Another Hundred Days of Jubilee Ownership

[Chris A]

I began to read the Jubilee threads on this forum in October 2007. Like Bill W., I lacked access to Jubilees for audition. However my past and present understanding of acoustics convinced me of the clear advantages of the Jubilees over my then Khorn clones. Trusting the Klipsch forum wasn’t really difficult since the Jub entries literally went hundreds of pages. When I think about it, I cannot recall any other product about which can make that claim. From order to delivery took less than two weeks—fairly spectacular performance out of Klipsch, especially considering it was the week before Christmas.

 

Setup: When the Jubs arrived, I had a couple of days getting them set up and equalized/ balanced with the two XTi’s I also bought to drive them using active crossover capabilities in the Crown amps just like the commercial theater installations do. Once I did get them setup and got a chance to crank them up a bit, these units “came alive”.

 

Turning them up doesn’t result in facial grimaces or other teeth-clenching exercises like it did for the Khorns – these units just keep sounding better and better until you notice that it’s actually louder than real life, in which case you back the gain down until they sound real when you close your eyes. At this point, conversation is difficult without shouting.

 

Note that I am listening with anechoic XTi settings from Roy’s work in their chamber. I believe this results in a measure of realism that may not be uniformly heard in all Jubilee installations—caveat emptor to DIY electronics folks when using Jubs. My present room is tailor-made for corner horns – about 15.5 feet wide, 9 feet high, 40 feet long, and with two good symmetric corners.

 

Performance: I’ll dispense with any discussions about LF and HF drivers, horn expansion profiles, driver integration discussion, or crossover theory since I don’t think those things are important to the casual listener in any case. Jubilee performance is something that is very difficult for me to characterize since they’ve been a very different experience than any other speakers I’ve heard.

 

First, I’ve given up comparing these units to other speakers–I think of the Jubs as the closest thing to reality that I’ve ever heard. Pianos, female voices, string orchestras, horns, percussion, etc. sound like you remember they should. I don’t set any other speakers on that standard including Khorns or any other high-end speakers. Every day that I get to listen to these speakers is a good one—in fact, it’s usually the highlight of my day.

 

Second, I’ve since become an avid collector of high quality CDs, and many of those have been recommended on this forum. I’m delighted with each small journey that the USPS brings to my doorstep pretty much daily via Amazon Marketplace. I, too, have been busy rediscovering hundreds of hours worth of music: I’ve got a few hundred more to go with all the older vinyl I collected up to around 1984, but never got rid of. Some of that old vinyl doesn’t sound bad now, but no vinyl sounds like the best CDs that I now own. I guess that I should try out a much better TT, but right now that exercise just doesn’t appeal to me.

 

Third, the bottom end is solid, regardless of what anyone might think or say. I’d be hard pressed to want a subwoofer for any music that is playing. Right now, I use a DEQ2496 equalizer to exclusively equalize the low-end cutoff another 4-5-or more Hz.  My organ records shake the room like I remember the real thing—maybe because the room they're in is large enough to support LF down to the low-20 Hz range in one dimension. Anyone that says that they need a subwoofer with these probably has some tendency toward bass addiction— a common malady in this market—or they are watching war and action movies with lots of percussive audio effects. My observation: you better get out your wallet to get subwoofers that can successfully and usefully extend the extreme LF performance of these babies-because they do very well as-is, assuming good corner loading.

 

Fourth, these units fill the entire room with a balanced sound image, from front to back and side-to-side. Some areas of the room reinforce

lf performance better, such that you can sit at my breakfast table at the back of the room and really rock along with Brian Bromberg’s “Wood” bass with a feeling of realism. Even in adjoining rooms, the sound still feels like a live performance is playing in the next room. This is something which is much different than even the Khorns.

 

Listener Comments:

 

Comments from folks that have come by include the usual: dead silence—no expression at all, “…wow…those don’t sound…like mine”, “my wife will never let those things into the house”, “…how much?”, “you should have seen that fish I caught last month”, “have you ever thought about tubes”, etc. Admittedly, the number of people that have auditioned them has been a couple of dozen vs. probably many hundreds in Bill W.’s restaurant, but the reaction is fairly uniform in my experience – mainly dead silence.

 

Most of the most critical listeners seem to be women, not guys. They seem to open up a bit more with “those are the best speakers that I’ve ever heard… where did those come from?”, “I didn’t know that speakers could sound like that…but they aren’t very good looking are they?”. Younger folks (in their 20s) usually don’t appear to notice anything until their video games start up—then they have a tendency to stick around for a long time playing on the large flat screen TV between the Jubs. I think they just “zone out”, sort of like in a Bradbury story.

