fmalloy
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Posts posted by fmalloy
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On 6/22/2020 at 6:51 PM, rebuy said:
Wiring is Everything.
Wiring isn't everything. It's the only thing. 😄
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To stray off topic - that 1964 Altec catalog is *hilarious*! The model on the cover with a 14" waist, the wood cover for the preamp, the astonishingly low 0.5% distortion on the tube amp...speakers with table legs...and I don't know about you, but I do all my serious listening in an impeccably pressed suit, with the wife in a dress and heels. Baby, can you pour me a Martini and light me a Chesterfield while I spin some Dean Martin?
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3 hours ago, tidmack said:
I think the point I was trying to make is that most folks would understand why Heresys would need subs, but be terribly disappointed to learn that La Scalas tremendously benefit from them them, too.
I have Heresy IIIs, and I was surprised. You see a fairly large box (by today's standards) with a 12" woofer and it *looks* like it should rock the house with bass, given there are small bookshelf speakers with long-throw woofers of half the diameter that rock the house. Then I learned a little about sealed-box designs and ported designs and learned a bit how complex it is.
I'm not a big bass person and I use the Heresy with no subwoofer. For me, when the bass is really there and it's recorded well it surprises me, like when there's an fff in a bass drum in a big symphony, for example. Yes, it would be nice to have a bit more in a jazz trio string bass, but what is there is so tight and controlled...
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1 hour ago, Coytee said:
So it's not hard for me to see him placing the purity of PWK's designs as his first priority and if someone were to "violate" (my word) that purity then it's perhaps similar to violating PWK's legacy to some degree.
Yep. Totally agree. The Heritage speakers have a long history and design principles and philosophies associated with their creator. You buy and enjoy them knowing and respecting that. The vision wasn't a DIY-friendly product where you're encouraged to tinker and tweak and play. I believe Nelson Pass encourages that with his public domain amplifiers, but this is different.
If Grandma Smith spent years perfecting her peach pie, laboring over many trials and experiments, it becomes famous, and you go and change a bunch of ingredients and amounts, cook time, and procedure, should you really be calling it Grandma Smith's Famous Peach Pie?
All Chief Bonehead said was they're his to do what he wants, just don't call it by the original name. Nothing more.
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12 hours ago, Chief bonehead said:
Is there a maintenance schedule of speakers?
I like to rotate the woofers every couple thousand hours of listening, 1000 if listening to heavy metal. 😉
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19 minutes ago, ClaudeJ1 said:
OK, so if the drivers were still good, and he only changed the capacitors, would it still be called a LaScala?
Obviously, you have to change the capacitors when they age and no longer function to spec. Going back to the car analogy, you have to replace the oil filters and the brake pads, because they wear out. Yeah, it's still a La Scala. But change the drivers, the crossover design, the enclosure shape/materials - you've changed the basic functionality and the sound.
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1 minute ago, yamahaSHO said:
Same with say, a Mustang... If I swap a better built motor in it, it's still a Mustang.
Much of the La Scala is in the design, no? Some of us chose to install what we think are better drivers and in the case of the tweeter, I liked the CT-120 so much more,
I originally just planned on doing the tweeter, but the K-55's on my La Scalas were beat up with magnets having not been treated well, so I gave the A-55-G's a try (it also didn't have the original crossovers and I don't think the tweeters that were installed were original). For the Heresy's, they had two different drivers, K-55-M and soldered K-55-V's. I preferred to swap out to new, and I considered the Atlas drivers.
I like the sound... A lot. I still call them Klipsch La Scalas and an audition has turned many friends into Klipsch enthusiasts, looking for their own set.
I don't get it. In each case, you've changed so many of the key components (I mean - completely swap out a Mustang motor but you call it a Mustang?) that you can say - well, what's left?
You said - "Much of the La Scala is in the design, no?" To me, the *design* is the carefully engineered *sum* of the enclosure, drivers, materials, and crossover. You change any of that, you've changed the design. Not a La Scala any more. It's a modded La Scala. Fine, if that's what you want. Some people love tweaking and hacking...
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35 minutes ago, Chief bonehead said:
Your understanding is wrong. But it’s your speaker. do what you want. Just don’t call it a la scala anymore.......
It's a short-but-sweet (and direct) response. And so true...
The OP talks about the soundstage and the great sound...before he wants to tear it apart?
