AndyKubicki

Hey Glen, Sometimes I feel like I have tin ears as well, but you have to figure that Bruce has spent long days with amps playing at shows, so he has had a lot more exposure to differing amps, rooms, systems, etc than I ever will. I think his strongest argument in favor of the Cavalier was that he can listen all day and not have his ears get tired. I think you're right about the blind test...it would be very interesting. Todd and I were taking down his amps and because he had some extreme power chords (the white ones that looked like water hoses) we thought we would try and hear a difference between those (which retail for about $600) and the braided ones ($150) and some stock power chords that come with new equipment. I Heard virtually no difference between the stock chords and the braided. I think I heard more smoothness with the white one. Now THAT would be a good blind test! Although we set up his Emerald Physics horns at his place where they sounded MUCH better than at my place, I think he has the itch to get Klipsch anyway []

Well, we had made some interesting comparisons, and some interesting discoveries this weekend! Thanks to Dr. Edgar, to Stang, Glen and Todd for showing up and even bringing some interesting amps to check out. We were just a bunch of audio geeks having a good time! To us, it's all about the music! We started out by playing about 4 selections of music, a vocal, a couple mostly acoustic instrumental and a vinyl direct to disc recording. We played these on each of the 5 amps we had to compare: Bottlehead 300B Bottlehead SEX Cy Brenneman's Cavalier Plus Don Allen 45 based SET Channel Islands D 100 We started out with the K-Horns being in the corners of my longer wall, so they had about 20+ feet between them. I've had my K-Horns that far apart for the past 15 years or so, and just got used to that positioning. Dr. Edgar brought over an imaging test CD and my system failed miserably. We decided to try them on the shorter wall with about 7-8 ft between them and viola! Imaging has been restored to where it should be! Bruce was telling us of some of the KHorn's shortcomings, but upon hearing the KHorns with the ALK crossovers, he now feels that the crossovers addressed the problem. Some time ago, he suggested I replace the LF driver with an EV and widen the throat, but after hearing them, he said to keep them as they are. My other mod was dampening the squaker and tweeter with rope caulk and Dynamat. We used a solid state preamp to get the input up to a level where the amps can put out a bit more power. That was an Audire Diffet 3, even with the Cavalier, which is an integrated, to even things out. But back to the amps. The Bottlehead 300B was very nice, smooth. For the money, it's a very nice amp. This did not have the transformer upgrades, and this is probably where it lacked a bit of bottom boldness. We tried the SEX, but that did not have enough steam to provide a fair evaluation. It's more of a headphone amp. We also had the Channel Islands D 100 to try, but agreed after playing the first round, that the switching amp did not belong in the shootout with tube amps. The Cavalier fared extremely well. Strings and vocals were smooth as silk and very natural. Smoother than both the 300B and the 45. This is an intergrated amp and preamp. The Don Allen was similar to the Bottlehead. Not as smooth as the Cavalier (though still with the smoothness of SET). But the Don Allen did reach down a bit lower into the bass region and was a bit more dynamic than the other amps were. The Cavalier was the preferred amp of the afternoon for its smoothness and tonality- overall, very sweet. It's a very well designed integrated amp, bringing the musicians into the same room with the listener. My own amp is the Scott 222D, which is a good sounding integrated amp, though not in the SET class. I have had the Don Allen SETs for a couple weeks and have really liked them from the first listen. Todd, their owner has reclaimed them today. But Todd is considering getting the Cavalier for his system. For my taste, it's a tough decision between the 300B (taking cost into consideration and the fact that I want to build a kit just for the fun of it), though I would like to first hear the same amp with the upgraded transformer. But considering that the Cavalier is an integrated (though there is no phono preamp), it too is a great value. But for my ears, I think the lower bass and the slightly better dynamics of the Don Allen will be my preference. I'm not a big fan of vocals, and perhaps that's what made me tend to the more dynamic amp for those punchy instrumentals. Now my K-Horns will be in their new position on the shorter wall, but I don't know if they could stay there. First of all, the longer wall provides more space for the TV and the gear. Second, we have some French doors right between the KHorns now, and I love music DVDs, so for now, I placed the TV in between the KHorns on the short wall in front of the doors. Now my wife agrees that she likes the imaging better, but she want the French doors to open in nice weather. The other issue is that the bass seemed a bit lower, stronger with the horns on the longer wall, but then we loose imaging! I will probably experiment with a center channel and hear how that affects imaging. If I can have my imaging and keep that strong bass, I want it all :^) I wish we had Craig's VRDs in this comparison. I heard them in our last session about 3-4 years ago, but it would have been good to refresh that memory. BTW, we set up the Emerald Physics speakers at Todd's house this afternoon. When we set them up at my house earlier, they did not sound good at all, but they were not properly placed in terms of distance from each other, from the wall, etc. The sound improved vastly at Todd's house- they are designed to be bi-amped and the Channel Islands drive the bass pretty well, while the Don Allen SETs supply the horns with that sweet SET sound. After taking most of the afternoon to driving them over and setting them up, we realized once we fired them up that we should have taken the same CDs to listen to on his system as we did at my house. Till the next one!

