Andy Andrews

Already, I'm wracking my brain to figure out how I can beg, borrow or even steal enough coin to acquire a pair of Jubilee IIs (Shall we call them?) I want to be listening to them when Gabriel blows his own horn and I wake up , either with a pair of gold-plated Klipsch speakers on a cloud up yonder or, more likely, down below in that great barbecue joint, where we have to listen to Heavy Metal played through worn-out juke box speakers at 120 decibels 24/7.

My memory isn't what it used to be. I checked invoice and it was diaphragms for the tweeter (K-79-K) that I replaced. There were no Ti replacements for the midrange (K-57-K) available from a source I trusted. A couple days ago, I received an absolutely stunning CD from MA Recordings which is uncompressed and unmanipulated and the old Corns sounded like the musicians were right there in my room! Nothing wrong with them now. It's my sources: old cds, lps, 42-year-old receiver pulling from FM station 100 miles away that are probably the culprits. I'm going to order more of those 176.4 kHz High-Resolution CDs. They sound like the best tape imaging you've ever heard!

I ordered new crossover in 2017 and Bob Crites made them up for me in a day and on the third day I had them. It was an unbelievable turn-around, considering it's about 2,000 miles between us. Unfortunately, two years later I ordered titanium diaphragms without stipulating that I had new crossovers from Crites and perhaps his son handled the order and may not have noticed I have the crossovers for the old phenolic resin diaphragms. That may be the problem. Thank you, guys, for pointing this out. The clue was my old monaural LPs sounded great and very natural. They have a narrow response band. At my age, though, I shouldn't be hearing much over 10K, so I don't understand the shrillness I'm bothered by.

I have a Marantz 2220B driving my 1987 Cornwall II pair with Bob Crites' crossovers (2017) and Ti diaphragms on mids (2017). My room is 15 x18, fully carpeted, acoustic ceiling. Voices sound shrill. Something lacking in midrange, as I have to push mid gain to three o'clock (25% increase clockwise). However, on old mono LPs, from 50s and 60s, voice reproduction seems spot-on. What's happening? My Marantz has been checked and di-oxed and runs fine on phono and CDs. FM reception through 300-ohm twin lead antenna usually good, since I'm on the beach and it's a straight shot up the coast to the transmitter on top of Mt. Wilson, is it? But vocals and announcers' voices are thin and shrill. Would a better antenna help?

The speakers were designed to fit into 90-degree corners. This room has some panels spanning across the corner at a 45-degree angle. Remove these and push the Klipschorns into the corner so that their sides parallel the wall. The speakers will not couple to the room air as it should with that corner configuration.

More than 80% of the sound from a classic symphony orchestra comes from the horn or reed section. This is because this class of instrument also radiates more efficiently into the auditorium and at a frequency range at which the human ear is most sensitive. Not surprisingly, the exponential horn is analogous to the shape of horn and reed instruments. Trying to make a paper or polymer cone, metal dome or electro-static array propagate sound pressure levels similar to what you hear in the live concerts requires lots of power with its commensurate increase in distortion. Bell Labs researched the problem in the late 1920s and discovered horn speakers were superior, if intelligibility was the primary goal (as in fidelity). We have come full circle since the beginnings of high-fidelity sound systems, with lots of experimenters with fanciful claims and new configurations, each claiming to outclass the other. But, in the end it is not possible to refute the laws of physics and we have seen horn-loaded systems once again dominate the market. There is a reason - they sound most true to life. And they use least energy for a given gain level - good for the warming planet.

I can only speak from my own experience with a Marantz 2220B driving four Klipsch KG4s, two Forte Is with Crites titanium diaphragms and new Crites crossover and, now, a pair of Cornwall IIs. My friends here at the retirement facility who attend my music evenings say the system is the best stereo reproduction they have ever heard. But then it may just be the cheap imitation Champagne I serve! The source is a Sony CDP- C545 given to me, but even the FM signal from 100 miles away (LA) sounds pretty good. I paid $230 for the Marantz from a Seattle thrift store!!