Mike82

Davmar: That McLaughlin disc you mentioned, "Live at the Royal Festival Hall" is one of my all time favorites and test discs. It has it all: Great performance and great recording. It got my vote on the recent "Favorite Live Recording" thread on the Forum. It's too bad JM's Mahavishnu Orchestra remasters suck so bad. I had hopes when MFSL remastered "The Inner Mounting Flame", but it blows too.

Eric: The Lamhorns were just one of the products I was selling in my in-home shop. For certain types of music they are great, but the trade-offs were something I wasn't going to hang with. The Loth X Stamm series is also quite nice, but unless you go for the Sub-Zero refrigerator sized Bard, you still have the bass limitations. You mentioned the Oris/Lowther. I've heard the OrisLowther in a few configurations. Yes, they will work well with the L-S or Khorn bass bin quite well. Speed and coherence is the issue. Horn loading both the bass and midrange allows for this. Some folks like the Oris/Onken system too. I thought it was OK, but it didn't knock my socks off. The best systems I've heard is the Oris/Lowther with Welborne's Maya bass bin (using 18" Macauley(sp?) driver). Man, this was to die for! Ron W. has mentioned possibly releasing plans or a kit for the Maya bass bin. Also the comparably-priced Edgarhorn Titan/Seismic Sub sounded great at the MWAF. At this level of performance component synergy is critical, which may account for your experience.

FWIW, I had the Lamhorn (w/Aer MkI driver) in my home shop for over a year. The single driver speaker do some things exceedingly well and other things very poorly. Both Lowther and AER have introduced new drivers since I had the Lamhorns. My comparison was with the much over-hyped and overpriced ($8500.00) Beauhorn (which uses Lowther driver). For vocals, small emsemble, string quartette, solo instrumental, the single drivers are tough to beat...maybe due to lack of a x-over, BUT bass below ~55-60Hz is non-existent and you will not get a sub-woofer to integrate well--- poor integration, yes, but good integration, nope. I tried several types of subs and none had the speed to provide good coherence with the AER driver. The single drivers can also get a bit congested in complex orchestral passages. I find that better mid-range drivers on the squawker helps the sound immensely. (ALTEC, JBL, TAD)

Why not a tube amp?? 30-50 watts would be plenty for the Chorus. Donzi, where did you get your moniker? Do you have a Donzi boat?

You've been enlightened! I grew up listening to my dad's EICO ST35 integrated amp (EL84). When I first started buying gear as a teen, it was all solid state and through the years (about 35 in total) included some pricey stuff (GAS, Threshold, Krell). My first tube amps were Quicksilver 8417 monoblocks in 1989. WOW!!!! There was no going back to s-s. After about 10 years, I heard SET and preferred that to push-pull tube amps, but there's a lot of fine p-p tubes amps out there. I think you will "rediscover" your music collection. The Heresys are fine speakers, but don't be surprised if you find yourself wanting to taste the complete horn systems. Regards, Mike

Lots of tubes, SET, horns http://www.vsac2003.com

Welcome to the Real World.

With Bob's passing, America truly lost one of its treasures. As a veteran, I appreciate the sacrifices he made to visit and cheer up the troops in so many conflicts. A far cry from the panty-waste majority in today's "Hollywood".

The DARED amps are budget things made in China. While they are "pretty", their parts/construction quality is probably on par with stock Jolida. Trying to do SET on the cheap involves a lot of compromises. IMO, you didn't hear what SET is capable of sounding like. Try to find someone with a good SET rig (Art Audio, Welborne, JFL Horus, Audio Note, some Cary, and a lot of DIY). I'm sure your impressions will be different.

Where's HDBR been lately? I haven't seen any of his posts in weeks.

John's about right. Epecially if you have kids and they want to see the grandparents on occasion. If they are too far away, then you have to spring for airplane tickets.

Henry: You sure she's your daughter? Mike

First, you should determine what frequencies are accentuated in your room. A Radio Shack SPL meter (on sale now) and a test CD with difffering frequencies will help identify where the abberations are. That will have a lot to do with what type of absorbers/diffusers, etc., you will want to use. Jon Risch on Audio Asylum has some plans on making absorbers/diffusors. I'm assuming you are speaking of higher frquencies which is typically what people are speaking of when the say their room is too lively. A cheap way to test for slap or flutter echo which is quite common. Face a wall standing about 4' away. Clap your hand once and listen for an echo in the form of a metallic sounding "ping". Do the same in corners. Then get some towels and tape or otherwise hang them at the areas where you heard the most slap echo. Listen to your system. Does it sound better? It's a lot of trial and error, but you can usually get the reulst you want. One other thing, which I consider important is the type of covering one uses. 100% natural fibers (wool or cotton) sound the best. Synthetic fabrics (nylon, polyester, etc) will dampen the sound, but do something weird to it. Kinda like a phase shift, for lack of a better explanation. For those who think I'm nuts, you're welcome to come to my home and be educated. Low frequency humps are the toughtest to deal with since they require large tube-trap devices. Good luck!

