If you had to choose a NON planar speaker, what would it be?

Khorns

Yeah, those are the ones.. He bought them from a guy who had them since 1958, so they are REALLY old.. They're in OK shape.. They need to be refinished and the grilles need replacement, but the drivers are all in good condition. He got them for 450 dollars and couldn't pass it up, so they're in his basement being driven by an older Carver amp.

My impressions after listening to them was this: Shrill. Harsh. Cold. LOUD. I didn't care for them AT ALL. Of course I'm sure they could be made to sound alot better.

Khorns...

Khorns must have been fairly revolutionary for their time. Does your friend plan to recondition / refurbish his old Khorns?

Yeah, he's eventually gonna get them refinished, etc. He loves the sound and I had to cover my ears as they were just to shrill for me.... Also, there was NO soundstage and no imaging at all...

It's funny because he used to own Acoustats and says he loves the sound of panels... He and his wife are planning a visit to California and I'll give him a taste of Martin Logan and watch his jaw hit the floor.

TomDac said:

He and his wife are planning a visit to California and I'll give him a taste of Martin Logan and watch his jaw hit the floor.

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Oh you're evil

Another conventional speaker dream for me...

BW-800D

Such a solid speaker, top to bottom, one of the best I've heard.

I agree with Dan, Wilson Audio Watt Puppies. Three things are stopping me: Cost, weight and the pair of Summits that keep me smiling.

If I could get whatever I wanted it would be either JM Labs Nova Utopia Be's or Avalon Edilon Diamonds.

If I have to limit myself to what I could acually afford it would probably be B&W 802D's

I cant truly answer this, because I dont own anything except B&W M1s and a Dynamo running off my PC at the moment.

But I am in the process of searching for a home. And once I find one, I am going to start putting together a 2 channel system and then build a theater.

My choice has been narrowed to Summits or Wilson Sophias. I cannot find one thing negative about the Wilson except the constant worry that someone will scratch the paint. They are well worth their rather high price. And every model up the chain is an improvement on perfection. I have heard the Sophia, W/P, MAXX II. And they all have the same traits and qualities. Just you get more as you spend more.

However, the "eerie" 3D soundstaging and imaging of the Martin Logan has an attractive power hard to resist.

I once heard a pair of B&W 803Ds they sounded amazing but at 15K AU they were well out of my budget.

B&W 800D's...

Joey_V said:

Another conventional speaker dream for me...

BW-800D

Such a solid speaker, top to bottom, one of the best I've heard.

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Joey,

Recently, I had the pleasure of auditioning these very speakers connected to two McIntosh MC275's and a McIntosh MCD201 (SACD/CD source and that's all. I must say they were fantastic sounding speakers - sweet and so cool sounding. Very good with a total of 22 tubes driving them. It was shear tube heaven on earth. I only wish I could have auditioned the top of the line - B&W Nautilus speakers. Sadly, the audio store, I was in, did not have any in stock... Oh well maybe next time.

Wilson Watt/Puppy or Sophia

B&W Speakers...

Joey_V said:

Another conventional speaker dream for me...

BW-800D

Such a solid speaker, top to bottom, one of the best I've heard.

Click to expand...

Joey,

I was just wondering, if you knew wether B&W makes Front speakers with powered woofers? I can't tell from their web-site... From their web-site it seems only the powered speaker they offer are their powered subwoofers.
I thought surely their Nautius - perstiege speakers have powered woofers?

Robin,

To my knowledge, none of the BW speakers are powered - not sure about their lower lines, but none of the 800, 700, or 600 series are powered. The Nautilus is not powered and REQUIRES an amp for each driver! Yikes! Talk about escalating costs!

Joey

B&W Speakers...

Joey_V said:

Robin,

To my knowledge, none of the BW speakers are powered - not sure about their lower lines, but none of the 800, 700, or 600 series are powered. The Nautilus is not powered and REQUIRES an amp for each driver! Yikes! Talk about escalating costs!

Joey

Click to expand...

Joey,

Thanks for the excellent information.
B&W's sure sound good for non-electrostatic speakers. I wonder what their secret is? It must be a combination of partly their cabinet design, speaker design specifications and matterials, electronic cross-over etc.? Amazing speakers though...

Philippe Lemieux

Well for my part, I have my JBL 4430 and 4411 that I lovvvvvvvvvvve....

