WolfsBane Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 Does anyone know who manufactures the drivers for the new Reference IV and other current line? There is an individual at the AVS site that claims, among other things, that Paul Klipsch used cheap CTS and Eminence woofers, Atlas bullhorn mid drivers and anEV tweeter that barely made 10,000hz. That his drivers were much cheaper andinferior in quality to those used by other builders of big horns suchas Altec, JBL and Tannoy. He calls today's Klipsch lineup "cheesy". http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=816581 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted March 8, 2007 Moderators Share Posted March 8, 2007 Does anyone know who manufactures the drivers for the new Reference IV and other current line? There is an individual at the AVS site that claims, among other things, that Paul Klipsch used cheap CTS and Eminence woofers, Atlas bullhorn mid drivers and an EV tweeter that barely made 10,000hz. That his drivers were much cheaper and inferior in quality to those used by other builders of big horns such as Altec, JBL and Tannoy. He calls today's Klipsch lineup "cheesy". http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=816581 Well let me say your timing with this post is not the greatest, the last several days have been quite a battle royale after someone posted a question that essentially came out and said the quality was junk and the company was terrible. As would be expected there were multiple salvos fired back at this troublemaker, who, unlike you, was not interested in gaining information but was really trying to cause trouble. I will say there there will be an abundance of folks on here that will be able to give you all the skinney on who made what component and when. Of course, if you want a more objective opinion you should get on the stereophile website and look up Sam Tellig's review of the new LaScalla II speakers (he bought them after his review to keep at his home). I happened to be re-reading the hard copy of that article last night and in the article he mentions where the components are made for the current model as well as where they were made in the past. Neat little facts about how Baldwin Piano, also in Ak, made the first speakers bins for the company, etc. Of fcourse those are heritage line and you are looking for reference, but at least it will give you an independent perspective about things. Travis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bodcaw boy Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 travis, did i miss something? who was it? have a blessed day, roy delgado Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 S'ok, that is just Tom Brennen, a very opinionated fellow that is usually on here and also on the audio asylum.... He likes what he likes and no one can tell him different. As far as I am concerned, the model 19 Altecs are junk in my opinion ( the local watering hole has a pair here ) mind you the diaphragms are mostly dead ( aluminum workhardend ) and the woofers have probably seen better days.... Altec did produce some fine horns and drivers for sure, they were decades ahead of most. Nowdays we have computer FEA programs to optimize magnetic field geometry, advanced rapid prototyping facilities ( stereo lithograpy ) and so on. I dare to say that we are light years ahead of the tools and techniques years ago in transducer design. That being said, sad to say there is a lot of junk out there, but there is also a lot of good products as well. KSC is a manufactuer of some products for Klipsch, the products are made to Klipsch specifications and qc tested here in america. Eminence produces a few bass drivers, notably the K-33 and possibly the newer heresy III woofer. ( not sure on that one ) Myself I could not care if they were made in Pakistan if they perform like they do. Does it really matter??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted March 8, 2007 Moderators Share Posted March 8, 2007 travis, did i miss something? who was it? have a blessed day, roy delgado I am literally laughing out loud, a smiley face just wouldn't do it justice. Now that was funny. I forgot his name, or what it was even about, I am too busy listening to this demo cartridge I have going and reading these great informative posts and responses from people who have a sincere desire to learn, and those who are doing their sincere best to provide informative responses and/or assistance. Those are really the only things I can remember, the other stuff is like water off a duck's back. Travis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtnfoley Posted March 9, 2007 Share Posted March 9, 2007 The ultimate defense against those who begin flamewars... originally about USENET, I find this applies to forums quite well! "Every group has a couple of experts. And every group has at least oneidiot. Thus are balance and harmony (and discord) maintained. It'ssometimes hard to remember this in the bulk of the flamewars that all of the hassle and pain is generally caused by one or two highly-motivated, caustic twits."-- Chuq Von Rospach, about Usenet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmorgan32 Posted March 9, 2007 Share Posted March 9, 2007 I don't have the technical background to address the specifics about driver quality, etc., but I can tell you that I listened to an awful lot of speakers before I bought my RF-83's. Money was not a major factor in my buying decision, as I was prepared to spend up to 5 grand for a pair. (well, it was somewhat of a factor obviously because I wasn't going to spring for a pair of Wilson Audio!!) The cherry finish is beautiful, the cabinet is very solid and they weigh 100 lbs apiece. I am driving them with the new McIntosh MA6300 integrated, which only has 100 wpc, and they crank. I know that if I had gone with most other brands eg B&W, I would have had to buy a much more powerful amplifier, and of course spend much more money. My retailer usually has my amp set up to demo another brand of speaker that retails for over 5K a pair. When I asked him to hook up the RF-83's to the McIntosh he seemed amazed at the sound. In summary, I think if anything the RF-83's are UNDERpriced @ 2500/pr! