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[NEW GUY ALERT] Tire Kicking: Cornwall IV & Heresy IV


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Mine's 30-some feet by 14-some feet.  Speakers about 9' apart, 4' from the total block wall corner on/for the right.  I sit on the sofa against the drywall partition wall across from them.  I think the ceiling barely eclipses 7' in height, at the walls.  They'd not only cheapened-out by omitting another course of block, but get this, the floor joists above (1/2" drywall on "my" side) are 2x10s on 16" center without any bridging whatsoever!  Like freakin' trampolines.  I can drop my phone on a plush-enough chair one side of the "picture window" on the ground-level floor and the glass rattles in the coffee table in front of the sofa against the middle wall across the room.

 

I've built my fare share, doing everything from the footers to the ridge cap, and even doing add-ons I've never seen so many wrong ways to save a buck in construction get used all at once.  But momma wanted it and I love her dearly and could live in a cave, so it's what I got.  At least it's a full brick veneer on the outside.

 

If your studs aren't affixed to the foundation walls between the floor and ceiling and it's only 1/2" wallboard, that could be as gnarly as the block walls themselves, only different.

 

My situation is why I picked up a pair of Forte IIIs, figuring better-controlled directivity would be beneficial.  It's working pretty well...

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  • 1 month later...

Heresys arrived this afternoon.

 

Got home and unboxed And slid them into place with no toe and 10” from the top rear edge to the wall.

 

Since then they’ve been moved a few times. More toe and now 15” from the inside rear corner to the wall - outside rear corner at 18”. Much better. Still playing with it as I run them in.

 

Initial thoughts were that they weren’t as forward as I was expecting. But then I remembered the attenuators I had in line so I removed those. More dynamic now and a little more forward. More refined that expected. I was expecting something more pissed off I guess? 
 

Anyway, they sound good. Surprising bass. My sub has been off since this morning in anticipation and these do throw some bass. I started with some well recorded stuff: Dead Can Dance, Miles Davis, Chris Connelly, etc. Borrowed my daughter’s copy of the Gaga/Bennett duets and that was pretty amazing.

 

Getting late here so I’m spinning some not well recorded reggae and it sounds as it should: rough where it’s rough and smooth where it’s smooth. I’m going to shuffle Apple Music all night to keep the drivers fluxing and tomorrow they will be subject to Trepaneringsritualen, Napalm Death, Cthonica  (newest obsession) and whatever else I can throw at them.

 

Blown away? No. Very good? Yes. In a few weeks I’ll rotate the Focals back in and see whats what.
j5tvNO4.jpg

Edited by Moosh Bronsun
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@Moosh Bronsun,

 

Very nice.  H

 

Have you tried sitting on the floor about 7 or 8 feet in front of them?  I bet your very favorable opinion will be closer to "blown away".  I know sitting on the floor is not ideal but maybe a beanbag chair in that position for your critical listening sessions.

 

Bill

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2 hours ago, willland said:

@Moosh Bronsun,

 

Very nice.  H

 

Have you tried sitting on the floor about 7 or 8 feet in front of them?  I bet your very favorable opinion will be closer to "blown away".  I know sitting on the floor is not ideal but maybe a beanbag chair in that position for your critical listening sessions.

 

Bill

I will try that. Your summation basically lines up with Z Reviews thoughts in that he took the bases off and put them on stands to get the mid at ear level.

 

In a couple weeks I’ll try raising them up and see what mayhem ensues.

 

One issue I am having, which I had a feeling I’d run into is noise floor. Tube hiss definitely audible At listening position. Not the speaker’s fault obviously. I was running 12db attenuators between preamp and amp with the Focals (92db) and so I’m pondering grabbing 6db and trying those to lower the noise (hopefully) without killing dynamics.

 

Anyway, they played all night long (low volume) so they’ve got about 14 hours on them so far.

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On 6/6/2020 at 8:44 AM, Moosh Bronsun said:

I will try that. Your summation basically lines up with Z Reviews thoughts in that he took the bases off and put them on stands to get the mid at ear level.

 

In a couple weeks I’ll try raising them up and see what mayhem ensues.

 

One issue I am having, which I had a feeling I’d run into is noise floor. Tube hiss definitely audible At listening position. Not the speaker’s fault obviously. I was running 12db attenuators between preamp and amp with the Focals (92db) and so I’m pondering grabbing 6db and trying those to lower the noise (hopefully) without killing dynamics.

 

Anyway, they played all night long (low volume) so they’ve got about 14 hours on them so far.

