Speakerquest (so far...) - Page 65

RJ-
she is indeed my wife, and I'm a pretty straight shooter so no GF on the side that I need to impress. My wife says that they are alright, she's a bit of a tough cookie. She was hoping to get rid of the speakers all together, not get new ones that are just as big as the old ones.

For all the hard time that she gives me, she is sure to let me know that as long as I am happy with "all this audio stuff," then that is all that matters because she really doesn't care, it's my "thing" not hers.

I am happy as a clam. A processor, a powerconditioner, and a bluRay still to go, and then some surrounds... ah, 2009

Thanks to everybody for the kind words.

drab: "...but don't you think they would sound a little better if you placed them at my house?"

LOL I had a nice laugh at that one, thanks

-Funk

The A51 only ever got warm with my previous speakers. Same, so far, with the HT3s. I just hooked them up to be bi-amped by 2 channels for each HT3, only got warm (not hot) while watching a movie with all five channels doing some work. Like Tim mentioned the back is open and the angled top moves the heat out of the space very well. The way it is wired now the front two heat sinks are pushing the bass of the L/R, back two are the mid/treble section L/R, and back is the center channel. I actually designed the enclosure around the minimum suggested space for breathing room according to Parasound.

Not sure about that Warp, but I have been curious about them for a while now, most people seem to like their effect when they put them in place, and then there are others that say that they don't notice any difference... I'm going to pick up a Fluke meter one of these days to have in my tool box that should give me a pretty good idea of the exact voltage running through my lines and wether or not it needs to be "conditioned."

I'm using a surge protector now, just on a strip, but nearly everything I have heard about them is that they are crap and wear out over time. Luckily lightning is very uncommon here (shoot, rain is uncommon in LA) so I'm not too concerned about that, and nothing is going to protect from a lightning induced surge anyway.

Just like the whole speaker cable, and interconnect arguments, the power conditioners have their fans and their detractors.

-Funk

Agreed 100%

Just wanted to report that for a little while there I was thinking that the sound from my HT3/HTC combo was a little veiled... not true, at all. I was listening with the grills on!!!!!! :duh: Remove the grills and the highs shine! I honestly did not expect that much of a difference grills on/off. I know that it is recommended to listen with the grills off, but somehow I forgot and left them on... I removed them today and all I can say is WOW! I seriously did not think that it would make that much of a difference, but it does. It seems to be mainly the high frequencies that are affected by the grills, the mids and bass have been excellent with them in place. The mids actually seemed a little more pronounced that I remembered, but now the highs are much more crisp and clear. I am now hearing what I have been searching for with the grills removed... Nothing harsh, just pure neutral reproduction of the original recording. Awesome!

Get those grills off and listen naked!!!!!!

peace,
Funk

The thing that gets me the most is that I knew that I was supposed to be listening with the grills off. I did nearly all of my auditioning with grills off. But When I got the HT3s unpacked, I stuck the grills on and never took them off until yesterday! I honestly didn't even think twice about it, and it had been bugging me that the highs were sounding a little veiled on many recordings, but when I woke up the other day I only had one dominant thought. Take the grills off you idiot!. It's kind of embarrassing to admit this whole thing, but I figured I would post about it in hopes that others may benefit from my mistake.

Thanks Michael. Now I am glad that she insisted on a squared off cabinet, and that Jim was able to accommodate us, because I think your right, they are statement speakers. I can honestly say that they are one of a kind! Jim said that they haven't built any HT3s before mine with the squared-off cabinets, they have always been the "monkey coffins" (a term I lovingly borrow from Dennis Murphy) Now that there have been one pair made, I am sure there will be at least a few more requests in the future. Reactions have been a bit mixed to the shape... many like the rectangles, and several prefer the original shape. Thats cool, I love what I got, and it's great that we have options...

As to the sound with the grills on. They sounded good, but not great. Certainly better than what I had. They were missing the high end sparkle, the sizzle and crispness that influenced my decision to get them in the first place. I am still surprised that such a thin layer of fabric can affect the sound as it does, and that that effect is so localized in frequency.

Yesterday, I was listening to some Pixies and was amazed that I was hearing guitar tones and separation between instruments that I had never heard before. I have been a huge fan of the Pixies since about 1988 and have listened to their music on a regular basis ever since then, how could I possibly hear anything new in it? Well I did, and I have a feeling I will continue to for some time to come with the Pixies, and many other bands that I am very familiar with. Perhaps it is that very familiarity with the music that allows us to hear new things in it. I mean, unless we know the music extremely well, claiming to hear something new in a recording would be a somewhat common experience that comes with repeated listening. Not in this case. I was hearing two distinct guitars with two distinct tones with each having very much it's own character. Before, I only heard one loud wash of sound that was a blend between the two guitars. All this when I wasn't really paying attention to what was playing, and sitting well outside of the sweetspot.

Cheers-
Funk