babadono

Hammer, Where'd you get the Klipsch placard? The one in the last pix. babadono

Dean, you forgot: 7) All crossovers sound the same. 8) All speakers sound the same.

Hmmmm.... If the quieter parts have been boosted so they can be recorded and played louder they must be downward expanded and played softer upon playback, No? Or I'm I missing something? And the louder parts that have been compressed to fit onto the given recording medium must be expanded upwards. Now if the louder parts were just allowed to overmodulate or 'clip' the recording medium all bets are off. babadono

We are just asking everyone to raise their hand if they are in favor. Oh in that case if this is the place I vote heck ya! Especially if they will offer it in cherry veneer to match my RF 7IIs babadono

Where do I vote?

bracurrie, If I'm understanding the info at the manufacturers website this is a downward expander or an upward expander but not both. Can you use two in series? One to downward expand the signal below the threshold and then a second to upward expand signals above the threshold. Now that I am thinking about this maybe they would have to be in parallel not series and then you would have to sum the results back together (4 needed for stereo). Would be fun to experiment with. This is the way the old dbx technology (1bx, 3bx etc..) worked albeit in the analog domain. To retrieve dynamics that have been squashed you have to make the quiet parts quieter and the loud parts louder. babadono

I went with the eliptrac from Dave at Fastlane Audio. Its made for 2" drivers but he's got an adapter to go down to 1" so you don't have to upgrade your driver if you don't want/can't afford to. But don't rush. I listened to mine stock for 20+ years. Dave also will make the frame so it drops right into the tophat. At least I think he will but I really should not speak for him. babadono

absolve2525, I agree with JBryan, take some time to listen to your KHorns. And do some listening at concert level. If you find yourself getting listener's fatigue or headaches you may want to try a new midrange (squawker) horn/driver. Best improvement I ever made to my circa '80s KHorns. babadono

rmlowz, Just FYI the volume control on the XDA-1 is not like an analog control on a preamp or amp. It actually truncates the number of bits used in the D to A conversion to turn down the volume. babadono

[:$] oops... looks like this unit is only a downward expander. We need a gizmo that increases the gain of signals above the threshold and decreases the gain of those below. but babadono

something like this, but a stand alone box not a plug in: http://mhsecure.com/metric_halo/products/software/multiband-exp.html Eric

Hi Chris et al, Yes a dynamic range expander is a nice tool to have(or would be).Turn up the quiet! I am thinking that with what you uncovered they are needed now more than ever. One would think a company could make a profitable niche for themselves manufacturing these. With the digital technology available today couldn't a very versatile unit be designed that would not suffer the pumping and breathing of the old analog types(dbx 1bx,3bx etc)? As far as I know a standalone unit for home reproduction systems is not currently available (please correct me if I'm mistaken). I currently use a 30 yr old dbx 3bx but very judiciously. Eric

Yes indeedy do.....When you listen and really listen you will hear things you did not hear before. babadono

[Y] +1 on Monoprice. They have inexpensive banana plugs too. babadono

Chris, From your research and analysis you have found, if I understand correctly, that almost always the vinyl record of the same recording has better DR than the CD(or other digital format). I can't help but wonder if this is why some adamantly insist their records sound better than CDs? Eric

I believe that's called 'The Law of Diminishing Returns' [] If I lived anywhere close to you I'd already be on my way. Eric

Did you join "Turn Me Up"? I've been wondering if there was an orginazation that was already all over this loud for loudness sake issue.

Chris, Kudos to you for invesigating this to the extent you have. I remember back in the day(late '70s early '80s) waiting with baited breath for the CD to become reality. I told anyone who would listen that not only would there be no more clicks and pops on their "records" (vinyl quality sucked in th late '70s)but that the record producers and recording engineers would be freed from over compressing and we would get recordings that had geater DR. This usually got a response like "what do you mean?" And when I explained it as best I could the people who understood said something like "Oh, it'll sound more like a live performance". Sadly as you have painstaking discovered the promise of greater DR has not always(rarely) come to fruition. And as you have found it is getting worse not better. It is a shame. Thankfully we have this DR Database website we can use to pretest a recording we are thinking of acquiring. Thanks for your hard work. Eric

Ski Bum, Thanks for the link. Very interesting read.....So......16 bit digital is capable of 96db DR and with proper dithering even more. It's just a shame it isn't used. Eric

Isn't Bob the guy who sang "you can call me Al"

Dean, Cuz thay dunno how to spill ether. Eric

Chris, That's why I hesitated. I knew I was preaching to the choir, just stating the obvious. Most of us Klipshophiles love high DR(because our systems can reproduce it). We know what live music sounds like and we want our home systems to sound as close as possible to that experience. Yes and what can we do to make the recording industry take notice? Has the ship already sailed too far out to sea? Eric

Chris et al, I have been following this thread and have been hesitant to jump in. I still don't know if I should but .............Live music perfomances are dynamic. The more dynamic a recording is the more alive it sounds IMHO. Any compression beyond what is absolutely necessary to squeeze it onto the recording medium is a shame, again IMHO. And the overcompression and then boosting the overall level is a disgrace. But hey I'm just the average listener that has a system that is capable of concert level reproduction at low distortion levels. Eric

Dave, It's not luck, it's a Blessing. Our relatively new Parish church has a real pipe organ and it sounds wonderful. Our Pastor was insistent we have a "real " organ and some of the parishoners were concerned about the cost. But God provided. It is worth all the money and effort. Keep up the good work. Eric

When I put a 1500 watt space heater next to my Lascala's I have 1600 watts!