Q-Man

I have a lot going on in my system, and I used to have hum and buzzing coming from my speakers. For all my long runs ( 35' and more) I switched to RG6 Quad shieled coaxial cable with RCA conectors. I did this about three years ago and now you can put your ear to all ten speakers plus subwoofer and not hear a thing. I even put some of the cables in conduit, but that may have been over kill?

When I said that I give up, I ment that I give up trying to post links to web sites. Although, since I finished my speakers a couple of years ago I havn't been on the Forum that much. But, I do have one bass horn that I want to mess with one of these days. I fell in love with Klipschorns when I was 12 years old. My next door neighbor had a pair. I've been seeking that same sound ever since then. The thing is, he was using McIntosh tube amps. I kept tweaking speakers to get that sound. Now that I have the speakers voiced the way that I like, I guess the tubes have to come next. I bought my McIntosh SS amps hopeing that would do it. Then too, those were the days of turn tables, before digital CD's.

To me this in your face sound does't occur untill you hit 100 to 110 dB on the rat shack sound level meter in my room. I listen to music at 96 to 100 dB.all the time. When I want to feel all the energy I crank it up to a min. of 104 dB. You can only listen to it at these levels for about 10 min. at a time. Then you have to give your ears a break. Again, this is when the sound begins to over power you and gets in your face and is even scarry. I havn't found the max. volume of my system in my room. It seems like it can keep going without distorting. It gets dangerous, because the music still sounds so clean and clear. You need to check the sound level meter and only go to these levels for short sessions. I'm used to looking at the meters on the amps. When I see a constent 10 to 20 watts with peeks at around 150 I know that I'm at around 104 dB in my room. For me, I am there. There will be no more tweaking of the speakers. The sound is to my taste and one that I have been seeking for many years. Amps may be another story, because I have never tried tubes.

I give up.

Vincent Audio - SP-331 Hybrid Power Amplifier Item Number: VISP331 Regular Price: $1,299.95 Options Black $1,199.95Silver $1,199.95 Quantity Bookmark This Page! Refer this page to a friend Description Features Specifications Reviews Matching Products Customer Reviews The Absolute Sound "Best Tube Amplifier" 2008/2009 "Power Amplifier of the Year" The Absolute Sound Magazine "Editors' Choice" Award, The Absolute Sound, 2007 "Best-sounding Sub-$1,200 Amp I've Heard" Vincent's SP-331 wins the "Power Amplifier of the Year" award in the January 2008 issue of The Absolute Sound magazine. "Plan on using a very good preamp in order to hear what the high-resolution Vincent can really do," suggests Chris Martens. "One of the Sweetest Deals in Audio" The Absolute Sound magazine rated the Vincent SP-331 as the "Best Tube Amplifier" in the Winter 08 / Spring 09 issue, calling it "one of the best-sounding power amplifiers we're heard in the sub-[twelve-hundred-dollar]-category." "Let me not mince words," says Martens in the August 2007 issue of The Absolute Sound. "The SP-331 is the best-sounding sub-$1200 amplifier I've yet heard, and I therefore regard it as one of the sweetest deals in high-end audio today." "Richness and Subtlety" The October 2007 issue ofThe Absolute Sound magazine awarded the Vincent SP-331 its "Editors' Choice" recommendation. "It combines the richness and subtlety of fine tube designs -- especially through the midrange -- with the sheer low-frequency grunt, control, and agility of a good solid-state amplifier." No Nonsense Luxury in a Hybrid Tube Design Its front panel design says elegance. Its gorgeous chassis testifies to the premium build quality. And its sound… well, its sound is a little slice of heaven, combining the legendary warmth of tube electronics with the speed, control, and reliability of solid-state designs. The words 'no nonsense' and 'luxurious' usually don't go together, but the Vincent SP-331 power amplifier is a rule breaker. Thanks to German engineering, the look and sound are clean as a whistle. And the price is far less than you would expect to pay for a component of this high quality. Plenty of Power, Oodles of Style The SP-331 boasts a power delivery of 150-watts-per-channel at eight ohms, and a full 300-watts-per-channel at four ohms. That means you harness plenty of 'oomph' for the full effect of realistic orchestral crescendos and complex music passages. And when added to a home theater system, the SP-331 is pure audio dynamite for film scores and special effects. You can't do better than a hybrid circuit design when it comes to appealing audio performance. The SP-133 offers the best of both vacuum tube and solid state technology. The input stage relies on two 6N16 tubes for liquid, effortless sounding audio. The output stage gets its muscle from six Toshiba transistors per channel. A Titan of a Power Supply A mighty power amp requires a titan of a power supply, and that's exactly what's on tap with the Vincent. Its precision-designed oversize toroidal core transformer of 1,000-watts x 2 offers energy storage capacity of 80,000 µF per channel. In fact, the power supply will even accommodate speaker loads of two ohms without any difficulty. Two pairs of high-quality speaker binding posts give you bi-wiring options. The rear panel also includes a connection for the included IEC-style power cord, one pair of unbalanced RCA-style inputs, and a replaceable fuse. Hybrid vacuum tube / solid-state power amplifier German engineered Input stage: 2 6N16 tubes per channel Output stage: 12 Toshiba transistors per channel Oversize toroidal core transformer of 1,000-watts x 2 80,000 µF per channel power reserves Two pairs of high-quality speaker binding posts Rear-panel replaceable fuse IEC-style power cord Frequency range: 10 Hz – 20 kHz, +/- 0.5 dB Nominal output power 8 Ohm: 2 x 150 Watt Nominal output power 4 Ohm: 2 x 300 Watt Input sensitivity: 1.2 V Total harmonic distortion: < 0.1 % max. (1 kHz, 1 Watt) Signal-to-Noise Ratio: > 90 dB Input Impedance: 47 kOhm Inputs: 2 x RCA Outputs: 4 x 2 speaker terminals Dimensions: 17" wide, 6.3" high, 17.7" deep Weight: 41.5 lbs. "Vincent's SP-331 amp, like its SA-31 preamp, has midrange subtlety and richness in spades. Connect the SP-331 with a sufficiently revealing preamplifier… and the Vincent will reward you with vivid midrange tonal colors and a delightfully holographic 3-D presentation that reveals the finely contoured edges of notes…" "The SP-331 does more things right than any other sub-$1200 amplifier I've heard." - Chris Martens, The Absolute Sound, August 2007 Matching Hybrid Preamp Click here to review this item! Home | Free Catalog | Satisfaction Guarantee | Free Shipping | Brands | About Us | Contact Us |

