akimball442

I'm interested to hear what others think too. I am pondering a similar project.

I had never heard of the so called 'Gundry Dip,' but it's an interesting concept to say the least, and furthermore interesting that it's in *exactly* the band I'm complaining about. Hmm. So why, then, are so many recordings so terrible? I actually listened to a bunch of my grandmother's old Elvis 45s the other day. She was in her teens when she got them, and no doubt played them to death on something that would disgust any and all of us, no doubt with a badly worn stylus. They were never really abused, but there's plenty of surface noise on a lot of them. They sound GREAT. Simple, mono.... but the Guitar, Bass, Drums, and the King all sound like the real deal. Nothing sounds artificial, and nothing overwhelms anything else. It's convincing. It sounds like those instruments sound in real life, and that being the case, it's believable that that's how Elvis really sounded, in person. You can believe that if you were in the studio, that you would have heard it in the same way that you're hearing it when you listen to these old records. So what happened circa 1960 to the recording industry that things got so crappy?

Oh! I forgot to talk about the room/system. The short answer is probably "less than ideal." The Magnavox amp has been talked about enough. For vinyl, I use an Onkyo TX2000. It has the best phono stage that I have personally owned, and the rest of the preamp/amp is very nice. I have not found a solid state amplifier that I liked and could afford, other than this one. Since I can build and repair tube amps, my budget tends to make them my preference. My CD player is an older Pioneer 6 disc magazine system that I was given by a friend. It works fine, I have no idea how 'accurate' it is. If it's less than ideal, or someone suspects it may be, I'd be willing to get the model number for further scrutiny, or perhaps take suggestions as to what might (for a reasonable amount of money) become its replacement. The turntable is a Technics SL1300 with Grado ZF3 E+ cartridge. I've replaced the stylus with an upgrade, I forget which 'color.' I often use a modified Dynaco PAS3 when I use a preamp. If I'm switching between sources a lot, I use it. When I say modified, I should say that I'm using a Dynaco PAS3 chassis to house some fairly popular boards. The line amp is called the TCLA by a company that is called tubesforhifi. It's nice, and very much flat with the tone controls centered. The room is probably a weak point. My house was built in 1795. I'm using the largest of the bedrooms for my listening/music room. Old houses, no matter how large, often have small rooms. This room is 14X16. The speakers are on the 16' wall. There are three (large!) windows, and my old sofa that the cat wrecked many years ago.... There are numerous guitars all over the place, and amplifiers. Where my butt lands in the pathetic old sofa, puts my ears level with the mid horns, and equidistant from each of the speakers. Mono material sounds as if it's coming from directly in front of me, and I have a lot of it. There are hard surfaces everywhere, it's less than ideal, but it's what I have to work with. This entire house has baseboard radiators, lots of windows to help with removing said heat, and just as many doorways. There is not an ideal room anywhere for a perfect listening environment.

Time for another long post, after some experiments, and as I try to answer all of the unanswered questions from the various posts today. More Edit: Would you believe "I'm a Man" is cited as an example of the use of cowbell? There's a joke to be made in there about "more cowbell!" But all kidding aside, CLAVES was the correct answer! I think the claves might be a memory I was trying to repress from high school band. As a brass player, it's quite possible (even likely) that I did have someone whacking them together right behind my head at some point. ----------------- Chris, I thank you for the EQ curve you provided. I cannot remember the last time I used an EQ in my main system. I have a Marantz EQ10 that has been in service in my garage system for a very long time. Bose 501s really need it... I use a Technics 8600 integrated amp out there with the Marantz EQ and those Bose speakers to provide enough power to overcome the air compressor and tools I use on a regular basis. I'm a diesel engine mechanic by trade, a guitar player (and collector) for fun, and an audiophile, because, apparently I'm a glutton for punishment. I blew the dust off the EQ and brought it into the house and connected it between my CD player and the trusty Magnavox. Luckily, there was an adjustment at or near each of the knee frequencies in the curve you provided, and I was able to get it close. I played the Chicago track, and it was quite tolerable. I have no way of knowing how accurate the Marantz EQ is as far as it's dB scale, and to be honest, I've never adjusted an EQ to a specific curve before today. It's just something I've always done by ear. I think the adjustment was TOO much, actually. Certainly the bright midrange was gone, completely- but the track now sounded to me like it was a bit on the muffled side of things, and the bass was overwhelming. A side note on the bass- clearly the old Magnavox doesn't struggle in this department, because with the 30Hz adjustment up to 12dB, there was LOTS of bass, and zero noticeable distortion at a fairly loud listening level. These speakers certainly go down very low. I then changed the adjustments to half, relative to zero, ie. if it was -6dB, I changed it to -3dB, and so on. That was just about perfect. Honestly, I couldn't find anything that I really wanted to change, I don't think it could have been better, which is encouraging. The thing is, I find that MOST of the source material I have been listening to comes off as VERY bright in the 2-4 kHz range. Using the EQ goes against everything I've read- it seems like everyone in the tube community wants to bypass tone controls- and you're not listening to it correctly if you are using tone controls. But these speakers benefit from having those frequencies reduced by a few dB, on an overwhelming majority of the tracks I listened to this evening. And actually, a bump on the 30Hz slider actually adds some nice bottom end without being obnoxious. ----- I did listen to some tracks from the Aja album. That's another memory- my dad played that album constantly! I listened to quite a bit of Steely Dan, actually, and a lot of it does sound quite good with the EQ bypassed. Some tracks did benefit from a reduction in the 2-4kHz range, like so many others. I really think these speakers scream in that range. ----- I'm quite interested in the Audacity software, and I intend to read about it after I finish with this post. I just wish I could sit and enjoy music without being so critical! Finally, I'd like to thank each of you who has given this thread your time- I really appreciate it. Historically, 'newbies' on forums aren't given this much thought or consideration.

