dhtman

Thanks. Klipsch breaking into the UK is a long story. At the first attempt back in the 70s, Klipsch suffered (as did Yahama with their excellent NS1000M) from their speakers being paired with contemporary solid state amps which were quite bright. The UK fashions in speakers at the time were flat frequency response and time alignment. The Klipsch speakers sounded bright and colored in comparison so were easy to pigeon-hole and dismiss (which is always a good thing for magazines whose hidden agenda is to look after the home manufacturers). Those perceptions from thirty years ago still influence the graying generation who bought into audio during the golden years of vinyl. Klipsch is re-entering the UK via the computer music market - pc speakers and ipod docks - the distributor is strong in computer peripherals. Probably a good strategy when you consider that they are winning sales to young consumers who might stay with the brand for another 30 years or so. Like any market, it's pyramid shaped and the volume is at the lower price points, not with Palladiums, Heritage and Jubilees. Ralph

Thanks guys for the mention and congratulations. We have had an agreement with Klipsch Europe to import the Jubilee, as there has not been a UK distributor for Klipsch. That is now changing however I'm hopeful that I will be able to continue with the Jubilee niche whilst working with the importer on other Klipsch home audio lines. I had a very positive discussion with their head of sales a few days ago. Ralph

I know! 20,000 circulation per month in the UK plus 5,000 to Asia/Australasia. They estimate a readership of 35,000 per month, but that probably includes dentists' waiting rooms several years after publication! Ralph

You're right not to trust the visual appearance of the record (unless using a microscope!) Noise is a function of the set-up geometry, the stylus contour, and the table design. First though, is the underside of your headshell absolutely parallel to the record surface or even a tad pivot end low? If the VTA is too high you will get more groove noise. Your Technics isn't the last word in isolation - you will be picking up reflected resonances from the platter. A graphite mat from Boston Acoustics might cure that. Likewise, you could try putting the table on a massier support - stone or multiple layers of plywood or best, a sand box. I have a record cleaner that's similar to the Acoustech and it has cleaned up loads of my garage sale LPs - only two were genuinely worn smooth and didn't improve from being washed. If you trade the convenience a hand brush from VPI working on a flat surface can achieve good results. People over at Audiogon are swearing by those hand-held steam cleaners that you see in Walmart - steam does good things in drawing small particles out and also seems to reduce static. Another thing to try is rinsing your records in clean water after you have washed them (if you aren't already) As in all audiotweakery though, change one variable at a time and check its effect. You don't need to spend $4k on a table - $3250 on a Galibier Serac would get you where you want to be! dhtman

Chris, thanks for pointing me in the direction of this thread. I think of my music collection as a diary - specific albums are related to events in my youth and it's great to go back and play them, just as some folks like to get out their old photo albums. I'm finding that some of my old rock stuff doesn't move me as it used to - and that's partly because my tastes are more sophisticated now. With my current system, I'm conscious of poor recordings and bad mastering - the lack of dynamics and where the bass has been cut to squeeze more music onto each side of the record. An example would be the bands Mott the Hoople and Sad Cafe which sounded great on an entry level stereo but sound flat and lifeless on my current rig. I think the reality is that we tend to think that the system we own is "good" and we enjoy our music at that level of reproduction, even though it may be colored and smeary. As we improve the quality of the components we own, the better records stand further ahead of the average. I have also found that some records sound way better that I remembered them - the detail is revealed in songs that I now enjoy which I dismissed as boring "filler" tracks on earlier systems. Examples are Kate Bush's first album and Emerson, Lake and Palmer's first LP. The old cliche about hearing things you hadn't heard before in familiar recordings is true. With classical music it depends on the recording/performance. I have a great version of the Rite of Spring (Barenboim on DG) which is thrilling to listen to but there are also a few classical records that are gray and lifeless that I can't play. Finally, I now play music that I would have run a mile from. Travelling regularly to the US I made an effort to understand bluegrass (because I have friends who rave about it) and I now play and enjoy the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - their records really come to life on a good system.

Thanks for your support Bob. I've posted here previously that I was blown away by the La Scalas I heard at the Heathrow show about 30 years ago. UK audiophiles were very insular back then and there is less resistance to "foreign" manufacturers now. Having worked in several US-owned corporations (and consulted to a few more) I can understand how Klipsch found it tough to break into this market. Just because we speak the same language (almost) the psychology is quite different. You would never be successful here by replicating your home market business model in the UK! If someone at Klipsch wants to discuss my thoughts and ideas, I would be very happy to engage. I'm a real fan of the Klipsch brand and would love to see the company build more of a presence in the UK hi fi market.

