4345's Come Home to Roost

[Krunchy]

Hello Everyone!, I'll be posting some pictures and plenty of questions on the 4345's I recently obtained from JohnW.

I'd like to start off by thanking John for these beautiful speakers he created. I do not usually pay out lots of compliments/gush over many things but John's workmanship is simply fantastic. I went over the entire set of speakers inside and out (making sure nothing was damaged during shipping) and was blown away by the caliber of his talent, there are no flaws! He used quality materials in every single area of construction, all the wiring, the finish on the veneer even the binding posts are all top of the line. I also must say that the whole transaction was so smooth and easy going and that was in large part due to John's proffessionalism and attention to detail in all aspects pertaining to this sale. I hope the experience was a pleasant one for him as well.
Lastly I must mention the phenomenal job John did in packing them to make sure they arrived in good shape which they did, they arrived in perfect shape and I mean perfect, not a smudge!


Thank you John, they are incredible, as Rich said "they will be loved dearly in Krunchy's home" and thats the truth,
I'm thinking Heirlooms! :) :) :) ;)

[grumpy]

Nice pics!, now put the grilles back on before the sharks and dolphins make a home
inside... ;) -grumpy

( http://audioheritage.csdco.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=200519&postcount=21 )

[boputnam]

Nice pics!, now put the grilles back on before the sharks and dolphins make a home
inside...:rotfl: I thought the same thing about the kiddy toys!

[Krunchy]

Grumpy, Bo, Suggestion duly noted. The little guys are really very well behaved they are usually playing with their toys & leave daddy's speakers alone, the cat, thats another story.

[UreiCollector]

cats + speakers = today's special at local chinese restaurant


i love cats, but they are incompatible with my hobby. :)

[Krunchy]

Got a chance to set up the stereo system and give it a whirl and I am happy to report that I was able to overcome... myself (usually the biggest obstacle).
In all fairness though and before they can be taken into the fold I had to really put them through the paces to see what they can really do and also to see if all the talk about the 4345's held water. With that in mind I quickly bi-amped my L15's and I gotta say it was pretty close, the L15's really held their own and considering that they were substatially cheaper it was a pretty good showing on their behalf, but in the end it was painfully obvious who the clear winners were. But I still firmly believe that if the L15's would have been refoamed and I'd had a chance to put new gold binding posts things could have been different..:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :D

Sorry guys, but sometimes I have to make myself laugh even if no one else will. All in good fun.

In all seriousness, I sat down and read the 5235 manual and re-read some of the posts on the bi-amp thing and slowly set out to make the connections.

EDIT: This was all made a lot simpler by the fact that John had attached the RCA connectors right to the crossover, as per pictures, otherwise it would have been much more complicated, I thanks John! :)

The manual called out that the High Frequency Level controls be set at #2 and then proceed by raising the volume slowly and that the low frequency transducer would be the first sound to come through if all the wiring was done correctly. I was a little startled when I first heard the bass coming through the speakers and then I raised the controls and the highs became more prominent. I adjusted things the best I could but since the kids were just going to sleep I could not turn it up too much (the room does not have a door...yet!) but even at modest levels I got a good sense as to the nature of these speakers. Everything was so crisp and clear but with great bass, really unlike anything I've ever heard or imagined. This is just the start and I am sure there will be many andjustments but, what a start, holy moly! Robh will be coming by in the future and I look forward to seeing (and hearing) what he has to say about the whole thing, should be lots of fun. I wont be able to play with the new toys till sunday, man I cant wait, till then :bouncy:

Guess I should also mention what the current set-up consists of....
Adcom GCP 750 Pre-amp, GCD 750 CD player, JBL 5235 X-over and Two Adcom GFA5802 amps @300w per channel ea.

[Krunchy]

.....and at the pickup terminal of forward air.

My friend Bill who helped me pick up the speakers had a small window in which to make the trip to forward air, I innevitably was running a little bit late and was therefore in a bit of a rush when I left. On my way out of the neighborhood I kept the speed pretty tame for I know that the cops are deeply entreched over here and love nothing better than to hand out tickets for the minute-est of infractions (real or perceived) so I proceeded with caution as always. Well on my way a police car went past me heading in the opposite directions, I was in a real "Jubilant" mood as can be expected and it being a lovely day and all I was enjoying myself. A couple of minutes later I see the Christmas Tree Lights flashing in my rear view mirror, so I look in front of me to see who the offendor was, but there was no one in front so I pulled over. I'm reaching for my wallet and wondering if I was going 30.5mph as opposed to the recommended 30, got my wallet and immediately put both hand on the steering wheel (I heard this on cops, the tv show) so as not to provoke the officer. When I did this two one dollar bills kind of popped out of the wallet so I started trying to put them back in lest the officer think I was trying to bribe him with this insulting amount, but then I remembered about the hands on the steering wheel thing and as I am looking in the side mirror all I see in his holster which is at eye lever with my corolla and his hand kinda not "swingin" in the normal fashion. Finally he is beside me and asks me for my license and registration. Now mind you in NY an automobile's inspection is renewed every year to make sure the car is safe and not polluting the environment (smoke belching diesel trucks and school buses are exempted from this strict requirement). Now mine had expired in july :D and I knew it but I was sick and tired of having to renew the stupid thing that I left it in the hands of fate and let it ride. I made some small talk with my friend and he was a young guy maybe new over here, seemed like a nice guy, and I asked him if I had been going too fast. Well, he in fact pulled me over due to the inspection sticker, it was the wrong color, thats what tipped him off :rotfl: I love it. I of course acted surprised and he was nice enough to not give me a ticket, gave me back my papers which I immediately put in the glove compartment and got the heck out of there.

