edwinr

I think DDE stands for Desperately Deluded Eunuch!

The PrimaLuna looks a bit like Antique Sound Labs designs from China.

Well done. I think Bose hit the jackpot with the wave radio design. You're right though, if Bose dropped the price a bit, I'd even consider one myself for the kitchen.

Both the 6550 and the KT88's that have heard have amazed me in their dynamics and particularly their low frequency performence. Similarly I have just started listening to intergrated and mono bloc SET's. I am still struggling with the idea that 3 to 5 watts can drive speakers so well. As long as it's tube, there's a flavour for everone. My favourite tube at the moment is the EL34, it's a good allrounder and very musical within it's limits.

Heresy sounds good for your centre. I wonder if you buy a pair and use both as the centre. I'm not sure how to wire them together - is it in series or parallel? All I remember from my broadcast days 20 plus years ago is that one or the other wiring method either doubles or halves the load seen by the amplifier.

Wow, what a saga. Thanks for sharing it. I like your current setup. Your photography is on a par with Chops. Edwin.

What an honour to meet Mr. Klipsch. That would be something you would treasure for the rest of your life.

Great answers guys. I've had to read this stuff a few times to makes sense. But some of it is sinking in. So far what I get out of this is that there is a heck of a lot of engineering involved in getting the right sound. There are obviously electrical parameters that must have priority over others when engineering a product - in other words you need to take the good with the bad to achieve your objectives.

I don't know whether speaker sensitivity alone determines whether a loud speaker is 'easy to drive'. I think you have to also take into account whether the speaker has an even impedance throughout the frequency range you are attempting to reproduce. Some loudspeakers may have enormous impedance swings which may unfortunately coincide with extreme bass or extreme treble - just the areas where (I'm guessing here) some SET amps and low power pp amps may have trouble. Is your x-over custom made? Perhaps there is an issue there. I thought most Klipsch products where fairly benign loads impedance wise - as far as custom speaker designs like yours go, I wouldn't be surprised that you would need to try different combinations before one worked to your satisfaction.

Sorry about the extra posts...having problems with the line down under....

I haven't had anything to do with the RB25. But the RB5, featuring an 8 inch driver and real wood veneer, was promoted by Klipsch as a viable alternative to the traditional studio monitor and was in fact, so I'm told, purchased by a number of recording studio's in place of the more traditional products. I have heard the RB5's and I was impressed with the dynamics and clarity. They were a bit expensive in Australia though, seling for over $2000, not much less than a new pair of Heresy 2's.

---------------- On 6/24/2004 4:28:28 PM Deon Bearden wrote: < Please understand were we to unofficially release information on a product prior to it's official release it could very easily be used by our competitors to their advantage... >[bR> Hi Deon, we've never met unless you've been to Australia recently. Your above reply puzzles me....I didn't know Klipsch had any competitors!!! Regards, Edwin.

I agree. Klipsch parts backup and technical support is outstanding. In Australia Klipsch are particularly careful in selecting suppliers and retailers. Retail staff are fully trained and it shows in their enthusiasm for the product.

Yes, it would be nice to hear what differences the speaker change made to your home theatre setup. Did you have to make major changes to speaker positioning? I would imagine you would have immediately noticed a big difference in dynamics - it would have sounded like you upgraded your amp to something twice as powerful.

Yes, I'm not familiar with that model Denon. I just read however some reviews on the Onkyo/Integra DS989 Receiver on Ecoustics.com which I think is near top of range for Onkyo in the U.S. 200 watts per channel (!) into 6 ohms and is fan cooled. Maybe the top range models are becoming more competitive with the seperates vis a vis home theatre options.

Great story - Thankyou.

I recently took the top cover off one of the lower cost Denon receivers They were using cardboard to divide the various sections from each other. It looked cheaply finished but I don't know whether cheap wiring etc effects actual sound quality that much at this price range. On the other hand I've inspected the interior of the Anthem range - nicely put together and bodes well for long term reliability. Rotel products seem to occupy the middle ground - reasonable build quality and good ss sound, if that's what you like. I have an aversion to combined surround receiver 1 box combinations as a rule - I can't see how you can acheive true musicality with so much electronics jammed into one box. There's got to be some adverse effect on sound with so many electronic interactions taking place in one box.

The original Bose 901's. I think they still make them.

When I told my wife I wanted to buy a brand new pair of Klipschorns, she said; "That's nice dear, what colour are you going to get?" I also told her I want to upgrade my tube amplifier to match the Khorns. She said; "Okay. As long as you're happy with what you buy". I even took her with me to audition a number of speakers to make sure my choice was the right one. My wife said she preferred the sound of the horns; "...they sound so much nicer than those other ones...". So I don't know why you guys have so many problems with the other half...Maybe I'm just lucky.

I use a top grade digital source, Toshiba 900E DVD/A player and vinyl front end through tube amplification. I guess all tube/analogue would be ideal but at the very least you can enjoy great tube sound by ensuring that prior to sending any signal down your speaker cables, the last electronic device influencing your music tonality are tubes and the tube amps' output transformers.

Are Friends Electric? I didn't know you were aloud to post such suggestive pictures. Magnificent!

Very nice Chops. Had you thought of turning professional with your photography?

I agree with you Colin that you don't lose most of the tube sound through ss pre-amps. Some hi-fi dealers get it the wrong way round. One local dealer was selling Rotel power amps with a low cost UK Audio Innovations tube pre-amp. He was promoting this as the ideal combination - tube sound backed up by ss power. He said the ss power was only amplifying the wonderful tube tonality! It's got to be the other way round if you must have ss/tube pre/power combinations. It's the tube power amp that will have much more influence over the ultimate sound reproduced by our speakers.