 

At the risk of alienating some auditioners that bring their own music for audition, a great deal of what I hear really doesn’t do these units justice. The one time that I was obliged to put some of my demo CDs on, the performance change was nothing short of dramatic- especially for low bass recordings. I now subscribe to the theory that you should listen to new music when you audition new speakers, even if it is mixed in with music that you are already familiar with.

 

I hope some of this might be useful to those that might be thinking about Jubs.

 

Respectfully,

 

Chris A.

(This is a second thread on this general topic).

[Daddy Dee]

Chris,

Thanks for the review. The way you describe the sound of the Jubs rings true with what I've heard of them in my listening opportunities.

They are amazing in what they do.

Setting them up with Roy's anechoic measurements would have them optimized as perfectly as possible.

[Arky]

The way you describe the sound of the Jubs rings true with what I've heard of them in my listening opportunities.

They are amazing in what they do.

Both times i've heard them in Hope was simply outstanding.

You have excellent writing skills, btw.

[dtel]

" Comments from folks that have come by include the usual: dead silence—no expression at all,"

That was my first and second reaction, then it changed to smiles. At first all I could think was, I have never heard recorded music sound like this ?

That 402 horn, and LF horn is unbelievable, Roy should be VERY proud !

Congratulations on another 100 days, like it's hard to do. [*-)]

[Daddy Dee]

thanks Arky.

[soundbound]

Wonderful. You have many good hours of pure music enjoyment in your future. Enjoy.

[Mike Lindsey]

Some of that old vinyl doesn’t sound bad now, but no vinyl sounds like the best CDs that I now own. I guess that I should try out a much better TT, but right now that exercise just doesn’t appeal to me.

Like you, I got away from vinyl around 1986, and started collecting high quality CD's (mobile fidelity, xrcd, etc), but I still felt something was missing in the music. Now granted, I don't have Jubs to listen with. But after being away from vinyl for 15 years I started to get back into it. First with a modest Dual CS-5000, and for the last 2 years with my rebuilt Thorens TD-124/SME 3009/Zu DL-103.

Let me tell you right now that those high quality recorded CD's do not compare to the sound of high quality recorded vinyl on a decent vinyl rig. I'm not sure what your vinyl setup is, or what preamp/phono setup you are using, but I would think if my modest vinyl setup (and BBX w/cream) was hooked to your Crown/Jubs it would sound glorious! Maybe one day I can try it out in my own home. []

Congrats on the Jubs, btw. I'm jealous as all getout.

Mike

[Coytee]

Top ****!!!

(I'm saving that for JB to say)

It just gets better doesn't it? I think the following nails it down pretty well.

I’ve given up comparing these units to other speakers–I think of the Jubes as the closest thing to reality that I’ve ever heard. Pianos, female voices, string orchestras, horns, percussion, etc. sound like you remember they should. I don’t set any other speakers on that standard including Khorns or any other high-end speakers. Every day that I get to listen to these speakers is a good one—in fact, it’s usually the highlight of my day.

[seti]

Congrats!

The Klipschorn Jubilee's are my favorite speaker. However, I still lean toward the K510 over the K402 but the K402 looks much coooler.

You left out the pics man.

[Chris A]

Congrats!

The Klipschorn Jubilee's are my favorite speaker. However, I still lean toward the K510 over the K402 but the K402 looks much coooler.

Ahh, seti:

Those look better than mine, at least for now...

Chris A.

[jacksonbart]

Wow I am envious, very nice system. That is indeed Top Notch.

[kaiser SET say]

THX Chris, I have been in love from the first time Roy played the R&D model in his lab[]

Hoping to have Jub mains one day meself[]

[seti]

Congrats!

The Klipschorn Jubilee's are my favorite speaker. However, I still lean toward the K510 over the K402 but the K402 looks much coooler.

Ahh, seti:

Those look better than mine, at least for now...

Chris A.

Yeah but I just have pics to look at and you have the real deal in your home to listen to.

[Coytee]

Yeah but I just have pics to look at and you have the real deal in your home to listen to

Pffffffffffft..... like what they sound like is important?

[*-)]

[Chris A]

Yeah but I just have pics to look at and you have the real deal in your home to listen to.

But there is one thing you probably do have on me - seeing and hearing them in Hope with Roy showing them off. Too bad "The Gathering" isn't in Arkansas this year...that's a lot shorter drive from here.