You can buy a classic Ferrari (F40? I know nothing about vintage automobiles) and replace the engine (you know, it's so outdated), the brakes (they have much more modern materials), the transmission (so many advances since then!), the suspension (computer designed these days!), the exhaust system, dash instruments (go digital!), etc. But would you still call it an F40?
Honestly, I don't get it. Just build your own box and stuff it full of the drivers and crossover that you choose. And put your name on it.
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6 hours ago, Kalam said:
I did some further tests and plugged the rear ports of the Fives. This seems to open up the sound a bit, and of course considerably decreases the bass, by too much actually. Not something I would do for long term use as I have no clue how that would impact the cooling of the speakers. I have three separate issues, which I think may or may not impact each other:
1. Bass even in Bass cut mode is a bit too much. This I say is due to placing of the speakers and the room itself. I can only place the speaker about 20cm from the wall, which seems to be not enough for rear-ported speaker. Also the sofa where I listen to is on the opposite wall. If I listen in the middle of the room, there is no boom in the bass, it's tight and fast. Listening on the sofa creates a slight boom.
2. Speech volume level/clarity is inferior to my TV. This I think is due to the TV's speech enhancement function, as in normal music this is not an issue. I tend to listen TV in low volume which makes this a bit of an issue, but depends hugely on the TV program and its recording. As a soundbar replacement such function in my opinion should be available for the Fives via the app. I hope time takes care of this issue
3. Highs are slightly muffled. This I have not found to be "curable" by the placing, may be its just the "colour" of the sound with these speakers. There is a slight difference to all my other references, which are not necessarily hifi standard. Again, EQ availability should be a default from my point of view.
Number 2 and 3 I believe should be fixable by the app, if Klipsch chooses to do so. Number 1 is not something I would so much blame on the speakers. There is a lot of great qualities to the sound, like stereo image, how they fill the room etc. And from my PoV there is a potential for superb sound. It may be the case for someone already who can place the speakers well, and always listens TV on reasonably high volumes for the speech not to be an issue.
I think you're probably correct about 1 - the bass you get is strongly dependent on speaker placement; closer to a wall increases the bass, closer to a corner increases it even more. And the port needs a certain distance to function correctly without being boomy. And looks like you found that your room has bass "nodes" where it peaks. Normally audiophiles correct this with some kind of room treatment or speaker/listening chair placement. Have you tried toeing the speakers in a bit?
For 2 - I guess you can't turn off the TV's speech enhancement? I don't think my Samsung Q70 has any such speech processing. You say that it doesn't occur with music, right? How is speech from a source other than the TV? Does your TV have any EQ functionality? Sometimes it's buried in the Sound settings or some such.
Still, I'm surprised that this speaker that is targeted for TVs cannot provide clear speech.
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1 hour ago, Kalam said:
I have the same problem as Helder, and I do not believe it's either hardware issue, nor me not liking the Fives sound. The speech clarity is better when I use my TVs own speakers over the Fives. Overall the sound quality of the Fives is superb, but they feel a bit muffled on the highs, even with Bass cut mode when playing music.
This is puzzling. I have used multiple kinds of stereo speakers connected to an amplifier and play the TV thorough them, and speech/vocals always are clear. Speech sits right in the middle of midrange frequencies, which a quality speaker should handle easily. I'm currently using Klipsch Heresy speakers connected to an NAD amp, and the TV sounds fantastic, including speech.
If the bass is too heavy, it should not drown out speech. As a matter of fact, speech alone should not have any bass at all, unless the speaker is Barry White or James Earl Jones. Sounds to me these speakers have artificially pumped up bass.
Klipsch seems to be marketing the Fives for this very purpose - "Immensely improve your TV's sound with The Fives" so it's extra strange.
If this system can't reproduce speech with clarity, I wouldn't say the sound quality is superb.
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5 hours ago, Helder said:
Tested left/right yesterday, could not perceive difference.
Living in Portugal, not sure how easy will be to replace/return them, but I contacted global Klipsch support and waiting for an answer.
I think if you have tried sources other than the TV (laptop, smartphone, etc.) and you still hear muffled vocals, either there is a problem with your unit, or you just don't like the Fives' sound.
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Just now, Helder said:
Understand, I could test the main speaker alone by disconnecting the slave, but not sure how could I test the slave alone.
