HornEd

Just back with my honey from our honeymoon Tahitian style... nice place for basking but a wee short on fully horn-loaded honeymoon suites ...but fortunately, we were able to make beautiful music together and the beat goes on... but now with the Joy of multiple Klipschorns and an admitted shortage of palms (particularly outstretched ones!). Wow, these Forum threads never cease to amaze! To think, I am older than Dr. Bill and was exposed to my first Klipschorn a year earlier in the North Beach (S.F., CA) garret of a "beatnik" friend a bit down on his luck. Notice I said "Klipschorn"... singular... for stereo had not reached San Francisco yet! I had already begun my experimentation with an acrid old 16" woofer with a center mounted horn midrange rescued from a theater fire... but this Klipsch fully horn-loaded corner bound masterpiece got my entrepreneurial fires glowing like nothing had before! Oh, yeah, the first tune I heard on that big old Khorn was a new release by Les & Larry Elgart called Sophisticated Swing. Thats so long ago, Bill Russell and the Jones boys were playing basketball for USF and watching them live had been my peak life-experience until I heard the silky sound of that big, sweet-smelling Khorn I sold everything I could even my amp! My brains fully horn-loaded memory gave me my first taste of self-induced, unrestrained goal directed behavior that has never been equaled until a certain Swiss Miss bought a pair of Khorns and a Belle for me as an indication that she was willing to become my Swiss Mrs. Needless to say, that grand old Khorn replaced old smoky in the garage out back that I had turned into a listening room much to the dismay of our immediate neighbors. My first tribute to PWK genius was liberated on the home front when, years later, I was otherwise occupied in a war zone. But the ear-comfort fare of Klipschorn induced sound has become the essence of nest-building for this fully horn-loaded addict! This thread started out by bringing back another old memory about thirty-five (or so) years ago, I had a pair of Khorns with a LaScala in the middle in an all masonry clubhouse on a piece of property I was developing in San Antonio, Texas, after my discharge from the Army Medical Corps at Fort Sam Houston. The memory was having Les Elgart, who was living in Texas (later died in Dallas) and a friend of the late Jim Cullum, Sr., (whos jazz band at "The Landing" on San Antonios River Walk went on to Dixieland fame and fortune... now led by his son, Jim Cullum, Jr.) dig the sounds of my jazz collection on three-channel stereo (a la PWK and Bell Labs). In those days I had just thirty-six acres on which a mini-resort and private club had been built. The five tree-lined, well stocked, bass fishing ponds and a small dammed-up stream were a peaceful retreat for Les and his brother from the hassle of trying to keep big bands together. I remember the time when my partner rented out the old clubhouse to a band while I was shingling a roof of a new building that was being constructed on our campground prior to the San Antonio Worlds Fair in 1968. They had four road-weary LaScalas fed by Crown amps and they nearly blew me off the roof from 300 yards away! They had recorded a song that started out with Sugar Pie and it was LOUD!!! And the happy smoke that drifted out of their practice session was nothing like the acrid smell of old smoky from my teenage years. Be they famous or not, my first venture out of the service was not going to pot and the band played on elsewhere. And, ah yes, Gils comments on not buying new Klipsch products also rang a bell for in my early years and even now for the sport of it I relish picking up grand old Klipsch products that have been treated kindly over the years. But, I must admit, I also have bought a couple dozen or so brand new from dealers here and abroad. Sometimes the desire for the Klipsch sound for a person of multiple households just wont wait for the right speaker deal to come along. -HornEd PS: Of course, the precision, passion and writing style of Gil on this Forum have, no doubt, stirred many a soul to hurry down to his local Klipsch dealer and get an ear-taste of the audio banquet Gill has described in his thoroughly juicy prose.

Thank you one and all! I have survived the wedding cake ('though it did not survive)... and survived the happy tears of our guests that the specially written ceremony brought forth... and now, as dawn approaches, it seems that I shall survive the wedding night... just got up to take heart with a few pills and a Forum fix... and now it's back to -HornEd PS: Speaking of survival... I went to bed a groom of 65 years... and awoke a year older on the calendar... but a decade younger in my mind. What could be greater? It seems that not only all these horns, but this old horn lover slipped under my "Swiss Mrs." WAF tolerance level!

