cwop

"I've owned at least 25 pairs of La Scalas over the years," Good Lord! You must have been or are involved in the commercial sound field? I found that on some male voice at moderate to 'high' levels I get a bit of upper bass emphasis on my LaScalas----although I did check out the particular recording on another system/speaker and found the same chestiness albeit not quite as bad. If you have the album, try "Sporting life Blues" on the "Road to Escondido" CD, Eric Clapton works the mike very closely it would seem and the lower register of his voice is emphasized.....BTW, J.J. Cale and Clapton do a great job on this album.

"I can't believe that balloon pop at 12 inches - 157dbSPL!" I dont believe this whatsoever, this is more like a 'magnum 44' at 3 ft!!!! There 'd be a lot of kids with the possibility of permanent hearing losses if this figure is accurate!!

Sadly, you've just stated a fundamental truth--------try this one.. http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Byfield_Ted/2006/06/24/1651662.html

This woman obviously suffers from a large case of mysandry. Its sickening that in this Orwellian culture of political correctness and feministas with an outsize chip of their shoulder, these types are allowed to make an issue out of a trivial matter ------and potentially make someone's life miserable. Perhaps it was an error in judgement on your part but this woman definitely has an agenda........I am only half joking when I say that hopefully she will meet up with a charming 'Ted Bundy' type!! Good Luck!!

"Also, what was the weighting and impulse response of the meter you were using? 103dB A-weighted slow is a crap load louder than 103dB C-weighted fast...probably on the order of 10-20dB." This is not true-----when you get to 95-100 plus db (A or C) the Fletcher-Munson curve flattens out and the difference in measured level would be minimal. The fast response setting represents a 200 millisecond response to peak levels (still too slow for very short duration peaks). However a true impulse meter (good for gun shots and such) will give you 10-20db peaks of percussive sounds etc. that the standard meter would not. I've taken my ANSI type 2 meter to clubs and or musical presentations and, when reading levels for very loud music, get little to no difference from "A" weighting to "C". A good professional grade SLM is a great teaching tool. If you look up the OSHA standards you'll find that no one should be exposing the unprotected ear to 100db plus levels (A OR C weighting) for too long......I think the original poster was hearing this "live" music at much more intense levels than his home system.

"If so, perhaps it's filtering out the bass below the x-over point making the Belles sound livelier since they're not producing the low bass any longer?" With the extremely low IM and FM distortion from the bass loading in any bass horn, I cant see the the "clarity" changing at all! I run a Velodyne with my LaScala and if anything they sound more 'lively' without the sub albeit missing the very deepest bass------It could be a level issue when switching components around......If you were running direct radiators for the mains however I would believe you could hear an increase in liveliness with the lesser FMing etc. with the use of the sub........

http://www.listenhear.co.uk/general_acoustics.htm The annoying thing about their frequency range chart for musical instruments and human voice is they are only giving the fundamental frequencies and not the harmonic content...e.g. a trumpet has harmonic structure to as high as 10khz...........etc.

"The fact that Apple makes something that is capable of producing volume levels that are known to cause permanent hearing loss is just asking for trouble." People can buy cars that can go 180mph, chainsaws that emit dangerously high SPLs (without hearing protection), rollerblades that can cause serious injury for idiots who overestimate their own skills with them, nightclubs with bands playing at levels that are magnitudes beyond OSHA standards for unprotected noise exposure.........where does lunacy end and common sense prevail?

"Talk on the set was that he sat to pee." Really? Did they bring this up to him 'face to face'? (-: I understand he is now a devout Christian........

I think I'll try again.........It never works for me either. (only site I have this problem on)....

"If you play Khorns at 88db SPL and sit 12 feet away and want to cover music with a 10dB "dynamic range" you only need 8 watts. But if you want to cover music with 20dB range, you need 80 watts! Now raise the average SPL up to say 95dB with the same 20dB dynamics and suddenly you need 400W!" This would only apply as a 'free space' calculation with a point source, it would not be relevant for a room. An accurate way to assess the reverberant sound field developed in a 3000 cu.ft.room with average furnishings is to use the figure of .5 (point five) acoustic watts for a reverberant SPL of 100dbc in this same 'average room' . The acoustic power output from these horns with the mentioned powers would be huge! Acoustic Research did a study on this years ago and arrived at these figures, and this was using 1% efficient acoustic suspension speakers! Of course with this 'low' efficiency the sealed boxes were fed 50 watts for the mentioned sound levels. I dont think those speakers would have taken this power for long.........Horns and the beloved 'flea powered' bottle amps would do well most likely for short duration loud peaks.......

Years ago my late uncle told me about the Chrysler Bell Victory siren which was mounted on top of the RCA building during WW2. (same siren) During a test procedure with ideal conditions it was said to be heard 50 miles away, fortunately it was never used under wartime/seige conditions.........

"However, I would get a baseball bat and a ski mask if someone put *** like that up at a place I shopped." Not a wise choice kid! Reading some of your other posts I would expect better from you.............. RJP

I wonder what frequency this thing operates at and at what SPL?? RJP

"Deep raspy voice, just can't fantasize cause she is underage!" Thats exactly why we can fantasize-----no legal issues with that!! BTW, I love Patricia Barber's voice and arrangements.........

"Unless they are classic Klipsch corner Khorns, even horns should end up in the middle of the room like other loudspeakers away from wall reflections, in order to maximize 3D sonic holograph" This is one of the things I like about my LaScalas, I have them out from the wall (about 3 feet) and run them with a Velodyne ULD-15 for the deep bass. The imaging and depth of sound stage is quite pleasing at least to my ear....

This web page is on today's date but is this information accurate? The piezo horn is listed........ http://www.martinsoundpro.com/item.asp?id=340

"This is why I laugh when people say it takes 300 hours for the highs on their Lowthers to smooth out." Well, for my part, its not so much that I dont like Lowthers (with their 3mm xmax) its that I generally dont like the people who like Lowthers........ RJP

What I'm curious about is what type of xover these use and additionally what program material, there are a lot of recordings out there that are, sadly, very 'hot' sounding on a very dynamic speaker such as the big horns. Unfortunately, I'm not acquainted with the sonics of the Mac gear you are using but I'm sure its fairly 'neutral'. I'm sure others here have opinions/suggestions for you......With the mahogany they must be aesthetically gorgeous! RJP

Hee, hee, got a little time on ours hands Jacksonbart?? [] As a Canuck I like Labatt's Blue lager, when in the States visiting my many relatives or travelling I'm kind of partial to Busch or Budweiser (I know, no gourmet taste at all)........[:$] RJP

You forgot WTF!! Not polite but I see it all the time----another one for purchasers of new audio toys is RTFM.......Funny thing I never use that 'word' in every day useage (well most often not) and hate it when I hear it in public from barely post pubescent girls....... RJP

Sort of a cartoon version of someone I used to know.....honest!! What time period would this be from?? RJP

"In the next 50 years there will be billions of Chinese. Best I learn the language." My intuitive instincts (they've kept me out of trouble in the past) tell me that this most likely will NOT happen! The 'math' involved here has to many sociologic variables to do a meaningful prediction.......Can you say 'angry Chinese underclass?' I'd still like to hear that amp though.....!! RJP

This is very closely related to the topic at hand here....and might be handy for some home recordists........ http://www.sonicstudios.com/dsm.htm Very fascinating subject overall.... RJP