tigerwoodKhorns

I will look forward to the pictures. I like the idea of the smaller enclosure for the sealed 18" driver. Serious power requirement though!

The title says it all.

That is a digitally amplified receiver. I have the 5000ES. It is a really clean sounding unit, especially with tubes.

I'd be interested in building some high quality subs. What do you recommend for drivers and amps?

You may have stumbled upon the answer to my problem. 'stumbled'? With all due respect, Bob's been at this for a couple of decades. He does not stumble. Roc, you'e getting good advice here from many different fronts. Can't be coincidence. I was late to this party, read the remainder of the thread, sounds like the JL guys gave you some great advice, Doc's 'Hoffman' slide was right on, a good lesson all the way around. So is it taming down? No Michael. "Taming down" are not the key words here. I need strong bass volume. My issue is whether or not I need a second sub or room treatments for the one f-113 sub. I need to figure this out quickly. JL is raising their prices effective June 1. I tried lowering the volume but that was disappointing to me. The room is 23 x 22 x 7.3 so it is not that small. The question is: Will a second sub enhance my listening experience through higher volume or is the lack of proper room treatments keeping my one f-113 from producing higher volumes? I would suggest the custon route. It seems if the F113 is not enough, you should look into this. You may be able to get custon dual 18" and serious amps for about the price of the F113. Just a thought. Also, be careful with the SPL, you can cause permanent damage.

Is the 127 driver ideal or the 6" version. The 6" should have the warm bass but can it make it up high really smoothly? FWIW, I found this interesting. When I heard the Tektons I thought that they imaged well and sounded good, but nothing that outstanding. Then I hooked my small JBL's back up and the Tektons sounded so much better. Then I realized what was going on. My point of reference is B&W N801's, which do well what the Tektons do well, but on a larger scale. In any event, if you have not had the experiance, listen to the 800 series. They are like the Tektons but have bass, treble and air and authority with a big sound (if so desired). The Tektons are a bargain, but if you like them it is worth giving the B&W's a test drive, at least for the experience.

Thanks for the responses. I was using an old set of JBL 2800's ($200 back in 1989 - OK at best). The JBL's have 6" woofers and had plenty of bass for my purpose, which is very low level listening while I work. I just want the music to be well balanced and have a "warm" sound, which requires some bass. Certainly anything that you can feel would be unaccepable to the nag in the next office. The 103's have a great midrange but are just lacking in the bass. My test was using Diana Krall, which has very well recorded bass. It was just plain missing. Eric told me that the speakers do need break in, but I really don't think that this will be fixed by break in. I have played them for about 50 hours so far. I have them in my office playing all weekend. I'll see on Monday. I may try the 127 based speakers. They are larger but will still fit on my desk. I really liked the idea of the smaller speaker because they fit so well on my desk. Eric's small subwoofer may be the answer, but I think that it will probably need to be crossed at 100 to 120 HZ, which may take away from the strong point of these speakers, especially because there is no way that a subwoofer will go on teh top of my desk. Eric's service is outstanding. UPS screwed up the shipping and started sending them to homes all over the valey. Eric was very concerned and tried to help. He is a great seller. His quality is also outstanding. You don't find this kind of finishing on speakers until you get into the very expensive high end stuff.

I just received my small Tekton speakers. I bought the very small Fostex 103 based speaker so that I can put them on my desk at work. They do everything well that has been previously stated by others. The imaging and detail is right on, but because they are so small they have no bass to speal of. Now, I am not looking for anything that I can feel, I just want to hear the bass notes in my office to give the music a warm sound. How is the 127 based speaker? I did not get these because of wanted somehting small for my desk. But I need soem bass. The JBL 2800's that I had in there did have bass. In teh alternative, I can contact Erik about having a subwoofer built. Please don't take this as a negative on Erik. His work and service are outstanding, I just may be asking for something that these little guys cannot do. Mark, how do your Tektons compare to the RB 5's that you used at the LA show? Thanks, Chris

He always has Klipsch stuff for sale at good prices.

He's not more fortunate. I'd never trade places with him. Trust me. If you ever listen to the show you'd know.

I have a Behringer U control UCA 202. It is a USB DAC and had an optical out. $30. What a bargain. Love it. I use it at work.

Oh yea. I forgot. Check out the Musical Fidelity 3.24 DAC. I thinkthat it was Stereophile A rated and can be had used for about $600 or less on Audiogon.

I ran an AH! with every option and Amperex Tubes and a Benchmark DAC1 at the same time. It was a tossup. The Benchmark is more versitile (think computer music server). Great DAC and not bad on Audiogon.

I use a Benchmark DAC1. It is very similar to a fully upgraded AH! CD player with Amperex PQ tubes. Great bass and detail. A friend has it on loan and he loves it with his Mac music server.

I have a 4' x 8' sheet of that bendable wood. I was going to eventually fabricate a pair. I want to be able to veneer them. That will be the trick. When you say cardboard do you actually mean cardboard or just flexable board like they sell at the home depot (like what is used for the bottom of drawers on cheap cabinets).

I used to listen to the show when it was on regular radio. Gary's wife definately wears the pants. I'm sure she would not let him get real speakers. Any links to the article?

There is a thread on Lansing Heritage where a pair just went for $4K plus. Prices have really gone up for these and other JBL's. For that amount there are a lot of alternatives. B&W N802's come to mind for about $1,000 more.

I spoke to one of the engineers that designed the QSC PLX amps. He said that the PLX series are more suited for a critical listening environment. I forget the exact details, but it was soemthign in the power supply (and not just the digital control - I think better parts).

Here is the pro verion of my amps: http://www.musicstorenetwork.com/store.php?itemid=408589642091-23 Too heavy to be really portable. The high end Krells and Levinsons double in power every time impedence is cut in half. The pro amps don't because they can't, but then again they do not cost $10,000 and up either. In any event, the QSC's and Crowns are fantastic bargains.

There are plenty of "home amps" that will withstand that kind of abuse and are actually better built than the pro amps. They just cost as much as a car and have names like Levinson, Krell, Classe, Bryston and McIntosh. The QSC's and Crowns are huge bargains.

The age old question. Many before you have tried and failed at the quest of answering this riddle. Turn back now before its too late...

I have an SW 15that I will sell. It is an older model (early 90's) and is mint.

QSC PLX and Crown K series amps get used around here. Both excellent amps.

Really good post Bob.

Dave, you choose one of your 300 posts since 2003 to comment on my typo? That's funny.