Never mind, this link didn't work either. Sorry

One company that I've been looking at is http://www.Vincentaudio.com.au They have what they call Hybrid amps., the best of tubes and solid state in one amp. I've been reading about them in Absolute Sound and Audio Adviser. The price is cheap compared to McIntosh. I may have to try one.

I use the K-Horn base horns, and for the midrange I use the Altec 311-90 horns and the Altec 290-16K drivers. The tweeters are the JBL 2404-H models. A custom network was designed for these speakers. I experimented with a number of midrange horns and drivers before making my final desision to use the ones mentioned above. The results are a much smoother, warmer, cleaner and open sounding top end. The harshness & ringing sound of the stock Klipschorn is gone. I use 10 channels of solid state McIntosh power amps. 2) MC202 two channel power amps with 200 watts per channel. 1) MC206 six channel power amp with 200 watts per channel. The MC202 sounds nicer then the six channel power amp. I tried lesser power McIntosh amps 80 to 120 watts per channel, but at high volume listening levels the power guard circuits would light up telling me that I was clipping the amps. This occurred with bass heavy material. The McIntosh amps give me a warmer sound on top and tighter & louder bass then what I tried before. I never heard any Mark Levinson amps. I sit back about 18' from the mains and center channel. The rears are about 10' behind me, and the side surrounds are about 8' from me and slightly behind. I gave someone a demo about a year ago, and one of his comments was this. " The sound is right here." As he held his hand 1' in front of his face. This statement to me doesn't mean that the sound is harsh. My McIntosh dealer & Frank at Audio Classics both tell me that I should move up to the MC252 or 352 amps, not because I need more power, but because the sound improves again with these amps. I want to try this someday.

The only released universal Blu Ray player I am aware of is the Denon DVD-A1UDCI with an MSRP of $3,800 . I'm holding out for the OPPO. I was also reading about the Denon. It is the first player that I have seen that does it all. Others should be coming out soon. Before I pay $3,800.00 I'll keep my existing SACD & DVD-Audio player and just add a new Blu-Ray player. If I see prices around $ 1,500.00 to $ 2,000.00 for a model that does it all, then I may go for one.

They are a young company with growing pains. They never expected their subs to take off the way they did. I've had my Conquest for a while now. I bought mine when they made a move into a larger building, so they could keep up with all the orders that they were receiving. I think it's time for them to make another move for the same reason. It's nice to see one business doing so well in this economy. They are a great company, don't worry about them. I did find in the past that it was best to call them instead of using email.

William is right. The surround will press up againts the motorboard just by screwing it onto it. The K-33 is cheap $$$$$. It also will work better then a much more expensive woofer. Keep reading the forum. You will see that some of us have replaced the mid. range drivers, horns, tweeters, networks., but we still all use the K-33. The parts we use are also much more expensive then the ones that Klipsch uses. Not the other way around.

As stated above, read the artical about HDMI cables on Bluejean's web site. I don't remember if the artical is on their site or they have a lint to it there. I use one of their 35' long cables to reach my tv and it works fine.

Great looking veneer, and job. If your not hiding something in the base horn I would get rid of the grill cloth there, and show more of the wood. The veneer is to nice to cover up.

