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402 horn from KPT-305 midbass blended with Khorn bass bin


Delicious2

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1 hour ago, Chris A said:

This is a muting function of the Xilicas to kill quiescent DSP noise--coming out of mute.  The mute-off cycle has a ramp-up period that is probably in the 0.4-0.5 second range so that you don't get an immediate "pop" once the unit comes out of muting if you accidentally short an input terminal--thus saving your loudspeaker drivers from a nasty transient.

 

Since this has never bothered me (i.e., understanding what that feature is doing as a fail-safe), I've never really thought about it.  I can say that the Xilica is dead quiet quiescently because of that feature, and is much quieter than the Yamaha SP2060 and even the Dx38 in that regard.

 

Chris

How long does the signal need to be not present for this auto mute function to kick in? Or are you talking about the mute buttons? I have nowhere near the experience with my unit that you have but I have never experienced this.

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I've not detected the required time period, but I'd estimate that it's a few seconds.  I found out about the automatic muting while watching a lower quality animal documentary on Netflix that completely muted its audio for long passages between scenes. That was just after I got the unit installed a couple of years ago.  I haven't had any instances where I could hear it since then, except CD tracks having essentially no header time (which is easily edited using Audacity...if you find it to be an issue, which I don't). 

 

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This blend now with K402/TAD and Khorn bass has a lot going for it.  I often like the "widescreen" effect I get with them on the living room long wall but sometimes even with the K402's wide coverage I sense a "retreat" in the middle if not an outright hole.  There's no way to have a K402 MEH in the fireplace so what about a circuit that will allow me to vary stereo spread?  I know there have been preamps with this feature.  Can it be added and be fairly transparent?

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well lacking a circuit/control to vary/narrow the stereo spread (I almost bought a refurbished  Apt preamp from the 70's with the feature) I will try various center channel configurations both summed L+R at various volumes relative to the main pair as pseudo 3 channel stereo and as a center in 5.1 mixes.

K402 TAD Cornwall center right.jpg

K402 TAD Khorn Cornwall center left LP.jpg

K402 TAD Khorn Cornwall center left.jpg

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Since my listening room is 15.5 feet across and has full corners, I haven't had the need for center channel in two-channel (stereo) mode.  I do use an AVP, so there are several center channel modes available to use, and I've done so with certain dual-mono (called "stereo") recordings and movies.  This cleans up the clarity and intelligibility of the audio significantly, however for good stereo sources, I've found that 2.0 stereo output usually but not always results in the best soundstage image and intelligibility.

 

For 5.1 sources, the center channel really locks in the center image (if the mixing engineers did their job correctly and put in the fair share of center channel mix relative to the right and left channels--which really is a problem with quite a few music videos, I've found).  The surround channels usually do their job in terms of creating soundstage depth (again, if the mixing engineers did their job well).

 

It's actually very interesting to experiment with the different AVP listening modes using different source tracks--there are many of these listening modes to choose from: some work extremely well, some never work well.  I can always tell when the recording had stereo microphones too close together, thus resulting in the "dual mono" effect that I mentioned.

 

I've gone through a succession of center channels: Heresy, RC-62 (I couldn't stop laughing at how bad that was--it took perhaps 1-2 seconds to realize that I'd made a huge mistake), Cornwall, stock Belle, tri-amped Belle, tri-amped JuBelle, and finally K-402-MEH--first with a K-69-A compression driver, then with a bi-amped BMS 4592ND dual diaphragm driver.  It was this last loudspeaker (the MEH) that solved all the center channel issues in my listening room.  The shift to the BMS driver solved all the reproduction harshness issues and really allow me to dial all the channels in for an extremely convincing and pleasing surround sound capability (music videos in DVD and Blu-Ray format, multichannel SACDs, DVD-As, etc.).

 

I personally feel that getting the center channel right and dialed in is the most difficult thing that I've accomplished with my Jubilee-anchored setup. 

