kippy

PM just sent, thanks kindly!

I am in the SF Bay Area. Would appreciate any leads on this amp.

I have been made aware by many (including Mike) that the room itself is part of the sound of the system. I appreciate the advice and my plan is to change one thing at a time in the system and observe the impact. There is additional furniture and sound-absorbing things going into the space over the next year that will influence the system sound. I was thinking about adding thick curtains to some of the walls, windows and doors to cut down on sound reflection. Will let you know how it goes. @mikebse2a3 gives great advice!

Thanks kindly; I hear you saying I should do some careful listening. WRT bi-amping, one is required to bi-amp these speakers as they have a DSP. I've been playing with different amps (and preamps too).

Here's a nice closeup for you Mike!

Thanks kindly Mike - and thanks for all the audio tips and suggestions on the thread and behind the scenes!

Thanks for the suggestion - do you have any recommendations to play with given the space?

Like Icarus flying close to the sun, I am looking to swap out the MC-252 on HF duty for a MC-225. I think that is how it might get better. But is it the best thing I have ever heard so far? It sure is and I am grateful for that.

I'd love to try out the gear you have....if any SF Bay Area members want to bring their amps or pre-amps over to test things out, I am game for listening sessions. WRT the digital crossover, can't really tell who the manufacturer is from the box itself. No digital configuration but has physical switches on the backside for basic configuration (auto/on, 0/-9db pad, balance/unbalanced).

I ended up hiring local movers. It took 3 of them (they were really big dudes) to bring the bass cabinets downstairs. Money well spent!

Finally have the room downstairs carpet installed and moved the Jubilee speakers down there. It sounds fantastic. Imaging is so beautiful and the room sounds great. I started playing with the SVS sub and the Jubilee's this evening. I am aware the Jubilee speakers go down to 18hz but it was interesting to see how bass-heavy music would respond with the sub. I set the crossover frequency for the SVS at about 20hz and it added just the right amount of low-end. Not sure if I will sell off the SVS in the long run as the cabinets still sound pretty good without it. Pics for the team:

Actually, there are a few things you can configure via three switches on the back - 1. auto-on 2. balanced or balanced connections 3. 0db/-9db gain setting One minor pet-peeve - the LED on the front is bright white, like 5000 Kelvin color tone. I wish it were a different color. Easy to mask for me otherwise.

That is correct. No user configuration possible at the moment, but plenty of available ports on the back for new possible features.

Thanks kindly sir! I appreciate the welcome. Everyone has been great so far about sharing their knowledge and experience. I'll take a close look at the gear you are using. I've heard great things about the First Watt J2. I have worked through a few different options in the last month myself: Digital Source: Bluesound Node - sounds great, better than my old Sonos port and much faster to start playing music. Analog Source: Technics 1210GR2 - sounds lovely, will last forever. I'm an old DJ so this is an obvious choice for me. Preamp: Bozak CMA-10-2DLC - discrete and I preferred it over the McIntosh C8 pre that I tried. Paired it with a Durrough 40 meters and a Japanese stand for the mixer and meters. LF: McIntosh MC-252 pushes the bass bins with punch. I tried them with an MHA-150 and felt it was missing a bit of bass slam. On paper, the MHA-150 should work just fine given the wattage consumed by the high efficiency woofers but when playing dance music, I felt something was missing. My sense is that the LF cabinets can sop up whatever wattage you send their way. MHA-150 sounded good. MC-252's sounded great. HF: McIntosh MC-252 sounds lovely at lower volumes but when I tried the HF horns with the aforementioned MHA-150, they sounded very sweet and "just right". The experiment with the lower-power MHA-150 convinced me I should swap out one of my MC-252s for an old MC-225 tube amp (if anyone wants to sell theirs, please contact me!). Thanks to Mike for suggesting the MHA-150 and his advice as I think low-power for the horns is ideal.

They look very tall from the front and then you see the side view and the look massive. Fortunately, this staging area with the jellyfish hanging did ok in sound tests. But all of the crystal in the kitchen across from the speakers would vibrate when the bass cabinets would hit a particular frequency. I have all of this disassembled now and am working on getting the bass bins downstairs to their final resting spot. There were four of us who attempted the move tonight and we failed. Too much weight and not enough spots to hold the cabinets while going down a hill. Going to invite a few more friends over (think I need 6) to accomplish the task this weekend.

My Jubilee horns are looking for a clean McIntosh MC-225 to power them. If you are looking for a good home to pass your loved and cared-for amplifier, please contact me so I can continue their story in the best possible way. The amp appreciated to the fullest. I'm in the SF Bay Area but happy to deal with folks that are anywhere in the US.

Thanks kindly for the warm welcome! I'm looking forward to contributing to the team

I have an MHA-150 on the way to test for amp differences. Last week, I tried swapping out pre-amplifiers and seeing differences in sound. My observations: The McIntosh C8 tube pre-amp sound is lush, detailed, almost holographic with vocals and mid-range frequencies. It looks beautiful and I could hear deeper into the mix as compared to the Bozak CMA-10-2DL preamp mixer I have. I could hear it instantly upon switching it over. Sound source was switched from a turntable or a Sonos connect streaming uncompressed sound via the DA2 converter in the C8. Very impressive device. Mid-bass was not very tight but the lower frequencies had a deeper boom. Felt like something was a bit lacking there. The Bozak CMA-10-2DL sound was detailed in comparison but not in the same league. It is a discrete unit and well understand to have quality analog components in it. However, where the Bozak does a terrific job was stitching everything together. Mid-bass was perfect and where there was low-end in a song, I could feel a punch as well as a boom when called for. It's as if all the frequencies were presented as a whole. Our hearing and interpretation is subjective but I enjoyed the Bozak experience more than the C8. I am keeping the Bozak and selling the C8. If the only thing I played was vocals, jazz and music that did not require really tight mid-bass, I would have kept the C8. It's magic but my taste vary wildly and the Bozak, while less detailed on the top, is greater than the sum of its frequency parts. This is an embarrassment of riches, so I feel lucky to even have the ability to play with any of this gear. It's all so well built and sounds lovely. I don't think one can go wrong picking any of it.

It's too late. I am amp-rolling now

I've had enough. Going to kick this system to the curb and just put it out with the trash! I don't think I have ever heard such clarity and presence in my life. I feel lucky. The musicians are here standing in front of me playing. I am connected to the music in a way I have not felt before.

This was great advice and a wonderful tip. Sounds much better @MMurg!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJugez1473M I think I have the system dialed in for the staging area it is in. Still a bit of reverb/echo from the room, but sounds lovely. Thanks for all the tips and suggestions!

Thanks kindly for the tip, I have adjusted and will see the result. The more time I spend with the system, the more I appreciate that they do not need much power. I feel as if the MC252s are perhaps overkill and I could get by with a much smaller/lower powered amps.

So, I couldn't wait and decided to wire up the system in the staging area. My initial impressions are that the Jubilee's are a very different speaker from the Klipschorn AK6 I had previously. Bass is deep and rich. Shakes the house (literally). I am thankful to have concrete floors in the final resting place for these speakers. There is some finicky work in arriving at the right mix of HF + LF in the cabinets. The MC252 amplifiers are barely registering signal. Maybe .25 watts for the amp dedicated to HF. Something like 10 watts at ear-bleeding volume for the amp dedicated to LF cabinets. More like 2-3 watts for regular listening level. This thing thumps and I have already decided to likely jettison my SVS sub. These don't need a sub. The bass can easily overwhelm. Now I am thinking to scale back and revisiting that thread on using MHA100's or some other lower power amps for this system.