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lets see YOUR two channel setups


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Interconnects between my 300B SET amp/6SN7 linestage pre and my subwoofer provided by our very own Erik Mandaville: using 10' length Dayton Professional MSC-1 signal cables, made of two 22 AWG OFC conductors with 92% coverage bare copper braid shielding, and terminated with Neutrik NYS352G heavy-duty machined brass, nickel plated RCA connectors with gold plated contacts.

These DIY interconnects are now well broken in and IMO offer outstanding performance and value at such a modest price (all from PartsExpress.com). To my ears they're smooth, natural sounding cables with a fast and tight bass response (and absolutely no hum); perfect for use with my new sub! Erik should be proud of the fine job he does in the construction of these grounded ICs...frankly, he should go into business for himself and build new interconnects![;)]

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How would compare the sound of a single-driver to that of a conventional tweeter-woofer bookshelf design? A buddy of mine got the new Kef iQ series bookshelfs with the uni-Q single driver technology. He said he loves how smooth it sounds. Was wondering what you think of your Loth-X Amaze :)

I've never owned a pair of 2-way bookshelf monitors before (had a pair of '83 JBL L112 Century II 3-ways...nice!), so I can't really comment how the conventional 2-way compares to a single-driver design. But I can say that the Loth-X Amaze sound very much like a horn-loaded design IMO...they're transmission line loaded, very forward and have that in-your-face horn presence I love with my favorite pipe organ recordings, much like my classic Cornwalls! They're very clear and precise sounding, image like there's no tomorrow, and very efficient at 96dB @ 1W/1M (see my profile for their specs). It amazes me (pun intended) how these crossoverless single-driver loudspeakers produce such crisp and natural highs without a tweeter (horn, dome or otherwise), and silky smooth mids. I couldn't afford a pair of RB-75s at the time, and these solid cherry demo Amaze were at a price I just couldn't refuse...I'm glad I took a chance and purchased these monitors.[H]

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jeez, how do you guys keep your rooms so neat... I'm guessing no 5 year olds around...

Here's the room:

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and here's the CD rack conveniently located behind the couch with about 500 CD's where I half to crawl on my hands and knees to find something...

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and here's the reason there's a RoboRaptor sitting in front of the right CF-4...

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Downstairs two-channel, which has since been deconstructed and relocated in the name of interior design. I drove from Houston to San Antonio for the enclosures! Truly, they are made from very thick ceramic flue tile, sawed with a hand-held circular saw and masonry blade. It was the nastiest speaker-related work I've ever done, and took a long time, making 1/8 deep cuts each pass until it cut through. The problem was that, in order to get the correct slope for the front baffle, the blade had to be angled just right, and the whole process was amazingly dusty and messy. It's a rear ported design; drivers are.....uhmmmm....Vifa. I had formerly used a silk-dome from Audax, which also sounded good, but the metal dome seemed to work better in this application. The network is a series design that sounds really amazing.

I welded the grog-filled sand together from 1/8 rectangular box tubing, and nearly tore the top of one of my fingers off when I was belt sanding the base plates. My dog Tonka will do anything to play fetch, and he tossed (via his mought!) a tennis ball right in front of the sander, which made it jump and grab one of my fingers up into the wheels. Ouch, did that hurt.

The story on the flu tile. I couldn't find flue tile of the right dimensions here in Houston, and did some research and found a place in San Antonio that produced what I needed. These cabinets are lined with carpet felt and open-cell foam, and the solid oak front and rear baffles were glued on, using the weight of the tile as a clamp, with black silicone rubber. Very, very tough and airtight seal. They were built ten years ago.

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Last one, and one of the parents to the Klipschorns:

Shown is a very old Crosley 01A regenerative receiver (I have a new one -- not a Crosley -- made by a friend of mine that has absolutely the finest point-to-point wiring I have ever seen in my life. Tube receivers are pretty common for my dad, and he was very quiet when he saw this 100% hand-built gem. That means he was extremely impressed!

Anyway, the horn is an old phenolic Radiola, and the radio, which used to be powered by batteries, runs off a DC power supply I made for it. Look closely, and you'll see the horn is corner-loaded, so a subwoofer isn't needed![:D]

The big black thing below is also a very old short wave receiver from Hammarlund. They are tons of fun to listen to.

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...and everything except the old radios and horn has been replaced with a 5.1 HT/Music (with two channel bypass capability). I'm now thinking of the best way to incorporate the rear channels for 7.1. I think the flue-tile speakers shown above would be good candidates for the rears, but we don't have quite enough room for them.

Two channel stereo was great, and surround sound, for me, is greater still.

Erik

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