I would highly recommend that you simply purchase a quiet amplifier as opposed to listening to filters to fix a noisy amp (or fix the amp). It is a given that when you enter the world of high efficiency loudspeakers you will require quiet amps and you can have quiet tube or quiet SS amps. I cut to the chase and purchased the worlds lowest noise amplifier the Benchmark AHB2 with a noise floor of minus 139 db. The AHB2 is in reality a super hot rod version of the Quad 405, the amp is linear all the supplies are switch mode. Over decades I owned many highly modified Quad 405 a fine amplifier design but the AHB2 is simply on another level. Last amp that I will ever buy.

If you want a quiet tube amp I have enjoyed listening to the Quick Silver amps no audible noise at all. Lower your amplifier noise and you increase your available detail and the dynamics at the same time.

photo below my very tricked out H3 with visible F11 acoustic filters on the woofers and around the mid and tweeter horn mouths. They are up on Custom Skylan four post stands 22.5" up from the floor. The mid horns are centred upon my seated ear level for best stage and image.

Klipsch Heresy 3 on Skylan Stands.jpg

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26 minutes ago, moray james said:

 

If you want a quiet tube amp I have enjoyed listening to the Quick Silver amps no audible noise at all. Lower your amplifier noise and you increase your available detail and the dynamics at the same time.

I’m running a Quicksilver Line Stage Preamp with 1980’s RCA black plates. My amp is high gain and I’m going to reach out to the builder to see if I can send it back and have him drop the input gain.

 

Quicksilver Mid Monos would be great but there won’t be anymore major audio purchases this year. Plus the system does double duty as a 2 channel system for tv/movies so I’ve pretty much ruled out tubes for now as they’d be on 8 hours a day.

 

later today I may play around with aiming and raising them upward more and see what happens.

 

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17 minutes ago, hanksjim1 said:

Yes I have a set of 12db that I was using. As stated in last night’s post, they left the background mostly silent but gave up some dynamics and some of the forward ness. I’m debating a 6db pair. 
 

I know it’s not a big deal, and I knew this might be something to contend with when I switched gears and went with high sensitivity speakers. So not complaining. 
 

thank you though 👍🏼

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From audiocircle forum:

 

High gain results in a higher noise floor, which is just a shame, and high levels of attenuation reduce resolution whether the volume control is analog (resistive) or digital.  If necessary, the easiest solution is to put a high quality resistor pad right at the input of the amp, or use a transformer style attenuation which performs well at high attenuation levels (but still adds distortion).
This just an excerpt on the Oddysey
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25 minutes ago, billybob said:

Right. I read those weeks ago (I’m also a member there) so I’m aware. Like I said, it’s something I knew I would have to contend with. 
 

At any rate, my kiddo left for the day so it will be an all vinyl Saturday. I’ll put them through some exercises today for sure. 

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IMO, the mid and high frequency drivers have to be at ear level. No amount of tilting will fix that. Our brains know exactly where the sound is coming from. Get those H's pointed right at your head, toed in and level, and they will come alive. 

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18 minutes ago, MechEngVic said:

IMO, the mid and high frequency drivers have to be at ear level. No amount of tilting will fix that. Our brains know exactly where the sound is coming from. Get those H's pointed right at your head, toed in and level, and they will come alive. 

I’ll give that a try. The mid bass region is so full with these. Gives everything a very full sound.

 

i haven’t owned a 3 way in like 25+ years and owning “tweeter assertive” Focals the last 6 years have me looped as things don’t sound familiar.  It’s a journey and and I’m not complaining.

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Had an acquaintance come by who is also a hobbyist. He desperately wanted to hear these. We listened to blues and jazz (at his request) and for jazz these things are wild. Gene Ammon’s “Hittin’ The Jug pulled that saxophone out into the room!

 

But in our listening it occurred to me what it was that was breaking my head: the tweeter isn’t anywhere near as forward and in the mix between the 3 drivers, the mid reigns over all. Maybe it’s me being used to Focal’s assertive tweeter sound or maybe my expectation was that they ride an edge of brightness. Maybe it’s my system but the top end of relaxed but letting the mids run the show. The mids are forward for sure. I ordered some jumpers and will play around with raising them up to ear level. 

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On 6/6/2020 at 12:57 AM, Moosh Bronsun said:

 

 

Blown away? No. Very good? Yes.
 

most who bought the H4 say it takes 40 hours or more to break them in -wait a while - you may be amazed

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