[Kevin Haskins]

The Exodus Kepler is a superb speaker and even though I've had an enormous response from customers who own them, sales have lagged what I'd expect from a speaker this good, winner of a SoundStage Editor's Choice Award. 

http://www.reviewerschoice.com/rchoice2008.htm



I'm getting a set ready for circulation so that interested parties can demo a set.    If you have interest PM me and I'll get you on the list.

Details are that you get to audition  the speakers for 2-weeks, you agree to pay insured ground shipping to the next person on the list.    The person in question calls and gives me a credit card to secure the loudspeakers.    If you wish to keep the demo pair, I may have discounted pricing available in the interest of keeping the demo pair fresh.   

   

It is as easy as that, you only pay to ship them to the next person on the list and they are not heavy loudspeakers (maybe 25lbs each), so even that cost is reasonable.   

[Kevin Haskins]

A couple notes on the drivers used in the Kepler.    The EX-6.5 midwoofer is one we developed from scratch.  It uses an XBL^2 motor and has superb distortion performance as seen in the SoundStage measurements.    This is one of the lowest distortion midbass drivers available at any price.   Compare the anechoic distortion measurements with the Wilson, and Usher and you can see that is has amazing high-output performance that compares with the world's best.   

http://www.soundstagenetwork.com/measurements/speakers/exodus_kepler/

The Peerless tweeter is superb also.  John Krutke has measurements on his site showing how it stacks up against the more popular Seas & Scan-Speak top of the line units.   

http://www.zaphaudio.com/tweetermishmash/

John's short and dirty take on the Peerless;

"Also known as the new HDS tweeter. Peerless finally creates a world class tweeter to compete with the best from Seas and Scan-Speak. Very low distortion levels and smooth, controllable response. Minor FR dip at 6.5kHz. Beautiful cast metal frame. Reasonable price. There's not much to complain about here and this is one of the best in the group."

Distortion isn't everything, the Peerless is an extremely natural sounding tweeter with very low fatigue factor during extending listening.   If you want something that is musical, easy to live with and has superb vocal reproduction, look no further.   Those are high on my list of loudspeaker characteristics when voicing crossovers and choosing loudspeaker transducers.   

[Kevin Haskins]

Email me with the following contact information if you want on the demo tour.

[email protected]

Name: First, Last
Address:   Billing & Shipping
Phone:  Daytime & Night
Email: 


I'd also ask that people take the time to share their impression of the speakers, positive or negative along with their system, room setup or anything else they consider germane.        You can either write a review on my web site or come here and give a report.    This isn't a requirement for demoing the speakers, just a request.   

[darwin]

Kevin,

How well would these speakers work for home theater, if used with a subwoofer in a 6.1 arrangement? I'm thinking of scaling down my system and getting rid of my Maggies, so that the room isn't dominated by huge speakers all over the place.

[Kevin Haskins]

Kevin,

How well would these speakers work for home theater, if used with a subwoofer in a 6.1 arrangement? I'm thinking of scaling down my system and getting rid of my Maggies, so that the room isn't dominated by huge speakers all over the place.

I have several customers using them all around.    I voice both home theater and 2-channel speakers the same.   The requirements are the same but the physical layout is often different.   The biggest issue tends to be the center channel.   People are used to seeing the ole MTM arrangement for a center channel.   Of course any engineer kind of cringes because the MTM was never designed to lay on it's side. 

I'd be happy to put you on the demo list.   You won't get to try them all around but you will get a general sense of how they sound in your room and if they have enough bandwidth.   For home theater you are often high-passing them anyway so bandwidth often isn't an issue.    The rear porting isn't an issue unless you have to place them directly against the wall.    Even with as little as 4-5" they do fine in surround duties.   

[darwin]

Thanks Kevin. I'll send you an email.

[mfsoa]

Kevin,
I agree about that MTM thing - I never saw why people thought it was superior to not have three identical speakers across the front     I guess it's a physical shape thing, where the center needs to be shorter?

I'd think any advantage in increased output would be more than offset by lobing (I think that's the issue) of the MTM and overall mis-match.  I'm no HT guru though.