On the pedestrian way back from virtually visiting Tonto in Toronto... a wedding weary, but no less blissful, HornEd took a brief timeout to bring reality to discursiveness... I am proud to be a member of the Klipsch Forum Community... it's the only "KFC" where audio colonels gather to share their secret sauce and audio kernels pop their corn and clu shares her finger lickin goodness with the not-so-secret sauciness of less its a crewel match made in Jersey that has warmed heartfelt cockles to the point of being consumed with a flagon or two of the local brew! Yes, indeed, we have a community that extends around the world its filled with good guys, bad guys, and a lot of guys in transition it is not filled with gals but the gals who do are appreciated more than they know for without their guidance, where would all of us testosterone laden lads penetrate the wily world of WAF to make a Belle out of a LaScala experience (as PWK might have said). Where else but in our Klipsch Forum Community can we wallow in the indulgences of outrageous Home Theater on one thread, and then bask in the totally tubular glow of an upscale Two-Channel chop of one anothers Heritage audiophile-losophy or even a red hot poker play on one anothers maternal heritage and thats community too! Hmm, maybe we should have a Too-Channel alley on the other side of Trey (park your rhetoric and curb your doggerel) Magnifique! And what a place the Klipsch Forum Community is for impromptu rendezvous, peanut brittle and pink flamingo excesses not to mention the great community marketplace that provides the friendliest buy/sell encounters this old horn lover turned bridegroom has ever found on the net. Who would have thought that, because of this Forum, my fiancé would buy a pair of Khorns and a Belle to add to the dozens of Klipsch speakers that I have purchased through the Klipsch Forum Community. And, fear not Klipsch Corporate, finding the Joy of Klipsch radiating throughout this Forum has prompted me to buy dozens of Klipsch speakers from dealers as well! It is not only because Klipsch makes horns great its the freedom loving way that Klipsch Corporate has allowed our Forum Community to grow. Its an all-in-one fun learning process where nearly everyone deserves to give themselves a pat on the back! -HornEd

Actually, m00n having my anniversary one day before my birthday might help me remember it better! Thanks for the Happy! -HornEd

