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Can you even hear anything above 16 Khz?


JL Sargent

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I've been working on my speakers around here. I'm 2 channel only. Felt like my Heresy IIs not up to snuff or something. Well according to this little dilly I'm missing something alright. http://www.dak.com/reviews/3203story.cfm

My wife, son and I played the audio tones there and I can hear all the low ones and up to the 12K but not the 16K. [:'(]

My wife cannot hear the 12K even. My boy says he hears em all. So I guess I just about don't even need a tweeter! Maybe I should be thinking two way now.

Maybe EV had it right with the T35 tweeter dying at 16K after all. I'm kinda discouraged with these finding. Brings up an interesting question though. Can anybody even hear 20K ??? 12K sounds real high IMHO. No wonder we like bass as we get older. Thats what we can hear the best.

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About 24kHz was the highest I ever had the opportunity to test to and I could clearly hear it, but lately I've been noticing that even 18kHz is starting to get attenuated....still there, but it'll probably be gone in a few years. If you start digging into real measurements (not marketing hype), you'll notice that almost all speakers start dwindling by 18kHz. There are of course exceptions, but not that many...

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Standing on the flightline during all those F-4 takeoffs and flyovers is getting me back!

I've continued reading about this in old threads and "Colen" stated a few years back that although you cannot hear the higher frequencies they do have harmonics that make their way down into what you can hear and make that better so to speak. Reckon thats the case?

Im starting to think alot of folks spend money trying to get back something with $$$ that can't be bought. Thats hearing loss due to age and wear. I'm guilty of this myself it seems.

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About 24kHz was the highest I ever had the opportunity to test to and I could clearly hear it, but lately I've been noticing that even 18kHz is starting to get attenuated....still there, but it'll probably be gone in a few years. If you start digging into real measurements (not marketing hype), you'll notice that almost all speakers start dwindling by 18kHz. There are of course exceptions, but not that many...

I was up there with you at about 22 years old. I first confirmed it when I stepped under an "ultrasonic" alarm at a museum. Since nobody (in theory) could hear it, they just turned off the annunciator and left the radiator going. As I picked myself off the floor, the gaurd said it was about 130db, but only once every few thousand people did anyone hear it.

I can hear 15k in one ear now, the other about 13k, 15 if it is warbling.

Dave

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Standing on the flightline during all those F-4 takeoffs and flyovers is getting me back!

I've continued reading about this in old threads and "Colen" stated a few years back that although you cannot hear the higher frequencies they do have harmonics that make their way down into what you can hear and make that better so to speak. Reckon thats the case?

Im starting to think alot of folks spend money trying to get back something with $$$ that can't be bought. Thats hearing loss due to age and wear. I'm guilty of this myself it seems.

My old man worked as the stabilization/flight ctrl lead on the F-8U3 (which lost out to the F-4 in 1960). The audiologist said he still had above-normal hearing (with a definite hearing notch at 2-5 Khz). He also had multiply lanced ears as a kid, I'm told.

I worked around diesel/hydraulics/pneumatics early in my career. I also couldn't stay in some buildings because of those darn "ultrasonic" alarm systems (really, really painful)--right up until about age 30-35, then everything got a lot better. [:|]

One interesting bit of information is that musicians are said to experience much greater average hearing loss than the general population...I wonder why? I gave it up at age 20.

I agree with your assessment above - the good thing about Klipsch Heritage products is that they can get really loud and still sound pretty good--with not much amp current. I like that a lot. Recordings of Virgil Fox sound REALLY good on the Jubs...

Chris

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I'm with you on the ringing Fritz. Had that for about 3yrs now. There's a thread about it "tinnitus" going on over at the AL/JBL site.

I'm tempted to try earplugs all day even at home to see if the ringing stops at night. Its not too terribly bad yet, but can certainly get annoying.

Is there anything a person can do about the ringing?

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My wife also has tinnitus (she describes it as "roaring"). If you stumble across anything that can alleviate it, even temporarily, we'd like to know. I'm convinced that there are common prescription drugs that make the roaring worse.

However she likes Cabernet Sauvignon--she says that it doesn't change the background noise but it does help her to concentrate on other things, and it's rich in antioxidants...

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My laptop speakers onlly produced the noise with 200 hz and on down.... I could not hear the 12 Khz but not sure laptop speakers can reproduce it.

Plugged in my Grado SR 60's and could hear the bass.... could not hear 12 Khz until I turned the volume up a bit (but still not very load) but it was there. Only the noise remained at 16 Khz.. [:'(] but maybe that just means I won't ever think I need a supertweeter.

My laptop speakers don't even reproduce 200 hz.

"... so never turn up the volume ..." but Drew, what if I want to listen to the music louder?

8000 hz isn't high? Let's hear old Drew sing that high.

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My wife also has tinnitus (she describes it as "roaring"). If you stumble across anything that can alleviate it, even temporarily, we'd like to know. I'm convinced that there are common prescription drugs that make the roaring worse.

Wearing earplugs routinely can help. Aspirin, for one, can make your ears ring even if you don't have tinnitus. If you do, it makes it worse.

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Playing with my RTA sound generator and doing a hearing test with my 17 year old son I could hear 16K if it was turned to 92db. This all started because he could hear the TV horiz sync at 15Khz and I could not. When we generated the same tone with the RTA and kept turning it up louder, eventually I could hear it.

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A few years ago I could barely hear 12500Hz. I probably couldn't hear even that high now. But you know what? Thankfully, I enjoy music as much or more now as I ever did before.

I had too much exposure to loud farm noise (tractors, combines, hammermills, chain saws, etc.) before I learned to wear protection. And once your hearing is gone, it's gone for good.

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I used to hear 16.4khz but now it's 12khz and that's a just barely at 98db output measured with the Rat Shack meter. The meter does measure well all the way up to 20KHZ. I can hear 29hz just fine. And that's with everything jacked up----tone, expander compander, PLC-II, 5.1.

JJK

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Have you tried the "white noise cure"? You tune your bedside clock radio (or your bedroom stereo, but it's louder and more fiddly) between stations and leave it on at low to medium-low volume overnight while you sleep. After a few nights, the ringing in your ears may be noticeably lower in volume.

It works for some because, according to one explanation, the ringing is "amp noise" from your brain. The brain attempts to compensate for the hearing loss at the upper frequencies by turning the gain way up at those frequencies, causing the noise. By supplying the brain with some high-frequency noise, it dials the gain back down and the ringing gets quieter.

The improvement is not permanent, but it lasts for up to a week and it's nice to have quiet ears for a while. Then just leave the hissing clock radio on overnight again. You can buy a commercial white noise generator or a "sleep-aid" type unit, but it's free to try the clock radio first to see if it works for you.

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