Paladin

That's one heck of a juggling act[]...pretty awesome.

If you're looking for an excellent copy of Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man on CD this one is excellent: Copland: Fanfare; Symphony No.3 Conductor: Eiji Oue Ensemble: Minnesota Orchestra Label: Reference Recordings Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004UDEQ/qid=1141250481/sr=1-15/ref=sr_1_15/002-5197468-5916022?v=glance&s=classical I suppose I'd also throw out Devorak's New World Symphony and Tchaikovsky's 1812 overature. (The Telarc label (on LP and CD) has some great recordings of the 1812 overature).

I don't have much first hand experience with Heritage speakers...however in the engineering listening rooms they have a Cayin Integrated with KT-88's (A Ti-88 I think) paired with a Cayin SACD player that they used to demo the new heritage speakers here in Indy. I was told this is what they used at this year's CES (Consumer Electronics Show) for the Heritage display. I heard LaScala-II's with this equipment upstream. They souned excellent. Probably worth a demo if you can borrow some dealer's loner unit?

Would using some type of spikes for isolation be approprate (especially if you're setting a tube amp on a speaker) Yes I know spikes can be destructive...but we have our turntable spiked to isolate it. You can just put coins under the spikes (or get spikes with spike pads). I've also heard of these being recommended: http://www.soundcare.no/, they are a type of spike with pads that shouldn't be destructive. Don't know how good they are...seems like a little snake oil on that site.

The first speakers I owned were a little tiny pair of Pinnacle bookshelf units these were paired with a simple 2ch Sony Reciever...this was my first stereo system and was a christmas present. (circa 1994) I then bought a pair of B&W DM-302's and a couple of Target stands when I was in high school to replace the Pinnacles. (circa 1996). I happened upon a pair of A/D/S L-710's at a local Goodwill store for very little money...the speakers are in very good (albeit second hand) condition. I have been using these regularly as their dual 6" drivers and B&W-like soft mid and high sound works well for either music or movies. (circa 2000). Dad built a new home theatre and I inherited his pair of vintage 1972 ESS AMT-3a Heil Rock Monitors. I grew up with these speakers and always thought they were cool. However they're twin 10" drivers have been re-coned and the Heil AMT is a little screechy... They're great theatre speakers since the 10's can pump the explosions and stuff that movie soundtracks demand...but the L-710's or even the B&W's can beat them in musicality. I also at this point inherited a Phase Linear A-4000 Preamp and a Phase Linear AC-400 Power Amp (were bought with the Heils in the 70's) to replace my reciever. Also got a Boston Vr-12 Center and Boston Vr-12 Di-Pole surrond speakers. (Circa 2002) 2003 I again inhereted equipment, I got an Aragon 4004 Mk-II Power Amp and an Aragon 18k Pre-Amp. 2005 I started working for Klipsch. I am thouroughly impressed by the Klipsch sound. I don't have loads of cash so I've started simply. I bought a Synergy line B-2 Surround system. I've also gotten some Reference Series RSX-5 Bookshelf monitors and a pair of RW-8 subs. As far as accuracy, detail, transience, and relative musicality the RSX-5 is currently my favorite speaker to set listen to. Of course I've also looked into hearing the heratige line...we have the examples that were at CES in the Engineering listening rooms...I've probably bugged the guys downstairs too much. I did happen into a chance to hear the LaScala-II's with a Cayin tube integrated and a Cayin SACD player. They were awesome speakers, I can't wait to hear them again...plus get a chance at the K-horns, Cornwall-III and Heresy-III...all of which are down there. Someone asked about the B&W speakers...and if they're any good. Well it depends on your taste. I think most of you accustomed to the horn sound wouldn't like them. They're very reserved, soft, midrange-oriented speakers...besides I'm sure they aren't designed for nor able to be as effecient as any Klipsch or horn loaded speaker. Compared to the accuracy, transience, and detail of the horn-loaded sound...I find them (B&W's) now lacking...at least my DM-302's. The abilites of the just the RSX-5 in the mids and highs at the price-point are astounding in my book. I've heard such sound from much, much more expensive speakers and equipment. Hearing the LaScala's, the only time I've heard that level of detail and transience is on Electrostatic speakers...but never with the dynamics or subtle clarity (as the Engineer I met pointed out Electrostats are ineffecient by design). I don't dislike my B&W's nor my Dad's Soundlab Millenium-1 'stats...but the horn sound...the Klipsch sound is extremely pleasing and I've enjoyed the speakers I've bought and heard sinch joining the company very much...and they've taken precedence over all my other speakers when I listen to music on my system.