I also vote for the you're-born-with-it folks. I've loved music since I've been a little kid and audio since about 13-14 yo (I'm 48 now). I played in school band since 5th grade. I think I have a good ear. Like Woo, I can hear hum, problems, etc. BUT I don't have $#!t for talent when it comes to playing instruments. I took lessons, practiced my *** off, etc., but I was only ever "pretty-good". I could never break through that wall where I could really play. As Russ said, the research is showing that musician's brains are "wired" differently than us common-folk. And yes, talent without development, practice, etc., results in mediocrity.

I feel sorry for you. My brother has a mother-in-law from hell. It hasn't helped his marriage out. FWIW, I've been very happily married for 23 years. I think the fact that we didn't live near either my or her parents for the first 7 years has helped. So,if you get married, move away for a time. Break the apron strings. It will force you and your spouse to depend on and support each other. oOnce you relationship is fully developed, in-meddling is less troublesome to deal with.

You can probably get a square Tractrix horn right from Klipsch. Another used bought a pair from Klipsch parts. Cost was about $60 each. Not worth the hassle building them.

Hi Jim. Thanks for the update. Your girls sure are cutie-pies. I'm glad to heat the foster mom is helping you out too. Hopefully, you'll get things resolved soon and the kids will come home! Regards, Mike

I don't think it would fit on a Heresy, but others have done that modification on the Cornwall with reportedly good results.

Congrats, Dean. You made a wise choice. The Quicksilvers are fine amps. I used to own the 8417 monoblocks a few (12 actually. Damn, I'm getting old!)years ago (w/Audible Illusions 2C, Spendor SP1/2) and, as I noted in a previous post, the QS are superior to the AE stuff. The sonic character of the EL34 makes it a nice match for the RF7. Make sure to give us a report.

Ditto Artto: I've heard the Wilsons many times. Yeah, they may cost a lot to build, but they sound like crap! "Hi-Fi" (in a pejorative sense) done to perfection. Real ear bleeders, especially the WATT I'll keep my Khorns anyday!

By Live I take you mean non-studio, so: -Hendrix- Live at Woodstock, and Band of Gypsies -Martha Argerich- Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto 3- Chailly -John McLaughlin- Live at Royal Festival Hall, (still my fave after 15 years) These 4 stand out, but there's lots of others.

Just read this thread. Damn!! Yeah, there was a lot of BS thrown around. I kinda like Mac gear, but the comment that they aren't going to make anything costing less that $3K is nothing more than a marketing crock of $#!t.. I guess they are tailoring their product line top the "more discriminating audiophile" (Read- dumb-a$$ doctors, lawyers and sundry nouveau-riche dweebs who don't know squat about audio or sound, but want to impress their colleagues with how steep the price of Mac membership is). How sad that such a respected line has allowed this type of marketing.

Dean: I'm with Craig and Sunny on this one. I wouldn;t do it. I also like the EL34 tube as well as the EL84 for it's sonic qualities. IMO, the Quicksilver is a better amp than even the Cary, never mind the AE. Parts quality is superior with the QS amps and so is the sound. BUT, if you really want a killer triode EL34 amp, I'd hunt down a used Art Audio David Gill Signature. You can find a used Gill for about what you'd pay for a new AE 25 DJH. http://www.artaudio.com/gillsig.html I used to sell th AA products when I had my shop. They are phenomenally well built with excellent power supplies and output transformers. Of course, they sound great! Good luck! Mike

I'm pretty much with DeanG on this. Tubes tend to create a 3-dimensional sonic "space" while s-s tends to get only 2 dimensions (h & w). With tubes, I can definately visualize instruments, performers, room dimensions and place them in space- front to back/side to side. Granted, this illusion is not experienced on every recording. On older classical recordings (Merc, RCA Shaded Dogs, etc) a microphone tree was used rather than close-miking the instrument sections. Therefore, the "ambience" of the hall is better captured with the old technique than current methods. Of course, it's easier to edit mistakes with the new techniques. One particular recording demonstrates this quite well: Jascha Heifetz, Bruch Scottish Fantasia on RCA "shaded dog". On the opening of the piece, before the music starts, one can almost visualize the dimensions of the orchestra hall- all this before the music starts. Put another way, tubes creates a "cloud" of music that envelops the listener. S-s can do a fine job with 2-dimensional soundstage, but as Dean noted, the sound is stuck to a plane across the front of the baffles.

Malcom: Yes, but in my experience, the Heresy squawker it already tipped up a bit, so I would think the EV woofer would blend better with the squawker than the stock driver. The tweeter horn may then not be loud enough.