Speaker clarity of Klipsch vs some High End Audio Speakers

[jacksonbart]

to me... this is just about perfect (maybe a three way)

You need to get out more if that is the case, I would post my most perfect 3-way but I think that would cause the thread to be closed.

Edited March 3, 2014 by jacksonbart

[ChuckAb3]

When auditioning speakers or amps, I usually take some Wagner overtures with me along with something more contemporary. Need to hear the full range of sound!!

[ClaudeJ1]

The Blu-ray situation is a mixed bag. Most new Blu-rays sound fantastic, better than DVD -- or any other medium, IMO, I would strongly recommend going over to Blu-ray. BUT, it is not necessarily true that when you replace a DVD with the new Blu-ray version of the same movie that the sound is better -- or as good. Sometimes the sound is actually worse. I haven't tracked down the reason. The masters may be inferior, in some cases. It may simply be a lack of caring on the part of the company putting out the disks.

It's all in the mastering, really. What amazes me is when familar pop/rock tunes are used in movies, they always sound better than a CD. I bought one of the first Sony Blue Ray players (crappy perfomance at the price of an OPPO). I didn't have and HDTV back then. Using a DVD and Blue Ray version of the same movie, there was NO difference in sound quality, just the picture quality, which, of course, was lost on my big old CRT TV with 4:3 aspect ratio. So I got a refund, bought a GPS for my car, and decided to wait until prices came down and I got an HDTV. It was a wise move.

I think CD, DVD, and Blue Ray have the potential for great sound, Blue Ray being the greatest, since there is NO DATA COMPRESSION/DECOMPRESSION with 25+ Gigs of data available. The price of stamping them out is the same whether it's 5 minutes or 2 hours of music.

So, again, it's all in the mastering, so don't blame the digital medium. Ever since the CD hit the streets (I was there waiting) 31 years ago, we have had the (mostly unrealized) POTENTIAL to get a 1,000:1 (+30 db) dynamic range increase in all of our recordings, but sadly, the world has evolved to compressed dynamics and now, compressed data on top of it, with the low end MP-3's that teens are so fond of in their iPods. A good, dynamic, recording of Jazz on CD can be ripped with a LAME encoder at 320 Variable Bit Rate with sound that is amazingly good.

But, the industry would rather sell crap by the Billions with those $1.29 downloads. Instant gratification is the mantra, NOT audio quality.

All of the excellent recordings on LP, CD, DVD, and BR, have been experienced by Klipschhorn owners from day one via superior clarity vs. the others. Sadly the superior resolution also resolved all the crapola.

Edited March 5, 2014 by ClaudeJ1

[ClaudeJ1]

to me... this is just about perfect (maybe a three way)

Obviously you haven't experienced the superior clarity, transients and low distortion of horn bass.

Edited March 5, 2014 by ClaudeJ1

[ClaudeJ1]

The Industrial ported owuld be the Heresy with ports. I don't think it improved the bass much.

That's because they used a K-42 woofer, designed to play louder, not lower.

[ClaudeJ1]

I've not heard the Jubilee, either. Looks like the Klipschorn has deeper Bass.

Not by much when Jubes are in corners also. Plus the Jubes have way MORE bass above 60 Hz. where most of it is.

[ClaudeJ1]

o dont let an A-B comparison fool you. when SPL's are equal, many speakers have their own strong points, it all comes down to what your ears like in your particular environment.

I thinks it's more realistic to consider both aspects, since the more efficient speaker not only plays louder, uses fewer watts. All voice coils exhibit dynamic power compression when they are utilized at more than 10% of their rated power. After all, ALL speakers are basically weak space heaters that happen to make sound.

Horn loading keep the power and distortion low, and the dynamics high. Headroom is good thing.

[ClaudeJ1]

I agree that a lot of LPs have a bigger dynamic range than their CD counterparts. However, this is not the formats fault, but the studios. Technically, the dynamic range of a CD is superior to an LP right? For most CD's: who wants to hear $%^ that's compressed like that?!? Don't audio engineers know it doesn't sound as good when all sounds have the same loudness? I'm sick of having to go buy used CD's from before the mid 90's to have some dynamic range. This is a handy site by the way for figuring out which album version to buy: http://dr.loudness-war.info/

Excellent post. Agree 100%

[ClaudeJ1]

Haven't we seen that with the era of CD's to the present....

You forgot about all the US made, warped LP's, with "snap, crackle, pop" recycled vinyl, that was pushed thought the press too quickly. The worst, and unplayable for me was a Linda Ronstadt LP at the height of her popularity. Crap was always in production somewhere, even before CD's, in the name of faster profits.

Now it's the lowest bit-rate-for-faster-downloads-at-a-buck-twenty-nine-a-pop time in the history of crap. All are PAINFULLY audible on all Klipsch products, from Headphones to Khorns.

Edited March 5, 2014 by ClaudeJ1

[Ceptorman]

I have had a hobby/obsession with music playback equipment since I bought my first stereo in 1971. Over the years, I've owned a large number of loudspeakers, from Magnepan to Theil, LS35a's, Linn Kan's, B+W's, Totems and many, many others. About eight years ago, I wanted to buy something that would do AV as well as pure 2 channel, with an emphasis on 2 channel.

With a budget that finally did not constrain me, I listened to everything I could find in Chicago. Revel, Martin Logan, B+W 600, 700, 800 and CM series, Paradigm Studio and Reference,. Proac. Polk LSI and lots of others went under the microscope. As a long time audiophile, I wanted to consider all the phases of loudspeaker performance: frequency extension, soundstaging, PRAT, etc. etc. etc, For dynamics, clarity and the effortless performance nothing else could match Klipsch. I settled on Klipsch Reference and since then I've put a pair of forte's downstairs in the living room. Klipsch speakers also work well without having to buy ridiculously expensive amplification to do their thing.

There are things that other speakers can do very well and there are some I like a lot, but as far as drawing me into the music, the answer is Klipsch.

Being fairly new to the Klipsch family, that's exactly what I wanted to hear!

[Fomoco69]

On 4/12/2012 at 1:38 AM, DizRotus said:

One person's "sweet spot" is another person's ball and chain. Some would argue that properly set up Klipschorns have too narrow a sweet spot, if that's defined as the point where straight lines drawn from the centers of the speakers intersect out in the room. On the other hand, the "sweet spot" of properly set up omni-directional speakers, e.g., Bose 901 or Ohm/Walsh, is huge. IMO, the sweet spot of such speakers, although large, is not as sweet.

To me, the great dynamics and low distortion of excellent horn loaded speakers can't be beaten. The sensation of live music, even when coming from the next room, is uncanny.

As to recordings to test a system, anything from Sheffield Labs, especially Thelma Houston & Pressure Cooker, I've Got The Music . . . is good vinyl. The CD I use is Dave Brubeck's Take Five fromTime Out.

 

Agreed....for my 60 year old ears & expierience....a good quality  reciever or Amp & Klipsch  or JBL speakers ...good enough

[DizRotus]

 

More than nine years later my opinion is unchanged.

@Fomoco69