-Mike

[TerryO]

A couple notes on the drivers used in the Kepler.    The EX-6.5 midwoofer is one we developed from scratch.  It uses an XBL^2 motor and has superb distortion performance as seen in the SoundStage measurements.    This is one of the lowest distortion midbass drivers available at any price.   Compare the anechoic distortion measurements with the Wilson, and Usher and you can see that is has amazing high-output performance that compares with the world's best.   

http://www.soundstagenetwork.com/measurements/speakers/exodus_kepler/

The Peerless tweeter is superb also.  John Krutke has measurements on his site showing how it stacks up against the more popular Seas & Scan-Speak top of the line units.   

http://www.zaphaudio.com/tweetermishmash/

John's short and dirty take on the Peerless;

"Also known as the new HDS tweeter. Peerless finally creates a world class tweeter to compete with the best from Seas and Scan-Speak. Very low distortion levels and smooth, controllable response. Minor FR dip at 6.5kHz. Beautiful cast metal frame. Reasonable price. There's not much to complain about here and this is one of the best in the group."

Distortion isn't everything, the Peerless is an extremely natural sounding tweeter with very low fatigue factor during extending listening.   If you want something that is musical, easy to live with and has superb vocal reproduction, look no further.   Those are high on my list of loudspeaker characteristics when voicing crossovers and choosing loudspeaker transducers.   

Hi Kevin,
Kevin,
I talked to Dave R. the other night and he has a friend that seems interested, so I told him that his friend could barrow my pair for a few days to listen to. I hope that's OK with you.

BTW: I'm still enjoying the Keplers, these are very good speakers that have no faults that I can detect (but I'll keep on trying to find some). 

I was perusing the Soundstage! review and happened to look at the KEF 201/2 which had also been reviewed just a few months earlier. Looking at the spec's and reading the review led me to believe that the review of the Kepler was actually toned down, in order that speakers like the KEF 201/2 (at $6000!) wouldn't look to be a poor value by comparison.
Read the review of the KEF and check the Frequency Response, Impedance Graphs, and then compare the two reviews item for item and see if you don't agree.

http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/kef_2012.htm

It seems to me that the Kepler is more than able to hold it's own with considerably more expensive speakers from some of the best known speaker companies in the world.

Best Regards,
TerryO

[poseidonsvoice]

It seems to me that the Kepler is more than able to hold it's own with considerably more expensive speakers from some of the best known speaker companies in the world.

This for sure, I do not doubt. Compared to most conventional monitor speakers, it really holds its own.

Anand.

[Kevin Haskins]

Well Terry, both you and I know that reviews are imperfect.    I'd point out though that the KEF was reviewed by a different guy than the Keplers. 

Reviewers are people too,  they tend to get excited about different things at different stages of their audio journey.     That can have an influence on how and what they write as well as the perceived reputation of the equipment they may be reviewing.    You of all people should understand the differences that sited vs. blind testing can make upon subjective opinions.    Your speaker contest is so good simply because you make a big effort to get around those biases.   

For me, the measurements are the first thing I look at.   That wasn't always the case for me.   Years ago the measurements where like an afterthought to a review.   I'd look them over but I didn't have enough context and experience with them in order to rank equipment by measurements.   They didn't seem like a good indicator of sound quality and I think a lot of consumers are in that exact same situation.   They look to the subjective words of a reviewer to lead them.   

In terms of the Kepler review, it was a great review.   All publications have to be careful how and what they say about a given product and try to put it into some kind of price/performance category.    We ended up with a Reviewer's Choice so I think that speaks volumes.   Colin really was surprised that they where great speakers.    I think during the initial stage of the review he emailed me with a lot of enthusiasm, feeling he had found something his readers should know about.   It was nice to have someone recognize and appreciate my work so I'll take it when I can get it.   

On a personal basis, it was even nicer to raise the eyebrows of the guys who work in the NRC chamber.   They measure a lot of speakers from companies who spend more on Postage Stamps a year than I have in my entire budget.    For me to kick booty with so few resources at my disposal is something that gives me a lot of satisfaction.   

[Kevin Haskins]

It seems to me that the Kepler is more than able to hold it's own with considerably more expensive speakers from some of the best known speaker companies in the world.

This for sure, I do not doubt. Compared to most conventional monitor speakers, it really holds its own.

Anand.

Ahh... you always have to put things into the context of where they belong.    It is a simple 2-way stand mounted monitor that has to live with a half a cubic foot of internal volume and the realities of the market.    Change those variables and we can do all kinds of things.      

[guest1632]

It seems to me that the Kepler is more than able to hold it's own with considerably more expensive speakers from some of the best known speaker companies in the world.

This for sure, I do not doubt. Compared to most conventional monitor speakers, it really holds its own.

Anand.

Ahh... you always have to put things into the context of where they belong.    It is a simple 2-way stand mounted monitor that has to live with a half a cubic foot of internal volume and the realities of the market.    Change those variables and we can do all kinds of things.      

