AudioKinesis Dream Maker LCS premiers at RMAF!

James Romeyn · « **Reply #60 on:** 8 Oct 2013, 03:54 pm »

I edited the power amp MSRP to reflect $1k extra cost upgrades to power supply and teflon capacitors, $5k total MSRP. Only four days burn in time on the amp so far...it turned a sharp corner for the better after a couple days. IMO Teflon has longer seasoning time vs. standard capacitor material.

matt.w · « **Reply #61 on:** 9 Oct 2013, 11:20 pm »

Are there any requirements regarding the placement of the LCS relative to the main speakers? For example, could they be placed further away from the main speakers, in the corners of the room?

I ask from the perspective of integrating the speakers in a main living space and therefore having little to zero placement flexibility.

James Romeyn · « **Reply #62 on:** 10 Oct 2013, 02:58 pm »

Quote from: matt.w on 9 Oct 2013, 11:20 pm

Are there any requirements regarding the placement of the LCS relative to the main speakers? For example, could they be placed further away from the main speakers, in the corners of the room?

I ask from the perspective of integrating the speakers in a main living space and therefore having little to zero placement flexibility.

Definitely the Effects Speakers can be placed farther from the Main Speakers. I'll post at my site after the show a proper diagram showing placement options and simple formula to aid placement. (formula: ES pathlength vertical to ceiling + ceiling diagonal to listener minus MS direct pathlength = 11.3' = 10ms)

Also I shall hire professional media man/bass player Jeremy Nivison to do an info/setup video. Jeremy worked for Paula Abdul and a company called Sony. Jeremy shall play a few riffs through his 60s Fender Jazz Bass plugged into Dream Maker LCS to introduce the video.

Setup is really quite easy.

My mobile if anyone desires to call at RMAF is 435 754 5097.

The setup at Duke's when I picked up the speakers was "less than ideal" with amp and CDP valued about $1k and speaker cable was test leads and real honest to goodness zip cord.

It was among the best reproduced sound I've heard. If/when you play well recorded live music with true and realistic audience depth you'll hear 200' of stage depth and not just in the center but 200' out from the side walls. Also, as per my numbered list of performance points, this is the most consistent image quality out to the farthest corner you've ever heard, and not by a small margin.

After visiting our room, I invite listeners to march right down to the Magico room if they are here, and compare with the most critical ears you can bring (your own!)
Jimbo

matt.w · « **Reply #63 on:** 10 Oct 2013, 04:59 pm »

Hrm. So that sounds like there is a maximum path length difference where the delay from the ES is too much?

Thanks for all the info so far, looking forward to show impressions.

DaveC113 · « **Reply #64 on:** 10 Oct 2013, 09:09 pm »

I look forward to hearing these this weekend!

James Romeyn · « **Reply #65 on:** 11 Oct 2013, 02:24 pm »

Quote from: matt.w on 10 Oct 2013, 04:59 pm

Hrm. So that sounds like there is a maximum path length difference where the delay from the ES is too much?

Thanks for all the info so far, looking forward to show impressions.

That is a great question. There appears to be universal agreement that <10ms delay for reverberant energy is too little, which is consistent with the late Bob Crump's last CES demo where Bob had the best stereo Sound Lab demo, and the stats were about spaced about 1/3rd the room length's into the room.

The magnitude of the delay is directly related to it's intensity. Speakers with greater quantity of reverberant energy usually employ one particular boundary. Prior architecture employ the front wall for primary reflective boundary whereas we prefer the ceiling for reasons listed earlier.

The taller the ceiling the greater is reverberant delay but also the less is intensity. The ceiling is closer in proximity than the front wall, which favors the ceilng. LCS avoids the downside of a typical dipole or bipole. Such speaker requires greater front wall spacing to increase reverberant delay. But unfortunately that maneuver decreases reverberant energy ration vs. direct energy.

