Hajj

As mentioned by the Doc, your limiting factor is the Windows kernel. Since you're running foobar, just a few tips to get the best out of it: Install Asio4all, I found it to be quite easy to install and setup, and once you're done with the preliminary setup, you'll forget there's an interface for it, it blends perfectly with foobar. When using foobar: Disable the equalizer and play your music directly through Asio (in foobar, file -> preferences -> playback -> output -> choose Asio4all) , if you use the equalizer you'll be losing most (if not all) of the advantages offered by Asio. Reduce buffer to a minimum, until you start hearing the music breaking up. Avoid using the volume control in foobar, it defeats the purpose of Asio. Set your volume control in windows to 100% There's an option in windows (i don't remember where exactly, i'm sure someone it'll show up on a quick google) where you defeat sampling to 48khz. Try to close all others programs running in windows when listening to music. These are the main things that would make the biggest difference (i'm sure there's more, but i can't remember them right now) I'm using HRT music streamer II+ and it's so far the best sounding DAC i've heard under the 1,5-2k$. Yes, it's that good, crystal clear, super fast, great seperation and extracts the tiniest of details, but i'm guessing this also has to do with the synergy between it and my system since i'm using very transparent gear, a Decware integrated 7wpc EL34 tube amp, and a Decware preamp using 6922 tubes, and getting the music out of full-range speakers. If most of your listening is through PC playback, I couldn't stress more on trying out the HRT musicstreamer, even the regular version (musicstreamer II) is great sounding, and considering the price of 150$, there's very little to be lost in the process.... Just my 2 cents. Nick

Sky Bum, thanks for chipping in. This might just be as close to the ideal reply as possible. Based on your input I can now rest assured I won't be running out of power with any one of these speakers If my memory serves me well, I rarely listen to my music at more than 98 db at my listening position, unless I get carried away with one of those magnificient Jimmy Page guitar solo's or Arturo Sandoval's trumpet weeping with joy on the brink of apoplexia. Btw, only roday did I notice your presence on the decware forums. Regards Nick

Fair enough, I forgot to dial in the recording step of the process. No wonder I thought I was going mad! Thanks for clearing that up.

I'm afraid I do not know the damping factor, nor the output impedance of the amp, i'm still waiting for the manufacturer to give me the numbers, although i'm sure I once saw them on their website, and mademental note about it being either very low or very high compared to other tube amps (yup, i'm afraid, it's not much help...) Very informative reply, thanks. So if I'm getting this right, you're saying that many people tend to go for high power because we as humans tend to be more sensitive to higher frequencies, and thus need to crank up the volume to feel the bass. The corrolary of that fact would mean that we would need speakers with a frequency response that follows that of the human ear's sensitivity, which to put it mildl, looks more like a rollercoaster than the typical "ruler flat" ideal frequency response we look for in our speakers. So unless a speaker's frequency response is corrected to human ear'ssensitivity curves, our continuous quest for a speaker with of a ruler flat frequency response curve is a moot quest, and most importantly a very flawed approach to the ideal speaker. Please feel free to bring any correction to the above. And btw, If the Chorus II has a nasty impedance spike in the 3 to 6k region, why would you prefer it over the La Scala? But also, why would the woofer be voiced softer than the mid and tweeter if what we need is a relatively higher SPL from the lower frequencies to get the same perceived loudness? I hope I'm still making sense.

Great input guys, I was actually quite releived to hear that the flea power I have will be able to generate some bass. I run my pair of full-ranger speakers I have (said to be 99db/w/m efficient) at around 2 watts, and that's more than enough in my listening room. So the main concern had always been the bass response on the 3 way klipsches. As for the choice of the shortlist (chorus II and La Scala), it was only motivated by efficiency specs, and while it is obvious that these two are different beasts, the reason the La Scala is there is 1- gotta love the utilitarian looks, i know i do 2- 105db/w/m!!!! only down side is the lack of bass extension, and I'm left wondering if placing it in a corner will actually be of any help... Hope someone responds to my WTB...

Just like the title says, I've posted a WTB in the garage sale section for either a pair of La Scala's or Chorus II's My choice was motivated mostly by the efficiency of these speakers, and the ease of having them shipped abroad (the reason behind the cornwalls being left out). But with the numbers posted by all the members concerning power requirements for the Chorus (the lowest I found was 30 WPC, and that was an SS amp, all the way to 225 Wpc), makes me wonder if I'll be able to drive the Chorus pair with a meager 7wpc @ 8ohms SET tube amp (the Amp I have is capable of driving anything down to a few milliohms, and power increases as impedance decreases, and get them to produce decent bass. I listen to anything from opera and complex classical music, but also Rolling stones, Pink floyd, Led Zepplin and a great deal of contrabass laden complex jazz. Anyone with experience in that range of power, please chime-in. My room is about 13x16 feet with a 10' ceiling. Waiting for your input. Regards Nick

Actually, upon further measurments, it's more like 13x16.5... My brain's wired in metric sizes, and it seems my metric measurements were off.... In meters the room actually 5x4 meters

