DCM Time Window

I am just in the final finishing touches in restoring a friends DCM Time Windows.

 Sorry about the photos I resorted to using my phone camera.

This pair needed a new diaphragm for one of the Philips tweeters which I had kicking around.

This is the old diaphragm.

DCM's have always had the reputation of disappearing when listening to them and this pair does a pretty good job at doing that.

The design is basically two 6 1/2 inch woofers and two 1 inch dome tweeters in one speaker offset by about 30 degrees. When offset at 30 degrees it is the best for speaker dispersion.

So how do they sound?

The bass was pretty solid down to about 50hz, I was expecting a bit more considering these are ported and usually two 6 inch woofers should have the output of a 10 inch woofer, these did not nearly go as low as the Oxford Tannoys.

Mid range and highs is where these speakers accelerate and you get the sense that the speakers have disappeared in the room, extremely smooth and well dispersed. this creates a great 3 dimensional image of the sound field.

These are a really nice sounding pair of speakers and it is a pleasure to refinish these and have them to listen to for a short period of time.

I did buy new 1/2 inch foam covers for these and that is the last chore to do with these. I opted to take pictures before the foam grills went back on to expose the drivers.

There was a bit of water damage to the veneer on the top surface, a light sanding and Minwax took care of that and brought the veneer back to life.

I am sure my buddy will be stoked to get these back.

Koss Pro4S Headphones

For Christmas I got a wonderful pair of Koss Pro4S headphones. A headphone set that I wanted for some time.

I have been a huge Koss headphone fan since my first pair of Koss Porta Pro, which sound amazing but the Pro4S is definitely a step up in the audiophile sphere.

The Pro4S are super comfortable and have a noise cancelling tendency as the cups cover your ears completely. The Pro4S is well built and like all Koss headphones they carry a lifetime warranty of which I have capitalized in the past with the Porta Pros and will have to do again with the Porta Pros.

Back to the sound of the Pro4S, these headphones are like strapping the Speakerlab Super 7's to your head.
Bass is full and smooth, not boomy like you would get with Skull Candy or Beats. Mid range imaging is fantastic, female voices sound spot on and no chestiness with male vocals. The highs are crisp and clean.

One thing about Koss headphones is the money goes into the headphones and not marketing, one has to seek out the Koss product as Koss mostly sell direct to consumer online. I have seen a smattering of Koss headphones in stores but nothing like their website.

If you are in the market for a great set of headphone I would recommend these for a great bang for the buck.

The Koss site can be found here.



 

Genesis Model 1+ speakers

I have had these speakers for a few months now and they were in need of some crossover attention when I bought them.

Genesis is a spin off of EPI or Epicure speakers of which I am always a fan of. Very simple designed, requiring minimal crossover components. The woofer and tweeter are designed to roll off at their crossover point naturally.

This pair I bought already had the woofers refoamed, the crossover panel was worse for wear. The spring clips were broken and the glue holding them to the cabinet was no longer bonding the plate to the cabinet.

I opted to use MDF 5"x5" board that I cut. I installed new gold plated binding post to accept banana plugs. Upgraded the capacitor to a Solen polypropylene cap, and installed 18 gauge audiophile speaker wire.

The cabinets were a bit rough, some wax was on the vinyl veneer and on the speaker grill cloth. I cleaned all that up.

This pair of Genesis still had the QC tags on the front baffle, I opted to leave them on as you do not see this attention to detail in today's gear.

I kept the original serial # tags as these speakers are 20 off each other in production.

I always like the sound of the EPI 100 and the Genesis Model 1 is the equivalent to the EPI. Excellent bass from a sealed 8 inch woofer and the inverted dome is smooth as silk. These are highly musical speakers. The bass is almost on par with the  New Large Advents with 10" woofers and the mid range and highs or on par with the Dynaco A35's.

These are truly a wonderful speakers and always a pleasure to restore. I think I have done at least a dozen pairs now.

Onkyo 8CX-A1 Coaxial Speakers

Slowly this audiophile is exploring the idea of open baffle speakers, I have been collecting rare and one off coaxial and triaxial speakers.

This pair of super rare but in mint shape Onkyo 8CX-A1 speakers were purchased on eBay. They flew over from London England to be part of my world. The workmanship and attention to detail is not found in modern day speakers from China.

Onkyo has a history page in where the original 8CX range was born in 1956.

The plan is to have these installed in an open baffle system with a Foster 10" alnico woofer for the bottom end from this pair of Noresco NEC-571 speakers. There is also a crossover in this speaker that will cross to the Onkyo around 600hz. At 100db efficiency these will suit the tube amps perfectly.

More to follow on the evolution of this project.

Speakerlab Super 7 and a Push Pull Tube Amp

This has been the cause of the lack of postings for the past month.

Audio nirvana has hit with the combination of the Speakerlab Super 7's and the push pull tube amp.

It has evoked a minimum of 2 hours an evening of listening with a few solid 12-14 hour days of non stop music thrown in.

At this point in the journey, not to much can touch this combo.

Current Speakerholic H.Q.

Pioneer SX-6 Receiver

The Champagne series from Pioneer marked the turning point from cool products to computer controlled gizmo receivers before the advent of Black Plastic Crap and Home Theatre.

Still pretty cool, I remember this series well.

This unit is 45WPC