But admittedly, there being no completely free lunch (though LCS gets pretty close), at a certain ceiling height which we frankly have not yet found (estimate 12') the best options appear to be (Duke might disagree):

Making a lightweight moderately sized (about 4 foot square area) "Dispersion Tile" and locating it centered above the Effects Speaker at a vertical height range of 7.5' to 10' (mechanical support from one or any combination of floor, ceiling, sidewall....up around 10' it should be a bit larger, estimate 6-8sf)

or firing the Effects Speaker off the nearby side wall at 65 degree angle ala Toole's recipe

or firing the Effects Speaker off the front wall (like a regular full range bipole ala original Dream Maker or earlier full range Mirage)

In my experience, the first option is well worth the effort. I personally think OC703 with dispersion film is ideal, but for cosmetic reasons I intend to sample a round convex acrylic or plexiglass Dispersion Tile. I envision something clear of course, hanging by transparent ceiling supports, ala Davies Symphony Hall's rectangular tiles in image posted here and at my website. Google "Davis Symphony Hall" images for more interesting ceiling views.

The A-B switch is operational to turn the Effects Speaker on-off. For skeptics thinking the Effects Speaker causes loss of image focus (the dreaded Bose Model 9 effect), put on your most skeptical hat and see for yourself. Bring a solo acoustic instrument recording while an attendant flicks the AB switch. I brought a John Williams guitar CD for this purpose. The recording's focus is diffuse, which tends to favor no Effects Speaker, but still the Effects Speaker improves performance.

jtwrace · « **Reply #66 on:** 13 Oct 2013, 05:36 am »

Duke-

Thanks again for letting the three of us take over your room for waaay too long and crank the $hit out of your system with our music. It sounded great and was great to speak technical with you too.

poseidonsvoice · « **Reply #67 on:** 13 Oct 2013, 06:49 am »

Quote from: jtwrace on 13 Oct 2013, 05:36 am

Duke-

Thanks again for letting the three of take over your room for waaay too long and crank the $hit out of your system with our music. It sounded great and was great to speak technical with you too.

+1. This room definitely rocked and gelled well with me. A very interesting concept indeed. One of the top rooms I heard.

Best,
Anand.

bluemike · « **Reply #68 on:** 13 Oct 2013, 03:53 pm »

Hi
Any pics of the room and videos

I wasn't able to make it to RMAF but really intirigued on the sound of this room

Pat

James Romeyn · « **Reply #69 on:** 13 Oct 2013, 10:23 pm »

Hi Pat, thanks for asking! Here are some photos.

Lori LeJeune, Duke's wife is in one photo.

bluemike · « **Reply #70 on:** 14 Oct 2013, 01:50 am »

Thanks

James Romeyn · « **Reply #71 on:** 14 Oct 2013, 03:16 am »

Sandy Gross walked into our room. I think it was Saturday. If you don't know who is Sandy Gross, I'll summarize by saying that arguably, at any given moment, there may be more high end speakers playing music designed by this legend than by any other person. His designs were sold under the Polk name back when Mathew Polk popularized lab coats in his marketing campaigns, to Definitive Technology, to the current GoldenEar line that reviewers adore. Sandy is principal at GoldenEar.

One can only presume Sandy knows what is worth knowing about your design in about as long as it takes a world-speed adolescent to text six characters...maybe less.

I gave Sandy about a ninety second run down of Toole's specifications and how Duke achieved them with LCS. I'm pretty fried right now. I can't remember what music Sandy auditioned. He was in our room for about five minutes, an eternity considering his stature.

Sandy commented, "Very good." My wife Debra wrote a couple books. She is one of the late E. B. White's biggest fans. She deeply regrets never meeting him or taking any of his classes. I asked her, "If E. B. White were alive, how would you feel if he gave you this complement after reading your work?

Shortly after Sandy left, Duke reminded me that Sandy was responsible for bipolar designs at Def Tech. We owe much to Sandy for his pioneering work in this field of reverberant energy and how our ear/brain processes sound.

Today, another high end legend named Roger Sanders (Sanders Sound Systems) graced our room with his presence. Roger designed and builds a stellar electrostatic loudspeaker, and his Magtech Amp is highly praised for its performance, original design, extreme power, and high value.

I gave Roger the same brief rundown of Toole's specs and how Duke I tackled it. Roger requested symphonic/orchestral work, rightly mentioning how difficult such is to reproduce. Thank goodness I quickly found Tchaikovsky's 2nd Symphony, last movement (Telarc). Roger visited even longer than Sandy.

"It works," was Roger's comment.

