What happens when you turn it up? (1 Viewer)

[Dave Herkert]

"But what happens to the sound of your system when the volume knob moves clockwise?"
It gets louder Lots louder 115 db is do-able clean.
"Does the speaker start to compress, distort, lose bass, become harsh?"
Nope!!
"Does your amplifier clip?"
Not even close.
"Do your ears tell you it's too loud?"
Sometimes
"I enjoy the music much more if I sacrifice a little bit of that euphoric impact to get a cleaner, smoother sound."
I don't have that problem.
"I personally have found the point at which my system starts to degrade. That's at a somewhat "disappointing" level of 90~95db continuous, 102dB peak."
My system does this while using a watt per channel. It's like a walk in the park for my gear.
So what's the secret??
HORNS, of course Klipsch Cornwall II's (mains), Chorus (surrounds), and Academy (center), all driven by an Outlaw 750. The JBL pro cinema bass cabinets don't hurt either (I have two, each with 2 15" woofers, powered by a Crown amp). It's louder than needed, has massive headroom, and it's more than I'll ever use - just the way I like it!

 

[kevin_tomb]

Yeah horn speakers are great for loudness and efficiency, but I doubt most of us would have the room, let alone the "need" for horns. Nothing against horn speakers, but from the Klipsch horns ive auditoned, I think they only sound really good in a very large room. I listened to Klipschhorns (the original large ones) in a 35X60 foot demo room and they were awesome. Once we moved them to a smaller (regular 13X20 ft) room, they didnt sound so great. Not sure why but they sounded annoying then. Mind you im not talking bad just not really great anymore. Besides who is listening at 120DB???......I have a 13x19 ft living room and my POLKS and VELODYNE play loud enough...

 

[kevin_tomb]

TOM BRENNAN.......Hey those speakers you have do sound cool. Whats the size of them?....Ive seen altec VOT in a place near where I live. They were about 20 years old or so. Couldnt really judge how big they were as they were hanging from a ceiling in a very high Dome type building (above a basketball court) But they did sound pretty good. They werent really turned up too loud though, just playing background music and announcements. To me they did sound really clear and not straining at all (well they were very moderately playing) Bass seemed to roll off kinda at around maybe 50-60 Hz though, not sure if the positioning and building had a lot to do with that though....

 

[Jason Bell]

Michael,
I think the reflections were there all the time because even my simple room treatments improved the sound in the treble at both high and normal volumes. The biggest difference was when I started getting around 75db or higher. When I say soaked up the highs I dont mean it removed them I just mean it kept the original notes echo from running together with the next note. I can now hear cymbal notes decay. Before if the percussionist was playing really fast it would just sound like ssssssssssss. This is very fatigueing (sp) to my ears and forced me to turn it down and I thought my amp was reaching its limits. I've been reading a lot about acoustics lately since this simple tweak improved my system so much. The one thing I've been trying after each placement of a blanket or whatever is the "Clap Test". I stand by my speakers facing my listening spot and clap my hands together pretty loud and see how it sounds. When I would do this before the end of the clap would sound like it was ringing (best way I can think to describe it). After I put that stuff around the room the clap sound would stop noticeably sooner. I know there is still room for improvement. You didnt really describe your room mine is Ranch style with the living room opening to the kitchen with only a four foot counter seperating the two, Cathedral ceilings, walls are aluminum studs with regular drywall covered with plaster(very reflective), my floors are concrete but I have pretty thick pad and carpet. My furniture is leather(I've read this is not good and very reflective). Another bad thing is I dont have anything on my walls because my SO hasnt decided on that perfect look yet. Well try that clap test and see what you get. Good Luck

 

[Chris Tsutsui]

I don't have any volume knobs because I'm running a hercules GTXP pre/pro and a Rotel 2ch power amp. I have a "digital" volume level on my computer which I use to find my ideal listening volume, reference, and night time volume.

Only once did my mouse get stuck and the meter shot to max. My subwoofer (250w adire alignment tempest) hit so hard it shook my house and woke the neighborhood dogs at 3:00am.

My rotel RB-870bx power amp gives some
100wpc 8 ohms @ 20-20khz w/no more than 0.03% thd. It's enough to power my JBL S38s to 100db peaks. I was gonna use a parasound HCA-1000a but found the rotel for $150.