Wow, I usually get up before dawn, check email and take a quick look at my favorite Forum... what a surprise... a virtual bachelor party with m00n's snapshot of a "fini nudenik" in full debauch! Gee, fini, I gotta tell you about... I didn't realize just how much tidying up on has to do for one's wedding when you have 110+ acres to make your lady smile! Whew... our whole staff (including yours truly) will be happy when things settle down to the summer season's rush. Last night we had a "Cinco de Mayo" celebration with a unique "Clipped & Shorn-like" salsa band called "Con Corazon"... one trumpet, two percussionists, three guitarists and an electric cello! The evening meal, snacks and drinks all has a "South of the Border" feel. In an adjacent lounge, my soon to be "Swiss Mrs.", her sister (sorry I-will-walk" she's married!), were making pretty things out of a rainbow of 36 dozen roses! I had bought twelve dozen for the lawn wedding... but somehow roses kept coming in from friends and well wishers. And rose petals... we have two flower girls, each with a little basket to toss rose petals in the path of the bride... now, suddenly, we have over a bushel of rose petals. Hmm, maybe I should start a potpourri concession! The wedding party will be formal with full tux w/ tails and a white-on-white brocade vest for the guys... and matching pale green designer dresses for the girls... and an elegant white gown with train for the bride. Given my penchant for words, at the bride's request I wrote the wedding scenario from scratch... including speaking parts for the bride, groom, and matron of honor and best man... oh, yeah, and lots of words for the knotworthy Marryin' Sam (actually Richard). Music during the lawn wedding and reception will begin with a woodwind quintet... migrate to a flute and guitar duo... and then to an Americana jazz trio of two guys on guitars and one big voiced lady with an upright bass. Oh, yeah, and you've got to know that all my pro speakers have horns! I promise I'll breakdown and learn this new photo uploading system on the Forum to include a photo or two of the bride in all her glory... and this suddenly younger feeling HornEd in tails and topper. As a concession to our concerns about being overly dressed in my (check that, "our") mountain retreat is that the bridal party will be barefoot... we gotta do something to satisfy fini's wild side! The food and beverage extravaganza will begin as the vows are said. The hors d'oeuvres are upscale, artfully done and hefty... the multi-tiered cake has three layers per tier... a layer of hazelnut sponge a layer of decadent devils food and another layer of hazelnut sponge with a special mixture of fresh buttercream and lemon curd filling between the layers. The outside of each cake tier is covered with a Grand Marinier buttercream over which a sheet of marzipan is shaped the whole cake was decorated with a cascade of hand formed white chocolate roses and blue marzipan hydrangeas. Now theres something else worth drooling over Q-man and, because you ARE my hero you are always invited! Of course, there will be champagne by the case served in sparkling flutes... and Italian sodas featuring all 62 Torani flavors... the Torani family emigrated from Italy and settled in what was then Colma, California, and make their flavors from old Italian recipes... the kind that fini enjoys each time he visits his mama-mia-in-law. And so friends, lest I write more words in this thank you than all you have written collectively its time for me to get on with the show. Traditionally, white is the color of Joy (not chastity fini!) and thus all the wedding party will have something white (no, fini, undies dont count!) and blue is the color of purity thus, we have a plethora of matching blue topaz jewelry for the wedding party. Instead of rings, we will exchange custom carved ivory suns on fine gold chains for indeed we are the sunshine in each others heart for you see, of all the wonderfully decadent excesses that we shall enjoy this day the best is to have found that the love of my life has found the love of her life! -HornEd PS: Since tomorrow's my birthday bash, we will spend our "honeymoon" night in a wedding bed built from hardwoods harvested on the property and fashioned into an Eastern King sized "captain's bed" with a custom designed ComfortAire GeoVista mattress... with 1,000 thread count white-on-white satin sheets. Now you know why we had to get married today... for today I am 65 and my bride was born in '65... and I was born in '38 and my bride is 38... and tomorrow the calendar will say I'm 66... but my heart thinks I'm 18 again! Now if I can only get the rest of my body to go along...

Putting a Belle between a pair of Klipschorns was the favorite Paul W. Klipsch way to enjoy! As the owner of four Belles and six K-horns let me say there is no substitute for fully horn-loaded HT! Did you realize that after PWK patented the K-horn, all the rest of the Heritage line were built as potential center speaker to K-horn corners? That's why going all Heritage is an exercise in togetherness that are not likely to be matched by speakers of another genre. The smallest I would go is a Heresy... but I have used an Academy rear center with a pair of Cornwalls as side/surrounds to good effect in HT applications. The hard-to-find Academy speakers are the closest non-Heritage small speakers that may do in a small environment... but don't skimp on the front. Remember, a Belle is a WAF version of a LaScala... and a nice piece of furniture. Don't scoff at a vintage Belle... they have a lot to be said for them... and if I were in your situation, I'd pick up shopworn Belle with good guts and have it veneered to match your K-horns in a local cabinet shop. Chances are the results will be better than buying new or trying to find an existing match in good enough shape to please your taste in K-horns. Youre on the right track... and nothing's more important than getting a great front array! Listen to the Q-man, there is a reason that he is my hero! -HornEd

After all my business years in the Metroplex... now that HornEd could be in a DFW Hornhead event, I will be taking nuptial vows in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California instead... something must be amiss. And it was a miss, a Swiss Miss to be exact... who stole my heart in a way that even the mighty Klipschorn could not match! But, be assured Jeff, that I shall raise a flute of bubbly to you and the DFW Hornheads this on May 2nd... and that my Swiss Mrs. shall dwell in a fully horn-loaded environment happily ever after! -HornEd PS: I have had the joy of meeting Klipsch Forum members in several local regions and always had a better time than I could have hoped for. There are a lot of truly great people that have gotten together to swap opinions and equipment thanks to the Klipsch Forum. Thanks to hosts like Jeff and DaddyDee, this new tradition is growing... and well it should!