By the way, only a small portion of what I write at the top is intended to induce pangs of envy: since Roy's efforts have helped out so much in producing these speakers and educating his potential buyers on the "why" of his design (which isn't exactly high WAF), I thought that he should be rewarded for his tinkering which I have benefited from. If there was a way to make these more accessible to the typical audio owner, I would think that would be good. I believe that everyone should have a chance to hear these things: they’ve finally taken away a lot of dissatisfaction that I've had since I was young. I wish we had these things then...then I'd have spent a lot more of my time listening to a lot more music, in a much more engaging way.

Cheers,

Chris

Edited November 10, 2013 by Cask05

[Chris A]

By the way, the discussion on this forum: (http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/t/102421.aspx) highlights one of the problems that Klipsch Corp. has in not pushing the Jubilee as a home product because it definitely would do well enough in magazine rankings if they did. It's a strange world that we live in. If you don't believe that critics run around in little groups, think again: I bought a new book last fall entitled: High Performance Loudspeakers, 6th ed., Collums & Darlington, Wiley, 2005. This book commands a fairly hefty cover price. In it, and I quote, are the author's governing words on horn-loaded loudspeakers:

"4.9 Horn Loading: The specialized subject of horns can only be covered briefly in this book [...a book with over 500 pages...], and interested readers are again referred to the bibliography for more detailed information [52]. While the author is aware of the danger of generalization in this subject, in his view, horn-loaded enclosures are not capable of top class subjective quality and most designs are inferior to typical direct-radiator systems. The main reason for adopting horn loading, traditionally employed in public address situations, is to attain a high efficiency coupled with an improved control of directivity, vital considerations when large audiences are to be covered. Studio monitors also exploit high-quality horns to deliver high sound levels up to 120 dB at 1m."

I keep this book to remind myself of the human failing of xenophobia in almost any discipline. These mistaken words show an almost inconceivable ignorance by supposed "experts", since Klipsch speakers have been around since the mid-1940s. Remember, this is his 6th edition of the book--he had to be able to sell books from editions 1-5 to get to this point. Clearly, this author hasn’t heard the speakers that we’ve been talking about here—or maybe the author just doesn’t rate speakers like you or I would.

Maybe it’s an acquired taste…loudspeaker design...or maybe I'm just ignorant.

Chris

Edited November 10, 2013 by Cask05

[seti]

By the way, the discussion on this forum: (http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/t/102421.aspx)
highlights one of the problems that Klipsch Corp. has in not pushing the Jubilee
as a home product because it definitely would do well enough in magazine rankings if
they did. It's a strange world that we live in and if you don't believe that critics
run around in little groups, think again: I bought a new book last fall
entitled: High Performance Loudspeakers,
6th ed., Collums & Darlington, Wiley, 2005. This book commands a fairly hefty cover price. In it, and I quote, are
the author's governing words on horn-loaded loudspeakers:

"4.9 Horn Loading: The specialized
subject of horns can only be covered briefly in this book [...a book with
over 500 pages...], and interested readers are again referred to the
bibliography for more detailed information [52]. While the author is
aware of the danger of generalization in this subject, in his view, horn-loaded
enclosures are not capable of top class subjective quality and most designs are
inferior to typical direct-radiator systems. The main reason for adopting
horn loading, traditionally employed in public address situations, is to attain
a high efficiency coupled with an improved control of directivity, vital
considerations when large audiences are to be covered. Studio monitors
also exploit high-quality horns to deliver high sound levels up to 120 dB at 1
m."

I keep this book to remind myself of the human failing of xenophobia in almost
any discipline. These dangerously mistaken words show an almost inconceivable
ignorance, since Klipsch speakers have been around since the
mid-1940s, by supposed "experts". Remember, this is his 6th edition
of the book--he had to be able to sell books from editions 1-5 to get to this point. Clearly, this author hasn’t heard the speakers that we’ve been talking about
here—or maybe the author just doesn’t rate speakers like you or I would.

Maybe it’s an acquired taste…loudspeaker design...or maybe I'm just ignorant.

Chris

Hmm good enough for studio monitors but not the home..... Interesting. When I think high performance loudspeakers horns are the first thing I think about.

[DrWho]

I dunno...I can think of lots of instruments and music with fundamentals below 40, 50Hz. [A]

Also, a lot of horns really suck - so I could totally see how that author may have arrived at his conclusions...I wonder if after all these years if the guy is open-minded enough to change his mind after hearing some of the really good horns?

[Cornman]

I am not sure if I should be thanking you are not due to all the slobber runing down my face as I lust so for a pair of the Jub's....[:$] No seriously thanks for the review. But heres a question for you. Did you recently post a sale in the "Garage" for the Crowns, & if so what are you going to replace them with?

Cornman

[seti]

How about a pic of your Jubilee's.