how does one go about assembling a system that can qualify to be listed in the category,"ALL OUT ASSAULT." One way is to read up on a few years of "recommended components" lists from the high end magazines and venture out, with a fat wallet, to visit a few premium audio salons. By just BUYING the top products on the lists, you'll certainly make the audio salons happy , and hopefully, even you may be satisfied by owning the best money can buy. Having years of personal experience in owning many types of excellent audio gear adds a level of surety that only experience can add. Going through this process often enough, you may come to the conclusion that you may never get "THE MIXTURE " that you've been looking for. As the saying goes,"If you want it done right, do it yourself". There is also a saying that tells us, "Do what you do best ,and leave the rest to others." Time has also taught me the importance of another saying, "Do what you think is best." This submission i am presenting is based on preferences I have developed since I built my first piece of audio gear back in 1955 . Back then you could build just about everything in the audio chain yourself. Technology is just a bit more complicated in this day and age, but nevertheless, I feel the possibility still exists to build what you cannot buy, at least in the field of loudspeakers. The following system concepts are those I adhered to when i decided to start this project . Now to begin.-- Restraints of size, cost , or time would not enter into the equation. The room should always comes first, and mine did. Determine the size room you want, and design it along sound acoustic principles. Electronics; Having owned solid state amps for 20 years, along with the power requirements of the system i had in mind , there was no other choice . Solid state ,discrete topology, pure Class A analogue design throughout the entire audio chain. Crossovers; electronic crossovers were employed throughout due to the flexibility needed in designing and building a loudspeaker system that might sail into uncharted waters. All 7 channels would be bass restricted below 60 hz, via the processor , with the subs handling everything below. Electronic equalization; multichannel parametrics operating below 300 hz would be employed on all 8 channels to augment the reduction or elimination of low frequency room resonances not fully addressed by the use of acoustic panels , traps, and diffusers. Loudspeaker design; 3 front towers, identical 9 ft - 4 inch line sources in a horizontal D'Appolito array, four side and rear surround towers, 7 ft- 4 inch line sources in left and right mirror image configuration. Drivers; 15 inch metal cone -high excursion drivers for the subs. Front channels; 7 inch kevlar cone dynamics for mid bass, planar dipole for the midrange, leaf tweeters for the dipole highs. Surround towers; 8 inch kevlar cone drivers for the mid bass, 5 1/2 kevlar cones for the midrange, Revelator domes for the highs. All dynamic drivers, except for the subs, sourced from the same manufacturer to maintain a coherent sonic sign, ature. Drivers and electronics identical to the four surround towers would be in place when processing becomes available for the rear center channel, an 8.1 system configuration. All the dynamic drivers within the system to be in their own separate, sealed enclosures. Baffles for all the dynamic drivers, except the subs , to be either 1 1/2 or 2 inch thick high gloss, black, cast polymer. [ The amount of time I logged from start to finish for construction of the loudspeakers only, amounted to a bit over 5400 man hours spread over 3 years of time. ] Interconnects; XLR type balanced cables used exclusively from the processor through to the 12 stereo amplifiers that are used to drive the 7.1 system; after all, balanced interconnects are what's used to record everything we listen to. Fine tuning of acoustic treatment and and installation of the decorative woodwork trim in the room would be performed after ETF measurements were taken when the complete system was in place , and up and running. At this point in time, both the trim and acoustic treatment are being completed. Upgrades; The 135 inch, widescreen formatted, Stewart electroscreen is to be replaced with a 155 inch, letterbox formatted, Microperf with side electromasking. The Sanyo PLV 70 will then be replaced with a Runco or Vidikron projector with the Cinewide and Autoscope lens features. The last upgrade will be more enjoyment and less work.
this 7.1 processor sends all signals to the amplification chain via balanced interconnects
Krell Krell DVD Standard
full featured , progressive scan dvd player
Krell sacd standard
plays 2 channel and multi channel sacd's
Krell FPB-200
two fpb 200 amps handle the leaf tweeter banks in the three front channels
Krell FPB-300
four fpb 300 amps handle the 4 surround towers. one fpb handles the rear center channel in the eventual 8.1 system
Krell FPB-600
Three fpb 600 amps handle the mid bass and mid range sections of the three front channels. two fpb 600 amps handle the two sub woofer channels
Krell KBX
four KBX 3 way mono electronic crossovers, and two kbx 2 way stereo electronic crossovers.handle frequency division within the system.
Krell Krell Link Controller
Three krell link controllers are used to synchronize remote control operations where multiple amplifiers are used in various situations(stereo, ht 5.1, 7.1 etc)
Krell KPE Reference
solid state phono head amp
Rives Audio PARC, & PARC PLUS
3 Parametric analog room correction equalizers tame room anomolies on all 8 channels in 3 chosen bands per channel
DOMINION VIRGINA POWER 26KVA LINE XFORMER
Audiophiles that have neighbors with noisy appliances have one of 2 choices; put up with it or use power conditioners that clean the power . Since we had a current demand that made power conditioners out of the question, 12 Krell fpb amps , plus source components, the best solution was to have our own line transformer installed by virginia power. When the quality of the power source was considered, this was the only choice.