If you want to play around with "isolating" your speaker cable from the carpet just go to the hardware store and get a few architectural glass bricks . After reading something about it, we had some of those lying around so me and my dad threw 'em under the cables...we're not sure if it made any difference but it kinda looks cool?...lol...then again it cost us $0. I also am not sure if the physical connector makes a difference...I use bananna's out of convienence. I'd be extremely hard pressed to say that there were bananna's on a pair of cables as compared to say...spades or bare wire on the lug. On that I'm not sure anyone has mentioned spade terminators. They are a little more convienient than bare wire (since it likes to fray and finding the little hole in the binding post behind your rack might be annoying) but can be tightened down for a secure connection. The only problem is they need to be wide enough for your binding post.

Nordost uses the latter type on their cables...at least they did at one time. I found them to fit alot tighter into the binding post than the traditional bananna. Although I bought some generic monster bananna terminators (of the former type) recently that were super tight... Those latter type are probably tighter fitting in general...especially when they're new. I haven't used the latter type on different cables to attest to any benefit gained by more surface area being in contact with the binding post.

I have an audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro (internal with the front 5.25 bay controls) as I recall it only has the mini jack outputs on the back, and a mini jack digital out. I suppose using a stereo RCA to mini jack Y-adapter in reverse (if it's not long enough then using male-to-male RCA adapters to plug a longer stereo RCA cable to it) you could probably run this output to your amp's stereo RCA inputs. Then your PC's volume controls would manage the system. However I fear something rigged like this might be a noisy connection with a lot of hum in your system. I've connected my PC to my TV doing this and there is always alot of hum in the audio. However I've only plugged such a thing into something that had a pre-stage before it reached an amp. I'd be leery of plugging something like that directly into a good stereo amp...but that's just me If you have a random old reciever or something you could probably rig it as a temporary pre-amp by using it's tape outputs if they are variable?

ELP's recordings are always surprisingly dynamic to me as well (also for their age too). "Tank" and "Lucky Man" on the original Emerson, Lake & Palmer album are two great pieces. The synth feature on the end of "Lucky Man" has a few low frequency dips that can shake the house (and some extreme highs that sound extra clear and pure only on horns...or stuff that's way too expensive). The drum solo by Palmer on "Tank" will provide you with lots of dynamic transient percussive goodness too. I'm looking into hearing more of the new LaScalas down stairs, and I will definately take that one with me "Still...you turn me on" off of Brain Salad Surgery, though is one of my favorite ELP tracks too.

About the BS badge...I have a little replica one with a card with the following info: "Paul W. Klipsch was known for having many eccentricites, including his famous "Bulls#!t" motto. He started using the slogan after reading a competitor's loudspeaker ad that made claims of supposed "breakthroughs". After that, he wore a "Bulls#!t" button behind his lapel and showed it to anyone he felt was making an outlandish claim". I think it's a pretty cool story. I suppose the nameless competitor was like you guys said, Bose. Also, on the Engineering level of the Klipsch building in Indy, there is a mural on the wall which depicts PWK wearing the button on his coat.

Interesting Honestly...that makes a lot of sense. IMHO vinyl played on good, properly set up gear does sound "better" than CD played on equivical digital gear. I can only attribute that to the fact that in some way the recorded audio sample on a vinyl LP has more of the original information from the source stored on it than is captured via PCM.

Goodness! That's an amazing set of articles by PWK! I spent most of my lunch reading them. Thanks for (re)posting them Gil! I might look into seeing if these still exist in our archive (and why wouldn't they). Perhaps this is something we could add to the website for interested people to obtain.

Peak limiting compression like that article about the Rush example is terrible... I remember liking Matchbox20 when they first came out in the 90's and got their CD. Just about every song was a good one except that the CD was mixed "louder is better". I remember thinking it was bad in the car...I tried it on my dad's rig at the time composed of some Martin Logan Re-Quests and a Mark Levinson #336...sounded like pure garbage...white noise. I then took it to my system since At the time I was using an old Phase Linear AC-400 Amp that has LED peak meters on it. They proved to my dispair when I played the CD when they'd just hit the top and stay there. Crazy. I wish the practice would stop... Probably my favorite example of a good "quiet" CD is Dire Straits "Brothers In Arms" it's still one of my favorite albums to evaluate audio gear.

I forget what the bit rate of PCM is exactly but this might help: I mathed based on those numbers (using 1024KB = 1MB)... I got 1536kbps for PCM. I agree with you too...mp3 is good for sitting at a computer or driving in a car. On a good home system however...the compression loss becomes apparent. MP3 and other high compression algorithims take away data for audio frequencies outside the range of "normal" human hearing, it also removes data for complex blended sounds that are hard for the ear to distinguish (meaning we don't really notice they're gone). However the point of "Hi-Fi" audio is to accurately reproduce the recording from the data collected in the studio/recording area...compression defeats that goal.

