, I would opt for the MX simply because it is simpler. If one has been updated, by someone who knows what they are doing, I would keep that one. I would tend to want to get rid of a unit what was either in need of updating or was updated but there were questions about it. All things being equal, I would tend to go with the MX 113 since it was designed as a preamp to go with an amp such as the 2125. Well, I guess where to start might to be to compare how ones sounds versus the other, but they should be so close to tell if they are all up to speck. I would connect a source each of the inputs on both to make sure they are all ok. Do you listen to vinyl? If so I would for sure see how your turntable sounds through each unit since that is going to more critical. I would see if anything sounds scratchy on the volume controls, the eq controls on the 4100. It has been a long time since I had the 113 so I don't have any idea what the resale of the 4100 is to the 113, that could be a consideration. Sorry I don't have any direct answers, but I am hoping there might be a question or two you might not have considered that will assist you in your decision. Travis

Colin, I followed the link to your full article, that was quite a good read. Thank you for the article and this post. Travis

"Well honestly, I’d say," my greatest achievement, he said, is "making a full time successful business out of this for the last almost 13 years while keeping a stellar reputation." Respectfully, I wholeheartedly disagree with that assertion. In my view your greatest achievment has been that you are an exemplary husband, father and son. Further, you set a shining example that it is important to make time for yourself, away from business, by setting aside time for annual trips that you allow nothing to interfer with. While your assertion aboit your integrity is certainly true, I have come to known that Craig the man is so much more than NosValves the business. The sucess of your business is in large part due to your strong commitment to "excellence" in the business sense of that word. You, Sir, and NosValves exemplify everything that is great about this Country. Travis P.S. I also saw in that article that you gave a very nice nod to Mark. Knowing you that probably just came naturally which, in my mind, speaks volumes about you. Unfortunately, it is all to often that people forget that their success had some help along the way.

I wonder if USANORWAY had any luck?

No offense as you seem like a nice guy, but I can't think of a good reason why anybody would freely and publicly post confidential wholesale prices of anything, especially for something they are in the business of selling, on a website that is owned by the company whose products is in question no less. Good luck with your project but this boggles my mind. Is that a surprise to you, or anyone else on this forum, that consumer audio typically retails for just over double of wholesale? But you are right, probably best to delete the percentages, just for the sake of avoiding an endless flood of messages asking him if he would't mind buying new speakers for them. I admire him for buying NEW Klipsch. Now the big question, Snacky, can your company order the relatively new Stadium Klpsch product? :;

