Don Richard

B*S*... I like it! IIRC the midband efficiency of the 901s wasn't bad, about 94dB or so. Bass efficiency was around 86dB. Bass distortion with the B*S* equalizer in use exceeded 100% below 30 Hz. [:^)]

Pro sound speaker cable is usually SJ #12 ga., plenty good enough for runs up to 50 ft. Normally the pre-made pro cables have Speakons or 1/4 in. phone plugs as connectors. For a lower cost option, Parts Express cat #100-024 gets you 50ft of 12 ga. for about $30, cut it to length, and put the appropriate connectors for your equipment.

Early reflections + direct sound = smeared transients, comb filtering, bad freq response. Later reflections = ambience, diffused sound, less combing, more even freq response. Acoustical phenomena, such as comb filtering and its effects, cannot be undone once they occur. You will hear these effects whether you are in or out of the room where the speakers are located. BTW, if one can get the early reflections at the listening position to be more than 12 - 15 milliseconds then you can hear the detail of early reflections in the recording studio from floor bounce, etc. It amuses me to no end to hear people say that a certain amplifier or other electronic component "brings out inner detail" when their speaker setup masks such detail so that it cannot be heard.

Axial Q accurately describes the way that the direct sound field propagates into the room. It is a single number that describes the polar pattern of the speaker better than "nominal 90 deg H". A pattern control horn (high axial Q) keeps more sound off the walls until it travels some distance, There are less early reflections from the horn, thus creating clearer, less smeared sound whether you are in the room or not. When I had LaScalas they sounded just like the Khorns outside the listening room when playing equal SPLs.

Axial Q accurately describes the way that the direct sound field propagates into the room. It is a single number that describes the polar pattern of the speaker better than "nominal 90 deg H". A pattern control horn (high axial Q) keeps more sound off the walls until it travels some distance, There are less early reflections from the horn, thus creating clearer, less smeared sound whether you are in the room or not. When I had LaScalas they sounded just like the Khorns outside the listening room when playing equal SPLs.

The answer to why Khorns sound like real music in another room is simple - SPL. You are about as far as you can get from a speaker when it is cornered. To output a given SPL at the listening position the corner horn system would have to be louder than speakers located closer (not in the corners). In fact, if the corner horns are twice the distance from the listening position compared to the other speakers, the corner horn's output would have to be 6 dB SPL louder to equal the other speakers output at the listening position. In this case, the sound would be nearly 6 dB louder at any given point throughout the building outside of the listening room, compared to the other speaker. Other factors may include the high axial Q ( directivity index) of the Khorn as well as lower distortion at high SPL.

Your room is not too small, the speakers you want are too big! I've heard Khorns in a small room and compared to the same speakers in a 24x19 foot room, well, no comparison. If you think you will move into a bigger space fairly soon, go ahead but don't expect wonders. If you plan on staying where you're at for some time, get smaller speakers. The room gain alone, never mind boundary cancellations, portend bad results with Khorns.

Two LS should cover 200 for all but the very loudest (110+dB SPL) show. Arrayable speakers have less than 90 deg. horizontal coverage, usually 60 deg. or less. Flat-fronting a pair of LS per side will result in terrible comb filtering and spotty/uneven coverage.

I've used LaScalas in the past for PA and two LS is far from what would be required to cover 500-1000 peeps. Adding more LS won't work well either because they are not designed to be arrayed and 200-300 is about the max for two.

Try checking the tightness of the bolts holding the woofers. While doing that, check the gasket on the access door. Air leaks can ruin the bass on a horn loaded woofer such as the LaScala's. Years ago I bought a pair of LS that had been used as a PA in a church, and found this to be a problem with them. It may be wise to do this on an annual basis if you play your system loudly, regardless of loudspeaker type.

My wife had a pair of original 901s when we got married. These speakers were no match in any way to my Khorns. We put the Bose in another room, set up exactly as prescribed in the manual. I could not stand to be in that room when the 901s were on. The sound from these boxes can only be described as a crime against sound reproduction. The early reflections off the walls smeared the transient attack and caused comb filtering which created a wierd sort of "phaseyness" to the sound. Around that time these Bose were popular sellers, mostly to people unfamiliar with truly good sound. Many were installed in bars and restaurants in our area. We would go into a restaurant and a short time after we arrived I would start to feel uncomfortable for no apparent reason. Then I would look up and see the reason... right there on the speakers ... BOSE. I had an open bet that I could be blindfolded, led into a room with 901s and other speakers present, and identify when the 901s were switched on. I never lost a bet. People would just be raving about these audio atrocities, so I would invite them over. I would play the music of their choice, first on the Khorns, then on the Bose. I dare say that during that time I was responsible, due to these demos, for more Klipsch sales than the dealers in the area were. The direct/reflecting design of the 901 is fundamentally flawed. and making the enclosures of plastic and using a vented alignment won't help a bit. When I hear one of these pieces of **** today I still experience a strong feeling of something not being right, of something being very wrong. Tests run by PWK and others have shown very high levels of distortion and lowered intelligibility compared to most other designs. Of course, I am spoiled. Listening to Khorns for 40 years tends do that to you.

Without knowing the compliance of the cartridge it won't be possible to accurately answer your question. A stiff compliance on an arm with more mass will cause more wear. Highly polished styli cause less record wear in either case. None of this matters much if the record is not cleaned properly.

Actually, tube equipment is used in some studio mic preamp designs. It is used to "warm up" the sound, usually on vocals, but not exclusively. Harmonic distortion is added as a creative tool to make a more pleasing sound, much like the tubes in a guitar amp are used for. This has nothing to do with damping factor. High or low DF has no effect on non-linearities that cause distortion.

The amp that they used was a hand built single-ended Class A solid state unit. It was judged by critical listening not to have a tube-like until the series resistors were added. Apparently, loose control of the woofer causes some of the tube magic that people hear.

Tests were run in the 70s by (I think) High Fidelity Magazine where a 1 or 2 ohm resistor was inserted in series with the speaker line. This reduced damping factor and caused the solid state amp they used to sound more like a tube amp.

The Khorn, LaScala, and Jubilee all use different flare rates throughout. The LS is an interesting standout in that it uses a 60 Hz flare throat section and a 125 Hz terminal (mouth) section for an overall Fc of approx. 70 Hz. Not the usual configuration, and was likely done to allow the use of the same driver, throat opening, and crossover/slope as the Khorn, an economic decision, I presume.

PWK used what he called a "rubber throat", a section of horn segment with a rapid initial flare followed by a slower flare rate. The Khorn has 2 such "anomalies",IIRC, from a perfect exponential flare. If you want to augment bass in a LS the best thing to do is to put it against a wall or in a corner.

Interesting article, indeed. I would expect a lot of agreement, disagreement, and debate on this one.

I am looking for suggestions on an outboard D/A converter. Preferably one that supports multiple sample rates. TIA

The K-55/Atlas PD-5V is one of the few drivers I know of that can go down to 300Hz. It has a 1" threaded connection.

I just got my 980 in yesterday and hooked it up to the system. At first it sounded somewhat harsh and "electronic". RTFM, and I saw the instructions on the "audio only" function. After I tried it the sound smoothed out nicely, very nicely. I spent half the night listening to CDs, just couldn"t quit. Really big bang for the buck.

It would weigh 10 more pounds.

Yup

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