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Bass comparisons ?


joessportster

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All my speaker comparisons are done in the same room with speakers set up in the same area........... Dhar yes I have the 2245's but I want to get them reconed the same so I get the same results from each right now one seems to hit a bit harder. Which is easy to hear. My initial plans are to build subs and place them under the urei. I just need time for all the building etc.... Joe

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I sorta went through the same thing a few years back when I was trying to replace the Khorn bass bin with something smaller. Over 12-15 months, I tried a few drivers in DR cabs (Fostex, BD-15, JBL among others) but in the end, preferred the way the horn integrated with my system and room. Using the same amps and cut-off point (160Hz), the DR's sounded good but they didn't go as low, have as much impact and weren't as tight and clean-sounding as the horns. To me, the higher efficiency, lower distortion, better transients and a bigger sound were a fair trade-off for the larger footprint but I can understand why others would prefer a different approach. After all, PWK wouldn't have gone to all that trouble designing his bass bin and Klipsch wouldn't have continued building it for the last 60+ years if the same results could be achieved by slapping a 15" driver on a 8 cu.ft. box....at least that's what I keep telling myself.

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Good post! Tradeoffs are sometimes difficult, expensive, and time consuming--but ultimately rewarding.

It sure would be nice to have retail outlets that could let you hear the difference instead of having to build them and test them, but, alas...economics and customer buying habits (i.e., listening locally, buying via web) preclude most stereo shops today. I wonder if there is a way to hold costs down but provide listening rooms available such that the clientèle would also buy or credit might be issued back to the storefront for a web-based sale.

Oh well...back to reality. [:(]

Chris

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All good points! It would be nice if you could walk into an outlet and compare different speakers and make your choice, from small to very large. I remember those good old days, and they usually had them in stock too, you just make your pick, pull your truck around and load them in. I miss those days and they really had some good speakers and equipment out back then! Today, it sadly just doesn't exist like it used to, very few places carry large speakers anymore. You have to turn to the internet now to get larger speakers or build them yourself. Of course you can now buy the Klipsch Heritage Direct!

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Who. My initial reason for the ??? Came about when I went to a friends house and heard his urei 813c. we listened to "sometimes god smiles" (sampler disc of robgert fripp's lable). There is a drum solo by Bill Bruford that literally made my jaw hit the floor. As luck ( or bad luck. Depending on who you ask ) would have it , his wife hated the huge ugly black boxes so they were available. I drug them home hooked them up as full range played the same disc and the impact and sound remained intact. ( room wasn't the reason for my excitement) because the urei is ugly as hell and not nearly as refined as the oris / Edgar system. I decided I would like to keep the oris if I could reproduce the impact. After some time testing it became clear the folded horn could NOT reproduce the immediacy and impact of the direct radiator ( now this could all simply be the urei design as opposed to the direct radiator ) But it could not be ignored once discovered. I do my listening tests as I will listen for pleasure. I hook up full system at full range and compare. One thing I also notice Is I'm less apt to make every listening session a critical listen. I get up and move about play my air drums and guitar. Dance with my boys. Tap the toes a little more etc.... ( do yourself a favor and don't have a mental pic of my outta shape ugly *** pretending to dance :). It's sure fun ain't it. Joe

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After all, PWK wouldn't have gone to all that trouble designing his bass bin and Klipsch wouldn't have continued building it for the last 60+ years if the same results could be achieved by slapping a 15" driver on a 8 cu.ft. box....at least that's what I keep telling myself.

Good point

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Thanks for all the detailed info, Joe. I've had very similar experiences between direct radiating and horn loaded bass. Btw, I think people should take a closer look at the distortion numbers when comparing ported boxes to horns. Driver design has come a long way and is often bettering the distortion performance of folded horns....just something to think about.

I've also wondered how the reflected energy in the room affects the air movement in the horn. I could see a bigger impedance mismatch being created with the right kind of reflection...similar effects happen in car audio, but they start sooner and that is why no horns in the SPL contests....(or so I'm told)

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Got around to putting a 2 channel set up togeather in temp fashion using altec 421-8lf drivers for bass and altec 1003b horns with 291-16c drivers. I have to say the system shows great potential with great bass impact with some tweaking this could turn out to be a speaker set up for the ages. It's actually listenable just pieced togeather with no crossover installed. Joe

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