[JLM]

Our small audio club invited ourselves to visit John.  He is a 71 year old self educated plumber who has taken a deep interest in large, efficient, and expensive speakers:  http://classicaudioloudspeakers.com/cgi-bin/index.pl?fs=1&init=1

He only builds a few speakers a year and demonstrated two speakers: JBL Hartsfield clones ($78k MSRP); and his T3.4's ($56k MSRP).  Each use a Fostex super tweeter, a 40 pound midrange driver with a wide horn, and large woofers (15 inch front firing in each augmented by another 15 inch down firing in the T3.4).  Efficiency is rated 100 dB/w/m at 16 ohms (to pair with his favorite Atma-Sphere Novacron OTL mono-blocks. 

I'd first heard them at Axpona in a very large room.  This was the only room at the show that sounded like a live band could be performing as we approached.  Very dynamic, effortless, and uncolored.  Frankly they didn't sound as good in his 8ft x 15ft x 28ft room running at moderate levels.  From the outside the build quality of the T3.4 cabinets were amateurish.  John tells that the entire crossover consist of one capacitor, one resistor, and one inductor.  A very brute force solution.

[FullRangeMan]

Any photo?

[rollo]

Any photo?

  Go to his site. 78K ???

charles

[JLM]

Yep, but he sells much cheaper to U.S. customers.

[pehare]

Ralph Karsten of Atmasphere amplifiers uses his speakers and recommends them.  I heard them years ago in JAX Fla at Apoxna and they sounded fantastic paired w/Atmasphere M60's and the cabinet workmanship was exquisite.  Wish I had the space & jack for them.

[FullRangeMan]

  Go to his site. 78K ???

charles

I mean say photos from the visit, I know his site they do audio fairs along AtmaSphere for years.

[poseidonsvoice]

Jeff,

I’m a little surprised you didn’t think they were as good as when you heard them at AXPONA. His room size isn’t small although the speakers could easily accommodate a larger room. Did you have him turn it up? What was missing from the performance?

Best,
Anand.

[Folsom]

2016 Axpona they were one of the worst thing I heard. Loud? Yes, and only loud. Insanely weirdly big image? Yes.

[JLM]

FRM:  Our pics were as good as he has on his website.

Anand:  Because of my immediate disappointment in what I was hearing brought me to pose my first question was about room size, which he dismissed saying that of his customers are from the Far East who live in tiny rooms.  No, he never cranked them up, which I can't help but think put them at a severe disadvantage.  Probably my cheap ass bias, disappointment in what I was hearing compared to what I'd heard at Axpona, and knowing I'd never have a room big enough to do them justice kept me from liking them more.  Kept wanting to compare them to JBL M2 or even my old JBL 708Ps.  And he played nearly all vinyl (am not a vinyl lover) from his collection even though I brought a few CDs, so the music was unfamiliar.

Folsom:  We each have a right to our own opinions, but after a full day of hearing all the other systems at Axpona, my buddy and I arrived at the Classic Audio room at the end of the day and as mentioned above, was the only room that approaching it thought we might be hearing a live band.  As mentioned above what we heard was effortless dynamics and uncolored.  Well beyond typical audio reproduction.  Over the years John mentioned that he'd sold over a $1 million of used gear, yet still had very nice and rather eclectic gear (a collection of modern and vintage) connected to his speakers.  Unfortunately his Studer half track open reel was out for repairs. 

[lokie]

Any intel on the field coil drivers?

[Norman Tracy]

In my experience large format horn speakers are like the girl in the poem, cute but temperamental.

There was a little girl
 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

There was a little girl,
            Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
            When she was good,
            She was very good indeed,
But when she was bad she was horrid.

A perhaps more technical analogy would be sports cars at the top ranks of racing like F1 and Le Mans prototypes. When every detail is tuned to perfection they do amazing things. One or two parameters a little off and you fly off the road into the gravel trap.

[Folsom]

Different years may have different gear.

[FullRangeMan]

Any intel on the field coil drivers?

They had field coils in the past, now just the T7 FR driver:
http://classicaudioloudspeakers.com/grafix/shContemporaryLine6.jpg

[klamka]

"They " still have full line of FC drivers if you can afford them. I'm surprised by "amateurish" build quality comment . Not a Chinese made gloss cabinets for sure but I don't find anything objectionable and they are more solidly built than most.  Horns are designed by Bruce Edgar and the line departed from using TAD components and higher order crossovers many years ago . Ralph  Karsten from Atmasphere  is using his T3 in 10ft wide room close to the corners and says they are fine in smaller spaces.  I read some Brit post who replaced QUAD ESL with T3 and he was gobsmacked. I was never a fan and being lazy  even owning a pair of T3 cabs and all the components which go into them didn't mobilize me for over a year already to assemble those speakers and put them in use. A shame really.

[FullRangeMan]

[JLM]

Should have mentioned, yes Classic Audio Loudspeaker all use field coils, so a voltage supply is needed.

Cabinets seemed very solid, but on the exterior the panels did not attempt to come together in a flush manner, rather like a style of casual furniture that was popular years ago.  Not what I'd expect from uber expensive speakers.

Not that they sounded bad in his room, but they sounded marvelous in a much larger one.  When John mentioned many of his earlier customers had tiny rooms he sort of shrugged, so I took that as meaning I was right about room size.  In fact he got his best sound from the T3.4 by listening in the doorway at the back of the room.

From what he said, the woofers are modified TAD drivers and the midrange are modified from JBL.

[maxima95]

" ... Cabinets seemed very solid, but on the exterior the panels did not attempt to come together in a flush manner, rather like a style of casual furniture that was popular years ago.  Not what I'd expect from uber expensive speakers."

This type of joinery is a conscious choice.  Every Classic Audio loud speaker (including the T Series) I have seen at shows over the years has been solid and beautifully finished:

https://i0.wp.com/parttimeaudiophile.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/ES000679-e1513381263612.jpg?zoom=1.412500023841858&fit=931%2C1400&ssl=1

While you apparently prefer a different type of joinery, or expect such, your characterization of the CA T3.4s exterior as amateurish is, ........ amateurish.

[JLM]

That's not what I saw at John's!  Perhaps they were test mules, but knowing we weren't in the market he didn't make mention of it.

[klamka]

My friend said that his wife is complaining that he only bothers to finish the projects and make them beautiful when it's time  to sell them...