 

[Tom Brennan]

Kevin---There are much better horns out there IMO than Klipsch, judging horns in general by listening to Klipsch is like judging all cone-dome speakers by the KLHs at Sam's Club. Well KHorns are much better than that but you know what I mean. Horns have other virtues besides dynamics; better clarity, the ability to control dispersion (horn DIYers can choose various horn flares with horizontal dispersion patterns from 40 to 130 degrees and use the horn and pattern that best suits the room) very low distortion at all listening levels. My VOT bassbins are 515B woofs in 825 horn-reflex combo cabinets, A5s. The cabinets are 30" wide, 42" high and 24" deep. You're right, VOTs don't go very low, about 50hz and the response between 50 and 100 is down several db from the response above 100 out to 800 that is loaded by the straight horn. I augment my A5s below 100hz with a pair of JBL 4648 motion picture theater bassbins, each 4648 is a vented box with 2-15"s, total efficiency for the pair is 106db. Above 800hz I use either Altec or JBL 1" compression drivers on Edgar wooden tractrix "saladbowl" horns. My RTA in room at my listening position shows response +- 3db from 25hz to 16khz, not bad. The RTA doesn't resolve as finely as some other instruments but the general trend is very good. This rig sounds SO much better than any Klipsch, I know, I've owned LaScalas and Cornwalls. My opinion ya understand.

 

[Al B. C]

I would never give up my Cornwalls.
As a matter of fact, I'm thinking about putting something in my will about having my body parts stuffed in the cabinets for burial.
My wife agrees with me. She says not only will it save her money on a casket, she can finally get rid of those damn ugly speakers !

 

[Bobby T]

I just finished a DIY sub and now when I turn it up not only is it clean; but my wife says it shook he toilet seat from underneath her . I'm in the horn crowd also.

 

[Tom Brennan]

AL BC---Yeah, Cornwalls are very good. My best friend owns the pair that used to belong to me. He came across some Altec 605As, I lusted after the 605s and he lusted after the Cornwalls. A switch was made and now we're both very happy. I'd modded the Cornwalls with a tractrix mid horn from a Klipsch Pro model and moved the tweets to the outside surface of the speakers while I was at it. If you want to see and read about the mods click on the little www-house icon.

 

[John Sully]

What happens when I turn up the volume? The sound gets louder.

 

[kevin_tomb]

Ive listened to the Klipsch cornwall also.....not bad. The one that made me sorta not like klipsch is the HERESY. Obviously its not a HORN, but a relative of mine owns these and loves them. IMO opinion they sound like they are missing all low bass. Kinda like a cerwin vega thumper without the THUMP...

 

[Joe Cole]

Michael,

What brands and models of equipment do you have?

I am surprised no once mentioned that if you lights are dimming, you need a 20a circuit or to spread the plugs out to different circuits.

I am no electrician but I do know that dimming lights is a sign of not enough power available when needed and this can cause fires in some circumstances or at least hurt your equipment.

 

[Mark Seaton]

Joe-

Actually a 15A or 20A breaker won't have ANY affect on how much the lights dim, unless you are popping the 15A breaker. The dimming of the lights is a result of voltage drop occuring over the branch wiring. While you would normally want to upgrade to a 20A breaker, the critical issue is upgrading the wiring to the load (components). This can be done in various ways. If all the power is connected to one receptacle, then your best bet is to upgrade to #10 wiring and make sure you have a direct home run to the branch panel, which is often the best solution. If you have multiple plug-in points for amplifiers and such, independent home runs where #12 should be plenty with a distributed load.

Regards,

 

[Michael R Price]

Denon DCD-1520 CD player (1989)
Audiosource Amp One amplifier (1994)
Adire Audio Kit281V
DIY cables

I don't mean the lights in my room are dimming. It's the lights on the amplifier that are dimming. I'm pretty sure the thing has a wimpy power supply. And I can tell when it hurts the sound. Judging from the experiences of other people with my speakers, I am not near the limits of their clean output capability. But a real amplifier costs money, and I don't have enough of that. I am looking into DIY amplifiers for the future, but that's another story.

 

[Mike Strassburg]

Dave: "It's louder than needed, has massive headroom, and it's more than I'll ever use - just the way I like it!"
"I like the way you think, I'm gonna be watching you". Think Sam Kinason in Back to School. I guess the same could be said about my 6 Legends and dual Tempest set-up in a 16x22' room.
Watched Pearl Harbor today, VERY loud of course, and the dialogue & shells hitting the ground were every bit as impressive as the explosions, etc...
Give me horns or give me death