mace

I re-activated my account after years and years (maybe late 2000's was the last time I was here). Just to say, Trey, I have very fond memories of the old Klipsch board and hospitality and "forum appreciation day" from the 2006 or so timeframe down in Indy. It is sad news indeed that you were let go. Sounds like you had a good run but what a gut punch. I still love Klipsch and have the old 1977 CW's and KHorns. I remember getting the drivers from the KHorns tested down at Indy in maybe 2006 or so, and meeting the guy who put them together in 1977 (HDRBuilder, or something like that). Since the late 2000's my main hobby has switched to guitars and amps. Being a brand boi, I really got into Mesa Boogies and lo and behold they were recently bought by corporate Gibson. Mesa's founder Randall Smith seemed to have a lot of the same philosophies as Paul W. Klipsch, in my opinion and their products reflected that. Why am I back here? I googled to see what the latest was with Klipsch as Mesa's founder recently left and they are now owned by Gibson. I guess I was seeing what the future may hold for Mesa Boogie since Klipsch was bought/sold etc more than a decade ago, maybe 15+ years ago. I'm very glad to see that the Heritage line is still around. Anyway, maybe I'll get back in the two channel rabbit hole here someday. I still have tubes and horns for music listening but haven't changed anything since 2008 or so.

Hi, I can vouch for the 3M command strips, the two sided ones, for not leaving marks on the walls. To mount foam panels I used duct tape on the back of the 12"x12" panels and created different shapes of 4 panels. Then, I attached the command strips to the duct tape, 2 commend strips per panel group. Then, stick the command strips to the wall. This is a method for temporarily mounting these. It sorta works...I've had lots of panels fall over the years but it always comes loose at the command strip to duct tape joint. So, I pull the command strip off the wall (pulling parallel to the wall) and redo it and it holds for a few months to a few more years. The command strips do not leave any marks whatsoever on my walls, which I why I like them. I'm going to try supergluing the command strip directly to the foam and see how that works. I might also try these t-pins to connect the panels to each other instead of duct tape, since that tends to not hold forever. Mace

How much does this amp cost? Thanks.

So, with this set-up (mac mini and DacMagic) is it possible to just use iTunes as the jukebox for my ripped AIF files and then hook up an optical cable from the Mini to the DACMagic and that's it? Thanks much, Mace

Yes the Olive is a nice option but at $1700 it is also an expensive one. With a Mac Mini and a 1.5 TB drive I'm out about $900 (if I buy new)... plus I get the benefit of having a real computer for other stuff as well, or for using as a video server. On the olive.us web site I couldn't find the power specs. Is it switchable 120-220 V and 50-60 Hz? This is important since my stint in Europe is around 3-4 years only and then I'll be back in the USA. I suppose power transformers are an option but I'd rather stay away from these for my audio equipment. Thanks much, Mace

I'm sure you'll be very happy with that Outlas RR2150. Mace

Thanks for all the helpful replies. I've checked out all these links and it seems mucho dinero is needed for these things... Let's say I was to get a Mac Mini for a digital jukebox (or old iMac) with optical audio out. Does this mean that the signal coming out is just pure 1's and 0's? If so, can I run this directly into an amp with an optical in and pretty much have a pure signal going to the amp and then the amp does the D/A conversion? In other words, is it possible to forego the $1600 D/A converter such as the Olive unit? Thanks much! Mace

Hi there, I really can't add to what's been said as far as brands here... but as far as your power range goes please consider that a 200 W amp gives you only +3 dB sound pressure than a 100 W amp. Can you really tell the difference between 112 and 115 dB of sound pressure? You may have more of an audiophile ear than you think. What are those old CW's rated for power handling? My old 1977 CW's are only rated at 100 W continuous. Regards, Mace

Hi all, I'm moving to Europe and don't want to take my CD's (but I can take my Cornwalls!). What I'd like to do is rip them all at AIF or lossless to a hard drive (preferably a 1 or 1.5 TB). I've done some searching here and haven't seen a "turn-key" solution. Does anyone know of any excellent hard drive based player (as good or better than my Sony SACD player) which I could use? I looked at www.redwineaudio.com/Olive.html but these Opus units are thousands of dollars which seems a bit steep. Any advice or experiences to share would be great. Thanks, Mace

Hi, I had the pleasure of listening to these for a couple of minute at he pilgrimage. They sounded very good. I was also surprised by the amount ambient noise they cut out, similar to foam earplugs (well, enough to make people talking significantly softer). I came across the news of their release on www.macnn.com this morning. My biggest surprise was the *gulp* price at $350. I'm not a "headphone guy" per se and this price point could be perfectly reasonable. I was hoping to snag these as soon as they were available because they did sound very, very good and insulated ambient sounds significantly, but..... I'll be waiting a while..... However, if you are looking for high end headphones I would certainly give these a listen! Mace