Hmmm... does that mean I could buy two sets of Ultra2 Front Arrays with matching Subs for a 6.1 system... and leave THX dipole mania behind? -HornEd

Hmmm, and then people ask me why I write on the same old monopole honesty vs. dipole deception issue??? How is it the "smart engineers" at Klipsch have failed to add a bipole, dipole, or tripole to rescue us from the error of Paul W. Klipsch designed speaker systems? Where is the WDST Klipschorn to fill out my 6.1 Klipschorn Home Theater now that I need it? Can you believe it? Over fifty years and all the brilliant engineers that ever worked for Klipsch couldn't understand that all you really need was back-to-back false corners with the midline facing the sweet spot. Sure, instead of the six Klipschorns I could have three Klipschorns in the front and three double Klipschorn "sound-sprayers" in the rear array! Yeah, man, and just to be sure I'm getting the entire "bipolar brain-trust ambience" I deserve... I've got to remember to wire those dual false cornered Klipschorns out-of-phase! But, just hold on to your dog, Tide, Buster Brown... what about the migration from the KSP-6 bifurcated beauties to full-fledged WDST in-phase (+2000Hz/-2000Hz) dichotomy... that is giving way to the latest ultra Klipsch brain trust edition that makes duh-duh-duh-diss-diss-disassociated di-di-diarrhea-dipoles for that down-home off-the-wall "yellow-button" fill-up-my-ears experience. Boy, howdy, I sure am glad those super-intelligent, THX born again engineers at Klipsch made the latest THX offering with full-fledged dipoles so that we can overcome the rampant stupidity of audio engineers who actually build in full-range ambience with full-range directionality in the rear array. Hot damn, neighbor (err, nay-boor?), how ya gonna keep a boy down on the farm after they've heard the precision of the D-Day landing (Saving Private Ryan) "improved" by running it through a dipole blender... like what do those pro audio engineer dummies know about creating surround sound anyhow? Then again, putting a croaking bullfrog in a blender so it can go sixty does have a scientifically intelligent potential... but even a frog would be smart enough to avoid the folly of croaked frog ambience! I mean, cousin, if they had the "scents" God gave a clodhopper's hip boots, they'd a know'd there's nothin' like a manure spreader to even out the corn effects in the back forty... so why not blow the sound past my ears and let me hear the joy of reflected dissonance. Ah mean jes' look at how the whole herd improved once we got the bull all bottled up and let the smart guy with the long rubber gloves get up close and personal with the cows. Yep, sure 'nuff, I could have my "whole heard" in the rear array "sound pastures" WDST composted so I wouldn't fall prey to rear array "separation anxiety" caused by premature monopole withdrawal that follows failure to set up a 5.1 (or better) rig properly. Oops, check (discrete) signals, it ain't the gray-matter of the Klipsch engineers that matters in my listening space... it's MY EARS! Just like in your listening space it's YOUR EARS that matter! If your opinion is that every sound out of your rear array should be folded, spindled and mutilated by homogenized THX home standards then so be it! But if youve got the intestinal fortitude to reach beyond the trick-and-treat Bose and THX intelligence to enjoy sound the way that nature and modern sound mixing engineers intended get the full-impact of engineer induced ambience with full-range directionality that only monopoles can offer. In their wisdom, the good folks at Klipsch have included WDST for the herd mentality and plenty of honest-to-goodness Klipsch monopoles to fill in the rear array gaps as so many who have tried WDST and moved on to greener Klipsch pastures. HornEd PS: Its nice to see that the intelligent engineers at Klipsch have made their latest efforts along the lines of dumb old HornEd with three identical speakers across the front array. Yep, Im so dumb I just might buy two front arrays and set them up as a properly set up 6.1 system with a honkin full-bass-range subwoofer array that cranks out 121 dBs in the fractional seconds that count most for realism. Wholly monopoles Batman! There is a way to get around the K-marketing Jokers bipolar disorder Meanwhile, in the mountain retreat far from Gotham City, HornEd prepares to wed his Swiss Miss amid a garden plethora of monopoles fed by thousands of pro-amp watts... so that each exquisite wedding march detail of the woodwind quintet is not dependent upon bouncing off the next mountain to achieve surreal ambience. Yes sir (miss or madam), I think ole HornEd will take his wedded bliss as nature intended...

