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Mallette

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Everything posted by Mallette

  1. Jeez guys, I hadn't looked over here in a couple of days. Give me some time to digest this. However, let me say that I spent the first 10 years of my career in radio, then in audio engineering, staring at true VU meters. I learned to determine what was REALLY happening as opposed to what I was seeing. As with any tool, one has to really spend time with something to get the most out of it. Most all location work I have done was done with VU, music as well as voice, and I am quite comfortable with them. As you said, SJ, I am looking more to show off these gorgeous hunks than accurately read anything. My ears tell me all I really need to know about what is feeding my Khorns... BTW, Gil McDermott of the list is going to visit Saturday afternoon to help me lay out the proper T attenuator circuits...as well as listen a bit. Sunday the 10th will be the inaugural meeting of the Dallas Area Klipsch Forum here with 5 forum members in attendance. Get Klipsch, and suddenlly you've got friends. Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  2. Well, don't want to venture too far off topic, but I've had a few experiences in the area of the very, very strange...a couple of OBE's, and even womb memory. That aside, I threw away a couple of "ultrasonic" dog whistles when I was a kid because I could clearly hear them. I assumed they didn't work... Like the super-tweakers, thousand dollar cable types, etc. I CLEARLY hear the the cieling on CD's. Thankfully, I do not hear the difference in super dollar cables and power supplies. One I can't do anything about (except listen to broadband analog and digital sources...the other costs too damn much money. Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  3. Bob/Lynn: Haven't reversed leads. I do not expect this to reverse. It is really, really low bass and sounded identical (except for the flutter) from each horn. I will do so just to eliminate the issue. If it is present on the recording, then reversing will be useful. Frankly, it really sounds like a woofer luffing. How this could come out of a MIDRANGE HORN mistifies me. It is definitely related to resonance, as it is there for about three notes, then disappears as the music goes on down for another three or four. Dave Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  4. I've listened to a wide variety of music at various levels over the past 3 days, and I've not heard this before. It only occurs on one speaker on about three notes somewhere down in the less than 40hz range. I've noticed it on no other recordings. It is repeatable. Pretty rarified, but still unacceptable. Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  5. I was just listening to a Franck organ choral on a Telarc CD. It has a very quite passage with extremely low (32hz or lower) fundamentals. The left midrange horn began to flutter at the resonant frequency. The right did not. Is it blown? Should I check for debris or something? Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  6. OOOOOooooo.... Nice TT. I think I've made it clear I am not against digital. I am for excellence in any medium I can get it. When I was 20 or so, I could hear out well past 20khz. When I walked under one of those ultrasonic burglar alarm transducers I would go into instant extreme pain and dodge as though the furies of hell had attacked me. Some were 140db...very painful, but only a minute fraction of the population could hear it. Of course, those days are long gone, but listening to CD's with shimmery cymbals, applause, and other very high frequency things I always seem to sense the total cieling at 15khz. I cannot explain this biologically, as it seems rather unlikely that I can even hear 15khz anymore, much less harmonics above. OTOH, the sense is very real and does not occur with analog sources. In fact, even 78's sound open and airy, not confined in any sense. Some are better than others. My copy of the Sheffield 80's release of Harry James doesn't seem to suffer this, nor Midnight Oil's "Diesal and Dust." Anyway...if it sounds good, it IS good. I certainly agree that LPs still deliver much more bang for the audiophile buck than the current state of digital technology. The only way to get affordable high-end digital sound is through a computer Uou can get Dell refurbs with 350mhz or better CPU's ready to run for 150.00 or so...that is more than adequate. Of course, you need to add a sound card and removable drives if you expect a large collection. A 120.00 80gig 5400rpm (all you need for audio) drive will hold over 120 untranscoded CDs. Card Deluxe has been compared favorably to a Mark Levinson $15k DAC, and will set you back about 500.00. So as a player only, a dedicated PC for the purpose can be put together for 750.00, including monitor. I doubt you will find a OEM CD player for that that sounds anywhere near as good. Add RMD (20.00 for each rack, 70-140.00 for drive(s) depending on size), WinAmp to play (free), CDex to rip (free) and you can put your CD's away for safe keeping and enjoy high end CD sound...for whatever you think it is worth. That is pretty cheap...but still won't sound as good as a 200 ebay TT with a new stylus. Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  7. >How do you define 'high-end sound card'? Easy...if it sounds good, it is good. Seriously, I'd put the Pinnacle at the low end of high end. I believe tomshardware.com has some good reviews of sound cards. Certainly Card Deluxe is a huge bargain. $tereophile compared it to a 15,000.00 Mark Levinson DAC. As to vinyl rigs, I hear you. It is absurd. However, a 100.00 turntable and cartridge in good condition sounds much beter than a 100.00 CD player to my ears. Once you get past 700.00 in vinyl, I cease to hear much change. OTOH, 700.00 CD players don't sound that much better than 100.00 ones to me. My guess is that my 400.00 sound card, if it were in a CD transport, would cost more like 1500.00 or so. >Vinyl will always sound a bit compressed... Not with judiciously applied DBX :-) >"Man, CD's sound like shite" That was not my orginal point. If you read closely, you will note that the recording I consider as good as anything I've heard was made in 16/44.1 PCM. Remember, "CD" is only a storage device, not a signal source. Again, I blame lack of experience (as you pointed out, we've over a 100 years of experience producing vinyl) in the digital medium for the generally lackluster sonics available on CD. Just this evening, I listened to Sheffield Labs Harry James CD (The King James Version) followed by Midnight Oil "Diesal and Dust." Both these sound far better transferred to HDD than played back on my Sony CD player. >Another 10 years and I think we can put our vinyl away. Hmmm... So when do I put the shellac away? I've 80 year old discs that sound better than some CD's (and I REALLY mean that). Good stuff! Thanks for the post. Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  8. Great Googly Moogly. I remember this thing but assumed it was long dead. It was 25,000.00. These folks have it down to 6000.00, which implies that it could drop into my range if enough get sold. They will demo it IN YOUR HOUSE at this price? I presume they line up LOTS of demos before hoping the big blue lake. Seems to me one could pay for one selling transcriptions to CD for people. Must give it some thought... Got to be a way. Hmmmm... Thanks for the link...I am going to keep up with this. I've not heard a WORD in the audio press...though I only take Listener and $tereophile. Not having much luck migrating this to 2 channel. :-> Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  9. (This is being moved from another thread, as it is has "morfed" from my original subject as is much more appropriate to this forum...love to hear other opinions) FROM HDBRBUILDER: David, I think the problem with CD's as compared to a good analog recording is the nature of how the information is laid-down/picked-up. In an analog recording on a record, all the musical information is there, it just takes the right stylus and cartridge to pick it all up. But on a CD, whichever signal is the strongest at a particular micromillesecond is what gets the nod to be put onto the format to be refracted by a laser...leaving the rest of the signals out of the picture...and thereby losing the fidelity found in analog recordings. I noticed this when comparing CD's to record albums early on after the introduction of the CD format...something was always missing from the CD that the analog recording retained!...ESPECIALLY on "live" recordings!! The only thing that saves grace on DAT is the larger amount of signal input info that can be put down on the magnetic tape as compared to a CD! We have little choice but to accept the CD as the primary format in this day and age though...its advantage in smaller size, convenience, and "no scratches" to have to listen to has left us analog folk searching through rummage sales and used record shops to try and find good condition analog recordings of our favorites, I am sad to say! On a positive note, though...with today's resurgence of high-end turntables to audiophile set-ups...if the trend continues, then maybe the recording companies will take note and come out with "original master recordings" on vinyl to fill the void they left when they spurned vinyl in favor of the CD format!!...Who Knows? Stranger things have happened!!! It seems whenever a market is found, a product shows up to fill the niche!! Glad you are enjoying those k-horns so very much...I kinda figured you would!! MALLETT RESPONDS: Well, as I said in my earlier post, I do not think it is the 16/44.1 sampling rate as I once did. Having made numerous location recordings using it over the past several years, I feel the standard has been criticized when other issues are actually to blame. The first thing my wife heard (to bring in the thread) on the "new" horns was the solo piano recording I mentioned. She agreed it was the best piano recording she'd ever heard. As I am sure you are aware, absolutely nothing is more difficult to record than piano. I'd also point out that most of my CD's sound much, much better after being copied to HDD as WAV files and played back through a high-end sound card. Of course, the CD is just a medium, and (IMHO, though some golden-ear tweaker types ((no offense intended)) disagree) for storing digital information. CD's I make from my DAT masters sound as good as the original when re-transfered back to the DAT. I performed this experiment to reassure myself that no transcoding was going on, and that it was the CD player(s) and not the digital info that was at fault in the percieved deterioration of audio quality from my masters. I do not own, nor have I had the opportunity to live with a high end CD player, but I suspect that getting top quality sound from a CD is probably MORE expensive than what is required to get the same or better sound from an LP...though certainly possible. JMHO. Dave BTW, I am going to copy this and repost it to the 2 channel sound group, as I'd like to hear more opinions on it and I don't think many are following this thread anymore. ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  10. Well, as I said in my earlier post, I do not think it is the 16/44.1 sampling rate as I once did. Having made numerous location recordings using it over the past several years, I feel the standard has been criticized when other issues are actually to blame. The first thing my wife heard (to bring in the thread) on the "new" horns was the solo piano recording I mentioned. She agreed it was the best piano recording she'd ever heard. As I am sure you are aware, absolutely nothing is more difficult to record than piano. I'd also point out that most of my CD's sound much, much better after being copied to HDD as WAV files and played back through a high-end sound card. Of course, the CD is just a medium, and (IMHO, though some golden-ear tweaker types ((no offense intended)) disagree) for storing digital information. CD's I make from my DAT masters sound as good as the original when re-transfered back to the DAT. I performed this experiment to reassure myself that no transcoding was going on, and that it was the CD player(s) and not the digital info that was at fault in the percieved deterioration of audio quality from my masters. I do not own, nor have I had the opportunity to live with a high end CD player, but I suspect that getting top quality sound from a CD is probably MORE expensive than what is required to get the same or better sound from an LP...though certainly possible. JMHO. Dave BTW, I am going to copy this and repost it to the 2 channel sound group, as I'd like to hear more opinions on it and I don't think many are following this thread anymore. ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  11. Well, on my deathbed I'll not be one of those poor audiophiles who suddenly realizes "DuhO! I coulda had Klipschorns!!!" Of course, you all know how they sound, so I won't go into that. First played: Final movement from the Columbia/Biggs/Ormandy/Philadelphia recording of Saint Saens 3rd Symphoney "The Organ" Had to do this, as this was what PWK played for me in in lab back in 1972. Of course, he was running a 30ips 2 channel tape on an Ampex 450 studio deck through his Saul Marantz amps. Nonetheless, I almost leapt through my skin when the organ came in. Certainly have to do something about the Sony P-4300 turntable soon. My daughter cratered my Grado a while back, so I am stuck with the old Audio-Technica cartridge. Real problems tracking the high stuff. Need to get the ST-70 rebuilt. The HK Citation 12 has that "transistor sound." Of course, all that is GOOD. Now I am hearing EXACTLY what is wrong with the system rather than listening as through a glass, darkly. Went from there to the Empire/Grado setup for 78's, which faired much better than the LP setup. The Crew-Cuts "Sh-Boom" happened to be on the turntable, so that is what I played. Awesome. Never heard a CD sound that good! Must spend LOTS of time in the 78 collection. Then it was the Columbia/Biggs "French Organ Music" disk of about 1965. This disk is well-known for having solid 32' organ output. It is there, indeed. Went from it to the Telarc/Murray Methuen Hall DD recording of 1976, which also has the Widor. More 32' than the Columbia. Shook the whole neighborhood, I am sure. The AT cartridge faired better here. Enoch Light "Big Band Hits of the 30's" on the Project 3 label was really, really, bright. Clean, but bright. Think they leaned heavy on the treble to emphasize the "HiFi" claims on less than optimum systems. Maybe the ST-70 will help. Hooked up the Sony RM-500 DAT deck and put on my master tape from a piano recital I recorded. It is Stuart Wayne Foster, winner of the Dallas 3rd International Organ competition who dedicated a donated grand piano at my church. The recording was made on the RM-500 using Beyer ribbon mics through an HBH vacuum tube mic preamp. This absolute blew me away. OK, it's blowing me own horn, but this is the very finest piano recording I've ever heard. Sounds like a PIANO. His "Clair de Lune" tore my heart out. This experience caused me to go next to a recording I made of an ad hoc wind/string octet group made up of Dallas Symphony musicians. Same thing. Totally real. I think the problem with CD's must be mainly in the players...I can attest there is nothing wrong with untranscoded 16/44.1 audio. Then "I Think We Are All Bozos on this Bus" with the Firesign Theatre. Yes, I am a Firesign Freak, but the main thing here was to see how the Fraziers on the Quadaptor in the rear were really performing. The Firesign discs have a WEALTH of out-of-phase info. The Fraziers mesh with the K's wonderfully. Stuff flying seamlessly all over the room. Well, about 1800 more LP's to get to, then I suppose I'll turn to the CD's... Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  12. The big day at last. Horns awaiting pickup at DFW airport. Dave awaiting friend with pickup truck. Listening room is all arranged, leads and corners bare. Fraziers are mounted in the rear above the doorways pointing directly at the sweet spot and hooked with Quadaptor. Even with the volume at the lowest they were a bit loud with the Rectilinears due to their efficency (96db). However, that will be no issue with the Klipsch. Still amazed at how great the old Fraziers sound compared to anything else in my collection, at least until today. Hopefully be able to post the listening results later in the day. "Every time a bell rings a human gets his Klipschorns." Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  13. Not raining on my parade at all. Peak meters were once known as "BBC meters" in the U.S. The FCC did allow their use for reasons I don't recall. I've spent so much time using both kinds that I became very adept at determining what the peak was on a true VU. For voice, VU is the better type as voice goes from nowhere to peak so fast that a peak type doesn't tell you what is really going on (which, I think, had something to do with why the FCC required true VU response). Anyway, I've more interest in simply displaying these old beauties in a functional environment than actually using them. Your description of the T attenuator jibs with my memory of such circuit. Now, if I can just get the values necessary... Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  14. Most reassuring. Didn't figure PWK would let much of an issue get by. I'd love to know everything you do... Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  15. An interesting setup, indeed. The Quadapter approach is not so fussy, though if you move around the field, the effect changes. In either case, however, we are approaching extraction of available out-of-phase info in a minimul way without further processing. That was the point of the original post. There are many who hold that anything more than two speakers is heresy (as it were). I find this no more sensible than if there were those who insisted that anymore than one is wrong. Soundfields in the real world are multi-dimensional. That extra information exists in 2 channel recordings...so why discard it? OTOH, why use more electronic overkill to extract it than necessary? BTW, we are quite close. I live in west Flower Mound. Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  16. Al, Soundjunkie. Thanks. What is a "T" attenuator? I assumed that to achieve a 1/10/100 watt scale I'd need three resistive paths with a three-way switch. Isn't one simply both isolating the meters from the amp output and then insuring properly calibrated response from the meters? As to using another set of meters, about half my goal is to put these beautiful Westons to work and on display. I spent many years in my youth staring at them on Gates boards in my radio days. I love the bakelite cases and the immediate response. They're also gorgeouse inside. They'd cost a fortune to build today...if anyone even attempted such quality. Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  17. Just what is "honking?" Doesn't sound very nice. The serial number doesn't seem to correspond to those in the table posted to the list. When were they made? I assumed the '70's. Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  18. I asked because of a nice thing Gillum did for me. As mentioned in an earlier post, PWK me and a friend a good two hours about 1971, one of the most memorable events of my life audio or otherwise. Several years later I was back through with my wife. I wanted her to share the Klipsch experience so we stopped at the plant. By that time, they'd built an anteroom and you couldn't just walk in. I banged or rang or whatever, and eventually someone came to the door. He explained that tours were no longer offered. I explained about my purpose and the previous hospitality...and he let us in and gave us the grand tour. PWK wasn't around that day, but it was still fun, including being closed into the anechoic chamber with the lights off. Seems to be a lot of fans of the KG series around, but the above and those speakers are all I know of the man. Best regards, Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  19. Is this Gilliam you are referring to? Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  20. While some such circuits can do a passable job for movies and such, I prefer to pass my music through as little processing as possible. The passive Hafler circuit I do consider to be processing, simply extracting all of what is already there. It has no effect whatsoever on a mono source, and that is a good thing. Of course, if it sounds good, it IS good. Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  21. Good job! Good memory, too. Wish I could remember all the stuff I read in the 70's. Don't suppose you remember how to calculate resistive circuits for VU meters? But that's another post. Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  22. "at any rate -- where do you stick this thing?" LOL:-) Depends upon your attitude towards it! Really: It goes in your power output lines before your main speakers. It provides a feed for them, as well as the rear. The new one they are selling provides a center feed as well, but no one says (Well, except PWK) you've got to use it. Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  23. Hmmm...being a horn freak, I don't know anything about RF7s. My ST-70 at 35/channel supplies more than I can ever use (and I do pipe organ as well as Midnight Oil) to my horns and Frazier Monte Carlo's (c. 1970 96 db/watt/meter). I suspect your amp would be adequate with this setup. I am sure yours makes up in clean what your missing in volume. I know I'd prefer clean to loud any day... Anyway, to use a Hafler circuit with amplification, you'd have to reamplify the signal after the circuit. Probably still better than digital, but sort of defeats the purpose of minimum intrusion. Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  24. Just noticed you mentioned "...another amp." Absolutely not, either for homemade or the Hafler box. All fed from the mains. Of course, Klipsh owners have way too much amp anyway! Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
  25. The rear speakers are wired with reverse polarity from the front. Just as having your speakers out of polarity from each other, the slight time differential between the two signals emphasizes the slightly out of phase information containing room reverberation. Of course, in the case of L-R speakers out of phase, what you get is less bass and such. The effect ranges from barely significant to downright startling. Firesign Theatre albums wind up sounding as though they were Dolby 5.1. Classical music gets depth and dimension. Rock ranges from the above to all over the place, as mixdowns add phase info. The original circuit had a null switch to balance for maximum effect by holding it down and turning your balance control for minimum sound (maximum phase cancelation), plus a rear volume. So guess what? I just checked, and Dynaco's successor, Panor, is selling a similar box for 49.00. Go to www.dynaco.com and click on "store." It doesn't appear to have the handy null circuit, but it does have a volume control...plus a center channel output. They are billing it as a home theatre decoder. Don't know about that, but the original does wonders for listening without a bunch of nasty circuitry. Be interesting to know how well it compares. They'd have to go out of their way to mess up a passive circuit! Dave ------------------ David A. Mallett Average system component age: 30 years. Performance: 21rst Century
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