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klipsch Employees Trey Cannon Posted March 9, 2007 Klipsch Employees Share Posted March 9, 2007 S'ok, that is just Tom Brennen, a very opinionated fellow that is usually on here and also on the audio asylum.... He likes what he likes and no one can tell him different. As far as I am concerned, the model 19 Altecs are junk in my opinion ( the local watering hole has a pair here ) mind you the diaphragms are mostly dead ( aluminum workhardend ) and the woofers have probably seen better days.... Altec did produce some fine horns and drivers for sure, they were decades ahead of most. Nowdays we have computer FEA programs to optimize magnetic field geometry, advanced rapid prototyping facilities ( stereo lithograpy ) and so on. I dare to say that we are light years ahead of the tools and techniques years ago in transducer design. That being said, sad to say there is a lot of junk out there, but there is also a lot of good products as well. KSC is a manufactuer of some products for Klipsch, the products are made to Klipsch specifications and qc tested here in america. Eminence produces a few bass drivers, notably the K-33 and possibly the newer heresy III woofer. ( not sure on that one ) Myself I could not care if they were made in Pakistan if they perform like they do. Does it really matter??? We quit using KSC a long time ago. Eminence does produce most of the paper cone woofers we use. They do a fine job and are a very good vender for us. (yes they build the k-33 and heresy woofers. We have vendors in China that build our drivers to our spec. We use all the latest hardware to design our drivers. Are there better drivers out there? Maybe. Like in most things, you do the best you can with what you have within the cost factors you have to deal with. I for one, think we do a fine job. My gues is that guy is a Bose user. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZAKO Posted March 9, 2007 Share Posted March 9, 2007 I read a fine article on Eminence Co. In Voice Coil magazine. They can design & build just about any speaker you want. They are a great company. And can compete with any one on the Pacific rim.. Klipsch does a fine job of preserving the Heritage line to its original design. (despite my tweeking & ribbing) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linkalley Posted March 9, 2007 Share Posted March 9, 2007 [H] MARON! HOW CAN YOU TWEEK SOMETHING YOU KNOW FULLY WELL YOU CANNOT HEAR.????[bs] OKIE LINK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwinr Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 We quit using KSC a long time ago. Eminence does produce most of the paper cone woofers we use. They do a fine job and are a very good vender for us. (yes they build the k-33 and heresy woofers. We have vendors in China that build our drivers to our spec. We use all the latest hardware to design our drivers. Are there better drivers out there? Maybe. Like in most things, you do the best you can with what you have within the cost factors you have to deal with. I for one, think we do a fine job. My gues is that guy is a Bose user. You mean Bose abuser! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 You buy Klipsch because there is NO quality question................Right Roy ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZAKO Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Link...You willy waskel....Are you gonna send me your Baby Smiths for an evaluation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audio Flynn Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 When you own a few speakers you get a better feel for the quality. It is fun to look across the whole speaker line and at several points in time. With Klipsch the models over the years are quite an amazing number. I used to use my KSB 3.1 for the rear of the HT but I switched to the KG 1.5 because I wanted something a little smaller and therefore less noticable. I also have listeded allot to the RB-15. Down the price scale Klipsch makes a very musical and robustly built speaker. Love my RB-5s but never liked the grill. Grill design has to be the thankless job of speaker design! Grills either 1. Look cheap 2. Inhibit the accoustic energy coming from the drivers.(Stamped metal grill on KSB 3.1) 3. Fall apart at the smallest encounter with humans 4. End up being too great a % of the cost of the speaker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catbo Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 WolfsBane quote: He calls today's Klipsch lineup "cheesy". I say the only thing cheesy is his comments he likes to make in that manner. I've seen him going on and on and on and on and on in so many different audio forums I've come across lately and I have Klipsch RF-7 and Klipschorn speakers and he's a bunch of BUNK! I just laugh and move on because I don't agree with him with his negative comments about Klipsch. Maybe he's never had a great setup with Klipsch, or if he did, he wouldn't talk like that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spkrdctr Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Anyone slamming Klipsch is a moron, plain and simple. I can't take the time to write 5 pages on how idiotic they are, wish I did have the time......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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