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Worst measuring loudspeaker?

thewas

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Aren't John's off-axis curves normalized to the listening window response, so tha this would actually show that the response doesn't get much better off axis?
Yes, thus the dips from the resonances will be also off axis.
 

mhardy6647

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Of course the reviewer loved them: "Right now, these are the speakers I'd consider most if 20 grand were burning a hole in my pocket." :facepalm:
That is a wry qualification that the reviewer offers, as I reflect on it.
It could be argued as tantamount to saying, "...these are the speakers I'd consider most if I had just drunk a half-dozen shots of tequila and still had enough coordination to find and extract my wallet from my pocket".

Actually, it kind of reminds me of what "Randy" wrote about the redoubtable ;) Kenwood KA-3500 integrated amp in a Warehouse Sound catalog many years ago (ca. 1976).



Wrote Randy:
“Right off, I’m in big trouble. My dilemma is that this Kenwood amp is far better than $160 should decently buy. So how do I go about describing how great this mother really is without sounding like some whacked-out record reviewer who’s just had his nose packed by some record company PR man and consequently is just bown away by this hot new act…”

I.e., in the current context: "... these are the speakers I'd consider most if I were coked out of my gourd, on somebody else's dime..."
I guess the editors made the review change the wording a wee bit for the published review. :cool::facepalm:

Randy and his intoxicating $313 hifi buy, for posterity...



You probably can't see it clearly in my medium-res scan below above, but Randy was apparently quaffing a Bud during the photoshoot. Maybe washing down a snootful of Peruvian marching powder... who knows? ;)
 
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mhardy6647

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In fairness, the KA-3500 was/is a perfectly decent little integrated amplifier of its time, and dollar for dollar that $313 system probably delivered the goods very well for the budding college student ca. 1976 (of which set I was an element, in full disclosure).

 

fpitas

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fpitas

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Yes, thus the dips from the resonances will be also off axis.
That's good. I'd hate to think that, after all that careful design, I couldn't hear all the bizarre peaks and dips clearly.
 

Palladium

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That's good. I'd hate to think that, after all that careful design, I couldn't hear all the bizarre peaks and dips clearly.

I think there are better multimedia speakers that does better at <$100.
 
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Purité Audio

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Klipsch La Scala, not as bad perhaps as I had imagined.

Keith
 

Sonny1

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Klipsch La Scala, not as bad perhaps as I had imagined.

Keith

It’s funny, I was thinking the same thing. That’s a pretty mammoth speaker for something that starts to roll off around 50hz. It’s interesting to see what used ones are going for these days. I passed on an almost free pair 20 years ago because they were so large and heavy. They were in a friends garage and I had no way to get them home so I passed. I’ve seen pairs in rough shape selling for several grand. Crazy.
 

mhardy6647

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It’s funny, I was thinking the same thing. That’s a pretty mammoth speaker for something that starts to roll off around 50hz. It’s interesting to see what used ones are going for these days. I passed on an almost free pair 20 years ago because they were so large and heavy. They were in a friends garage and I had no way to get them home so I passed. I’ve seen pairs in rough shape selling for several grand. Crazy.
That's what happens when one tries to do horn-loaded bass. Even with a folded horn, either the cutoff is fairly high or the size of the horn/enclosure is very large. In that respect, the LaScala and its heteromorphic sibling the Belle Klipsch (named after PWK's wife) are the worst of both worlds. The Klipschorn is bigger and does better in terms of LF extension, and, of course, uses a corner -- real or artificial -- as part of the horn expansion to get the deepest LF possible in a "reasonable" package.
 

mwmkravchenko

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That's what happens when one tries to do horn-loaded bass. Even with a folded horn, either the cutoff is fairly high or the size of the horn/enclosure is very large. In that respect, the LaScala and its heteromorphic sibling the Belle Klipsch (named after PWK's wife) are the worst of both worlds. The Klipschorn is bigger and does better in terms of LF extension, and, of course, uses a corner -- real or artificial -- as part of the horn expansion to get the deepest LF possible in a "reasonable" package.
The LaScala is much to short to even support the approximate 80 hertz path length it has. It is more a resonant system on a sealed enclosure. Think large long vents. It is an exceedingly bad example of what you can accomplish with a horn. I have designed many horns and in that space with some clever folding I can get you down to 30 hertz with reasonable efficiency. The trouble is it takes me nearly a week to build the cabinets. It is not for the feint of heart. But, it can be done.

Mark
 

Adi777

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I assume the steady boom of the 65Hz is balanced by the eardrum-piercing 4.5kHz peak.
I have -20dB in both ears in circa 4000kHz. Could this raise be beneficial to me???
 

fpitas

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I have -20dB in both ears in circa 4000kHz. Could this raise be beneficial to me???
Give it a try. My guess is: no.
 
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Purité Audio

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Has Hi-Fi News a policy of only testing poor loudspeakers?
£4200 in case you want to rush out and buy a pair.


Keith
 

fpitas

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Has Hi-Fi News a policy of only testing poor loudspeakers?
£4200 in case you want to rush out and buy a pair.


Keith
Maybe an artifact of the goofy looks over performance? Still, I'd think they could do much better.
 
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Purité Audio

Purité Audio

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I didn’t want to spoil it for you!
Best,
Keith
 

MattHooper

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Kudos for not linking to the underlying article. They don't deserve the clicks.

Hi-Fi News?


Why? At least they regularly provide measurements for their reviews. Those are there if you don't want to read the subjective impressions.
 

fineMen

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Hi-Fi News?
Why? At least they regularly provide measurements for their reviews. Those are there if you don't want to read the subjective impressions.
The measurements don't convince me. A fig leaf covering the big pudenda of quirky talking down severe problems. They're inconsistent to say the least. Look, for instance at that of Perlisten vs/ Lother vs/ KEF. Plain b/s in my book.
 
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