Just sharing an audio story

I was recently at an audio club members house (that's me in the photo), where the owner has speakers costing many multiples of the Triton Reference. He claims they are 108 db efficient to boot, and he made them himself (purchased the drivers but did all the cabinetry, cross overs, etc.). He literally has a machine shop in his basement. He's one of those "nothing can compare to horns" kind of guy and likens his speakers to cessaro horn speakers, certain models of which he believes are the best speakers on the planet.

Anyway, among other music we listened to, he put on a recording that he claims certain small passages of which virtually no other speaker system can "handle" . The recording is an SACD of Cantate Domino (Oscar's Motet Choir on proprius label).

While he lives a good 20 miles from me, the idea was I would listen on his system and he would listen on mine. So we let the games begin.

Suffice it to say his system/speakers sound spectacular, IMO. Unnoticeable in the photos is how well treated his room is.

Upon his listening to this recording on my system with the T Ref's, he concluded "Your system sounds great!", however, insists that the female singers voice "broke up" (his words) at the "high point" of her vocal range and during "loud" passages. Approximate db level during playback I'd estimate at 90db (no big deal, so frankly I don't get it if in fact true). He further attributed this to my speakers (as opposed to the electronics and/or recording). I looped (repeat play) these passages and really cannot say I heard anything "peculiar", but admittedly it just didn't sound anything like it did when played through his speakers.

The conclusion here is I remain content in believing the T Ref's "held their own" and did live up to the claim that they compare to speakers costing many times more.

I'm confident I correctly attached images to the original starting post. I'll need a day or so to re-upload

GDHAL wrote: I'm confident I correctly attached images to the original starting post. I'll need a day or so to re-upload

It appears that we are still having issues and photos of a certain size won't upload or display correctly. Try them at about 1 meg or less to see if there is success there.

GDHAL,

Interesting story. This month's issue of Stereophile (September) has a review of the Klipschorn AD6, pretty much the same speaker I drooled over thirty years ago. It's horn loaded, of course, and very efficient; Atkinson measured 101 dB.

OK so far.

BUT. The impedance curve is all over the place, dipping to a low of less than 3 ohms and going way high. Because if this, they are very amplifier sensitive. High output impedance amplifiers need not apply.

So, solid state amps? The Khorn frequency response has some peculiarities too; they are definitely not flat, rather high in the treble. In fact, Atkinson warns against using them with solid state amps. Hmm. What's a body to do?

Finally, the impulse response...because of the different horn path lengths, bass and midrange sound arrives with a significant delay compared to the tweeter. I don't think they're doing DSP in there.

I think I can say that the Triton References definitely DO compare to these Khorns, and quite favorably at that!

Now, maybe Klipsch doesn't know how to build speakers like your friend does, but it would be really interesting to see the measurements on your friend's. He optimized his room, and the rest of his system may also be part of what's going on.

Charlie

Moderator wrote:

GDHAL wrote: I'm confident I correctly attached images to the original starting post. I'll need a day or so to re-upload

It appears that we are still having issues and photos of a certain size won't upload or display correctly. Try them at about 1 meg or less to see if there is success there.

@Moderator. I receive the following error when attaching an image. I've verified the disk file size is less than 1 meg

Could not move file into /var/www/goldenear.com/media/kunena/attachments/12350/2.png.

GDHAL wrote:

Moderator wrote:

GDHAL wrote: I'm confident I correctly attached images to the original starting post. I'll need a day or so to re-upload

It appears that we are still having issues and photos of a certain size won't upload or display correctly. Try them at about 1 meg or less to see if there is success there.

@Moderator. I receive the following error when attaching an image. I've verified the disk file size is less than 1 meg

Could not move file into /var/www/goldenear.com/media/kunena/attachments/12350/2.png.

Argh! Will get on them again.