 

Chris

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I need to start a thread on converting a hi-fi stereo setup into a hi-fi multichannel setup (i.e., not a typical home theater-quality setup).  The most impressive recordings that I own are all on multichannel SACDs, DVD-As, and Blu-Rays (music).  Stereo really can't compete in this domain.

 

Chris

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44 minutes ago, Chris A said:

I need to start a thread on converting a hi-fi stereo setup into a hi-fi multichannel setup (i.e., not a typical home theater-quality setup).  The most impressive recordings that I own are all on multichannel SACDs, DVD-As, and Blu-Rays (music).  Stereo really can't compete in this domain.

 

Chris

I would be interested in this.

My system is used 90% multi channel hi fi and 10% HT

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51 minutes ago, Chris A said:

I need to start a thread on converting a hi-fi stereo setup into a hi-fi multichannel setup (i.e., not a typical home theater-quality setup).  The most impressive recordings that I own are all on multichannel SACDs, DVD-As, and Blu-Rays (music).  Stereo really can't compete in this domain.

 

Chris

I think now days, most are getting to this point.  I have 3 setups and 2 out of those 3 are multichannel.  The other is only 2 channel as it is only used for back ground music.  The room I have my Jubelles in, is the room I primarily sit and listen to music.  This is a multi channel listening room. 

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On 12/13/2018 at 8:02 AM, Chris A said:

I personally feel that getting the center channel right and dialed in is the most difficult thing that I've accomplished with my Jubilee-anchored setup. 

 

I just bought a Third TH-50. I had to drive a 600 mile round trip to Ontario, Canada to get it. Problem solved for HT fronts.

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On 12/13/2018 at 9:53 AM, Chris A said:

I need to start a thread on converting a hi-fi stereo setup into a hi-fi multichannel setup (i.e., not a typical home theater-quality setup).  The most impressive recordings that I own are all on multichannel SACDs, DVD-As, and Blu-Rays (music).  Stereo really can't compete in this domain.

 

Chris

I agree (so does Dr. Toole)...................but that's assuming the mix is done right.

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On 12/14/2018 at 7:55 AM, ellisr63 said:

I think if you adjust your levels per channel you will get the center to sound good.

Never say never. The midrange can be matched with the same horn (where we live).  Where there's a will, there's a way. We all evolve in this hobby, but it takes money, time and patience.

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Never say never. The midrange can be matched with the same horn (where we live).  Where there's a will, there's a way. We all evolve in this hobby, but it takes money, time and patience.
Huh...all I said was to match the levels since the distances were not the same.

Sent from my SM-T550 using Tapatalk

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/4/2018 at 5:31 PM, Delicious2 said:

This blend now with K402/TAD and Khorn bass has a lot going for it.  I often like the "widescreen" effect I get with them on the living room long wall but sometimes even with the K402's wide coverage I sense a "retreat" in the middle if not an outright hole.  There's no way to have a K402 MEH in the fireplace so what about a circuit that will allow me to vary stereo spread?  I know there have been preamps with this feature.  Can it be added and be fairly transparent?

 

I realized over the weekend that the Xilica allows me lots of control over stereo spread.  Not with a control labeled as such but just by how I mix the inputs into the outputs.  It wouldn't be difficult to create presets with L+R full spread, 90% spread, 80% etc.  Loading different presets in the Xilica only takes a few seconds and can be done on the fly so might be possible to change settings according to type of music or even recordings that sound best with more or less center emphasis.  I'll play with this soon to see if it has the effect I hope.

Output Channel primarily left channel with some right channel mixed in.JPG

Output Channel single input only.JPG

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  • 4 weeks later...

Inspired by what others have done building mounts/enclosures for their K402s I decided to see what I could do as simply as possible with the goals of retaining the ability to aim the horn both horizontally and vertically and get the horn lower - closer to ear height.  I just modified the factory mount.  By turning the arms upside down their slots allow a wider range of adjustment with the driver much lower.  I moved the metal mounting base plate forward on the wooden base and attached foam pipe insulation on the front of the wooden base for the horn to rest on once its metal brackets had been removed.

Modded K402 Mount apart.jpg

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