1 PM till ??

LOL! When we were house hunting, my wife was laughing that one of my main issues was a K-Horn friendly layout.

Wayne, too bad. We'll have to catrch up in the future! We'll have Cy Brenneman's Cavalier to add to the list. I look forward to seeing those who have rsvped so far.

BTW, where's Wayne & Tom? I was hoping to get Craig's VRDs back here for another audition ;^)

Hey, those look even better than on their own web page...and those were kits?

Just wanted to give this a bump in case someone in my hood might have missed it. So far it looks like we'll have a few amps to compare, which is great! We'll also have a pair if these to check out: http://www.ciaudio.com/D100.html Please email me if you can make it Andykub @ gmail.com 714 970-2889

Holy Schmoly! I can't tell you how many garage and estate sales I tried and saw NOTHING with tubes (well, one TV set). Great find! Congrats!

Based on responses so far, this will take place on Feb 16th. Sounds like this will be fun! My email did not show up: Andykub{@} GMail.com 714 970-2889

I must be a lucky guy. Though my wife has complained about my K-Horns being too big, she does appreciate their sound. We had my friend's Emerald Physics Horns set up in front of the K-Horns for about a week. My wife said she missed the bass and more natural sound of the K-Horns. Though the Emeralds need to be dialed in (they're bi-amped with DSP crossover, and need to be placed correctly), I love my wife. I think she's attached to the K-Horn sound, and only just now realized it. [A][A][]

Gorgeous! Will you do mine now? []

WOW! Very nice indeed! I got one of Dan's cabs for my Scott too! I love the look of it! Though I didn't get the fancy wood you got, and I didn't get the classic Scott, I got the same style you did.

Yer supposed to listen to the music! [] I used to do the same thing as a teenager- lights out and just immerse myself into the music. It does help to deprive a set of senses to focus on another set. Think of it. We've heard stories about Ray Charles or Stevie Wonder hearing things the recoring engineers didn't catch. Yeah, lights out is the way for me! Besides, you can see the tubes glowing better []

It's sounding like you'll be able to bring some cool stuff! All forum members are welcome weather you have something to bring or not. Bring your ears and a CD. I especially look forward to hearing the 300 B. I hope Tom (or anyone else) could bring Craig's VRDs again. I would like a fresh comparison. I want Todd to hear those also. Todd can't make it on the 2nd, but is OK for the 16th. We can go a week later if the 16th is problematic for anyone. Jim, I think you were saying the 16 works for you?

Well, I remember all the heated up exchanges here about SET, but had no idea what it was about till I heard it on my own K-Horns in my own room. I have heard a 45 before with Edgarhorn mids and highs, and it sounded great. But I couldn't compare it directly till now. Todd was totally impressed as well. He just sold off a Manley monster room heater which cost even more than what these cost. It's all a matter of your own taste and which compromises you are willing to endure. If I had it all, I would love to have one amp for sweetness and one for rafter rattling. But I must say that with the preamp (and remember how it sounded dead in comparison to Mark's Juicy Peach when we swapped it out), the volume is just about sufficient for me. Almost, hehe.

Hi All, I would like to host another KHorn session. I have a pair of KHorns and am "babysitting" a friend's Don Allen SET monoblocks. It would be nice to have an amp shootout. My amp is a Scott 222 D, but with the SET here, I don't know if we'll wanna listen to that . Please let me know if you can attend, I'm thinking either Feb 2 or the 16th. Also let me know if you wish to bring something to listen to (hardware). Bring any CDs SACDs, DVD-As. If you have extra lengths of speaker cable or interconnects, those would be nice too. For a couple sources, I have an Adcom DV 137, but I also have a moded Dennon that will walk all over the Arcam, I'm sure! I also have a B&O TT, but space might make it difficult to hook up. I'm in Anaheim, So Cal. You can email me directly: Andykub@... Andy

Those are Todd's Emerald Physics http://www.emeraldphysics.com/intro.htm , which are now awaiting him in my garage. I missed the KHorn sound too much to leave them in the system.

It took a while to figure this posting pics things out, but here they are! They arrive! I LOVE the smell of fresh solder! The setup Up closer, lightening bolts and all The view at night