Thanks Mark. The system was: Galibier Gavia belt drive turntable, fitted with an Artisan Audio Capriccio tone arm. The phono cartridge was the Soundsmith SG-610 strain gauge cartridge/preamp system. Amplification was by Quicksilver Audio - the new(ish) Full Function Preamp and 300B Single Ended monoblocks. Interconnects were Petra Music Boys and the speaker cable was Van Damme Studio Blue. No power conditioning or fancy IEC cables. dhtman

Day two went really well again. I had so many comments that our system sounded closer to real live music than anything else. I must also say that with the system we were using, the Jubilees are viciously intolerant of mediocre recordings. I played some CDs that visitors brought in and some of them sounded terrible - obviously distorted vocals, abysmal sibilants. Sadly the people who brought these along will have decided that my system was poor! Here's a direct quote from "Technobear" on the hifiwigwam board: "The Klipsch Jubilee cinema speakers in the Artisan Audio room were superb. So naturally, effortlessly good. If you have a room that can accommodate these, they are a must hear at the price.The rest of the kit was clearly up to the job. I've never heard of Soundsmith or Artisan or Galibier before but I think we'll be hearing those names some more in future if this was anything to go by. Very good." Warms the cockles of my heart! dhtman

Which brands? Galibier Design turntables, Quicksilver Audio amplification, the Soundsmith range of cartridges, electronics and loudspeakers, and most recently Discovery Cables. There are some outstanding audio innovators in the US who really work hard to push the boundaries and I'm really pleased to be working with this group. Whilst there is some truly woeful audio manufactured in the US, there is also some of the very best. The challenge is the commercial nature of the business - where your product is only as good as your advertising spend! The best products are never advertised! dhtman

This is a sequel to the "My Jubilee Adventure" post from fall 2006. I have been dabbling in turntable/arm/cartridge set up for a long time and the Jubilees were attractive because they are very revealing of set-up errors. I also figured that demonstrating my work would be enhanced with such distinguished speakers. Things have moved on since then and my activity has evolved into importing several niche US audio brands to the UK. To the extent that I have been exhibiting at the London Heathrow Hi Fi Show this weekend. The room looks like this: I have posted announcements on three UK audio discussion boards and there has been a gentle build up of curiosity. I was pretty confident after setting up last night because I knew I had got the cartridge absolutely spot-on. The room is fairly well damped and not too lively. Today though we did have a problem with a buzz, caused by a loose window fitting, but I have to watch the levels and resist the temptation to turn up the wick! Today was the first day, and after the first hour our room was full through til late afternoon. Because the speakers sound different to small boxes (the UK norm) I was anticipating that people wouldn't get it. In actual fact, from the hundreds who came through, I had four critical and conflicting comments, which I think says as much about their preferences as our show system. Several people said they thought we had the best room in the show and judging from the length of time people were staying and the numbers who kept coming back, that's really encouraging. My favourite comment was from a German gentleman who said "It's exceptional. Anyone with ears would tell that. That's if they used their ears that is!" I decided to risk injury and run the expense of hiring a larger vehicle to ship them to the show because I knew they would create an impression. I predicted that people who like their music to sound live and dynamic, with emotion would love them. And those for whom listening to music is a cerebral and analytical process would not. Thanks to the quality of the accompanying electronics and turntable I think we've achieved an outcome where people have recognised the quality of all the components in the system. And they will remember the name Artisan Audio. I couldn't have asked for more! dhtman

I agree about Marcus Miller's Silver Rain - the first two cuts are an awesome demonstration of deep bass. I also use James Taylor's Gaia from Hourglass - tests transient response on the drum roll in the verse after the soprano sax solo. Dire Straits' Telegraph Road and Private Investigation. I like using Emerson Lake and Palmer's first album, side one, on vinyl - piano, organ, drum solos, some very complex arrangements. And Supertramp's Crime of the Century. DMP cds are well recorded - my fave Flim and the BBs is New Pants.

I ran mine active for a year until an audio designer friend persuaded me to build and try the passive networks. I'm very happy with them running passive. Whilst I know the theory that there should be a delay on the HF, the reality is that they sound pretty good without that time correction. R

Mr-b, Richard has made contact and I have emailed you at the address you gave to him. You really don't want to make a decision before hearing the Jubilees. They aren't just another pair of speakers! Richard, you could have safely bet far more than lunch!

I have an '80s Koetsu Black (that I bought original with a Linn LP12 and FR64). I had it re-tipped about a year ago and still use it. The Koetsu line is sometimes described as "lush" although that's an exaggeration IMO. The Black certainly has a very lucid mid range, bass extension isn't the deepest however detail retrieval is very good. I have mine tracking at around 2 grams. If you are buying new, I would steer you towards the Dynavector XX-2 (which I also have). It's a better cartridge - more neutral, deeper and "faster" bass and better dynamic attack on transients and for around the same outlay.

NO WAY!! They are keepers! These are the perfect (sounding) speakers I've been looking for over the last 20 years or so. They tick all the boxes - dynamic, flat frequency response, revealing, detailed, play loud, play whisper quiet. I couldn't imagine anything bettering them. I'm having loadsa fun, re-discovering my record and cd collection anew and trying out a few different combinations of pre and power amps and swapping tone arms and cartridges in and out of my system. The Jubs are very revealing of differences between components. I have discovered one flaw though - with my old speakers I could listen at about 76 dB late into the night after my wife went up to bed. Now if I do the same the Jubs are putting out so much bass energy that it drowns out the TV in the bedroom and I get told to turn it down. Who called these teenagers speakers? d