GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

In the Forum: Horn-Loaded Speakers
In the Thread: Canadian Speaker Proposal

Post Subject: Cost projectionPosted by de charlus on: 7/2/2013

Romy,

I merely thought that you felt I was riding roughshod over your advice, when it was in fact a degree of naivety requiring extensive clarification that may have made it appear thus. Regardless of your indifference to praise and/or criticism, I'd hate to be perceived as ill-mannered and unappreciative. Your efforts, as well as those of others, in expounding upon my little project have been unbelievably useful; sure, I could have put myself fully into the hands of Jeffrey Jackson - and as far as I've been able to determine, those would indeed be safe and informative hands - but forewarned is forearmed, and in any case, the learning process is one of the chief attractions of going this route. As for the passing on of knowledge, bravo; this is seemingly a rarefied little field, and were it not for the transmission of knowledge thus, it might scarcely be transmitted at all. Yes, having considered the appropriate methodology, plus the obtaining of materials and custom fabrication, I do see this being a project lasting perhaps a year or two; during all key points in the process I will upload pics and commentary as appears fit.

As for expense, I had not anticipated it being nearly as reasonable as $40k; that, after all, is roughly the price of that Silbatone, single-driver monstrosity to which you allude. I will be needing to build an entire system from scratch, from naked Polynesian virgins to rotate my 1500lb, depleted uranium platter - and let us not forget that they will have to be worked in shifts - to 10 SETs (most likely Jeffrey's own, with some mods) phonostage (probably a used Boulder 2008 unless Jeffrey wows me with one of his) to cables (high-purity silver, but not Kondo or anything so glamorous) to custom crossovers, power refinement (perhaps a battery pack a la Definitive Audio) to digital (a CEC TLOX, but with what DAC?), computer audio and FM, with all the supports, interconnects and knick-knacks that pad the pockets of our friendly local audio dealers. I think that I'd be lucky to get any change out of $150k, altogether, although the fact that this will be more a gradual, two-year drain than an avalanche in my bank account will make things easier to bear, as will the fact that I already have a small system to listen to whilst this work takes place. Also, while I'm full of enthusiasm for the speaker project, I'm less enthused about venturing once more into the domain of consumer audio for all the other things that are required; my last experiences proved that it was seldom possible to compare apples to pears - let alone apples to apples - in Toronto, where we are not exactly overburdened with quality audio outfits. For example, as far as turntables go, I'd like to audition that high-mass Audio Tekne one - fat chance of that up here - the Kondo Ginga with 12" SMEV - equally impossible - and, going the other route, something like the Bergmann Sleipner, something that sounded as good as it had any right to in a friend's system in New York. As far as I've been able to ascertain, the only "quality" turntable that may be auditioned and purchased in Ontario is the Basis Inspiration, not a design that fills me with confidence. If one doesn't live in New York, London, or any of the other truly "major" cities, such things can be as unattainable as those proverbial hen's teeth.

Regards

de Charlus

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