I had a cat named Griffin I had a fish named Slater Now poor Slater's gone... Griffinator! Ah, yes, what's in a name? Would arroz by any other name be Shakespeare's treat? So far, my favorite SS amps are big Yammy and Denon models. I prefer the Yammy on the 8 Legend Home Theater because of the quality enhancement on movies that front effects channels (when properly set up) can make with an all monopole 6.1 rig. I use the Denon in an all Heritage system that is primarily used for music. I just haven't found the "tube rolling time" to revisit my totally tubular days of yesteryear. My Yammy is the same as Avman and (my hero) Q-man enjoy. I think the finest comment I have received on the Legend Home Theater came from a couple of Renaissance friends who live on the road most of the year. They are BIG Eagles fans and so I invited them to listen to their superb "Hell Freezes Over" DVD. At the end of the close harmony "Seven Bridges Road" (in dts only!), I asked them what they thought of my sound system. Their somewhat unimpressed reply was, "Gee, we don't know Ed, I guess it's okay... it's just like being at the concert... is that the way it's supposed to sound?" Well, Forum friends, some of my best friends may be audiophiles... but a few are just "honest ear" folks... whose idea of music is being there when it happens. The sound that allows me to surreally "be there when it happens" has brought me to Klipsch... and this Forum. Of course, being there at a concert does not usually mean acoustic. Saturday night at my place we had a concert by a couple of friends, pianist/composer/humanitarian Spencer Brewer and multi-Grammy winning jazz saxophonist Paul McCandless. Together they have put out over thirty records even though they usually perform independently. Listening to a freshly tuned grand piano and a virtuoso multi-sax performance without amplification is an ear-joy that all audiophiles should have as a reference point, IMHO. But most entertainers at my place prefer to be amplified particularly on the outdoor stage. The reference on this thread to wattage reminds me of the differences between my home theater and two (or more) channel gear. Indoors we use a pro 3400 watt QSC amp feeding just two EAW pro speakers and the four pro OAP monitors that let the musicians know how they sound) are fed by a separate pro 1400 watt QSC amp. And, yes, there is a multi-channel sound board and a gaggle of EQs, voice shaping and special effects tools that one would expect in a pro set up. The point of all this is not how much Ive put into sound, but rather how manipulated the being there sound is when you are there! I appreciate the candor of the Griffinator (what ever his diet)... even to the point of 'fessing up to a fishy factoid (thats what unleashed the doggerel) from the dark resources of his off-the-top of his Yamaha head set. I appreciate that the Griffinator is not only responding to the more knowledgeable posts but its great to see him (and others) providing basic info that particularly benefits newbies and lurkers many who will become fascinated try thinks reflected here as opinion grow in knowledge by the experience and keep the Klipsch fires burning in two-channel cozy cuddlers and/or multi-channel movie mavens. I know it sometimes gets redundant for all you old Klipsch Forum Pros but going over the basics in many of my posts is what averts a flood of email from those who havent read my previous posts. This thread, for example, has references to configurations other than the multi-faceted two-channel (i.e., PWKs favorite three-channel stereo and two-channel augmented by a whomping sub come to mind) and the 5.1 recording standard. Plus, of course, I should include my favorite, the legitimate but somewhat rare 6.1 recording format that was introduced with Gladiator DVD movie epic. Gladiator hmm, that almost inspires another piece of HornEd doggerel. IMHO, the number of discrete full range channels (the 5 in 5.1) and the narrow range low bass channel (the 1 in 5.1) available should be the standard not the number of speakers hooked up to ones rig. For example, my 6.1 Legend Theater has six identical monopoles for the 6 in 6 (fed by a high end 6.1 receiver) and two adequate subwoofers (fed by a separate megawatt pro amps) plus two front effects speakers to better shape the sound stage (Yammy fed too). After a demo, some folks call this system an 8.2 system based on the number of speaker cabinets. I prefer calling it a 6.1 system because 6.1 is the maximum number of channels that can be input from source material (e.g., a 6.1 DVD because there are no 7.1 DVDs in the commercial market to my knowledge). Granted my receiver manufactures a sixth channel when playing 5.1 source material and that signal is discrete. However, 7.1 is a bad name because there are only six discrete channels with the rear center channel being sent to both rear center effects speakers. Similarly, the front effects channels are derived from the discrete source channels and not a standard feature of most amp brands. And, surely, just because there are two subwoofers in a custom bass corner (which creates the effect of four free-standing subs) doesnt change the fact that they are fed from one low bass channel. 7.1 is a shameless marketing ploy that makes the least important discrete channel, the rear center channel, the focal point of the system meanwhile, the most important discrete channel for multi-channel movies, the front center, if filled by a speaker of diminished capacity when compared to the left and right mains. At least Klipsch did a better than average job on the RC-7 (though clearly not the equal of RF-7 elegance) and provides identical left, center, right MAINS on the new THX (shhhudder! ) speaker system with genuine di-pole (dddouble spprraay shhhudder!! ). Sorry, folks, I can abide some tomfoolery but earfoolery leaves me cold and THX is the gefilte fish approach to lox on my bagel! Lest I offend, let me hasten to add that the ersatz example did not imply a particular religion which is not my heritage but has my respect. For what its worth, on May 2nd my Swiss Miss fiancé will be strolling down the outdoor garden aisle to the tune of five live woodwind ensemble multi-megawatt amplified through four pro speakers to hundreds of spectators no doubt lured by the gourmet victuals, premium wines, upscale dance band and the promise of a red hot movie on my 8.2 Klipsch Legend Theater. -HornEd PS: Gracias Diego... your Klipsch standards are fine... and there are many on this Forum who envy what you have put together in Argentina... and rightly so. "Butt" be informed that "CYA" can mean more than "see ya" in some quarters of the U.S.A.

