The Caves of Arne Saknussemm (A Journey to the Bass of the Earth)

[WMcD]

Oh my goodness.

I dumped my bucket on you nice people. I was not la-de-dah. "upset" over the inserts. Rather, I was thermo-nuclear angry.

But you fellows have shown how we are, indeed, a good family here on the forum.

I do deeply appreciate your kind words, retractions, etc. We're buddies. No, really!!!!

This is a good weekend.

The Sci Fi channel has a Twilight Zone Marathon.

With your approval, I'll go into more of a "blog" mode.

I

[WMcD]

Here are the test conditions. There are sofas, etc. in the room.

There is a natural question. How much of any testing is "the room" and and how much is just the speaker.

At least here I'm showing you fellows the room.

[colterphoto1]

take em outside to take the room out of it. I've seen this done at Klipsch several times. Outdoors can be even better than the anechoic chamber.

Michael

[Marvel]

take em outside to take the room out of it. I've seen this done at Klipsch several times. Outdoors can be even better than the anechoic chamber.

Michael

I don't know if he could do that, considering where he lives.

Bruce

[WMcD]

Thanks for the tip, Michael.

I've read a lot about the issue of testing. Many of us have seen the outdoor corner at Indy. I have a dim recall of something like it at Hope.

I love my condo. Lincoln Park is just outside. There is a possible test area at the garage. You'd be surprized that outdoor corners are not that common. This comes close.

There is an a.c. outlet not too far away. Still, this requires hauling the speaker and test equipment down the elevator, getting things set up, and fending off inquiries by passers by.

I may do that. It might recreate the testing conditions of the AES paper. Or maybe not. And then we'll all have the response of the unit near the garage.

Testing conditions are a tough issue and every passer by has an opinion.

You may have heard this one.

A dad and his son are walking along the road with their ***..

The first passer-by says, You are fools. Let the little boy ride the ***. So they do that.

In a few miles, another fellow comments. You are fools. You selfish boy, you should let your father ride the ***. So the dad gets on the ***.

After a few miles another passer comments: You are fools. You are mistreating the *** and you can walk just as well yourself.

So then they just proceed as they started.

Testing conditions are like that. No one is happy. The *** is not happy, either.

I'm gonna run the curves in the room.

Smile,

Gil

[Clarence]

Sometimes you guys are the biggest sissys.

[]

[Marvel]

JBL did tests out in a parking lot, where the speaker was placed on its back, facing the sky. The earth became the speaker baffle. California sun and heat along with airplanes passing overhead made it hard for them to use the technique any time they wanted.

Great story Gil. We all DO have our opinions, don't we?

Bruce

[WMcD]

I should appologize to Michael C. Testing outdoors is of course a good baseline. The story has a bit of an edge to it. I'm cranky these days. The sinus condition kicked in. I finally took some Dayquil. It really works wonders.

There is a true tale to tell.

I built K-Horns based on the Speakerlab plans, but used 3/4 inch ply. This was in the mistaken belief that the Real McCoy used that. It was a needless complication. I also enclosed the back, like you see on the European anniversary model.

Then I tested them outdoors. There was available a location which was not really 1/8th space, but rather something like 1/6th space. It was an oddball intersection of a garage door and a retaining wall.

The result was horrid. I tried a different driver and results were still poor.

Failure, failure, failure. PKW and articles showed ruler flat response to 32 Hz.

It was only years later that I realized just how much the published curves rely upon room gain. My outdoor results were probably close to what the AES Jubilee paper shows. They are not ruler flat to 32 Hz at all.

Some years ago I posted the French reviews of the K-Horn. They apparently show about the same. PWK had comments about reviews. He was not happy. Maybe it was the French review. I dunno.

You can see where this is going. When good Michael says, just take them outside, it pushes a hot button. Sorry, again.

I'll tell one last story. My dad told this at the kitchen table and he saw Danny Thomas tell it in a night club in New York. This may have been during WWII before Mr. Thomas became a TV star. This is about being cranky.

You also have to imagine that in the old days, it was not uncommon for a guy to own a gas station and live there too. You see it in old movies.

Anyway:

Danny Thomas is driving at night and gets a flat tire. He has a spare tire and a jack, but discovers he does not have a jack handle. He recalls he passed a gas station five miles back. He'll have to walk back to the gas station to borrow a jack handle.

After walking a mile, he starts to think, "This guy will probably charge me $1 to rent a jack handle."

