[Arny Krueger]

http://www.kipnis-studios.com/The_Ki...ndard/KSS.html


"A KSS 8.8 Hexagonal Surround Sound System necessarily features 96 separate
speaker drivers powered by 36 amplifiers (50 are in my design specifications
for this sized room and seating requirements). By using this many hand
matched amplifiers with hand picked tubes, I achieve a previously unheard
level of fidelity, where each and every mix offers a noticeably different
character, features its own authentic sound space which changes from scene
to scene (or track to track), and which is reproducable at accurate and
realistic listening levels under ultra quiet (NR. 4 dB/SPL) acoustically
controlled ( 3 ms at all audible frequencies) listening conditions."

I understand that pricing starts in the middle six-figures.

[Earl Kiosterud]

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message ...
http://www.kipnis-studios.com/The_Ki...ndard/KSS.html


"A KSS 8.8 Hexagonal Surround Sound System necessarily features 96 separate
speaker drivers powered by 36 amplifiers (50 are in my design specifications
for this sized room and seating requirements). By using this many hand
matched amplifiers with hand picked tubes, I achieve a previously unheard
level of fidelity, where each and every mix offers a noticeably different
character, features its own authentic sound space which changes from scene
to scene (or track to track), and which is reproducable at accurate and
realistic listening levels under ultra quiet (NR. 4 dB/SPL) acoustically
controlled ( 3 ms at all audible frequencies) listening conditions."

I understand that pricing starts in the middle six-figures.



This one might do for casual use.

http://www.royaldevice.com/custom.ht...20TOTAL%20HORN

--
Earl

[Sonnova]

On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:54:31 -0700, Earl Kiosterud wrote
(in article ):

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...
http://www.kipnis-studios.com/The_Ki...ndard/KSS.html


"A KSS 8.8 Hexagonal Surround Sound System necessarily features 96 separate
speaker drivers powered by 36 amplifiers (50 are in my design specifications
for this sized room and seating requirements). By using this many hand
matched amplifiers with hand picked tubes, I achieve a previously unheard
level of fidelity, where each and every mix offers a noticeably different
character, features its own authentic sound space which changes from scene
to scene (or track to track), and which is reproducable at accurate and
realistic listening levels under ultra quiet (NR. 4 dB/SPL) acoustically
controlled ( 3 ms at all audible frequencies) listening conditions."

I understand that pricing starts in the middle six-figures.



This one might do for casual use.

http://www.royaldevice.com/custom.ht...20TOTAL%20HORN



Now, THAT'S a serious listening room. I don't know that I would want to live
with a system like that, but I'd sure like to hear it!

[Arny Krueger]

"Sonnova" wrote in message


This one might do for casual use.

http://www.royaldevice.com/custom.ht...20TOTAL%20HORN

Now, THAT'S a serious listening room. I don't know that
I would want to live with a system like that, but I'd
sure like to hear it!

The sad part of the story is that sonic performance like that does not
require architectural resources like that.

It's possible to build a very serious high performance listening room
without anything like that sort of commitment. A modern engineering approach
might even provide higher performance with only a tiny fraction of the
hardware.

[Earl Kiosterud]

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message ...
"Sonnova" wrote in message


This one might do for casual use.

http://www.royaldevice.com/custom.ht...20TOTAL%20HORN

Now, THAT'S a serious listening room. I don't know that
I would want to live with a system like that, but I'd
sure like to hear it!

The sad part of the story is that sonic performance like that does not
require architectural resources like that.

It's possible to build a very serious high performance listening room
without anything like that sort of commitment. A modern engineering approach
might even provide higher performance with only a tiny fraction of the
hardware.



Indeed. You gotta wonder why, with a big horn like that, they still use so many huge
woofers. Why not just make the horn longer? They say the back wall is treated to be
anechoic, but unless there's some serious low-frequency back-wall-reflection controls in
place, and it doesn't look as though there is -- they don't mention anything specific like
bass traps -- the bass response is going to be full of nulls. And they claim "All
frequencies from 30 to 9000 Hz are reproduced by speakers with NO CROSSOVER in a full-range
modality." Well who's done that in a truly successful way? Bose tried. Didn't work well.

In short, this is just an extreme example of hardware overkill that HAS to sound good, to
them, simply for its extravagance. It appears to solve problems by throwing larger problems
at it.
--
Earl

[Sonnova]

On Tue, 22 Jul 2008 05:32:12 -0700, Arny Krueger wrote
(in article ):

"Sonnova" wrote in message


This one might do for casual use.

http://www.royaldevice.com/custom.ht...20TOTAL%20HORN

Now, THAT'S a serious listening room. I don't know that
I would want to live with a system like that, but I'd
sure like to hear it!

The sad part of the story is that sonic performance like that does not
require architectural resources like that.

It's possible to build a very serious high performance listening room
without anything like that sort of commitment. A modern engineering approach
might even provide higher performance with only a tiny fraction of the
hardware.



Still and all, I bet a pipe organ sounds awesome. A lot of the problem with
domestic listening rooms is simply that they aren't big enough for extremely
long wave-lengths. The folded horn under this listening room's floor should
take care of that problem. Don't misunderstand me, here. Get it wrong, or
don't take standing waves into consideration when designing and even a room
like this might not work...

[Arny Krueger]

"Sonnova" wrote in message

On Tue, 22 Jul 2008 05:32:12 -0700, Arny Krueger wrote
(in article ):

"Sonnova" wrote in message

The sad part of the story is that sonic performance like
that does not require architectural resources like that.

It's possible to build a very serious high performance
listening room without anything like that sort of
commitment. A modern engineering approach might even
provide higher performance with only a tiny fraction of
the hardware.

Still and all, I bet a pipe organ sounds awesome.

FWIW, by modern standards, pipe organs aren't all that challenging to
reproduce.

A lot of the problem with domestic listening rooms is simply
that they aren't big enough for extremely long
wave-lengths.

That is a myth. Long wavelengths are arguably more easily reproduced in
smaller rooms. Every room has a frequency below which an approximate 12
dB/octave boost is added. The smaller the room the higher the frequency.
This is one reason why car audio systems can have exceptional bass without a
lot of big speaker drivers.

The folded horn under this listening room's
floor should take care of that problem.

Horns are good for efficiency and directivity control, but they have to be
huge to work well at low frequencies like say 10 Hz.

Don't misunderstand me, here. Get it wrong, or don't take
standing waves into consideration when designing and even
a room like this might not work...

That's another advantage of smaller rooms - they can't be all that effective
at supporting standing waves at very low frequencies.