Hi Kevin,

Was wondering if you ever gave some thought in building the Kepler in a Transmision line setup.

Back in the mid .70's it was either the Fried or Kev M1 loudspeaker. The bass was something that I'll never forget. Anyway, just a thought.

Ray Bronk

[Kevin Haskins]

It seems to me that the Kepler is more than able to hold it's own with considerably more expensive speakers from some of the best known speaker companies in the world.

This for sure, I do not doubt. Compared to most conventional monitor speakers, it really holds its own.

Anand.

Ahh... you always have to put things into the context of where they belong.    It is a simple 2-way stand mounted monitor that has to live with a half a cubic foot of internal volume and the realities of the market.    Change those variables and we can do all kinds of things.      

Hi Kevin,

Was wondering if you ever gave some thought in building the Kepler in a Transmision line setup.

Back in the mid .70's it was either the Fried or Kev M1 loudspeaker. The bass was something that I'll never forget. Anyway, just a thought.

Ray Bronk

I've not.    Enclosure designs tend to go in and out of fashion.   Sometimes without a particular reason other than the fact that someone in the community does a good job of selling an idea.   

In my opinion, we have bigger fish to fry than worry about ported vs. sealed vs. transmission line vs. dipole.    All of those methods have tradeoffs so I'm not discounting the advantages or disadvantages inherent in any method of reproducing bass.   I just thing that sometimes we focus on things that are not so important while overlooking things that are hugely important.     

I can get very good results with a ported enclosure, it allows for extended bandwidth and higher output while keeping the enclosure design simple with a minimum of complexity.    I could design a good system with any of the other approaches also, with different trade-offs related to size, cost and complexity and perhaps placement flexibility.   

My entire new speaker line will use ported enclosures.    They have a couple unique design traits that we have done to the port to decrease some of the port resonance issues, but otherwise, they have the same trade-offs inherent in all ported designs.    I feel pretty good about those choices though and I've had a chance to listen to all kinds of systems.   The elephant in the room IS the room though.   The FR response of a typical high-end system in-room is often ignored.   Speakers are placed with great care, room treatments may be used but only rarely do people actually measure the LF response of their speakers in the listening location.    Doing that, and taking steps to optimize the LF response will deliver MUCH more than twiddling around with ported vs. sealed vs transmission line design.    It is for that reason that I'm designing the new speaker line with active bass PEQ built into the design. 

May as well deal with that elephant before doing anything else.     

   

[guest1632]

date=1224511786]



Hi Kevin,

Was wondering if you ever gave some thought in building the Kepler in a Transmision line setup.

Back in the mid .70's it was either the Fried or Kev M1 loudspeaker. The bass was something that I'll never forget. Anyway, just a thought.

Ray Bronk

I've not.    Enclosure designs tend to go in and out of fashion.   Sometimes without a particular reason other than the fact that someone in the community does a good job of selling an idea.   

In my opinion, we have bigger fish to fry than worry about ported vs. sealed vs. transmission line vs. dipole.    All of those methods have tradeoffs so I'm not discounting the advantages or disadvantages inherent in any method of reproducing bass.   I just thing that sometimes we focus on things that are not so important while overlooking things that are hugely important.     

I can get very good results with a ported enclosure, it allows for extended bandwidth and higher output while keeping the enclosure design simple with a minimum of complexity.    I could design a good system with any of the other approaches also, with different trade-offs related to size, cost and complexity and perhaps placement flexibility.   

My entire new speaker line will use ported enclosures.    They have a couple unique design traits that we have done to the port to decrease some of the port resonance issues, but otherwise, they have the same trade-offs inherent in all ported designs.    I feel pretty good about those choices though and I've had a chance to listen to all kinds of systems.   The elephant in the room IS the room though.   The FR response of a typical high-end system in-room is often ignored.   Speakers are placed with great care, room treatments may be used but only rarely do people actually measure the LF response of their speakers in the listening location.    Doing that, and taking steps to optimize the LF response will deliver MUCH more than twiddling around with ported vs. sealed vs transmission line design.    It is for that reason that I'm designing the new speaker line with active bass PEQ built into the design. 

May as well deal with that elephant before doing anything else.     

   

Hi kevinb

Thanks for the response. Is the kit gonna still be available? I thought I read some discussion of just selling them as fully built. Other than the woodwork, and what other options you have for it, that would be a nice to build. Just thought I'd ask. Thanks.

Ray