twk123
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Posts posted by twk123
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2 hours ago, rjp said:
I am familiar with Ken Rockwell from my interest in photography. I know how unusual he is. That said, he did seem to use the right gear to perform these tests of the DACs, so even if he is a bit strange, I find it hard to dispute his measurements. LEt me give it another read and try to find some supporting data from others.
I found the link and read the review and typical of Ken Rockwell, he mixes hyperbole with limited testing etc to throw out a conclusion. There are many aspects to a good DAC and how it creates a tone from a digital source beyond a flat response from the DAC/headphone amp. Personally, I would at least try one USB DAC so you have something to compare as a reference point. Here is a the link for others to chime in as well:
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The Sixes are actually so good looking that people are taking selfies in front of them.
As for the 'Heritage' discussion. I believe only the K-Horns, LaScalas, Cornwalls and Heresy's can have the true Heritage moniker as these speakers were designed by PWK and really launched the company. In the last few years, Klipsch has put together a new "Heritage Inspired" design trend with quality metal and wood, even in their headphones but it has little to do with the original 'Heritage' speakers. The One and Three are actually Full Range drivers and the Sixes are dressed up Reference Premier bookshelf speakers with an internal amp.
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Lots of Pro gear coming up in Denver lately.
https://fortcollins.craigslist.org/msg/d/klipsch-professional-kp-3002/6607281502.html
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I watched Planet Earth II in 4K on my Mom's 70 inch TV last weekend and was blown away. The Jungle episode with the hummingbirds especially was spectacular. I watched parts of Fellowship of the Ring on DVD to help dial in the subwoofer right before and going from upscaled DVD to 4K was like someone washing Vaseline out of my eyes. The sound quality from DVD to 4K codec was also surprising on how much more rich and non fatiguing it was. David Attenborough is great as always too. Next up will probably be Gladiator in 4K.
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34 minutes ago, artto said:
Spent Sunday at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, IL for the JEGS Route 66 Nationals.
I took my calibrated SPL meter along. 131.4dB was the highest SPL I recorded. I was about 400' from the starting line, grandstand row 9. Of course, they use Klipsch Pro Audio here. I was able to capture a picture of one of the funny cars blowing its engine as it passed by.
Nice Shot! I cant find the link but there is an old story on the Klipsch blog of a racecar that flipped over the barrier into one of the Klipsch speakers and tossed it around a bunch. I guess they just plugged it back in and everything worked fine.
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3 hours ago, DizRotus said:
I enjoy the opposite scenario. Rather than trying to justify an extravagant cost, I like to impress my friends with high quality sound from minimalist systems. The best example of that was at a gathering of old (redundant) friends from college at a friend’s house, where Bose 901s were used for TV sound.
I brought a pair of single driver Karlson slot enclosures made of foam board using a plastic framed 3” driver that cost less than $5. The photo shows it before the final side was hot-glued in place. The sound was good by my standards, but amazing by their standards. To maximize the impact, I would power the speakers with one of my several class D chip amps powered by batteries.
I would play the same driver in free air then play it in the foam core enclosure. Obviously, the difference was startling. One friend said, “It’s like turning water into wine.” Another friend was chagrined to acknowledge the system sounded better than his expensive stereo.
We sometimes forget that even Heresys are large speakers by the standards of most. We also tend to forget that most people who enjoy music do so without speakers that are large or expensive. One of my most successful DIY projects is the boombox shown. The drivers are Radio Shack 40-1197 (made by Fostex), the amp is a SURE TPA3110 class D, and powered by a SLA 12v alarm system battery. I’ll often enjoy music from that unit while outside building tapped horn subs, or refurbishing La Scalas. The sound from that bass reflex (a single rear port shared by both channels) enclosure is very good. The diminishing return factor demands much larger speakers and much more money spent to gain a small advantage in the ability to enjoy the music.
The last photo shows a TPA3118 “Wiener” class D board powered by 8 AA batteries.
Not to go too far off topic but I have to say THANK YOU for actually putting a grill over your drivers on your boombox. 99% of the boombox builds I see on the internet including very expensive ones have exposed drivers with no protection. Its a boombox, which means its going to be thrown in your trunk at some point and exposed woofers are just waiting to be punctured.
Nice, clean build btw.
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47 minutes ago, rjp said:
This is great news. So feeding my Klipsch RP-260Fs with highest bitrate Spotify will not be limiting them in any way it seems.