After another mile, he thinks, "He'll probably charge me $2. It is my own fault, I'll just have to pay"

After another mile, he thinks, "The owner knows it is the middle of the night and I've got no where else to go. Heck, the little so-and-so is going to hold me up for $3."

At mile four, Thomas is really steamed. "I'm thinking the %&$ is going to want $4 to borrow a jack handle.

So Thomas arrives at the closed gas station. The owner is sleeping. Thomas pounds on the door and with great anger yells, "You can take your &%%$#% jack handle and &^%$$."

It is really not necessary to point out that the gas station owner describes things the next day. "I was sound asleep and some idiot arrived in the middle of the night and started pounding on my door screaming about a jack handle."

Smile,

Gil

[colterphoto1]

I understand Gil.

But it you want to bring em outside, you can Who pickup you and your invention and bring it down here. There's two acres and the neighbors let me jam as loud as I want (ok, I usually keep it at -20).

No harm. I had just seen Trey doing this at Klipsch and wanted to bring it up. It would be fun to see you in the park outside your building. Perhaps they'll think you're part of the anti-pigeon brigade.

Michalel

[Colin]

que pasa?

[WMcD]

Thanks Colin. I needed a bit of encouragement.

A few weeks ago I ran across the Sunday funny papers in an airport.

At the beginning of the day a fellow goes down to the basement and decides he should make a little tree for the model train set. But then he has to set up a saw to cut off a slice of wood. The blade needs trueing up. But then he has to play with a set screw. Then has to find the allen wrench. Etc., Etc.

Eight hours later he comes up from the basement and the wife asks what he has accomplished for the last eight hours. He holds up the little tree.

Did anyone see this? What is the name of the comic strip? I could probably find it on the net if I had a name..

I've been in that mode.

Gil

[Guest " "]

The heat kinda has everyone in sow motion.

Do you have any reflections to share about your project to date? Any recomendations for folks who may be taking on a DIY Jub clone.

My jub project is #3 on take off.

Currently working on a cornwall clone project, which is pending final assembly. Link is below.

http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/thread/769666.aspx

After which want to re-finish 2 pairs of LaScala's. Been debating on usng the 4 LaScala dog houses as the core of my Jub project. This would kill 2 birds with one stone.

Then the Jub project. Want to use a drone, an give each driver a seperate exit path, while keeping them in a shared dog house.

[pauln]

What you are describing in the cartoon, a series of nested recursive self similar or self dependant steps within steps; carried to the extreme it becomes one of the mathematical class of objects called a fractal. Fractals show up everywhere from growth patterns to coastlines to radio antenna design to work practice efficiency (as in the cartoon example).

[WMcD]

I don't want you folks to think this is all a hoax.

I painted them white. Part of the reasoning was that a big white box looks smaller than a black one. On the other hand, I messed up the paint more than I thought in the great task of transporting them from Dallas to Chicago in a mini-van.

The other reasoning is that the white will cause less color transfer issues if they scape up against a wall.

Wheels are a necessity.

Gil

[WMcD]

Here we see the grills and veneer panels in place. You'll have to imagine for now what black grill cloth will do.

This idea follows what the people in Hope did for the Jubilee demo during the first Pilgrimage while K-Horn #1 (PWK) still walked the earth. I'll guess what we heard was just regular old production Jubilees with this very clever dress up.

The veneer is not quite up to spec and I'll work on it in walnut. The grills will get some black paint before the cloth is applied. I'm undecided about how to hold everything in place. Velco seems easy but cheesy. Magnets?

The theme is still a good one, I think. One person (maybe two, Roy and Paul) took the journey. By reading their scant reports, anyone else can follow in their footsteps.

Thanks for reading my little story. The Professor and crew will be back.

Regards,

Gil

[Guest " "]

"" a big white box looks smaller than a black one. ""

So true.

[Colin]

those are beautiful!

where is the gang?

are they trapped in the beass of the earth machine?

[formica]

Thanks for reading my little story.

Well... we are the ones who actually thankful you shared it with

us. Looking foward to more details on the final configuration you

are using and seeing some sharper pics.

ROb

[picky]

Gil: That was fantastic! Great story and nice job on the speakers.

Boy, that Gretchen is a real hottie! You don't see a pair of gams and a caboose like that every day! []

She could use a pair of heels, though.

[WMcD]

I'm sorry about the picture quality. It was a matter of getting some pictures up on the board while I was thinking about it, or messing with the camera.

I had actually expected Michael C. to send me a hot rocket on picture quality!

Gil