You are not alone, Jabez, and maybe that even extends to manufacturers! In modern times, the "real" music is made from assorted tracks recorded live and special electronic treatment of those tracts as many tracks are resolved into two (stereo) six (5.1) or seven (6.1). Most sound systems are not configured to get the most out of what is available on a modern DVD or CD source. When "surround sound" was first envisioned decades ago, the notion was to have a third channel that had "audio clues" on it to fool your ears into thinking a better set of speakers were all around you. Your ears will pick up sounds from an original source and then use secondary reflections to determine where that source is. It will also apply that "direction" to other sounds that it associates with the first sound. For example if you had a subwoofer in front of you producing the low level (non-directional) sounds of a car crash and a small rear speaker giving out sounds associated with the car crash at over 85 Hz, your ears would tell you that the car crash happened behind you... even though most of the sound would be coming from in front of you. In the bygone era of ProLogic and early THX, surround sound was intended to create ambiance... and special speakers were used to diffuse the sound and fool your ear into thinking it was always completely immersed in sound. Enter the modern era. With five or six main channels to work with... plus a low bass channel... the sound engineer can create just the right ambience by directing sound mixes into one or more channels. If, for example, the sound engineer fed some background sound into all five (or six) channels, then the effect would be like di-pole speakers put into your listening area... only di-poles are really out-of-phase gimmicks that attempt to make up the shortfall in surround sound potential in acoustically challenged rooms. Modern surround sound systems should be able to bring the best of both worlds... ambience and event directionality. I am in a hurry today... I hope that helps to get the discussion started. -HornEd

Avman, from my experience, a KLF-C7 will make a near perfect rear center speaker... although a properly mounted horizontal KLF-30 is a better timbre match... a KLF-30 is rear ported and that may be a constraint in your room. The sixth channel is the least important and, therefore, the one that not always gets the best speaker. I look forward to hearing what you hear with your new KLF-30 looking smart in its front and center role. -HornEd

Congratulations on making your "Mark" and picking up some goodies. We all drool when you mention "Ear(s) Goodies"... and you can bet we will have our ear to the ground to find out what they are! And, yes, there's a huge difference between having our collective ear to the ground... and having our "Canadian "Ear" grounded! Here's hoping you can horn in from time to time. -HornEd