What about the built in DAC in the iPhone 5S. Is it really as good as I've read? Based on these measurements I can't see any reason why I would want to buy another DAC. What do you think?
https://kenrockwell.com/apple/iphone-5s-audio-quality.htm
I would be a little wary of Ken Rockwell's take as he is known for more amateur type reviews on the photography side and saying sensationalist things like not shooting RAW or why you dont need a tripod. Although he flipped later on the RAW shooting aspect and wears T-shirts advertising this fact. Personally, I would grab a Audioquest dragonfly for $100 on Amazon to listen side by side to the I-phone to see what is best, you can always return the dragonfly if it does not stack up.
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I agree with T2K, the KV-2 goes well with the KG series and they are some of the best value Klipsch speakers you can get on the used market in my opinion. The KG 5.5's are the big boys of the KG series with tons of bass and usually run for about $200 to $400. They typically sit on the market for a while so you can talk them down. There was a set in Denver for sale for $220 for quite a while a few weeks ago. If you let us know your budget and location we can check out the local listings and point you in the right direction.
For surrounds, I really like the KSP 1.1 speakers. They typically run $40 to $60 and mesh really well with the KG series. They are also easy to mount on the wall.
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This is an interesting listing, 4 HF horns with cabs and networks for $600. I am not sure how one could incorporate this into a setup, maybe put it on top of a QuarterPie Bass bin or LaScala bass bin?
https://denver.craigslist.org/msg/d/klipsch-kpt-456-hf-horns/6604551079.html
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From a lineup perspective, the the RP series is known to be pretty laid back so moving to something like a Heresy is going to actually be much more 'forward' and exacerbate any system issues you may have. Typically in this situation its a good idea to follow the signal path and identify where the harshness may be coming from as Klipsch speakers are very revealing. Starting at the top here are some notes:
Source: Spotify- this is my go to streaming service and I am very happy with the quality. That being said, make sure you are a premium member and go into options and turn on High Quality Streaming, also be sure that "Normalize Volume" is turned off. This feature compresses the audio and has a noticeable adverse effect on the quality. Personally, I use a Spotify client called "Fidelify" as it allows you to use AISO output which I will describe in the next step.
DAC: I am not sure if you are using a laptop or AVR but if you are using the headphone jack on your computer the cheap sound card it will make music sound like a buzzsaw on Klipsch speakers. When I got my KG 5.5's I literally could only listen to Vinyl until I got a decent USB DAC. Even a $100 Firefly DAC will greatly improve your sound. Some USB DAC's allow you to work with an output called AISO which bypasses window's EQ and there is a small improvement there as well. If you are using an AVR it is hit or miss on the DAC quality and if its a TV is probably a pretty bad sound card.
Amp: Your tube amp probably has a fair amount of 2nd order distortion which actually makes the music sound warmer so I think this is already good as it is.
Room: Aside from your DAC, this is going to contribute a lot to your speakers sounding harsh. There are reflection issues that cannot be solved by any sort of EQ etc. First you mentioned leather couches, this is an issue especially if the back of the couch is above your head when you sit on it. Get a good soft blanket and drape it over the back of the couch for your head to rest on and it will absorb any reflections bouncing off the couch back into your ear. This actually makes a huge difference and I was very surprised when I first did it.
The second is room treatment which is a topic that can go on for hours. Personally, I found the easiest and most effective issue to address are primary reflection points. This is a point on the wall in which the sound bounces off and hits your ears a split second after the sound from the speaker. This will cause the speakers to sound muddy or harsh. Here is a good illustration of the primary reflections:Its a good idea to have some kind of absorptive material like heavy curtains at this point where F meets the wall. To find this point, I have come up with a 'Laser & Mirror' system which works very well. All you need is a laser pointer and a small handheld mirror. Get a buddy and have him hold the laser pointer at the top of the speaker facing where your head would be when listening to music. This can be the point on the couch or you can tape a white balloon to the couch where your head would be. Take the mirror and hold it against the wall next to the speaker and have your buddy shine the laser on the mirror. Slowly walk the mirror along the wall away from the speaker while your buddy keeps the laser on the mirror and eventually the reflected laser will hit the listening position. (This is position where F meets the wall in the diagram) Mark this area with painters tape and try to find some way to get a curtain etc at this point. Do the same thing for the other speaker as well. This will greatly improve the clarity of your system and will help the harshness as well.
Anyway, I hope this helps. Klipsch are known for being unforgiving but once you get everything set up and balanced correctly, the end result is holographic sound and you can close your eyes and 'see' the band playing in your room.
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6 minutes ago, chetanh said:
How do the RF 82 compare the RP 250? They are bigger in size... will they deliver better SPL?
I would say it would be a good upgrade. Dual 8'' woofers can move much more air than 5'' woofers. The subs will help a lot too because that sub 80hz content is difficult for your speakers to reproduce and can be routed to the sub instead which means you can crank the volume up more without distortion.
