sunnysal

I think he also claims the grills are from klipsch. thanks for the feedback folks, tony

most modern hifi amplifiers are flat to 50kHz and just reach 100kHz (-3dB), audio video components almost always meet the -3 @ 100khz measurement. going up high is not so much an issue of ampliciation as it is whether your source was recorded and can play back at those frequencies and whether the speakers can reproduce them. regards, T

saw this on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=281054206791&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123#ht_500wt_1156 seller swears it is a rare model of "audiophile" heresy. sounds fishy to me, what do you klipsch experts think? thanks, tony

[Y]

for $24,000 a pair the JBL M2´s should sound pretty good, hard to compare them in any way with Klipsch offerings. T

my subjective observations; while I agree that LEVEL should roll off slowly at the high end to keep the music from sounding strident, the EXTENSION should extend as high as possible. Not sure why but in systems where super tweeters were installed I sensed some more "air". could it be harmonics? I don´t know why, but that is what I heard. So roll off a bit but get that extension as high as possible. YMMV. Warm regards, Tony btw remember the equal loudness curves:

my take on this is as follows...if the music was recorded and/or mixed down in stereo than I want to hear it played back that way. if the recording and/or mix down was multichannel than I am happy to hear it reproduced in such a system. so it comes down to how it was recorded and mixed down for me. regards, tony

congrats on the k-horns. they should do fine in that room, assuming your listening position is as far back as possible, let us know how they sound once set up. welcome to the heritage experience. warm regards, tony.

exciting and interesting stuff dennis. get well soon! T

they didnt call it the golden age for nothing...that said there are some very nice tube amp designs out there. I feel that bang for buck has dropped in modern tube electronics. to get the kind of relative high performance one got from Mcintosh, marantz, scott, etc. nowadays one tends to have to pay for the high dollar tube stuff. VTL, Balanced Audio and Lamm are modern tube amps but you pay for it. people like roger modjeski at music reference, quicksilver and prima luna seem to be more value oriented. taking some of the greta old circuits and updating the caps and resistors, perhaps even the output iron gets world class performance...I love my JFL amp which the maker said was based on a WE amp circuit. auditioning modern tube amps is a great way to see what they have to offer and how they differ, I strongly recommend some time spent auditioning before taking the jump form vintage to modern. warm regards, tony

glad to see john putting his knowledge and passion to work. I miss seeing him around here! T

I wont bother to post again the link the the tests nelson pass did on wires, he found measurable differences BUT, of course, that does not guarantee the differences will affect the sound. I would note that many folk who nay say wire often spend thousands of hours wringing their hands over tube rolling, sample rate, etc. all off which seem to me to fall into the same general basket. warm regards, tony

I come form a telecommunications background and this is how we would explain it as well....I expect horns to amplify the input signal (and hopefully provide some directional control) and wave guides to simply transport signal, minimizing signal loss along the way. as someone mentioned perhaps microwave technology is not directly applicable at hi-fi sound frequency levels but there it is...regards, T

Tone controls! (there I said it)

Sweeps, test tones, and measurements are used to detect system alignment problems and solve them, that's what they are designed to do. Music is not designed to be used as a test signal for system alignment, it is made to be listened to and enjoyed. After my system was properly aligned according to the measurements the music sounded better than it did before, clearer and more focused. The system is more accurate as a result of measuring and correcting and the music is more enjoyable for me to listen to. Its probably not an accurate analogy /comparison but Ill make it anyway! I have a very nice collection of acoustic guitars. I spent a lot of time and energy finding them. I am sure that if you measured the thickness of the bracing and the finish on the wood that they measure the same as other examples of the same models. But I can tell you that they do not sound the same. The sustain, the attack, the resonance is different between guitars of the same brand/model/wood/year. Some are just more musical than others. Same is true with pianos FWIW Josh BTW Dean its more than great to have you back stirring it up! I remember all the efforts people have made to reproduce the sound of the Stradivarius (the violin), while they seem to have not quite hit the mark yet they do get close and they do so by fanatically careful measurement, materials choices, recreation of glues and varnishes, etc. all compared with the original. others have tried, purely by ear ,with sometimes good results. As I mentioned this religious fervor for "my way or the highway" in the pursuit of audio nirvana seems mis-guided to me. we all, in the end, must rely on our ears, with our music, in our room, with our ancillary equipment to achieve music reproduction that pleases us. I have had the honor of visiting audiophile´s homes and been flabbergasted by the awful sound I heard produced. regardless of price or technology used. I discovered that my taste didn´t necessarily match others tastes and I can live with that without worrying about who is "right". IMHO, In the end if you enjoy the music, you are right. my equipment and tube rolling, my swapping of crossovers, drivers, my attempts to utilize active crossovers, etc. have helped me clarify what I like and I have slowed down my exploration as I have improved the sound from my system, to my taste. I respect the objectivists and appreciate their efforts to improve the state of the ART (ART is a key word here) but I remain inevitably a subjectivist, after all who should I believe a piece of paper or my ears? BTW dean I say us oldtimers should post more! warm regards, Tony