Wow, a lot to take in here! I'll reply more later when I get home, but a few things.. I still have the A25's. They're on my list of items that I'll never part with. They're connected to an old Onkyo receiver in my dining room, and they're used for providing Christmas music and the like when I have company. I'm fascinated with the information on the mastering... I'll read more about it later, as well as check out the links provided. How interesting that you had information on that particular track -- A side note- I have that album on both (very clean) original vinyl, and on CD. I find the biggest difference between the two to be the bass, the bass is 'tighter' on the CD. As for the Magnavox, it's not stock. The transformers are from an Eico ST40, and aside from being larger than the stock transformers, provide taps for connecting 4-8-16 ohm speakers, rather than just the stock 4 ohms. The amplifier keeps most of it's original soul, but with slight changes in coupling caps, the negative feedback, the transformers, and a greatly beefed up power supply, the amp is pretty flat through the audible spectrum. More information can be found on this amp if you google "gabevee- Magnavox." When I get to my computer at home, I'll link to his website. He's a wealth of information on this amplifier, and many people regard it as quite good. Again, the main surprise here is that these speakers seem to be brighter than the Heresys. Thanks for the replies so far! Aaron

I'll say in advance that this is my first post here, so this could be a bit long, and I apologize. About 3 or 4 years ago, I moved from the land of Dynaco A25s to a pair of Klipsch Heresy 1's. At first I was pretty unhappy with that move, until I found out about setting tone controls flat, and using some good amplifiers. (well, good to me). After awhile, my only complaint with the Heresys is one that come up a lot. They sound bad with a sub, and on their own they're short of bass. The only upgrades were a pair of new crossover caps in each speaker. What I discovered with them, though, is that they excelled at what they WERE capable of, and I really enjoyed listening to them. I still have them, with no plans to get rid of him. I learned to notice a lot of things that were previously 'missing' in music that I've listened to for a very long time. My musical tastes range from some classical, to big band/jazz, to early rock & roll, to classic rock, and country music up until recently when it all went to hell. I listen to a lot of Frank Sinatra, the Beatles, George Strait, etc. In my quest for an upgrade, I assumed I'd end up with a pair of Cornwalls. In my head, the Cornwalls were a logical upgrade to the Heresy, and being the bigger brother, I would guess they would have the same sound as a Heresy, but with added bass. Maybe? Maybe not? I don't know, because I haven't really had an opportunity to audition any. So with only the internet to consult, I read and researched, and ended up purchasing a pair of very clean Chorus II's. Well, there's the bass I had been missing... in abundance. But that's where the love ended. The midrange is painful with these speakers. I quickly contacted Bob Crites, who admitted that harsh midrange was not a common complaint of the Chorus II. I purchased replacement crossover caps, and the titanium diaphragms for the tweeters. As a side note, Bob Crites' service is exceptional. His email responses are extremely quick, and his shipping is even faster. A+ customer service. I installed the crossover caps, figuring it can't hurt at 25 years old (The speakers were made in 1990). The titanium diaphragms in fact do improve the HF extension, and sound quite good. So while the crossover caps didn't make any earth shaking improvements, the tweeters sound excellent, though I didn't really have a complaint about them to begin with. The diaphragms are a relatively inexpensive and worthwhile upgrade for sure. So what do I do about the midrange? Is it true that nobody finds fault with it? At times, I find it to be borderline painful. Certain vocals sound like shouting, and certain electric guitars are just screaming, even at lower volumes. My feeling is that there are some frequencies in the mid horn that are a few (or even many) dB above the rest of the speaker, and it's very, very annoying. The most obvious example, I discovered while listening to the (1st) Chicago Transit Authority album- the song called "I'm a Man." The song starts with the bass, and then some percussion, and among the percussion is a wood block. It's absolutely HORRIBLE. It's as though you're listening to the band play, and then someone comes up to your left ear and starts beating the wood block with a steel rod or something. Very unbalanced. I feel like, more often than not, vocals seem to fall behind the instruments, something I've never experienced with horns before. Bright instruments overpower the vocals. It's very strange. What I have not done yet, is to get an EQ in the mix and figure out which frequency it is- but I have not experienced anything like this with the Heresys, and certainly not with any other speakers in the same environment. I'm using a Magnavox 9300 series tube amp with no preamp for most listening. It drives efficient speakers plenty loud enough, and it sounds very nice. Occasionally, I'll use an older Onkyo TX2000 receiver, especially if I want to use phono. I like the Magnavox better. I would love to hear experiences from others, as well as any suggestions to tame this bright midrange. I don't want to go back to the drawing board, but maybe these speakers are not for me. Thanks for any suggestions, Aaron