Hey all! Yeah, it's been a while again. I've been poking my nose here now and then. But now I have something worth sharing. One of my friends is doing some rearranging of his house, while getting some new equipment at the same time, so he offered to let me play with it []. First, he ordered a pair of Emerald Physics http://www.emeraldphysics.com/intro.htm. They were set up here for a week or two, and although the manufacturer says the room plays a minor role, I think they need to be in a different room from mine as they require at least 39 inches from the wall. There is also a lot of dialing in to work with as these puppies require biamping. They came with a Behringer digital crossover, which had a few preset crossover frequencies loaded into memory by EP. I could not really give them a fair evaluation as they deserve to be set up and tweaked more than what we did here. But both, my wife and I found ourselves to be missing the bass of the KHorns. BTW, Todd came over yesterday with a new pair of Don Allen 45 based SET monos, and we listened with the SET on the horns and my Scott 222 D for the bass horns. When we switched from the EP to the KHorns, Todd said, "you know, I have a couple good corners". We took down the EP and I had to hear the SET with the KHorns. Holy $hit!!! A new level of detail for me. Violins, flutes, vox- all smooth as silk now! My wife walked in from shopping and immediately heard how sweet they sounded! We first had my Arcam going straight into the amps,which means no volume controll. I brought out my Audire Diffet 3 pre and it did give the sound an overall boost as alone, as sweet as it sounded, there wasn't enough volume for my taste. But with the pre, it's not as powerful as the Scott, but I think that I can live with that level The bass is surprising from these little things! Now, items I'm also babysitting for Todd are a PS Power Plant Premier and some power chords I wouldn't even look at in the past. But the SETs were what opened up my ears to the next level. And talk about a quiet amp! I can hear almost NOTHING at idle with my ear up to the horn. The Scott has a bit of a buzz, even when hooked up to the power regenerator. I listened to a few things with Todd, then more after he left. Everything from the Genesis SACDs, to Celine, to Bela Fleck, to Stravinski, everything I listened to just sounds so new and exciting now! I will have to do another get together at my place, maybe February. I would now love to compare Craig's VRDs, maybe Mark's Juicy stuff too. I know I wanted to do this in the past, but my dad was living with us and it was much more difficult with him around as I had to watch him. He has Alzheimers and would leave the house and get lost. Now he's in a facility, so we can once again do this. Todd is all for it. BTW, Todd was one of the founders of The Show, the alternate to CES, so some of you might know him. Mark, I think he said he met you... I'll upload some pics...

Hey Wayne! Let me know when you get those built- I'll come over and check them out! []

Happy Thanksgiving all! We will soon be enjoying some turducken...smell great, can't wait!

Wow...what a thread! Emotion is all in the head, kinda like sex. It is funny how an old song will bring back a memory, good or bad. Will that influence the emotion felt as listening to a song? Is the emotion played the same as the emotion heard? Remember, a pro musician will put on an excellent performance whether he feels good or not. I may have tears streaming down my cheeks listening to something while the musicians can't wait to get to their favorite tune, or they can't wait to get home to watch a movie. If you get a chance, rent the movie Grizzly Man. Watch the DVD extras, where they show the great talent that went into making the sound track. "OK, give us an ominous sound of doom on that cello", and he does it! These guys could play emotion on demand! Fascinating! The soundtrack video is quite extensive, and, IMNSHO, better than the movie itself! And remember the time before you can afford anything Klipsch? The songs of the 60s sure sounded great to me on my transistor radio! I even found that if I got lucky and put a small cap between two points, I got less treble, giving the illusion more bass. Remember the plug in tubes for transistor radios? So, for me, as I grew up, I liked stereos with good bass. Give me a 12 inch woofer over an 8....or better, give me a 15! But when, exactly did I notice the notes in the treble cleff? And was the level of enjoyment of music less when I heard it through the transistor radio than through what I have today? I don't think so...perhaps the reverse might be true. When young, I could spend HOURS listening to music. Today, it's rare that I can sit down and listen to much more than an album. Things to do and obligations get in the way. Here's another angle: I don't have the experience with mixing that Mike does, but I am learning as I do our my and my friend's music. Will what sounds good always be true to the original? I'm working on a piece now that has a ton of tracks. Instruments are competing to be heard within the same frequency band. Mixing engineers can do a few things to make the instruments heard. Panning left or right is one (this creates soundstage). But you can only pan so many tracks. Another technique is to EQ carve, that is, bump up frequencies in different ranges for the individual instruments. to give each one its own space. Play that individual track, and the instrument sounds like crap. BUT, the overall mix sounds better. You hear every instrument. Your brain fills in the missing (or tones down the exaggerated) frequencies. So you need to mix for the best total mix. Audiophiles will sit around their systems astonished at how good the music sounds! OTOH, I recorded a friend's acoustic guitar, and NOTHING I did could make it sound better, richer, crisper, or whatever, than the original track with no effects, just as the mic and pickups recorded the strings. Accuracy is external, but still perceived internally. Emotion is internal. It can be transmitted, but, as with many subjective things, its beauty is in the eyes or ears of the beholder. Enjoy the music, friends! []

Hello Mate! Have you ever heard or seen Apostolis in concert? I was familiar with SBB, but when I saw his other projects, I want to get more into his music. I don't know if this is your cup of tea, but he is, on occasion, in your back yard...fascinating... Even drummer Paul Wertigo (Pat Metheney) now plays with SBB and on some of Apostolis' records... http://www.apostolis.pl/en_bio.html

Jeeze the wood is BEAUTIFUL!