This is for my monitoring needs in my studio it is running on Crown PSA2 and DC300A II BSS crossover and Klark DN27 Mixer is a Tascam M2600 II Editor is a Merging Mycherinos Pyramix system.

But for "listening to music.... Have been around and.... It ALWAYS comes down to my ML system. Plain old Quad 606 system powering ML

Oups Sorry about that I think I got abit carried away...

Won't happend again!

Cheers

TomDac said:

Yeah, those are the ones.. He bought them from a guy who had them since 1958, so they are REALLY old.. They're in OK shape.. They need to be refinished and the grilles need replacement, but the drivers are all in good condition. He got them for 450 dollars and couldn't pass it up, so they're in his basement being driven by an older Carver amp.

My impressions after listening to them was this: Shrill. Harsh. Cold. LOUD. I didn't care for them AT ALL. Of course I'm sure they could be made to sound alot better.

Click to expand...

I thought the main selling point of the 'Horns was the insane dB/W rating. Isn't driving that speaker with a Carver amp kinda like a pair of P&W turbines in a Corolla? I've found Klipsch in general to be harsh, myself, though I don't think I've listened to any more expensive than the Fortes or thereabouts.

It's been 15 years since I've auditioned speakers, but the non-planers that have earned a special (spacial?) place in my memory are Dalquist DQ-20s, Vandersteens (2C?), Infinity Kappa 7s, and of course the M-490 Mirages I bought. Only two of those are really box speakers, but none are planar. I was at my friend's house yesterday where the 490s are "on loan" and I really do like the way they sound. They've got so much sound for "bookshelf" speakers!

Robin said:

Joey,

I was just wondering, if you knew wether B&W makes Front speakers with powered woofers? I can't tell from their web-site... From their web-site it seems only the powered speaker they offer are their powered subwoofers.
I thought surely their Nautius - perstiege speakers have powered woofers?

Click to expand...

No amps in the B&W 800 series, and just for the record the 800's are no longer called Nautilus (after the Matrix series all 800's did have Nautilus in their title). They are just called the 800 series. The 804 was what I would have bought if the Vista's werent around. I really love the 802's, including the bowling ball top.

TomDac said:

Yeah, those are the ones.. He bought them from a guy who had them since 1958, so they are REALLY old.. They're in OK shape.. They need to be refinished and the grilles need replacement, but the drivers are all in good condition. He got them for 450 dollars and couldn't pass it up, so they're in his basement being driven by an older Carver amp.

My impressions after listening to them was this: Shrill. Harsh. Cold. LOUD. I didn't care for them AT ALL. Of course I'm sure they could be made to sound alot better.

Click to expand...

Sounds like the KHorns he has are true antiques, He probably needs to replace those oil filled refridgerator start caps with some good audio grade poly caps, and get that Carver as far away from it as possible. I have had Klipsch KHorns, LaScala, Corwalls, Heresy's, Heresy II's, and Referance, all sound great with tubes, but none image like a planar.

Klipsch truly have their place in the world, just not in my living room. I still use my Heresy's and a Lascala bass bin for my portable system and it sounds phenominal for outdoor and auditorium use.

MotorToad said:

I thought the main selling point of the 'Horns was the insane dB/W rating. Isn't driving that speaker with a Carver amp kinda like a pair of P&W turbines in a Corolla? I've found Klipsch in general to be harsh, myself, though I don't think I've listened to any more expensive than the Fortes or thereabouts.

It's been 15 years since I've auditioned speakers, but the non-planers that have earned a special (spacial?) place in my memory are Dalquist DQ-20s, Vandersteens (2C?), Infinity Kappa 7s, and of course the M-490 Mirages I bought. Only two of those are really box speakers, but none are planar. I was at my friend's house yesterday where the 490s are "on loan" and I really do like the way they sound. They've got so much sound for "bookshelf" speakers!

Click to expand...

Nice thought on the Dahlquist's, I grew up listening to the DQ-10's, then the DQ-20's, My personal preferace is the 10 though, they seemed to image better with seemless transitions, and a far better choice to power with a Carver then those poor KHorns.

Robin said:

Joey,

Thanks for the excellent information.
B&W's sure sound good for non-electrostatic speakers. I wonder what their secret is? It must be a combination of partly their cabinet design, speaker design specifications and matterials, electronic cross-over etc.? Amazing speakers though...

Click to expand...

One of their secrets is in the midrange driver that they use..... it does not have an eliptical surround like most drivers.... it actually has a foam-type material that stretches as the driver moves.... it's quite unique.