Chad and Alex: Thank you for the great information about these speakers, and also your posts about what Klipsch is doing and where you are headed. I think folks are struggling with the "concept" in terms of who and what these speakers are intended for. I know that I initially did until I thought about it and started looking at what else, if anything, was out there. I initially thought that the only products (since I am not in that "market") were compact sound bars that you plug an iphone into (cradle), or something high end like the Stadium, or maybe the Sonus speakers where you can get "whole house" audio without wiring. When I looked around for "bluetooth tower speakers" what initially popped up where speaker from Craig, Jensen, VM Audio and some others that ranged from about $100 to $300. The VM Audio Exat 33 were very looking and appeared to be the best of the bunch at about 300 a pair. So it initially looked like you were way over market, but I started looking around some more and ran into Focal Easya at Crutchfield, for about $2,800 a pair photo, and these would appear to be the upper end of the market, or at least what initially popped up when I looked. Introduced late 2013, they were apparently on display at the T.H.E. show in 2014. It looks like there is a huge gap between the lower end stuff at Walmart, Bestbuy, etc. and the Focals. Of course, I know I am not telling you anything you don't already know, just laying it out for those who may be struggling with who exactly these are intended for like I was. Was there many new "wireless tower/floor-standing speaker" offerings at CES this year besides yours? I think part of the problem with the question you posed, at least for me, is in asking what we thought of the idea most of us on here don't have a current realistic reference point. The best analogy I can think of would be if this were a high end automobile owner's forum (take your pick, Mercedes Benz, Lexus, Lincoln, Porsche, Ferrari, Corvette, Viper, etc.) and they had a "concept" car at the Detroit auto show with one of their high performance cars of the past that had an electric motor that ran on batteries, and could go about 70 miles on a charge. Few, if any, current owners of a high performance vehicle would be interested unless there might possibly be some potential collector value to it. I remember twenty years ago seeing "electric" concept cars at high end auto shows and nobody could see it, except maybe executives of energy and power companies. Members on here, with great sounding two way speakers, regardless of whether they are Heritage, Reference, or otherwise, are not in the "market." I think you have tried to bring out in many of your posts on here that the new, current, younger market is very much different. I think we are all aware that there was a major degradation of sound the new generation was brought up on with inferior downloads (we will never agree as compared to what, vinyl, CD, DVD-A, SACD), but everyone recognizes that too many shortcuts were taken to the point that the market and artists (Neil Young) are pushing back and demanding better fidelity software, regardless of whether it is a download or not. It wasn't until your post and looking at this that I had forgotten that the market, or a vast percentage of it, believes that the best sound they ever heard was when they switched from standard earbuds to Dr. Dre Beats for their MP3 player. I don't think that is really that far off. I think for ages 14 to 25 the vast majority would have a reference point that comes from: 1) what comes through their television speakers, 2) computer speakers, 3) sound at the movie theater (about a 50% chance it is Klipsch, which is why you need a movie trailer at the beginning of the movie that is mind blowing that says: The Audience is listening . . . to KLIPSCH), 4) the ear phones they have plugged into their MP3/portable player, or, 5) their car speakers. Most of the market (here's a shocker) believe all audio equipment pretty much sounds alike. Thus, the mass-market's emphasis on selling components is by features and price. I wonder how many people on here know that the headphone market exceeds 2 Billion (that's billion with a "B". Before the sale to Apple, Beats was 25% of that market (500M). I wonder how many know that the "high end" audio market has declined 50% over that last 10 years. I wonder how many know what the total market for high end audio is? I know Mr. Shalam, as a current Board Member of CEA knows, and by virtue of his membership on the Board of the Audio Divison of CEA, that Mr. Jacobs is acutely aware as well. I have enjoyed many of your comments on here explaining to folks what it is that Klipsch is trying to do. That Klipsch intends to focus on quality products worthy of the Klipsch brand as opposed to being the cheapest. A great case in point has been your stadium product. You look on websites that carry that product, Parts Express for example, and you look where it lies in the range, it is at the top. This reminds me of being in an Apple Store recently with my girlfriend who had to purchase something, while we were waiting I of course went over to the audio products (which is pretty much only headphones) and there in a line from left to right were about 5 options all in a row from lowest to highest price and set up so you could easily compare them to one another in terms of sound, comfort, etc. On one end was something like Urban Ears, and then Beats, and then Sennheiser, and at the far end, Bowers and Wilkins. There were cards in front of each set of headphones with specs and features. I was curious to watch and listen to people's reactions and, for the most part, people over 30 said they thought the sound of the Sennheiser or B&W were best out of the five or six available; and they either concluded that the extra money was either worth it or not. However, they did conclude for themselves they were of higher build and sound quality and why they cost more. The younger crowd didn't even want to compare, they wanted Beats because "Tim has these" or "Susie just got these in purple and they sound awesome." It is great to see Klipsch exploring the headphone, wireless and other product markets. Wireless tower speakers are for sure a "niche" market as you say. I think most forum members are going to fall outside of that niche. You would certainly know best on how big it is, what the best price points are, and ultimately whether it is worth or not to expand beyond the wireless Premium Reference (which sounded like would be produced for sure, and could be run in a 2 channel set up just as easily as a HT system?). I would say that most Heritage owners, even the most loyal, are not in the market for it. As you have seen, neither nostalgia or sentiment are enough to even see the "need" for this product, much like people initially seeing the need for an electric vehicle. For me, I have two spaces that it would be nice to have a 2 Channel set up in with sound in the background (kind of what the Stadium is designed to do), and it would be great to have a great sounding 2 channel "system" without having a separate amp to be able to play a cd or digital file. These are perfect for dorm rooms, apartments, vacation/2nd homes, and anyone who wants better sound without having to get an amp or HT receiver. Like you say, this generation (the market), is used to being able to plug a mini-jack into something and have sound come out of it. I am not a big headphone listener, but I would think they would agree that good floor standing speakers are a definite move up in sound quality from their tv speakers/headphones/car audio they are used to listening to. Regardless of whether they are launched or not, it is nice to see that Klipsch is focusing on being on the far end of a row of products, where after a prospective buyer listens to 3 or 4 similar products says "those Klipsch for sure sound the best, I can see why they cost more" and that sound will either be worth the difference or not. Some will buy it because it is made in the USA because, like you, I buy American whenever I can. (I know how much Gittman shirts and Oxxford suits cost). Some will buy it because of the Klipsch name, the sound quality, the appearance (not much comment of what great WAF there is here), and probably a dozen other factors or combination thereof. Of course, many won't. They, like the vast majority of the market, buy based on "price and features." I think it is all very exciting and looking forward to seeing how things go. Travis Edited P.S.: The total value of the "high end" audio market is 200 million.