[James Romeyn]

Evidently Mr. Romeyn is of the view that I can't rightly see what is so plainly in front of my eyes. And for evidence he asserts that the FF-1s were never made the way mine clearly were. Very well, be that way. "But c'mon, Clark the seller already stated he has to find all the parts.  It just looks increasingly more like another $500 garage sale deal." The implication here (okay, the accusation) is that I'm selling inferior of imitation goods. Whatever.

The onslaught continues: "BTW, IIRC, every FF1 SRE that left the shop was full mandatory active LPXo with active John Curl designed XO, yet Clark never mentioned this." So Clark must be hiding something, or selling an incomplete system. I can't think where Mr. Romeyn is getting his, ah, information. I did mention in the ad the presence of two electronic boxes, did I not? Granted I forgot about the two external crossover boxes, but they were not Curl-designed... and they *are* included. The system is intact and is the very same thing that Brian shipped to me.

With one since-discovered exception: The grilles are missing. But the speakers look handsome enough that I never cared to cover them.

Clark, so much nonsense, so little time to reply.

I worked for Brian and assembled speakers for him for about ten years.  Give me a break.  The Scan Speak domes he used were my recommendation (to this day one of the best domes extant).

How could you spend time typing such a rebuttal rather than get a camera?

I likely built the pair for sale.  How dumb.     

[sts9fan]

My $200 offer stands.

[James Romeyn]

My $200 offer stands.

Reasonable, considering the seller's kindas, I thinks, maybes, what ifs.

My best guess is its an FF1 SRE with small grills covering the holes for the prior cones and passive Xo.  I have minimal experience with the passive version, and frankly would certainly suggest getting the Dayton sub amp Brian sells and just run mono to all four 12s would be far better than stereo with the installed passive Xo.  The huge BG true ribbon goes very low any way, lower than the current 8" panel's 260 Hz.  But the fact its passive only suggests maybe it has the multiple 8" panels.  Why won't/can't Clark at least clarify the quantity of mid panels per ch?   

I'm puzzled someone as picky as Clark would purchase these passive, because active with Curl XO was almost mandatory at the time.  But passive makes more sense if it's the 8" panels because in that case the 12s cross higher. 

Brian, chime in unless you don't remember what Clark bought! 

[Brian Cheney]

Those are FF1 SRE (retail $9500pr) from 1999 or so.  They do have plugged midrange holes and outboard BG 50" mid panels.  They were available in active or passive versions. 

The problem with this model was the BG panels, which frequently developed buzzes.  BG was unable to address, or fix the problem, and stopped dealing with me after many complaints  I don't know much about their current line, but we found the same issue in the 75" panel. partsexpress sells the 50" panel for around $450ea and the FF1 cabinets are very solid.  More than worth the asking price just for the parts.

[clarkjohnsen]

"This will solve that mystery." There is no mystery. Twice I have stated that there are two 5" cone drivers per. Live with it, and please stop maligning my person.

Also why insult Brian? "No designer with a grain of smart would design something with mids of different design separated by several LATERAL inches in the SAME SPEAKER!" And yet...

[clarkjohnsen]

"Clark, so much nonsense, so little time to reply."

No nonsense from me, pal, just the truth.

"How could you spend time typing such a rebuttal rather than get a camera?" I have pics but don't know how to attach. They're 12M each. Anyway I don't care what you think, I've lost interest because of that wayward pigheadedness. Nor was it a "rebuttal", it was a reiteration of what I had already said, for purposes of thick-skull penetration.

[James Romeyn]

Clark, are you taking medication?  You used to know about speakers.   

No vmps speaker has 5" cones and a BG ribbon.

Take a picture and I'll add arrows for your edification.   

[clarkjohnsen]

Put your money where your mouth is and I'll obey. How about $50?

[BPoletti]

1) Sorry, I thought it was some bud'o'mine teasing me.

2) Still could be!

3) Agreed. My bad. I had been thinking $500... a steal!

Why don't you call me this afternoon, say after 1:20?

cj

PS I don't have a date tonight. Only, I'm not sure where all the pieces are, so I need a little time.

Clark,

At $500 the only steal would be you taking someone's good money after that speaker.  No offense meant to VMPS.  (I would suggest that maybe you're mistaken about the speakers, but every else seems to have jumped on that bandwagon.)

[clarkjohnsen]

I don't know who BPoletti is, but I do know who Mr. Romeyn is -- a self-professed Christian with whom I had a difficult time finding decent Christian responses to his absurd calumnies against me. But I believe I managed.

BPoletti however takes the cake -- pity I only just now discovered this entry: "At $500 the only steal would be you taking someone's good money after that speaker." So now I'm a thief? Listen up BP, my fist is a lot harder than your snotty nose and should we ever meet in a dark alley... well let's just say I'd throw all compunctions to the wind  Go ---- yourself with that snotnose of yours.

[rbbert]

I'm curious, Clark; are you selling these to get a newer VMPS model (I thought of this after reading your brief review of the VMPS room at THE Show)?   

[MaxCast]

ok, ok, ok.  Sorry I haven't monitored this thread sooner.  Clark, want me to snip this thread after post one?  Will be happy to do it.  I do agree that a pic is worth a thousand words, or $50     Either way, James, calm down, it's only a speaker... which now everyone on AC wants to see and hear.

[DFaulds]

The huge BG true ribbon goes very low any way, lower than the current 8" panel's 260 Hz.

James,

The BG's aren't "true ribbons".  A ribbon is suspended only at the top and bottom and not on the sides, which I think is why Brian calls his current tweeters, "free swinging tweeters"/FST's.  The BG drivers are actually planar magnetic, which technically is also true of the current neo panels used by VMPS.

The Dyna____ were called Dynapleats when initially introduced back in the mid 80's, but were later renamed Dynaribbons, although they aren't even close to being ribbons.  The company that originally brought them to the US was Sawafuji, through their Sawafuji Digital (SFD) subsidiary, although later they were imported by a different company called SFI and then SFI USA, I believe.  Interestingly, NOS examples of the Dynaribbons pop up for sale occasionally.  I am quite familiar with them as I have 50-60 of them myself, including a few of the somewhat hard to find 4" version.  SFD actually used the 6" ones as bass units also, and I used large arrays of them as mid-bass drivers along with B-G RD75's on top and TC sounds 15's on the very bottom in a DIY setup.  They worked OK between 60-300Hz, but they are best suited as mids as Brian was using them.

I never experienced any issues with my B-G's and I know of others who used them without problems as well.  You can experience issues with them by running them too low, as they really weren't suited for use below about 250Hz, and also they can be damaged if they are operated without either a passive or active notch filter to tame a pretty serious cavity resonance issue.

Anyway, you shouldn’t be so hostile towards the OP, who may be slightly mistaken but some of your recollections/knowledge seem a bit sketchy at best as well.

[doug s.]

if i were in boston, they'd be mine.  meanwhile, i would love to see pics...   

doug s.

[clarkjohnsen]

"Anyway, you shouldn’t be so hostile towards the OP, who may be slightly mistaken but some of your recollections/knowledge seem a bit sketchy at best as well." Thanks for the support (I've been away) but I was not mistaken, not even slightly!

Actually I now have the RM-40s, couldn't handle the FF-1s any longer.

And to Maxcast, thanks for the offer to snip but it's delicious having those examples of a man gone quite mad stay right where they are.