Hoggy, sounds under about 85 Hz ARE non-directional. Directionality is determined by the ear by the comparison of an initial sound with the reflection of the same sound an instant later. A longer bass wave cannot clear the ear in time for its reflected version to be compared... hence a loss of directionality. Bi-pole speakers lose directionality and create a feeling of being overwhelmed by sound because they do not allow the original sound to strike the ear directly. But fear not for the bass tones of an orchestra. Nearly every low bass sound has an associated sound higher than 85 Hz. Your ear will determine the direction of the part of the sound that is over 85 Hz and associate the long low wave from the subwoofer with it. The effect is that you will hear both the associated and the low sound as if it were one sound coming from the speaker putting out the associated tone. It's amazing... and the illusion works flawlessly on 5.1 (or more) systems even if the subwoofer is in front and the associated sound is in the rear... the whole sound will appear to come from the rear! -HornEd PS: My hero, Q-man, was giving his reply while I was writing mine... and, as usual, I agree with the Q-man... and more! A quality sub will provide the low bass sounds without leaking sounds over 85 Hz... for such a leak would create the wrong illusion of directionality. One area of concern beyond the cheap subwoofer issue is that axial (standing) waves, etc. can cause nulls and booms in a good sub due to acoustic aberrations.

---------------- On 4/17/2004 9:34:01 PM Piranha wrote: These horns go hand in hand with Rocky Mountain Oysters. ---------------- Hmmm, "hand-in-hand" with a Rocky Mountain Oyster... now there's a piranha with talent! -HornEd PS: The right horn should mirror the left horn for symmetry. I want a rebate!

Henry... you are a man after my own heart... what a beautiful custom center tribute to your Heritage rig! -HornEd

I have stayed away from projected images on quality issues. Your photos and commentary encourage me to revisit the issue. One question, to meet commercial requirements in California, I must have a couple of lighted "EXIT" in my theater. I suspect the light they emit might wash out the projected image. What say you? -HornEd

Thanks, Paul, for sharing both the photos and the tour tips. I've never made it to Japan but my son has taken two three-month long vacations to Japan in back-to-back years... about three or four years ago. Your comments and photos are very similar to his... except he missed catching Godzilla! The composition, vivid color and detail make your Japan photos stand tall. I agree with Gil, it's nice to have an OT subject that doesn't involve interpersonal, political, religious, or fast food hassles! Any more photo essays hiding in your closet? -HornEd PS: Gil, last night I was at a private party thrown by a Hungarian chef for his wife's birthday. He is a fellow of impeccable taste and rare talent as a chef (he does it from scratch!)... and he recorded the event with a Mavica and scads of floppy disks... and I thought, there but by the accident of accent and career goes William F. Gil McDermott! Laszlo's photos, BTW, were excellent all storage media considered. On Monday, Lazlo and Katalin will be our guests of Kassandra and yours truly at a chocolatier dinner for 65 hosted by the founder of Peets Coffee... a San Francisco Bay Area institution (It began in Berkeley near U.C.). It was Peet's right hand man that came up with a plan to expand Peet's business. Alfred Peet was content with his already bustling business... so he passed. His employee elected to go to Seattle and implement his plan... his plan is now better known as Starbucks. The dinner will be held in the Los Gatos Brewery... and feature a different brewed beer for every chocolate laced course. Hmm, maybe it's time to break out my Renaissance drinking horn and investigate getting horn-loaded in the corner! PPS: Actually, I was just trying to work in an audio reference getting plastered is NOT my idea of a good time.

Gil, I too have used black walnut to good advantage harvested from trees on my property, sawn into lumber and aged. Sadly, my impending wedding has used up my supply... particularly in having custom solid black walnut bedroom furniture constructed for the event. The new furnishings match a pair of beautiful black walnut Belles which will serve as a two-channel bedroom system. I wish this post would have included some benefit for you... but, while I might have been able to send you some... my supply is now exhausted... although I shall probably repeat the process. I have similarly processed cherry, maple, oak and redwood from my part of the mountain forest... but stocks have been depleted by a spate of other projects related to rejoining the ranks of wedded bliss. My mountain neighbor is a retired professor with a passion for wood... and a "portable" sawmill to boot. While it is technically portable... the portability process is rather extensive. This is a guy who plays with bulldozers, backhoes, hydraulic baskets that reach out 30' and allow you to move and steer the whole unit... and such. He is very friendly, especially since access to his box canyon is only is by a creek-side road across my property. With thousands of trees between us... and more available from neighbors who own large tracts that would like their overgrown areas thinned... I wonder if there is any viability into using our trees for more than my penchant for building with quality woods? In the meantime, Gil, I look forward to posts of your adventures in speaker building... from acoustic concept to final veneer. -HornEd