Wow. What a great day! Many thanks to the Klipsch team, especially Trey and Amy and all the tour guides. Great facility, great people, great products. First class all the way around. It was also great to meet some old friends and make new ones and meet the good folks on this board. It was a treat for me to have my old crap (errr. "stuff") tested and even get the data files (which imported into the free REW software just fine, which was a nice bonus). While I didn't get a lot of listening in (spent most of my time in the lab) it was pretty impressive to hear the smaller non-round Klipsch. Thanks again! Mace

Hi there, I really am not that large... and I definitely didn't have on a purple backpack. I'm surprised that someone is able to hide that completely behind me. See this series of 1st year Indy pics for the face belonging to the purple shirt... http://homepage.mac.com/mace/PhotoAlbum26.html It looks like this thing has grown a bit since the first year! I look forward to attending again tomorrow. Mace

HDBRBuilder would certainly add some value to this discussion! I bought some KHorns in the Chicago area for about the same buckaroos and these ones here are nicer looking. Mace

Hi, Would the sound of a KHorn be impeded in any way by putting a sectional couch in front of it (the kind of couch which wraps 90 deg)? The squawker bin is well above the height of the couch but of course the bass bin would sit right behind it. The back of the couch would be clear about 1 foot on one wall and 2 feet on the other wall. It would be about 1 foot clear of the KHorn bass bin. The advantages of this arrangement would mean I could spread the speakers out wider to 5.15 meter (currently 4.60 meters wall to wall). The other advantage is that the "listening chair" would be more in line with the speaker axis (currently about 1.5 meters behind the axis crossover points). Thanks for any feedback! Mace

I don't use LP's and thus maybe the 5751 route would be an option. How do these tubes affect the sound/tone? My CD player does have a variable headphone jack but that wouldn't work so well with my set-up. Maybe I should just get a better matched pre-amp and use my B&K power amp... which is the route I was going before I got the KHorns! Thanks much, Mace

Hi, Thanks for the insights. I'll give these attenuators a try. My initial impressions is that they muddy things up a bit, but I really haven't had a chance to listen without interuption for more than 3-5 minutes. One thing I have noticed with source material is that lower level source material seems to sound better, more open, less harsh.. this is at about 90 dB listening level. I love the Who album Who's Better, Who's Next. At high volumes, around 100 dB, it is just wonderful. I've noticed that I really have to turn the Scott up a bit, like to 5 on the dial. To get that same SPL from newer material which has a noticably higher line level I am around 2-4 on the amp and the sound isn't as smooth as with the Who. Perhaps it is just how it is recorded but I've noticed this trend in general with low line level source material... perhaps it has to do with voltage of the CD signal. When I get some time I'll check out these attenuators. Mace

Hi, Some questions, mostly for Craig (if he needs a break from conceiving his baby) but others may benefit so I decided to post. I've seen this discussed to some extent in this thread, but I have some specific questions: 1) My Scott 299 specs claim the high level input stage for TAPE and TUNER as "Signal for Rated Output - TUNER and TAPE inputs 0.45 volts". My Sony SCD 222ES has an output of 2 Vrms (both values from the respective manuals). Assuming the Scott rating is Vrms then is the Sony 2 Vrms too much for the Scott?? Plus, I've measured the Sony output as 2.2 Vrms with a 0 dB sine wave (1 kHz) which I burnt to CD. For normal music the voltage fluctuates between 0.5 and 1.1 Vrms for CD output from player. 2) Imput Impedance of Scott - High Level Inputs is 500,000 ohms. Sony "load impedance is over 10 kohms". Is this compatible? 3) (Right now, with my KHorns, I generally listen to everything at a setting less than 2. At a setting of 2 - 9 o'clock- I get about 85-95 dB peaks at listening position, classical and rock). My loudness switch is always set to off and tone controls flat. Will lowering the splitter tubes voltage allow more range of low level output? I was advised several years ago when I purchased the amps to set these to 0.275 VDC, or as low as 0.25 VDC (and the tubes will love me for it!). Question: Does the 0.25 vs. 0.275 affect the sound/tonality in any way? Does the 0.25 setting allow for less gain on the loudness knob? 4) See attached graph of volts out of back of amp (with 8 Ohm resistors hooked up to speaker outputs, voltage measured accross resistors). Input signal was 0 dB 1kHz sine wave from CD player. Can the slope of the voltage output from 0-4 on the volume knob be lowered easily? 5) I've installed cheapo 6 dB attenuators (as recommended by Craig in an email... great tip!) from PartsExpress. This will halve the voltage of the CD player signal going to amp. I went for the cheapo's instead of the $60/pair ones just to check out the concept. Does anyone know if there is a quality difference between the cheapo's and the harrison labs models? I don't want to start a great debate of zip cord vs. $200/foot wire or anything, just wondering if anyone has any throughts based on experience with these attenuators. Thanks much, Mace