sounds like a "lose, lose" to me...

sold all my stuff artto, the other basses look great but a little rich for my blood, best of luck on the rest of the sale. I may jump at the six string. what ya´buying? regard,s tony

I am doing great Dean, warm and sunny down here in El Salvador (as always). I am also glad to see you here and even gladder to see you are doing well, you gave us all a scare there! T

Wow, OK Changed to be nice LOL. So, you're going to make ME say it!? LOL, go for it Dean! T

There is no doubt in my mind that fanatical membership in either the golden ear or the engineered and measured camps is foolish. the objectivists and subjectivists seemingly will never ascribe any validity to the middle ground. as the OP pointed out music recording and reproduction are highly complex endeavors. The religious fervor always displayed when these topics are discussed never ceases to amaze and amuse me. Toole and many others (including our beloved PWK) recognized the need and validity of engineering and measurement to improve the reproduction chain, they have all IMHO contributed to improving musical reproduction. However I still view reproduction as more art than science at this point, with science helping us get a partial grasp on what is going on but not yet telling the whole story. Add to this the fact that personal taste inevitably plays a huge role in the equation and I am afraid no one will ever agree about this topic. I live as a subjectivist, what sounds good to me sounds good to me, I go for a system that makes music that pleases me with my partucular taste. I in no way reject the objectivist´s search for wasy to measure and improve performance. The "art" of music has, without a doubt, been advanced by the "science" of sound. to argue against that IMHO is foolhardy. as always YMMV. warm regards, Tony

assuming the cables are not solid core I wold recommend the monster cable units, about $14 for the two pairs. worked well for me, regards, Tony

my understanding is 25¨from the front. T 25" from the front or the back portion of the side grill?

form klipsch customer support: "The Klipschorn® requires corner placement because the walls of the room serve to complete the speakers low frequency horn. To achieve full low frequency extension, the Klipschorn® should fit tightly in a corner without baseboard or trim interference and the wall surfaces should extend at least 25 inches beyond the side grilles without obstructions. The Klipschorn is equipped with rubber wall seals to ensure airtight contact with the wall." check these plans out http://webservice.gentec-intl.com/GentecInc/commodity/5512/howtouse.pdf regards, tony

Mike´s khorns are works of art! But one thing stuck in my mind over the years though, if the khorns are not going to be placed tightly into corners PWK recommended that false corners or the closed back extend at least 24" past the front of the khorns, not stop short of the fronts. I may be wrong about this, I will check my "Dope form Hopes". anyone else remember that? warm regards, Tony

as people have mentioned, tube rolling is SO system specific that recommendations IMHO are almost worthless unless people have exactly the same equipment. I have used old and new tubes and found some NOS tubes I loved and new tubes I loved. part of the fun of the hobby is trying out tubes and finding out whats sounds best to you in your system. One revelation for me was that I have discovered that my rectifier, output and input tubes ALL have an effect on the sound of my system, after playing around for a year I have a NOS tube in the rectifier and input positions and new tubes in the output position. my problem is that if the NOS tubes go bad I will have to try to find more that sound as good! whereas if the new tubes go on the fritz I can just buy more. enjoy the process and most of all....enjoy the music! T