new living voice prototype horns

well, off to nottingham today, and had a lot of fun listening to these...

(see attachments)


They are prototypes of a new horn speaker Kevin is developing at Living Voice.

You have a bass horn similar to the original Air Partner, with a Vitavox 15" driver, Vitavox S2 with a new ply horn, a JBL 2405, and the huge gigantuan things either size (four feet deep!!) house 2 x 12" paper cones each (they are horns).

The horn/2405/15" give immediacy and transparency in the way only a horn can, and the gravitas added by the wardrobe sized folding bass horns is unbelievable.

Possibly the best system I've heard.

No, actually yes it is the best system I've heard.

FYI,
Resolution Audio Opus 21, Kondo 1000 pre-amp, 4 x Kondo monoblocks for power (2 for the bass cabs, 2 for the satellites).


Result -

I want to move house somewhere I can accomodate huge massive bass cabinets, to go along with my Altecs.

If you live near Nottingham, go along, but be prepared to sell your house and buy these to put in a rented flat..

hearing is believing!

 

Had a little bid for these but thought to get them from Italy was bit of a pain.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....30034184740&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEDW:IT&rd=1

Have you heard them are they like yours.

Richard

 

Mmmm, very wife friendly.

 

The original Air Scouts/Partner were the most authentic hifi trying to do a live gig I have ever heard, and all that from a marantz cd62 KI and prototype Border Patrol 300b.

So anything approaching that will be WOW

 

Lee,

these were very good indeed. Funnily enough, Kevin put on a live recording of Bugge Wesseltoft and it was highly convincing.

The units themselves look like the Vitavox Oracle cabinets and Guy Sergeant's take on them. Add a couple of big folded bass bins and the result is a delight to my ears.

I still think I preferred the M77 Ongaku preamp to the M1000 and would have liked to have heard it in that system. But a most enjoyable afternoon and another opportunity to recalibrate the scale. The portrayal of some organ works and other classical pieces was enthralling. Heaven knows what it sounds like with a vinyl front end.

 

Hi Richard,

The model 15" is a baby version of the Altec 19 (which is very similar to mine).

The 15 has a smaller horn (I believe) and a 12" bass driver instead of a 15.

To get them sounding at their best, you'd need to add a tweeter above the horn, damp the horn, replace the crossover and get the mid-range up to ear height by putting them on a stand.

To get the very most from them, adding bass weight with either bass horns or (when domesticity rules) a sub or 2.

If you've not heard Altecs/Vitavox horns built into a speaker, the emporium is where I'd direct you - even if it is a trek. You can hear a variety of vintage speakers there, from vitavox, to Tannoy, Altec, Wharfedale and Klipsch. There isn't another shop like it (that I know of) in the country.

 

Wow. I think I need to make a pilgrimage to Nottingham, too.

 

I heard these as well. The kettle drums in Mahler's 1st almost gave me a heart attack. Talk about real....It sounding stunning, although a little hard at the top end. Mind you, this was over a month ago and no doubt Kevin has done plenty of tweaking since then - in fact, he pretty much fixed the treble hardness while I was there, at the expense of taming the mid overmuch (IMHO). Truly, a man dedicated to his art. Not to mention bloody good at it.

Would I buy a pair if I had the money? You bet. Buy a big house, then the full Kondo/LV rig. Carpet, curtains, cooker etc. could all wait. I want my music, and I want it BIG.

 

Hi Thrudge,

I think he was running the S2 or possibly 2405's a little too hot by the sounds of things.

He was still experimenting with levels when we were there too.

His prototype has the non-Alnico 2405, which he felt were a little harder at the top too.

As you say though, the combination of the 4 way horn kicks out air in an ubelievable way. The movement of air on a piece of organ music had that 'live air movement thing' that a real organ has. Hard to describe unless you've heard it, nothing like a conventional woofer.

 

I'd llike that too, but is it open to public or just the lucky few like Bottleneck & Co.?

 

well, to be fair to us both, the visit was to buy some stuff.

You'd have to ask Kevin, Dev.

He's a great guy, and loves to show what his kit can do to encourage new customers. Obviously his living depends on eventual sales.

 

I'm sure that if you asked nicely, Dev, Kevin would spare you half an hour.

Chris, spill the beans, who bought what?

 

How do you go back to 'normal' kit after something like that?

 

I bought some speakers for the study, Mike bought an amp

wouldnt want to steal his thunder!

 

Is there a name/measurement/definition for the 'live air movement thing'. It's not the same as sound pressure/intensity is it, but is more to do with volumes of air moving I guess.

- 'live air movement thing' is fine but, well, does it get any more technical than that?

 

Here you are Chris



Makes it a bit easier.

The delight for me was the sheer speed of the bottom end - being used to a horn hybrid it takes something like this to highlight it's weaknesses. I did feel that the S2/330 combo was a bit more coloured than I have heard with JBL and TAD, but in a pleasing and inoffensive way in the main.

Markus, I need to investigate some A7's!

I bought one of these



No idea why - I guess I've always wanted one. I will be very surprised if it usurps the Berning though.

 

Now we know you have a small member Mike.

Either that or I'm jealous.

 

I can only speak for myself, but I got over the "no point listening to my own setup" thing pretty quickly and just cherished the memory.

Also, I'm very happy with how my setup sounds, so the pain wasn't too tremendous. It was definitely there, though...

 

I quite agree. They do have some foibles of their own, of course. What hapened to the JBLs, you still have them?

Congrats on the McIntosh.

 

Hi Markus,

yes I still thankfully have the JBL's. Sadly they are likely to be heading across the Chunnel later this month. I am currently hoping to put together a large JBL two way with the help of a couple of people Once that is done I think I will then start looking at horn loaded bass units and gets some SET's for the horn.

How would you characterise the lower reaches of the VOTT out of interest?