DTLongo

-

-

-

-

Or P39-F?

Here're two more. There are still a dozen or so "goodies" in the Rodrigues book that I'll gradually post so keep checking back every 2-3 days or so.

-

(no caption)

(no caption)

-

OK, here's another. This one actually rings true with yours truly. No it wasn't an anechoic chamber but a high-end, long-defunct retailer named Excalibur had a pair (actually quartet) of Infinity Reference Standard towers (ca. $40,000) on display in Alexandria VA around 1980. Something like 1500 watts per side and other bells and whistles. So we ran the Telarc "1812" and it was of course awesome. But my present Klipschorns evoke that with a lot less power. Caution to would-be audiophiliacs: it's like fishing, when you get hooked, the sky's the limit seeking the Holy Grail. Eventually you reach calmer shores (me age 67, I now hear little sine-wave-test-wise beyond 10K hz. but hey, OK). This is still a great hobby and the more you are in to actual music (me: symphonic), the more it pays off.

Another.. There are still some 20 or so "goodies" in the the Rodrigues "Total Harmonic Distortion" book. Is there interest in my continuing to post these or have you had enuf? Let me know. If any of you have other audiophile cartoons squirreled away, please post them, too.

And this...

Keeping it going...

I was intrigued to learn from the review that the P-39F's don't go as low as Klipschorns in the bass and are relatively considerably less sensitive at 95db versus 104 db. I wonder how the Palladium's three 9-inch ported woofers compare with the Klipschorn's one 15" corner-horn-loaded woofer in terms of moving bass air. I haven't heard the Palladiums. But I would LOVE to read comments by somebody someday who has had the opportunity to give a good listen to both Palladiums and relatively new Klipschorns, as to how those speakers directly compare with each other sonically.

":Hmm, I never noticed before. The one with the finger of God pointing. Is the customer wearing a minister's collar?: Yep, it's a minister getting the Word. Onward:

Sounds low, but if you can see and touch the speakers and they look and sound good, go for it. I should think that a fair price for not-too-old Klipschorns in really good condition would still be around $3,000. That's just a guess though. By way of context, I paid $6,500 for my new 2003 Khorns then.

Let's keep this going! Another one from the book (no caption)

...and here's the second.

"My favorite two were the one about Senior citizens not needing useless frills, on sale, speakers without tweeters. But the best was the guy kneeling in front of his girlfriend and proposing with an open jewelry box revealing a phono cartridge instead of a ring." ClaudeJ1, I'm not sure they're the exact ones you referred but I found in the book two 'toons that pertain. Here's the first...

Many moons ago in the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's a cartoonist named Charles Rodrigues published his audiophile cartoons in the then-magazines HiFi & Music Review which became Stereo Review. Many were hilarious. Looking back on them, they constitute a humorous, tongue-in-cheek catalog of the states of the art at the time, all the fads and foibles, from superfcalifragilistic phono cartridges to mega-turntables to supertube amps to boomboxes to tape decks to World's Best Loudspeakers to... In 1988 many of the cartoons were compiled into a book, "Total Harmonic Distortion," that is now extremely rare and unobtainable. Well, I just obtained one for a price rivaling, relatively for books, what you'd pay for a topline speaker like P-39F's. It took a search outfit called alibris.com over a year to find a copy for me, but they did and it is in mint-new condition and NOT for sale. Alas, the collection does not include my all-time favorite of his that my (sick?) self still chuckles over in recollecting. Two jailers are testing an electric chair. The caption went something like, "Sorry, Mac, it's not right yet, she's still clipping!" But here is another one of the cartoons. Let me know if there is interest and I will run additional ones from time to time.

The earlier Bose 901 series are problematical - lower efficiency and up through at least the Series III they tended to "garble" when handling deep loud bass simultaneously with higher stuff, e.g., the opening of "Thus Spake Zarasthrusa." By the Series VI, the last series, Bose seemed to have solved those issues. The VI's are quite efficient and listenable speakers and, used with their maching equalizer, should be fine in the setup you envisage. My VI's date from 1988, still work perfectly and I use and enjoy them in a two-channel setup in my backup computer room.

Tigerman, if you haven't done so already plse. take a look at another recent string started by bigblaze, K-HORNS WEAK IN THE BASS DEPARTMENT. Mine is the third post in that string. It will be interesting to hear what your experience is with Khorn bass after you get your labor-of-love beauties finished and re-hooked up to them. - Tom

I agree with you that Klipschorns CAN sound weak in the bass department. The truth is, and experience shows, that they are very amplifier-sensitive. I have run them with four different A/V receivers and the bass was thin with three of them, but just GREAT with the oldest receiver, a vintage-1990 Pioneer pro-logic VSX-5700S. In two-channel mode that Pioneer would really drive them in the bass and they were Nirvana. Just gorgeous, very musical, no need for a subwoofer. Same speakers, same corners, same setup, but with the other receivers they sounded almost "tinny" by comparison. Go figure. Unfortunately for the Pioneer, I am running a three-channel setup (see profile) and the old pro-logic center channel wouldn't cut it. In stereo the setup was superb, but in three-channel the center channel wouldn't keep up. So, I am running the array at present with an Outlaw Model 970 pre/pro feeding an Outlaw 7075 amp via a Teac 12-channel equalizer with the the 30 and 60hz sliders boosted. The combo drives the array well but still a little anemically in the bass compared to the venerable Pioneer. Solution: a Velodyne S1500R sub to anchor the really deep stuff. But (APOSTASY!) a small part of me almost wishes I didn't have that beautiful Belle Klipsch center so I could have Khorn two-channel Nirvana driven by that beloved old Pioneer.

I would be cautious aboyut using top-line speakers like the P-39F or Klipschorns in a home theater. Been there done that, using my '03 Klipschorns and '04 Belle in a home theater in my previous house with a 50" Pioneer plasma sitting atop the Belle center. Everything worked and sounded fine but my - admittedly subjective - conclusion was that those magnificent speakers were WASTED when used for HT. This is because in the nature of things one's eyes and ears are attracted to the picture and the dialogue/plot such that your brain is diverted from fully savoring the sound qualities of the speakers. Electroacoustic treasures like P-39F's and Klipschorns are meant to be listened to and through in their own right, which means a primarily audio-dedicated setup rather than HT. Which is how I have them set up in my present house (see profile). My (subjective) sense is what really counts sonically in a HT theater setup -- that which gets the juices going -- is impact and slam in the bass, coupled with overall good but not necessarily top-of-the-expensive-line from the other speakers. You WILL be more focussed on the story and picture than on the sound except for those bass booms, thuds, and percussive gunshots and explosions. So IMHO, get a good potent sub and couple it with decent mid-priced other speakers for your HT and save the P-39F's and Klipschorns for your serious audio listneing.