This is a really interesting discussion. Especially from people who obviously like the (Klipsch) horn sound. While I'm fairly young...I've been into high end audio for at least 10 years...due in large part to my father's interest in high-end audio. I've listened to a lot of speakers, a lot of different speakers. My dad has owned ribbon, planar magnetic, and electrostat speakers. That doesn't begin to list all the types I've heard in "boutique" audio shops including many horn loaded speakers including Klipsch. All of them had strengths and weaknesses. And I think it all comes down to what you think sounds good. I have Klipsch speakers (obviously) and the sound the horns impart is unique. All I can say is that I have a pair of RSX-5's (the compact Cinema-10 Reference series monitors) and they are amazing speakers. They sound like no other speaker I've heard in that size and I like what they do. These speakers have challenged my definition of what an audio system can and/or should sound like. They have also revealed what I can only call "inaccuracies" in the high frequencies of congruent (non-horn loaded) speakers that I have owned for many years. I was a percussionist at one time in school...I've never EVER heard cymbals, bells (aka Glockenspiel), high notes on pianos, things like this sound as good as I have through other speakers in the RSX-5's class...or on speakers that cost double, triple, or some exponential factor of the price range of the RSX-5 with better upstream electronics behind them than I can afford. So I suppose they might be "colored" but not simply because they are horn loaded on the top end frequencies. Speaker Cabinents, Ports on them, grilles even...ALSO placement, room acoustics, things in rooms, can all "color" the sound no matter what type of technology is employed. It's how that sound is colored when it gets to our ears and if we like it that is important. In that I certainly disagree that Horn-loaded speakers are at any disadvantage to any other type of speaker. Unless you just can't decide what color of finish to choose...lol I don't know about any other audiophiles (I noticed that's almost a bad word around here) like myself, but if someone claiming to be knowledgable about audio made a blanket stament discounting horn speakers based on the assumption of coloration I'd be tempted to show them my copy of PWK's little yellow BS badge

Hmm...I was just paruzing the forums looking for anything I might need to address and this thread caught my eye...not because of any administration task but the topic was generally interesting. I read most of the posts...and I suppose that it all really depends on what you like to hear. However I really liked the post by mobile homeless on the previous page to this one. I thought that was quite an eloquent argument and explanation as to why one might chose not to have tone controls in one's system. Personally I agree with a minimalist approach. Adding more circuits to the singal path seems to only cause distortion or coloration unless you are using gear of the highest quality...I don't think I've heard any gear with tone controls that I liked better when using said controls. In my experience truly well designed speakers and gear, properly set up, in a properly adjusted room, and properly chosen speakers coupled with a subwoofer if/when necessary...(ie buy speakers with lower bass response if that's the point...not blast the bass and switch in the loudness on a pair of budget bookshelves with 5" drivers...they're never really going to do 40Hz if they were designed to roll off below 72)...do more than any tone controls can. I know many use the controls or EQ's to dial in a recording...and it makes more sense with digital, I mean with CD you kind of just have to go with how it's mixed and recorded or try with different DACs. However I know analog guys that have whole lists of tone arm and cartridge adjustments that they dial in for different LP's...just adjusting stylus angles can have huge changes in frequency response of the recording... Well...for me if tone controls are available on a piece of gear I audition in my listening system...I generally don't use them and set them to whatever is neutral (0, "noon" position, etc...) Currently my Aragon 18k doesn't have tone controls...and neither does my father's Chenin pre. In fact for a while we went so far as to remove the necessity of a pre from his system by using a Wadia CD player, which has the ability to adjust the volume of it's outputs and can be coupled directly to any amp. However crossover tone controls on a speaker are a different story. Often they must be set to some setting. I have an old pair of ESS speakers that have Heil top drivers and they have a "brilliance" control on the crossover...it only has three positions...and I do adjust it to soft. There's no way I can get around it without removing and replacing the crossover anyway. Anyway I only take this approach on a system set up to provide a good 2.0 listening experience. On most smaller systems for general ambient music I'll jigger with tone controls.

Probably someone that has experience with our in wall products in the architectural forum can help you. Topic moved to Architectural...

Moved to Modifications...

Yeah, I think you'll enjoy using your HT setup for gaming. There are a lot of games that are even set up in surround sound. Looks like you might like the Final Fantasy games since your avatar is one of the characters. I know FF-9 (even back on the playstation) was encoded for 5.1 surround. I've been using an Arcam Xeta-2 Surround processor and Aragon Amp/Pre in my HT for a while and with a lot of different speakers: e.g. Klipsch, ESS-Heil, A/D/S, Boston, Etc... Never had a lick of trouble (related to a console). Heck even a Super Nintendo sounds good in stereo with the surrounds switched out...lol. Have fun gaming