@Jbryan, I am very happy with my single-driver setup and the clarity, staging and intimacy of the setup is what got me into the wole audio upgrade vortex... The reason for eyeing a multi-way system is mostly out of curiosity, i just needed to experience what a good multi-way horn-loaded system sounds like. The audio nirvana drivers btw are far superior to what their critics say about them, but do take ages to break in, mine took around 150 hours, but i was not playing them very loud, the 12" I have are said to cover 22hz to 20khz at +/-3db, while i don't think they can go that low, they sure produce much more bass than people would expect, haven't tested, but I can trust my ears... For the sake of discussing other options, there's something about OB design i just don't like, first of all, most of these use x-overs (actually all of the setup i have seen use x-overs), and their efficiency tend to be on the lower side, plus, these always need a seperate subwoofer for decent bass, and i just can't get myself to accept the idea of an independent subwoofer.... Thanks for weighing in @ Runninshine Madness? only a different manifestation of my previous insanity where Istarted with one car restoration project, and ended up with 3 cars, to "test different approaches and performance upgrades, and have an A to B to C setup to compare"... And, to be really honest here, I just "need" to work on a new project, so might as well tackle something that would take some time before I "need" to start a new one again... If you squint hard enough, and twist your head upside down you just might see this making some sense to those out there that claim to be sane... @ Bkrop I currently reside in Lebanon, as in Beirut Lebanon, but i'm constantly on the move, next stop is London (where the bigger house might be)... used to be an active member on 914club.com before the 914world/914club schism....

Just had an interesting email exchange with Bob Crites. A great guy who took the time to answer all of my questions, and always within minutes of my reply. Thank Bob! Using Bob's great input and suggestions to my perfectly absurd questions, I'm now leaning towards a setup with a split single bass bin/speaker shaped a la Cornscala DBB with triangular ports, with a Atlas PD-5VH/K401 mids and CT125 tweeters... (the bass bin's shape is to make speaker placement easier, as well less invading into the room) Bob could not tell if any mods to a standard La Scala crossover would be needed in such a case, and suggested I contact James Cullison for extra info and crossover selection... So here I am wondering if the single bass bin design could work. Any input will be highly appreciated. Oh and JWC, please do not hesitate to chime in...

Hi Bruce, Thanks for the input, I should mention that I am lucky enough to share my house with a girlfriend that's as much an audiophile as I am, If not more... Yup, I'm on the lucky side here, and would very much like to keep it this way, and the Khorns, well, it's the vertical and bulky looks of them that makes them a no-go with her. So i thought about trapezoidal shaped split-box cornscalas, much like the Khorns, to tuck in the corners, while maintaining a relatively acceptable height... Anyway, it's all speculation before I have enough data to back it up... I guess I will contact Bob directly, but i would also like to gather impressions from forum members who went the CS route... Regards Nick

Reading my post a second time, It might easily be understood that I do not want to go the DIY route, because of the complexity of the build... Sorry for that, what I meant to say is that I need advice in choosing the right combination of drivers, x-overs and horns for a cornscala DIY build, or in other words, what is the "default" setup for a cornscala? I read a lot of good things about Bob Crites' sourced stuff and also Al's x-overs, But Bob offers a huge selection of drivers, and it's all too easy to get lost choosing the right combination, especially considering that i am limited to a budget of around 1-1.2k$ for hardware excluding woodwork. I have previously built T-amps, gain stage tube pre's as well as the cabinets in which sit my current drivers... So I should have no problem building the x-over networks (provided I can get a complete kit) or the cabinets for the CS... Please bear in mind that for the past year I have been ear deep into single driver full rangers, and now that i decided to go multi-way, i want something that wood work better than decent from the onset.... Tweaks and upgrades will come later Plus, will a cornscala have enough Spl and low end bass with an EL-34, 7 wpc amp to make the kind of music I listen to enjoyable? for reference, with my current setup, I rarely ever go beyond 2 watts.... (Klipschorns, while seeming like the best alternative, are just too bulky to fit in my room...)

Hi, I guess that after a few weeks of lurking, it is now time for me to start getting active on the forums. It's good to see a single brand forum with such activity (only forum I ever saw with the same activity was a car forum dedicated to porsches 914...) Introduction: My name is Nick, a few months ago, i dropped all of my SS amp system (rotel amp and preamp, B&W 3 way speakers) in favor of a minimalistic approach materialized in the form of a Decware CSP2 preamp into a Decware SE 34-I integrated amp (the first generation one, 3.5 - 7 wpc, "quad mono") coupled to full-range, high efficiency, single driver speakers (audio nirvana super 12, rated at 95 db/1w/1m), in bass reflex enclosure that will be soon be ditched and replaced by "Metronome" enclosure. Source is a dedicated laptop with around 1.5tB of music ripped in lossless flac format, played through foobar and asio4all into an external HRT music streamer II DAC. Just a quick note: the SE 34-I is by far the best tube amp i have auditioned, at full volume, with my head burried into the speakers I can't here any hum, details are sometimes more than your recordings like to show, and it was with this amp/speaker combo that i discovered the 3 dimensional music... Anyway, now that i knew what a single driver full-range speaker can do, and having been infected with the sweet desease commonly known as "upgraditis" I started looking for a multi-way system with a high enough efficiency to match my amp output. So here I am contemplating a set of klipsch horn loaded speakers. Thanks to the incredible wealth of knowledge on the forums here, I went from wanting La Scalas but was put off by the comments about the lack or bass (an independent subwoofer is out of the question) to contemplating a full Conrscala DIY build, only to get lost in the bottomless pit of crossovers, drivers and horns choices.... My music librabry contains everything from Opera and complex classical music all the way to Led Zepplin and a solidly anchored love for complex jazz (which showed the single driver's setup limitations)... My listening room is about 11x9 ft with a 7 ft ceiling (but i might relocated to a bigger house soon...) bottomline is: HELP!!! []