Good to hear from you. Do you know how many hours the 3035 you tried had on them? I ask because the "Black Pearl' silver conductor takes a full 1,000 hours to break in fully. This was not only my personal experience, but the (sheepish) acknowledgment of a very high up at Kimber. Without those hours, the cables sound closed in and a bit dead.
Drake. I ran with your suggestion and moved the speakers forward a bit more. Sounds better, the speakers disappear a bit easier. Moving the roomlenses changes things as well. All fine tuning now. I tried the Kimber 3035 about a month ago with my prem 350 and it sounded good. I preferred the harmonic pro-9 overall as it had a little more extension in the treble. Bass control was similar, maybe kimber slightly better. The Valkyra sounds great, excellent bass control, nice and transparent.
I think I've mentioned this to you before. Sumiko, the U.S. importer of Vienna Acoustics, used to demo the Mahlers with Kimber Bi-Focal, and that is what they recommended to me as being the best for controlling the woofers. I ended buying Kimber's best, Kimber Select, first the all-copper 3033 and then all-silver 3038, which uses the same cable geometry as the Bifocal, but it is an overall better cable. Both did/do a great job, especially with the bass. In addition, Anthony Cordesman, in his review of the Mahlers for Audio, found that Kimber Select gave him much better control of the bass and bass tone than the other cables he had on hand. The all-copper 3033 is not outrageously expensive, at +/-$1,500 new for 8 ft. runs in the U.S., and half that if purchased used (the all-silver 3038, on the other hand, is really expensive).
Speaker cables also interact greatly with the amp (so much so that they should probably be called "amp cables"), and I cannot say how Kimber Select would work with your c-j amps, so there would be some uncertainty there. They worked great with all of my amps, for whatever it's worth (two different SS amps and tube monoblocks).
thanks Jake. the King rock's!!. Goy to get the Gold record up on a wall soon. One of my life highlights was travelling to memphis back in Oct 2003 with my wife to get to see Graceland, Sun studio, Stax museum, Gibson guitars etc etc.
Anyway back to your question. I have had the pro-9 since 1999 in and out of my system. I had transparent ref XL in for 2.56 years and now trying Nordost Valkyra. In my system now the pro-9 is simialr to the transparent with a little more sparkle up top and not so big bass. After I got the new cj SS amp, the transparent was a bit too warm, so sold it to another caring audiophile.
I have only had the Valkrya for a couple of days so opinion may change slightly as I slightly tweak a few things. pro-9 bass is a little fatter, or valkyra is a little tighter. Valkrya is definately more transparent thru the mids and seems to make the notes start and stop a lot quicker. pro-9 is probably a little more extended or in the treble thou.
Not sure if that answers your question, but the pro-9 can definately play with the big boys.
I dig the setup. The rig looks sweet, but it is the shrine to The King that really puts the cherry on the sundae.
My question is in regards to your use of the Harmonic Technology Pro 9 speaker cable. What sonic signature (if any) do they impart on your system? Brighten it up? Tone it down?
Have you experimented with different speaker cables enough to allow you to hear what the Pro 9's do for your overall system?
Brian. You need a SS amp to drive the mahlers bass. It drops to below 3ohms for most of the bass. A large room is better as they have two big sideways firing 10 inch drivers and extension down to 22hz. I have used big tube monoblocks to drive the mahlers in the past and SS is the best way to go. You need to look for a speaker that has an easier impedance load.
Hi Drake, you were quick, I only just decided to do a few quick photo's and put them up.
The kids luv the disco ball!
The mahlers are about 5 ft from the back wall,approx 10 ft apart and 14ft to listening position(measured from front of speaker). I have just moved the speakers back about a half a foot, will probably move them forward again(experimenting after buying the prem350). I had the speakers reversed when I first bought the speakers and at the time I thought the speakers breathed easier with the woofers facing outwards - I guess if I get motivated I could swap them around for a revisit. Trouble is that I don't really enjoy nearfield listening (I like to play my music quite loud) and I can't really move the listening chair back too much more due to an alcove of the kitchen that comes into room to the right of the listening chair.
Those Mahlers look pretty close to the back wall. Have you tried them a few more feet out from the wall? You could also try reversing the direction in which the woofers fire. Either of these moves could soften your bass hump.
I enjoyed the LP covers of the King (and, of course, the disco ball hanging from the ceiling).