I'm not familiar with these speakers, so I didn't know there is a main and slave. Maybe turn your other speaker facing away (or facing down on a carpet) and put your ear close to the speaker you're testing at moderate listening volume to see if it sounds muffled, and do the same with the other to see if the muffled sound happens to both.
Quite honestly, I can't see an $800 speaker from Klipsch having muffled vocals; they should be very clear. If you've tried multiple sources besides just the TV and listened to each speaker and they're both muffled, perhaps something's wrong with the main speaker electronics.
I would exchange them with another set, and if you still don't like them, return them.
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1 minute ago, Helder said:
What do you mean by both speakers?
I just have one pair.
One pair is two speakers, correct? Left and right? If both your left and right speakers exhibit muffled sounds it's unlikely both would have the same defect, so it must be that you just don't like the sound signature of the Fives.
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2 hours ago, Helder said:
Once I select HDMI ARC as output on the TV, all sound effects become disabled so I there is nothing I can configure.
I have also tried Bluetooth from my iPhone and optical from a CD player, and still the voices seam a little muffled, I miss clarity/crispy sound.
Do you think there can be any speakers manufacturing issue?
If both speakers have the same issue it seems like it's not a manufacturing defect. Perhaps these just aren't the speakers for you.
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2 minutes ago, Marko said:
Optical makes it even worse. Sound is here but volume control shows the scale on the tv without changing the volume on the fives
I thought optical is straight digital, and TVs didn't scale the digital values, so it has to be controlled by the analog audio amplifier.
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On 11/11/2020 at 6:11 AM, Shakeydeal said:
Sometimes when we hear sound quality improve in a speaker over time, it could also be attributed to the crossover components breaking in as well. They are, after all, electrical in nature and can change in time when current passes through them. Although some here will say that is preposterous too...........
Shakey
Has anyone plotted freq response, SPL, etc. of a speaker when it's brand new, and after it's been "broken in" and compared the graphs?
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5 hours ago, Helder said:
Yes, they both work, I just cannot understand why voices are so muffled/low (even with "Bass Cut") compared with my TV built-in speakers, meaning I need to raise the volume to understand voices but when music or effects start the overall volume is too high and need to decrease it again.
Something is wrong. If this is noticed with both speakers it must be the source material. What are the sound settings on your TV? Make sure it isn't set to "Dolby Digital 5.1" or some similar format. I suspect the TV is doing some kind of processing.
Have you tried some other input source besides the TV?
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Are you hearing sound out of the tweeters if you put your ear close to them?
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If you are using Optical out of the TV check to see that the Audio Format (or whatever it's called on the TV) is set to PCM and not Dolby Digital or 5.1 or some such format.
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FWIW, I have Heresy IIIs with SS and found the mids to be harsh and forward on a lot of source material. I love so many other things about the speaker and didn't want to sell it, so I got a Schiit Loki 4-band tone control and cut the mids and highs quite a bit and to me it sounds a lot better.
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1 hour ago, MeloManiac said:
Mine: TubeCube7, 3.5 watt per channel, with 1972 Heresy.
Can't play loud, but sounds pretty awesome, haven't heard any other tube Amp with Heritage speakers so my little Amp does qualify as the best I ever heard!
Heresy has a 99dB/1 watt SPL, shouldn't 3.5wpc be enough to drive it to loud levels, even in a fairly sized room? What's the SPL you get from it at your listening location?
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As a side question - what are the audible symptoms of crossover caps in need of replacement?
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Can someone explain the purpose of the Zener diodes at the tweeter? Protection?
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17 hours ago, RandyH000 said:
the Signature on the Bill of Sale shows John E Prine , we all know the singer /songwriter as John Prine -- now , the middle initial E is not known to most fans , which adds authenticity to your Bill of Sale I would invite you to reach by PM @JRH and @dwilawyer for your request as this thread can be transferred to a section called ASK THE HISTORIAN -
This made me smile, because it reminded me of that Seinfeld episode where Costanza buys a car from *John* Voight (vs Jon) 😄
Wonder why Mr. Prine sold the K-horns...
Why is this PASS design so cheap?
in 2-Channel Home Audio
Posted
I've built the amp camp amp and this 'ain't it. Amp camp amp is only 7-8 watts and has much less parts. Only one output transistor per channel.