MechEngVic

402's 2.5dB lower than the bass bins?

I found the same thing with her recordings. It's a shame such a great voice is being recorded so poorly.

This is a conundrum faced by all speaker builders, and a natural artifact of your hearing. I can listen to one person just fine, but 3 or 4 people start talking to me at the same time and things get confusing, it turns into midrange sizzle. This effect is multiplied by the tweaking that is done to music in the mastering process; in trying to level everything off, they compress everything together and narrow the soundstage. Many speaker makers adjust for this problem by lowering the output of the midrange in comparison to the highs and lows, making a V shaped frequency response curve. This is the reason why many audiophiles don't get that the music happens in the midrange. Klipsch, on the other hand, gets it. The frequency response curves on horn driven speakers accent the midrange. And Klipsch's solution for the midrange sizzle: Bigger horns. That's why your horn lens takes up half the speaker. You can make gains. Have you tried toeing them in 45 degrees? Get them as close to the corners as you can, then make your seating position just behind where the lines of the two speakers intersect, in other words, at the tip of the triangle. And get a good usb DAC to run your mac through. I have a Topping D30, and you wouldn't believe the difference this 120.00$ DAC makes. Or if you can afford more: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?forums/audio-dacs-streamers-servers-players-adcs.8/ Also, tubes and horns go together for exactly this reason, but do the placement and the DAC first. Look for a DAC that sounds warm. Even the best laptops can't beat the sound of a modest DAC, and there are some awesome ones out there. (Topping D50s, SMSL M500, RME adi-2)

Yeah, I've heard the jumpers could be improved upon.

Oh man, those are the most gorgeous LS's I've seen so far! I love tall speakers and you made a short stocky speaker long and elegant. And the crossovers built through the board is fantastic. I bet those ported risers get you a few more Hz's. Do you get reflection/dispersion/diffraction issues with the tweeter?

I think you answered your own question with your opening statement, "I had my system really dialed in". I'm sure that didn't happen in a day or two. Don't give up, keep tinkering, you'll eventually get a "dialed in" sound from the new setup.

It is considered one of the best by these guys: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/measurements-of-rme-adi-2-dac-and-headphone-amp.7546/ If you can afford it, it's a no brainer for headphones, one of the best headphone amps Amir has measured.

This. That's why repositories of know-how and experience, like this here forum, are such a valuable resource. Speaker builders make as good a sounding speaker as they can within the confines of the budgets they are given. There is always a compromise. Then we, with the help of these forums and our experiences, can extract the few missing bits of performance out of those designs. But care must be taken to avoid thoughtless "Swap-tronics".

This is your chance to be a Klipsch Pioneer!! I don't think anyone has torn into their RF-7 III's yet. I guarantee you that the crossovers and wiring can be upgraded at the very least. And if you crack them open and document the design and values of the crossovers you'll get a lot of help from the experts on this forum. I for one am itching to see RF-7 III guts!

Big time, pages are taking 30 seconds to load, I can almost hear the modem dial-up screech in my head.

I am starting to be convinced it is not purely placebo. Especially the resistors coming off of the cathodes and anodes. Someone on this forum said "You're not just hearing the tube, your hearing the tube and it's plate/cathode resistors". I've tried a couple and am hearing improvement. Certainly way cheaper than tube rolling.

I understand. In a fanatic's case, desired and required are the same thing. I just finished capacitors and have started resistors.

In your sitting position, if your ears are higher than the cabinet top, then you're probably ok, or if you sit far enough away from the speakers. In my case, I sit pretty close to my speakers and my ear is level with the horn, so setting the tweeter back, although aligned, cuts off much of the sound. In a near-field setup, I really get an immediate sense of what the speakers are doing. Really, every situation has its own variables.

Yeah, I wasn't happy with the diffraction caused by reflected waves bouncing off the top of the speaker cabinet when I aligned super tweeters with the horns. I was getting information cut off at heights below the cabinet top and, like you infer, what sounds like less defined imaging above the cabinet. Then I remembered a physics lab where we found several in-phase resonance points in front of the aligned one. So I've been experimenting with those forward points and it seems like flush with the motorboard is a resonance point; not time aligned, but in phase and not being diffracted. It still feels like a compromise but one speaker makers have been making forever. I'm still experimenting to find if it's possible to be both time aligned and not reflecting but I'm afraid it will mean raising the tweeter and making a lens for it. If I keep going with this, pretty soon you'll be putting pictures of my speakers on this post...

Diffraction because sound waves are now bouncing off of exposed waveguides?

Those horns!!! Tell me more about those horns.

There is no sealant, just the gasket that is mounted on the woofer. If there is a problem with the seal, it's usually the woofer coming loose. Over time the loose woofer can damage the gasket.

I submit my humble advise: Whatever you do, DON'T do A/B/C comparisons. It doesn't work. You will hear next to no difference. Or you will convince yourself of differences that may or may not be there. It makes listening not fun and it is a recipe for listening fatigue. Your brain is designed to hear similarities, not differences. A/B testing only works for obvious differences. You have to give the brain time to hear the individual, unique subtleties of each crossover. Do this: Listen to one set of crossovers for a while, many days or even weeks. Make notes of the things that stand out to you, good and bad. Highlight the specific qualities that you keep hearing (Brassy high frequency shimmers, convolution of s, p and t, etc). Make specific mentions of passages in songs so you can go back to them with the next test. Then do the same for the other crossovers. Then compare notes. You'll probably notice only a couple things that you found unique to each crossover. This is a true comparison. And keep in mind, a moved piece of furniture can make more sound difference than a different crossover, so be mindful of your surroundings. Submitted with humility.

Did it just start doing it, did you notice a gradual loss of sound, or has it always been that way? Is there any rattling at volume? It could be sealing, woofer damage to cone, surround or coil, loose mount, crossover failure. Did you try switching channels of wires between amp and speakers to eliminate amp issue? Sounds like you're gonna have to break into that cabinet.

Use good copper, or silver plated copper. If you can afford it, use pure silver. Why do we use copper? Because is it the best conductor, except for silver. Silver is more conductive. That is the only concession I will make to the fancy wire guys. Other wise, use thick multi strand, twist your positive and negative, if they are stuck together side by side, pull them apart and twist them up. Keep it short as possible, keep it away from other wires. Terminate or don't.

I LIKE THEM!!! I love anything horn...

Is that all there is to it? I'm gonna make my own... 😉

The wood grain on those KG's is gorgeous!

Most people who convert from tubes to solid state do so for reasons similar to yours. Most commercial audio installations use solid state for similar reasons. Solid state is more convenient, reliable, and trouble free.

Where's my caulking gun...