For Sale: Cain and Cain Walla Walla Wall of Sound
This is one of the last pair of speakers made by the late Terry Cain prior to his passing. Terry had been crafting this pair to “swap” with Don Garber of Fi (apparently over the years, they would trade speakers for amps and vice versa). With the severe onset of his illness, Terry opted to sell this pair instead. The speaker was designed by Terry in conjunction with Gordon Rankin of Wavelength Audio. Gordon Rankin used these as his reference speakers for a number of years.
The speakers are maple with walnut trim finish and feature the limited edition Fostex 166ESR drivers. Details on this driver are available by Googling. Speaker cabinets are a solid 8/10 with a very minor scratch here and there … nothing that will show up in pictures.
These are designed to be used flush against the rear wall so while a large speaker, they take up little living space. Work best 2ft or more from the room corners. Due to the close proximity to the wall and the cabinet design, the speakers have suprisngly deep and impactful bass for a single driver speaker. Bass I would estimate reaches solidly to 40hz or slightly lower. The Fostex 166ESR also has a smooth treble, not at all peaky. I have driven them with 45 based SET, 2A3 based SET, 6L6GC push-pull and solid state. The speakers work well with all, but really shine with a well-designed SET amp (best being a Yamamoto A08s in my opinion).
The Bad News: Unfortunately my cat ripped one of the Fostex paper drivers. It was repaired using paper pulp blended with wood glue as per Fostex. The driver functions as intended, and the sound quality to my ears is unchanged but the repair is visually noticeable. Fostex grills now cover the drivers to prevent any more mishaps. I had considered sending the drivers to Planet 10 audio for the Enabling process which would most likely hide the repair but never arranged it.
The Good News: I did acquire a pair of unused and mint Fostex 166ESR … these are available in their original boxes to the purchaser … ADD $200 to the asking price. Additionally, the Fostex Sigma 168EZ will fit into this cabinet without re-drilling albeit only mounted with four screws.
The speakers are available for pick-up and audition in Northeast PA only … UNLESS the purchaser makes ALL arrangements for packing and shipping. Price reflects the driver repair and the PICK-UP preferred provision. Weight shown is per speaker.
Cash on pick-up or PayPal prior (add 3%). Personal and certified checks also accepted but MUST clear my bank prior to receipt of the speakers.
Pics in AudiogoN ad here:
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1278295957&/Cain-And-Cain-wwws-w/-166esr-fThanks for reading.
Jeff