Good stuff. If you have quicktime you can download it directly from the authors .mac site: http://homepage.mac.com/savagebean/iMovieTheater11.html Mace

I was just thinking when I read the original post "get Audacity!". It is a mighty fine piece of software and it's quite free. Later, Mace

Thanks much for the spreadsheet. I'll have closer look on the weekend. It seems that the adjustment values in your spreadsheet are quite different than the ones I have been using (which I attached the PDF in a post above). There are so many variables with this rat shack meter my head spins. First, there are several different calibration tables. Then, there is C-weighting and some sort of C-weighting compensation when analyzing results. Plus, I really question how accurate the thing is based on the fact all my curves have similar trends. Maybe it is user error! Concerning "calibrated mics"... does the ECM8000 come with it's own unique calibration table? In other words, is each mic tested and the values for each specific mic provided in the packaging? Thanks much, Mace

Right. If you look at the graphs I posted above you'll see the same pattern, no matter what the source. Maybe it has to do with the C-weighting or something. I noticed that when I imported data into the REW software it asked if I had run the data through a C-weighting compensation or some such. Anyway.. maybe this thread is best served on that HTS board! Thanks again for the links, Mace

Hi, I think I'll get that mic. I have a little M-Audio box with phantom power which I use for other stuff when I record to computer. The Room EQ Wizard software seemed to run OK on my Mac under Java so I just need to figure out how to really use it. I'm curious, however, if the ECM 8000 is a "calibrated mic" why do you need "calibration files"? Thanks, Mace

Thanks for the links and mic info! I registered at that site and am waiting on the confirmation email. I didn't realize at first that the correction table was in a special file format (not raw text). Mace

I'm just posting because my avatar goes oh-so-well with this thread. When I got my K-Horns a while back I caulked one squawker. I actually reused some rope caulk from my Cornwall basket woofer basket, plus some new. At any rate, I did need to do a small bit of cleaning on the CW woofer basket to get the remnant rope caulk off. I would consider the procedure reversible, though, at least after 3 years (that's how long the caulk was on the woofer basket). On the Cornwalls I didn't notice much of a difference, but I didn't do the squawkers. On the K-Horn I didn't notice much of a difference either... and the K-Horn (I only caulked one to start with, to see if made an iota of difference) I did caulk is now squarely behind our Christmas tree. So, I have to wait a few weeks (until the house clears out) until I can do some testing. But, for casual listening I can't say I notice a difference between the K-Horns (one with, one without caulk on squawk). Regards, Mace

Hi, You have an iMac at the office? like, Klipsch office? I would love to have a Mac at work... but it isn't meant to be... yet. 11 days = 11*24*60 = 15,840 minutes. At 192 kbps = 192/8*60 = that is 1440 kB/minute = 1440/1024 = 1.4 MB/minute. So, 15,840 minutes at 192 kbps should take up about 22 MB. You may have a lot of stuffed ripped at higher bit rates (you said it was 45 GB)?? Maybe you have some raw AIF files lurking in your library (uncompressed)? You can have iTunes show you the bit rate and format and then just sort by those columns to quickly see. General rule of thumb: 128 kbps = 1 MB/minute 192 kbps = 1.5 MB/minute 256 kbps = 2.0 MB/min As far as 1000 CD's: Assuming that each is 60 minutes, that is 60,000 minutes. At 128 kbps AAC* you get about 1 MB/minute of music. Therefore, you'd need about 60 GB of storage so the 80 GB iPod would get you close. 192/128 = 1.5. So, you'd need about 90 GB for your collection. If you can wait there will most definitely be a 100+ GB version eventually (<a href="http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/peripherals/toshiba-announces-100gb-18inch-drive-100gb-ipod-on-the-way-219296.php">click here for Toshiba drive link)</a>. At any rate, you can get way more than a few dozen CD's on an 80 GB iPod using 192 kbps bit rate!! Assuming 70 GB of usable space you can get roundabout 770 CD's at 192 kbps, roundabout 1150 CD's with 128 kbps! Economy question is already answered! 80 GB is the best buy. Just for your info, I rip classical at 256 kbps and all other (except kids and Christmas stuff) at 192 kbps. Kids and Christmas get 128 kbps. All AAC format. To be quite frank, I don't think I'd notice a difference between 128 and 256 through my car stereo or 2.1 system at work, or my Good Will stereo system in the garage.... Regards, Chad * AAC is also called MPEG4 audio. It is a more modern form of mp3 and has a bit better quality at the same bit rate. It is an open source format. When you buy tunes from the iTunes store they are in "protected AAC" format, 128 kbps. Apple adds there copy protection scheme to the files. But, for ripping CD's, AAC is unprotected.