I would like to share with readers how humbled I am by these comments, and how grateful I am that serendipity landed me in such close proximity to one of the best speaker designers I've met, Duke LeJeune.

Maybe Duke and I should buy a lottery ticket.

Tyson · « **Reply #72 on:** 14 Oct 2013, 04:48 am »

Yeah folks, this system is the real deal. Check out Pez's and my comments in the RMAF Live coverage thread.

Congrats on putting together a really excellent room this year!

Berndt · « **Reply #73 on:** 15 Oct 2013, 04:41 am »

Congratulations Jim and Duke, and all the attendant inspiration!
Look forward to hearing your latest designs. Looks like you had fun.

Duke · « **Reply #74 on:** 15 Oct 2013, 07:30 pm »

Quote from: jtwrace on 13 Oct 2013, 05:36 am

Duke-

Thanks again for letting the three of us take over your room for waaay too long and crank the $hit out of your system with our music. It sounded great and was great to speak technical with you too.

Quote from: poseidonsvoice on 13 Oct 2013, 06:49 am

+1. This room definitely rocked and gelled well with me. A very interesting concept indeed. One of the top rooms I heard.

Best,
Anand.

Thank you both VERY MUCH!! And Jason, thank you for giving me copies of your KILLER demo discs!

My biggest ego trip of the show was having three Geddes speaker owners staying to listen to track after track. Just the fact that you didn't politely leave after the first track was exciting to me.

Quote from: Berndt on 15 Oct 2013, 04:41 am

Congratulations Jim and Duke, and all the attendant inspiration!
Look forward to hearing your latest designs. Looks like you had fun.

Thank you, Bill!

We didn't have any Pantera so testing is still incomplete...

James Romeyn · « **Reply #75 on:** 15 Oct 2013, 07:45 pm »

And we had no Ozzie Osbourne on Berndt's custom TT/custom tube phono...so we won't know what we really have till then! Last and first time I heard that was at Berndt's...200W mono Jolida Music Envoy powering Jazz Module...the proverbial live SPL wall of sound I shan't soon forget! It was like being in the control room sampling the final mix, but better.

The first Dream Maker LCS buyer suggested he might want to make the Effects Speaker blend in with the room by painting it to match the floor surface, then select grill cloth color to match the front wall.

Duke · « **Reply #76 on:** 15 Oct 2013, 08:08 pm »

Quote from: Tyson on 14 Oct 2013, 04:48 am

Yeah folks, this system is the real deal. Check out Pez's and my comments in the RMAF Live coverage thread.

Congrats on putting together a really excellent room this year!

Thank you very much, Tyson! Can we print out your and Pez's comments and frame them? We are really honored that our system ranked well among so many fine systems.

Tyson · « **Reply #77 on:** 15 Oct 2013, 08:33 pm »

Duke, sure thing, frame away

It was odd this year - we saw our comments from last year printed up as a handout in another vendors room. It was a moment of total cognitive dissonance. As in "How the hell are people taking us seriously enough to actually print something out?" Because at the end of the day, we are just a couple of guys into audio, that like to geek out at RMAF every year

BTW, it was great meeting you, and congrats on having something at the show that almost no one else did - true innovation.

Berndt · « **Reply #78 on:** 15 Oct 2013, 08:56 pm »

Quote from: James Romeyn on 15 Oct 2013, 07:45 pm

And we had no Ozzie Osbourne on Berndt's custom TT/custom tube phono...so we won't know what we really have till then! Last and first time I heard that was at Berndt's...200W mono Jolida Music Envoy powering Jazz Module...the proverbial live SPL wall of sound I shan't soon forget! It was like being in the control room sampling the final mix, but better.

Jim, just for the record, the record was Black Sabbath, "Paranoid", side two.

James Romeyn · « **Reply #79 on:** 16 Oct 2013, 05:32 am »

"...a whole can of aural whoop a__," AKA Dream Maker LCS...

Can you buy review comments like this? A mother can't write a review this good! Duke, I love you baby!

http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2013/10/15/rmaf-2013-audiokinesis-james-romeyn/

The author Scot Hull reminds me of a big dark-haired teddy-bear version of Tom Hulce years ago when he starred in Amadeus. Don't ask me why. He was great fun. You know a guy walking in with camera and lights that costly is not a "hobbyist."