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13 minutes ago, chetanh said:
Is there anything that i can buy to improve the quality of the input? The problematic inputs currently are my apple tv and a cheap android streaming box both connected using HDMI to the receiver
From what I have found your best bet for input quality is going to be a dedicated DAC and Spotify Premium service with 'High Quality Streaming' turned on. Good Budget DAC's include the Cambridge Audio DACMagic 100 ($200), AudioQuestDragonFly ($100) or the Schiit Modi 2 ($150).
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Here is another option. Keep your Klipsch speakers for HT duty with the sub and if your budget is limited go and buy some cheaper PA speakers for when you have parties. Ideally, the Klipsch Pro line is going to be the best bet but they do tend to run a higher budget. That way you wont worry about frying your current system and when you are blasting music at parties you dont really worry about really high fidelity anyway.
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1 hour ago, DizRotus said:
Or even worse . . . one of these. A slightly modified one of which sounds pretty darn good powering the HIPs. It's in the small black box with a Pono player sitting on top.
I have one of these in an amp I built on my office desk to power my KG 5.5s. Its not as warm compared to the Lepai 2020A+ but overall a nice little amp. I just wish they didnt stick the RCA input right by the volume pot though.
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Lol that would be funny if the guy is banking that you dont open up the amp to find one of these:
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19 minutes ago, babadono said:
First batch of new kits sold out but they don't ship until 7-31. Don't see how any Ebay offering could therefore be one of the new ones.
I was wondering that myself. I think they are completely sold out now.
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I would pick them up ASAP. $50 is buy them now and figure out what to do with them later price. If you want something more in budget you can throw one of these horns on top and add a tweeter as well :
https://www.parts-express.com/faitalpro-lth142-14-60-x-50-elliptical-tractrix-horn-4-bolt--294-1042
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If you want some good cheap bookshelf speakers, keep an eye on your local listings for the Klipsch KSB 1.1 speakers. They usually range from $40 to $60 and really sing with their Tractrix horn. They are not very pretty in black but the white ones look nice.
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I agree with John, the Forte will probably be what you are looking for. It has a mid range similar to the Heresy but more bottom end with the bigger cab size and passive radiators in the back.
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Welcome to the forum! The 2 way Klipsch speakers tend to not have the 'forward' mid range that a 3 way will have. Heresy's area good option for this but are Heritage. The other 3 way Klipsch speakers that are newer are the KLF 20 and KLF 30. If you can find them used in your area they will be a good option. If you let us know what city you live in we can check out some local listings and give you recommendations. Also knowing your budget will help out as well.
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On 5/23/2018 at 7:24 PM, BradWasTaken said:
Lifx is far superior over Phillips HUE in terms of contrast and accurate color. Great choice, I work in the smart home industry. We have a set of the Lifx Z strip in the bedroom behind the tv.
This looks pretty cool. Keep in mind though that when you watch TV to only have neutral white light as a back or bias light. 6500 K is the standard if you can set it to that temp. Here is a good article on bias lighting:
https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/bias-lighting-for-tv/
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7 minutes ago, MyOwn said:
I know...Sorry. This is good stuff....
https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/11/14/the-dinner-party-judy-chicago/
Interesting that they named the exhibit 'Dinner Party'. I wonder what cunning linguist thought of that?
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25 minutes ago, Zen Traveler said:
I must have missed that day, but what lead to the demise of ANY political talk is folks getting nasty, not that they disagree....Honestly, I shake my head at some of the things grown men discuss on ANY forum and the reason regulars stay here is for the comradery, and yes the love of our Klipsch Speakers and the sound they reproduce.
Dont forget what happened on the AVS forum during the Blu Ray vs HD DVD war. I guess people were actually threatening violence and law enforcement got involved causing the forum to shut down for a week.
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2 minutes ago, dtel said:
I had no idea, that's good to know but let me ask a question. I like using steel wool but read it can cause a problem with residue particles rusting later, I have never had that problem but started using brass wool instead ? I have use it between coats on some things I was afraid to over sand and just wanted to rough up and never had a problem ?
And I did forget to say about all the edge banding and sanding I did before before I started to stain, the part I don't like.
I have head that as well but personally have not had a problem. I always make sure to wipe down my project with some 70% isopropyl alcohol after the steel wool to get any residue. The only real project I did considerable steel wool sanding was on a Ruger 10/22 stock that I put about 15 coats of Tru Oil on and have not had a problem yet.
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The 15s?
in General Klipsch Info
Posted
Now here is a question:
Is the Jubilee considered a 'Heritage' speaker?
As for the whole 'Wireless" speaker trend, I see it going the same way as 3D Cinema. For boomboxes, sure Bluetooth is awesome. But for a HT is it silly to have to plug in your speakers to an outlet instead of running a normal AVR which will allow more options for component upgrades etc.