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The sound is currently rather thin.Any opinions on what I need to do to make this old speakers sing again? I mostly use tube amps.
Follow Ups:
After having a cursory glance at your system, which appears to be put together quite well, is the "thin" sound your refering to on all sources or does it vary from CD to phono?I also notice U have 4 different cartridges to chose from. Does the overall thin caracteristic remain when switching between the 4?
Also, do the B&W 805's sound thin as well?
Hi Kenster,Yes, the thin sound happens on all cartridges. The 805s doesn't have this problem. Therefore, I concluded it must be the old KEF speakers. I do have a subwoofer, but now it seems there is slight hollowness in the midrange.
I took the KEF out of storage because they had higher sensitivity than the 805s. I was wondering whether I can still kick some life out of these old speakers. Thanks for taking the time.
Brass teacher has some good advice. Ensure the speakers are working as they should. It also sounds like it is the 103/4's that are the source of the thin sound.Due to the very nature of the "coupled cavity" loading of the woofers in the 103/4's, which is AKA 4th order bandpass loading, an amplifier that can double it's ouput into 4 ohms and is not current limited will be able to control the woofers much better. Even KEF recommends this. Using a tube amp however, would not be recommended.
In other words, a SS amplifier such as a Krell would wake your 103/4's up and with authority!!
Cheers,
Are all the drivers working? including the ones on the inside cavity of the cabinet? Any voice coil rub? Are the bi-amp jumpers clean and well-secured? Speaker bolts nice and tight? Rubber surrounds still pliable? I'd check these items first. KEF reference speakers usually have soldered connections, so that shouldn't be an issue. I can't imagine the electrolytics in the crossover have gone bad yet, but if they have been idle awhile....Anyway, check on the above items, and see if you find any problems, especially if they weren't stored in a climate-controlled environment.
Hey Brass,Thanks for the input. Everything seems to work as you said. I cleaned all contacts as best that I could. However I am not sure how to check the insides of the KEF. All I did was check the bass driver through the bass port on the front. It feels very dirty with dust and such.
Currently the speakers sound rather shouty, and lacking its midrange magic I used to remember. But my memory may have failed me. Kenster may have a point with SS stuff. I was hoping the high sensitivity specs for the KEF would fare better with my tube gear than the 805s. I may be mistaken, and I should focus less on specs next time.
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