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I can not walk into high end audio shops any more. Just can't do it. In the audio world Klipsch is the best bang for the buck end of story. I've been to several audio shows but have been surprised at what was popular. It is good for frame of reference. If we have become biased to horns and all the glories there of how can we even listen to other speakers. It is hard. We are biased to horns. I know I am. I often think others are biased to what they have been listening to for years whether good or bad. I have friends that are hooked on electrostatics or god forbid single driver speakers. If I wasn't a horn head perhaps I would be an electrostatic head. I wouldn't dwell on audio stores but visit those who have dialed in systems as this is the best way to hear HiFi. My trips to hear systems at Klipsch, Mark1101, JWC, IBSlammin, Jeffrey Jackson, Dave Slagle, and other systems taught me more than I could ever have gathered from some sales goombah trying to sell kilobuck systems. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

OW, how do you know unless you have tested them yourself??

This is something that Toole has talked about in his book and elsewhere--since he was one of the reasons why we have the updated IEC loudspeaker specifications. 

 

The fact that a dealer or manufacturer doesn't have this data for whatever loudspeakers they're selling should be a good reason to stay away from them.  Klipsch publishes all its anechoic data on this website for their Professional series.  I think that's a very good start.  They need to finish that database with the balance of their consumer line loudspeaker acoustic data.

 

BTW: you don't actually need an anechoic chamber to get good "anechoic" data--rather only an open field with tall grass.

 

Chris

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Speaking of Toole and measurements, since Klipsch has an anechoic chamber they might want to consider doing the "spinorama" approach.  If the results are good, maybe they would even publish them and tout what they've designed in the marketing materials.  I wonder how the new FIII would do, for example.

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If you look at the EASE data already posted, you'll see that Klipsch does something like a spinorama for all their Professional series, and I assume that they already have the data for all their other models on hand (not published).  The EASE data for the KPT-535 Jubilees is pretty amazing. 

 

Note that virtually all the big players in cinema and PA have EASE data posted, or the equivalent.  I've actually compared Danley Synergy products to Klipsch cinema products.  It's very informative.

 

Chris

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On 5/7/2017 at 3:48 PM, derrickdj1 said:

 I can't justify $50 K for a system that I can't turn to 0 db or a subwoofer system that can't play 0 db cleanly.

Zero db on a volume control display is what Sound level at the sweet spot??? IOW, define REFERENCE

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On 10/23/2017 at 4:46 PM, jimjimbo said:

I would recommend attending one of the high end audio shows in your area, such as AXPONA, and see what you've been missing.....or not.  I went to an AXPONA show in Chicago two years ago, and was seriously flabbergasted at the amount of people in attendance, the highly modern styling of many of the speakers, and of course....the pricing.   But actually, what was most surprising was the really, really poor setups that the manufacturers had to put together within the confines of a hotel room.  Can you imagine listening to a pair of $50,000 speakers, $25,000 worth of amps/preamps, etc, etc, etc, in a hotel room, where you would be sitting (at the most) 10-12 feet away, and then making a buying decision?  

Been there, done that. Experienced fist hand when I helped a vendor set it up. They could ALL use Room Correction hardware/software to make things WAY better, but all of them are too much of "purists" about "the signal path." What a bunch of crap.

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On ‎10‎/‎24‎/‎2017 at 8:38 AM, seti said:

I can not walk into high end audio shops any more. Just can't do it. In the audio world Klipsch is the best bang for the buck end of story. I've been to several audio shows but have been surprised at what was popular. It is good for frame of reference. If we have become biased to horns and all the glories there of how can we even listen to other speakers. It is hard. We are biased to horns. I know I am. I often think others are biased to what they have been listening to for years whether good or bad. I have friends that are hooked on electrostatics or god forbid single driver speakers. If I wasn't a horn head perhaps I would be an electrostatic head. I wouldn't dwell on audio stores but visit those who have dialed in systems as this is the best way to hear HiFi. My trips to hear systems at Klipsch, Mark1101, JWC, IBSlammin, Jeffrey Jackson, Dave Slagle, and other systems taught me more than I could ever have gathered from some sales goombah trying to sell kilobuck systems. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would have liked to hear the rig they put together at the 2017 European Triode Festival.

 

http://hifiheroin.blogspot.com/

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5 hours ago, mike stehr said:

 

I would have liked to hear the rig they put together at the 2017 European Triode Festival.

 

http://hifiheroin.blogspot.com/

 

It looked pretty crazy. I'm hoping to get an invite next year but hell I have problem getting out of town never mind to France lol....

 

I'd also like to hear their Wheel Fi system.

BN-MQ037_0316BW_12H_20160216132814.jpg

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16 hours ago, Schu said:

^that's the system I want to hear also... I wonder how stable that hardwood is.

 

I saw where this lumber came from the last time I was in Hudson several years ago. There was a warehouse stacked with wood aging and drying. They also had a kiln. I believe they did it right and slow from the beginning. They had some issues years ago with horns being made in Malaysia and not being so stable years later.

 

I believe this system is in a showroom in Brooklyn.

 

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My take on the whole high end audio is that it is base on cost and quality.  It is also a market dominated by people more interested in SQ and don't care as much as to what they are listening to.  The hazy thing with high end audio is that cost in many cases does not necessarily relate to great sound quality.  I will admit, many of the speakers are beautiful and are certainly meant to make a visual statement.

Image result for pic of exotic speakers

 

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I want the best sounding speakers and equipment for any money I spend.

I try to be smart about it. 

I don't need to visit any audio stores unless I have money to buy things.

My system sounds pretty good and that's good enough for my family.

Right now, I desire nothing and that's a great place to be.

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I'll give credit to those high end showroom as it helped me become educated on proper sound for better or worse. It also helped me understand what type of speakers not to get. I think these shows will help you learn a forward sound vs laid back, dark vs bright sound, thick vs airy or light. 

Many years later it helped me formulate a plan on "The system" for me. I thought I knew speakers. 

Until I heard Klipsch. :o 

Music just breathes, vocals have air, and best of all it's effortless. It doesn't do everything well, no speakers can but it does do a great job of presenting the music as recorded and that's a double edge sword. So I'm happy with it's sound as is my wife who also has good ears. Even our son who has played at the Mondavi center likes it's low key sound. So just goes to show how one doesn't need a six figures sum to enjoy music.

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