Kimber KS-1116, Part 4

Posted by Luminator (A) on September 11, 2023 at 22:07:33

After decades in San Francisco's Japantown, the Mifune restaurant no longer exists. But it far outlived Japantown Bowl, which closed in 2000.

In summer 1993, my ex-girlfriend KJ and I were doubles bowling partners at Japantown Bowl. But then she had to return to UC Berkeley for her junior year. Meanwhile, I was at home, working part-time. I bowled 2, sometimes 3, leagues per week.

Because the Kimber PBJ line-level interconnect was $62 at the time, (a) I could afford it, and (b) it did not hamstring me.

Since I was now a full-season league bowler, I went with others to practice at nearby Brentwood Bowl (South San Francisco), Classic Bowl (Daly City), Park Bowl (SF Haight, now Amoeba Records), Sea Bowl (Pacifica), and Serra Bowl (Daly City).

Later, I was invited and encouraged to participate in bowling tournaments and travel league, taking place at alleys outside of the Bay Area. Instead of piling into the van(s), I'd go with my personal friends, who were still in college, and turned these into weekend getaways.

In those days, we had 35mm cameras. We had to use up film, get it developed. Many of the night photos turned out like this.

We loved winding down at night, by the pool(s). My friends would ask what I was thinking about. After getting over my crummy bowling, my mind could not shake high-end audio. I kept wondering what my system would sound like, if I replaced one of the PBJs with a KCAG (then around $390).

When we went back to the pool in the morning, I had made up my mind. When I got back home, I wanted to check out Kimber KCAG. I tried several pairs. The first I actually bought was a balanced (XLR) pair.

A 1-meter KCAG now costs a whopping $1,356. The current-production Kimber Select KS-1116 is $1,180 for a 1-meter pair. So yeah, the KS-1116 actually costs less than the KCAG! And many of you have asked how the two compare.

Assuming you have a decent system, the KCAG and KS-1116 sound different from each other. The KCAG is fast and sniffy. Images are smaller than they should be, and not as firmly anchored. There are losses in body. A glistening glare takes the place of what should be the instruments' textures.

The KCAG is like my friends, back in the early-to-mid 1990s, still in college, well before motherhood. It's like taking a deep breath, diving into the pool, swimming to the shallow end, and sloshing around. It's like climbing out of the pool, and sitting on the edge. Your body still has beads of water, which glisten in the rising morning sun.

The KS-1116 is slower and smoother, but not sniffy. Images are more realistically 3D, and are more physically grounded and stable. They are not bloated, and in some areas, such as mid-treble, they shrink. Yet, they are not distanced as widely and far apart, as they should be. Thus, ultimate soundstage dimensions are truncated. With the more stable imaging, resolution of textures is a small notch better than KCAG. And perhaps the biggest flaw is a "sucking out" or "tamping down" of a loose range from upper midrange to lower treble.

The KS-1116's sonic personality is the equivalent of your friends in the present. They are all middle-aged moms. They are dry, sunbathing by the pool. The "buffing" of the upper mids and lower treble means the moms are secure, in the knowledge that the kids are safe, and don't need to be supervised in the pool. It's like tuning out, and mentally blanking out.

We don't think that one is "better" than the other. Which you prefer depends on your system and tastes.

For me, the KCAG is like the younger Lummy, enthusiastically attacking the lanes, but being a bit erratic and unfocused. OTOH, the KS-1116 is like the older Lummy, not as dynamic, but better able to concentrate on consistently rolling the ball over the second arrow. Yet, my average is the same!

-Lummy The Loch Monster

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Topic - Kimber KS-1116, Part 4 - Luminator 22:07:33 09/11/23 (4)

RE: Kimber KS-1116, Part 4 - fantja 04:17:47 10/07/23 (3)

Theta CD transports - Luminator 23:40:40 10/07/23 (0)

Theta DACs - Luminator 12:33:46 10/07/23 (1)

RE: Theta DACs - fantja 16:20:25 10/07/23 (0)

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