You've got a point, Matt... and it's one with which I agree. The problem is that after covering this point so many times on the Forum, I still get a ton of email from newbies and lurkers on these same issues. Each time I address the issue again, my personal email Klipsch load goes down a notch. Last year it got so burdensome that I took an eight month hiatus from the Forum. Much of the email then was from people who were convinced that somehow I was anti-Klipsch for recommending Klipsch center speakers for surrounds instead of the WDST approach... or for hints on how to convert various free standing towers to horizontalized speakers. Maybe we could develop a codeword by which savvy Klipschers like you could recognize any new material that might be contained in a post. Believe it or not, I think I do post more new material than old... particularly with the 6.1 Khorn plus 4 Belles and a subterranean subwoofer that is now occupying the forefront of my audio excesses. -HornEd PS: Please note that when I do do a variant of the same old all full-range monopole systems, it is in response to a person who (1) seems not to understand monopoles as a viable option or (2) is soliciting a better way to build his rig.

Q-man... the new center looks fantastic. Checked the output of the Yamaha and there is absolutely no shortage of bass on my center channel. As you may recall, I run mine small and let the dual SVS subwoofer tower handle the lows so that the KLF-30's can handle the mids quicker. One of the reasons I like the Yamaha is the extra spatial sound stage that the Front Effect speakers provide. I have been running my multiple Khorns and Belles without a sub... but am planning to build one that runs from about 40 Hz on down as far as I can tweak it. Having a diminished bass in the center channel is very mysterious... I've never run into that before. I wonder if anyone on the two-channel forum may have a clue as to how such a condition could exist. HornEd PS: Looks like this is my official 2,500 post as HornEd glad it was to a friend wish it could have been more helpful.

Congratulations gullahisland... and welcome to the the wonderful world of "those corner speakers!" -HornEd PS: I am in the market for yet another pair of fix-em up K-horns for $1,250. Want to sell?

Thanks, kenratboy, for sharing this link with us. I have seen the immediate devastation of war first hand... and I have walked through the ruins of Communist East Berlin in 1963 where large buildings with major damaged from WWII Allied bombings. These stark images from 20 years earlier still spoke to the horrors of war. But this photo essay of Chernobyl as a nearly intact wasteland for centuries brings home the fallibility of mankind in an age of clandestine nuclear proliferation. Clearly its time to think clearly! =HornEd

I agree with Wolfram and Q-man... PWK designed the Khorns to cover the essential range of a symphony orchestra... but there are drum and organ sounds that go way below the mighty Klipschorns prodigious reach. Getting down another 15 or 20 Hz with an "adequate" sub not only helps special musical passages... but gives dimension to movies that naked Khorns fail to supply. -HornEd

---------------- On 4/16/2004 5:55:57 AM JewishAMerPrince wrote: Now I use RS 35s as my rear centers(s). The so called "spraying" effect of the RS as rear surrounds actually works quite well to deliver an enveloping surround effect on THX and PLIIx material. JR ---------------- ...and some folks fill their gardens with 6.1 plastic flamingoes. Taste is, and should remain, a personal preference. For example I prefer fresh lox to yesterday's gefilte fish... fresh squeezed orange juice to citrus free powdered Tang... and having the full-range sound of my surrounds in my ear before the off-the-wall reflections arrive. The ersatz "enveloping surround effect" is caused by eliminating the first side/surround sound waves and allowing only the second hand reflections to reach your ear... that's like forcing all your steaks, chops and filet mignon through the grinder so you can be enveloped in sonic burgers! Modern DVD mixes send all the information required for the appropriate ambiance to the appropriate channels in 5.1 (6.1) movies or music... and your ears deserve to hear all the sound without the ear deseptive practices of sound spraying. -HornEd