John, Same to you. I did send you a couple of emails, and never heard back.

Subwoofer???? This University base horn is hotter then the Klipschorn and LaScalla, it is about 107 or 8 db vs. 104db. It is also cleaner sounding. But it drops off fast below 50 or 60 Hz. I don't remember the exact number, I would have to look at my old notes. If you want to use it to cover the range between 50 to 120 Hz. it will do a great job. Then get a POWERFULL sub to handle below 50.

I agree, you can't beat this sub for the money.

I didn't realize how much I was missing untill I got the Conquest.

Now that may be what we have been asking for, for a long time now. You came close with the 12 " KW-120 THX sub pair, but no cigar. Not for the Heritage line anyway. I'm glad that your skipping over 15" drivers, like I thought would be your next move, and going right to 18" drivers. The 18's should fill in the bottom end that the KW-120 is missing.

Not yet, but soon. I've been waiting for the processor pre-amps to hit the market and they are just now starting to. I'm into it for the HD audio and not many processors were passing it over HDMI1.3. I can't wait for Blu Ray to start releasing the concert and music videos that I now have on DVD. That's what I listen to and watch a lot. I may be going with the 60" Kuro, and the Parasound Halo C-3 processor whan it comes out. Not to sure about the Blu Ray player yet, but they too are just begining to do the HD-Audio.

Then let me say a little more about the Conquest. After living with it for some time now I wouldn't suggest any less of a sub to go with Klipschorns or LaScalas. This will also depend on your room size. My room is about 17' x 50' and is open to a 16' x 20' room that can be closed off by flimsy double doors that I usually leave open. Normal listening for me is between 88 and 94 db on the Rat Shack meter. I can now enyoy listening at around the 85 db level, because the Conquest will fill the room on the low end. Before nothing under 94db would please me. I still prefer levels at around 94 db. When I'm into something that I like the listening level goes up to 104db. The Sunfire could keep up in volume up to 94, then it would't go any louder. The Conquest will allow me to listen to levels up to 110 db in my room. This is around the level where the Klipschorns will keep going, but the Conquest won't. So, I could use another one if I want more head room. My McIntosh amp meters read around a steady 1 watt per channel ( I have 10 channels ), at 88 db. When at 94 db the meters show a steady 2 to 5 watts. To get to 104db. I have to feed the Klipschorns a steady 20 watts. At 107 to 110 db, which is too loud to listen to for long, the Conquest won't increase in volume, but the Klipschorns will.

EAR I only have one Signature. I was going to keep it and try it as a center channel sub, but the more I heard the Conquest I decided "What's the point ? " I'm sure that the Conquest will best 2 Signature's in output and the Signature's won't dig as deep. I now hear and feel things that have opened my eyes, or should I say EARS ? BUT, you know this. I've been wanting to buy a different sub for years now. Every time I was ready to buy a new subwoofer I would read about one that just came out and was better then the one that I was going to buy. I was all set to go with the JL sub, then I found Craigs sub list on the AVS forum. I agree, no more tiny subs. jdm56 I too almost went with 2 MFW-15's from AV123. One Conquest will best 2 MFW-15's. I think in both output and down low. I think that I remember that the output of 2 MFW-15's was close to the Conquest. I was afraid that if 2 MFW-15's didn't keep up with my 6 Klipschorns and 4 LaScalas that I would have to buy 2 more. My gamble with 1 Conquest ment that I would only have to buy one more Conquest if I felt that I needed more. I'm running out of room and places to put speakers.

I'm getting ready to make the move to the new video and audio formats. The DTC 9.8 has been getting good reviews. I'm now using the Parasound Halo C1 and have been waiting to see what Parasound brings to the table. I like the sound of the C1 so I have to check out the C3. I use the C1's extra channels to send sound to an extra pair of LaScalas that I use for front effect speakers. I think the C3 also has some extra channels, but I don't think you can program them as well as the C1 lets you. The C1 sold for $ 6,000.00, so $ 3,500.00 sounds good for a C3.

The Epik Conquest does a great job, and it's cheap. A $1600.00 sub that can hang with LaScalas and Klipschorns. I like it so much I want to buy another one, but I don't need to. WWW.epiksubwoofers.com

I think the Conquest, hands down. Tom Nousaine said this, " The Conquest exceeds that of any commericial product I've ever measured. And it's a home audio sub. Craigsub's blind listening test rated the Conquest for it's sound quality and it was above the likes of some heavy hitters. Velodyne, JL Audio, SVS.

You can't see the support. I bought some metal "L" brackets and made a wood base to support the driver and horn. The driver weights about 25 lbs. and the horn even more. The horn isn't made to be built into a cabinet. It has holes in it to be used with nuts and bolts for hanging it from a ceiling or rig. You can see some pictures of the back on John Warren's web site. Look under Technical Questions for Jensen Imperial Question. There is a link to his site. You can't see the two front supports.