American Power Conversion APC Smart UPS 2200VA USB
This conditioner/ battery back up is utilized to maintain the coherance of the operation of the sequenced krell link system with the hts 7.1 controller, the 12 fpb amps in the system, along with the various signal devices in the event of a power outage. We typically have at least 6 or more power outages in virginia durring the course of a year. two-6 outlet conditioners are used in the system protecting all signal and control components
APC APC Smart UPS 1100 UPS
one ups on the krell links- one ups on the PVL 75 projector
Personally designed and built Four- 7ft,4in surround towers,
These mirror image line sources each contain 6 scan speak 8 inch kevlar cone bass drivers operating from 60 to 500 hz thru a krell kbx xover @12 bd per octave. 6 scan speak 5 in kevlar cone mid drivers operating from 500 to 3500 hz @ 12 bd per octave. 6 scan speak revelator tweeters from 3500 hz and up @ 12 db per octave- passive xover between the mids and tweeters. a fpb 300 drives each tower thru a krell kbx xover. all drivers are mounted in their separate sealed enclosures. The mirror image baffles are hi gloss black cast polymer weighing 175 lbs and were manufactured by the author.
Personally designed and built, 3 identical front channels
3 way , 9 ft 4 inch line sources configured with a horizontal d'appolito array. Each tower contains the following drivers; 24 scan speak 7 inch kevlar cone mid bass drivers each in their own sealed baffle. 4 Bohlander Graebner rd-50 planar mid range drivers operating in a dipolar configuration, and 40 panasonic eas 10 th-400a leaf tweeters, 30 facing to the front and 10 facing rearward,wired out of phase for dipolar radiation
Personally designed and built, 3 way rear center channel
This horizontal d'appolito array speaker is identical to the 4 surround line arrays with the exception that it is in a horizontal configuration at the rear of the room 8 feet above the floor . It will be put into service when processing is available for an 8.1 surround configuration
Personally designed and built, Sub woofer towers
The two mirror image sub towers EACH contain 8- 15 in high excursion, metal cone drivers sourced from tc sounds. a krell fpb 600 is used to drive each tower with 4 woofers driven by each side of the amplifiers. the sub towers handle all the information below 60 hz for the 3 front and 4 surround towers. The 60 hz crossover frequency and 24 db slope is provided by the krell hts 7.1 processor.
Sota Millennia
vacum table with electronic speed control
triplainar 12 inch series vII
latest version of this legendary tonearm
Shelter 90X
Shelter's top of the line moving coil cartridge
Stewart Tech screen 130 microperf
The 135 inch , widescreen formatted , Stewart electroscreen is triggered by the krell hts 7.1 controller
Sanyo PLV 75 projector
2200 ansi lumen, widescreen , hi def lcd projector
Pioneer Elite CD CLV laser disc player
This model was the last, reference level, laser disc player manufactuted by pioneer befor the death knell of that format.
Direct TV HD DVR HR 10-250
DSS Hi Def receiver-DVR directly feeding the sanyo hi def projector via the digital -DVI input
Thompson DRD 486DH
Two - dss receivers facilitate simoutaneous viewing and recording of different channels
TIVO Tivo series 2
Two -80 gig units, one each on the 2 dss channels for time shift and convenience viewing.
Pioneer DVR 510 H
Two- 80 gig dvr recorders for archiving programs from the two tivo series 2 dvr's
Belden-neutrik Belden 8014 Quad star-2
this tripple shielded, mogami type, rubber coverd cable terminated with neutrik's best xlr connectors carry all the signals, in ballanced mode, from the processor right thru to the 11 krell amps.driving the system.
Luminous audio digital -optical interconnects
digital sources are connected to the hts 7.1 using the above commectors.
Luminous Audio Silver reference
This 8 ga silver litz wire is used to connect the speakers to their respective amplifiers. Since the amps are located directly at the speakers they drive, the lengths are generally less than two feet. terminations are all cardas premiun lugs. speaker binding posts are those used by krell on their fpb amps
carol cable and wire 10-3 neoprene coverd power cord
all the amps are fed with 10-3 copper supply cords terminated with wattgate iec plugs on one end and hubbel 30 amp, 4 prong, 220 volt twist-lock plugs on the supply end.
1-19-06 kftool [email protected] Thanks for the question; I am very much married, and happily so,. While Sue doesn't exhibit the level of enthusiasm for music and audio equiptment that I do, she does enjoy the home theater experience. Best of all, she has never complained about the time or money I've put into the system. A member of our local audio society refers to her as Saint Mary and I tend to agree.
1-19-16 kftool firecracker 77; the sound IS room filling, and I feel, in a way that only line arrays could acomplish. With the mids and tweeters operating in a dipole configuration the air and soundstage is heavenly.
01-02-06: [email protected] steve , I thank you for the response. question 1, 25 years ago i maxed out the x former Va power used to supply our property when I had two 200 amp services installed to supply power to the pattern shop located on our property. When I had 3 additional 200 amp services connected on our property, they were required to install an additional x former to accommodate the load. At that time they connected only our 5 services to the new x former, leaving an additional 400 amp capacity available to our neighbors on the existing x former. Va power will install anything you request if you are willing to pay for the installation, and guarantee them a minimum level of billing per month. Panasonic leaf tweeters, no longer available, but good substitutions are available. email me if you'd like my opinions, as Dennis Miller says, "It's my opinion, I may be wrong." there are good alternatives. question 3. room design, mine is 26,000 cubic feet, no parallel surfaces. Ideas came from mix magazine, absolute sound, stereophile, speaker builder etc. My wife wonders why I need all these issues. You need to know that unless you are in the business, as all the high end icons are , you need help in designing and building a loudspeaker system as large as I did. Help is there, and if you ask, you'll find that you will get help that can enable you to accomplish a goal that may require financial depth that only a very few would attempt. Steve, thanks form your reply to my posting. please reply again , regards, Ken Fritz, kftool
thanks avfreak, I poured the footings for the room 15 years ago . It is 30 by 55 feet , with the ceiling height of 12 ft at the front,where the speakers are, and 17 feet at the rear. all cast concrete, 12 inch walls, 8 inch floor, details at a later posting. Register .com will be hosting a web site detailing around 1200 digital photos of the construction of the speakers. With the room built as it is , my neighborsdon't even know I'm here. thanks for your reply, don't stop now. After the effort I've put forth, I enjoy sharing the experience.
Thanks for the reply, Robin. You've prompted me to recall some of the very thoughts I had while I was trying to determine exactly what it was I was hoping to acomplish by this undertaking. This began as a 2 way system until 5 years ago when I realized home theater and 3 front channels must be the norm in my system. I found this to be a problem when i tried to purchase 40 additional Panasonic leaf tweeters, then unavailable in the US, unless someone purchases 1000 units thru a distributor. This problem disappeared when a saint of a customer service representative, at Panasonic USA, offered to send me 36 engineering samples, at no charge, to help me complete my system . Two dozen red roses went off to Jennifer Nitty, I'll never forget her.Back to your question; I feel that anyone building a serious system, with the gift of sight, must integrate video; plan for it early so as to not make any mistakes in equipment choices you may have to rectify at greater cost at a later time. Originally, I used 2 Hartley 24 inch subs, and then, purchased 6 more ,thinking it would do the trick for video. They were good on 2 channel audio, but were too lethargic for digital effects and I was constantly worried about frying the voice coils. The subs I have now set off all the glass break detectors in the house when I play the system, I just reset them all each night before bed. Musical tastes; symphonic first, everything else second, except rap music which is an oxymoron. Our home, in Richmond Va, is Colonial Williamsburg as are our furnishings. The room is purpose built, and will be finished out and furnished accordingly. I started construction on this room 15 years ago when few people thought that the room was as important as is really is. I'll post this reply with the intent of expounding on the details of the project in the future. Thanks for your questions, I'm looking forward to your pointed questions that would require a dissertation that would not turn off fellow Audiogon members from reading on . As the first reply to my posting of my system, I thank you. Ken Fritz, kftool
Absolutely stunning!! The speakers, although huge, are finished beautifully. The craftsmanship is excellent - congratulations.
I too have a few questions:
1. I live in Fairfax, Virginia and also use Virginia Dominion Power. How did you go about having them install the dedicated transformer?
2. Secondly, where did you source the Panasonic eas 10 th-400a leaf tweeters? I'm a bit of a speaker DIY'er (nothing on your level!!) and are interested in trying leaf tweeters.
3. Can you tell us more about your room design? I'm very much convinced that the room acoustics are the most important part of the system. I am in the process of finishing my basement off as a dedicated listening room and as such, I like to hear as much as I can about this subject from people such as yourself who are addressing it in their systems.
Thanks for posting the pictures. I love seeing what people can build with their own hands. Your speakers are inspiring.
Holy subwoofers, Batman!! This is an unbelievable system that you've put together. Hearty congratulations on your ambitions and project execution. You've not said anything thus far about your musical/visual objectives in constructing this monster of a media room. Are there particular types of music that you believe to be especially well served by such a system? As time allows, I'd like to know your listening impressions. Also, how does this room integrate with the rest of your home? I'm wondering if this is a converted living room, garage, separate building, etc., since I can't tell from the pictures. When I converse in dulcet tones with my lovely bride about how my own "huge" loudspeakers fit with our decor, I will show her your system pics. And so I thank you for that as well...