Made it to Bill's house and got in his truck/van thing and headed for the airport, after a 45 min. ride we got to the Forwar Air terminal and went inside to claim the items. Was on line for a while with some interesting characters and even more interesting truckers that were not the friendliest buch I've come across, woulndt let poor Bill use the bathroom "its for truckers only, you a trucker?! uhm, no. Then you cant use it!" Finally my turn is up and I have scoped out the pallets in the warehouse, clerk dude asks me the pick up # and I give it to him. Now this company is real "finiky" would not let me pay for the shipping charges when John dropped off the packages with a credit card, they only accept cashiers checks or money orders, woulnd even accept Cash! WTH?! weird, no exceptions! Then the clerk asks me for a photo Id and as I start to open my wallet the little voice says in the back of my head "where is that license? you did'nt leave it in the car did you Fred?" YIKES! and sure enough thats where it was, mixed up with the other papers the fine officer had handed back to me. Well this guy could go either way with me, I was very polite and pleaded my case bringing up the cop, the long ride, gave him credit cards, business cards and even my library card (which had my address on it) but he was not budging. Finally he saw that I was not trying to pull a fast one (like I was able to procure credit cards, business card etc and the pick up # at the drop of a dime :blink:) and we went ahead. It was actually the library card that sold him :rotfl:I love the library for so many reasons. If Id had to drive back to get the license I would not have been able to pick them up till monday. Weird company but they did a decent job getting them to me without damage, they just make things a litttle difficult, I dont know why.

Got em home, rolled them into the house and here they are sitting pretty, cozy and warm.....itching to be played! ;)

[Krunchy]

Woohoo - party at Krunchy's place ... dang, they look small in that room - he he he - you need to stand beside them for perspective, and for the memory!

Hi Heather! now that's an innevitability, its just a matter of when, probably when it gets a little warmer, plus that room is getting gutted in mid march as per previous plans. Will post announcement when ready, hope to see you there ;) you too skywave!

The room is 22' wide by 24' deep, it was actually the garage and was converted by one of the previous owners, its the only room suitable for these guys, the living room is kinda narrow.

[bloatedpig]

Very, very nice. I thought my 300's were big! I would have to get rid of 1/2 my furniture to get these in my living room. Please update us on the sound-stage after you get them adjusted.

congrats

[Mr. Widget]

Now this company is real "finiky" would not let me pay for the shipping charges when John dropped off the packages with a credit card, they only accept cashiers checks or money orders, woulnd even accept Cash! WTH?! weird, no exceptions! Then the clerk asks me for a photo Id...

Weird company but they did a decent job getting them to me without damage, they just make things a litttle difficult, I dont know why.I have experienced all of that Forward Air joy myself.

I first used them at the suggestion of Wardsweb when I shipped a pair of unfinished cabinets to him and later I used them to ship four huge subwoofers to Scotty. In both cases the speakers arrived in a timely fashion however I believe that one of Wardsweb's cabinets got lightly tagged by a fork in transit.


Widget

[Krunchy]

Hello BP, Hi Widget!
Yes forward air is and intersting company, I think anytime you are shipping you always take a chance, hence good packing and insurance are a must as far as I am concerned. They did get things to me quickly and in good shape so I will excuse their quirkyness but I look forward to not having to deal with any shipping companies for a while though :D

Got back from the city sunday night after Randi and I went in to celebrate her 40th, we stayed at the Carlyle hotel (I call it the Camembert) and went out to a nice dinner. We never do things like this, we still have not gone on our honeymoon?! but she wanted something special for her 40th and so we went there, the place was inclredible, I can see why Mick Jagger stayed there for a year.
In any case, saturday morning while getting ready to go into the city and prepping the kids to stay at grandmas I had a chance to go in there for an improptu session of uninterrupted listening. With all this talk of bass players I put on some Stanley Clarke stuff but was dissapointed, as I had noticed with the 4430's poor recordings are thusly revealed. I was saddened because these recording will never reach their full potential due to the inherent nature of the master recordings. A quick question here, would such recordings trully benefit from remastering??? its just such a shame!
I put on Larry Coryell's song hong kong breeze and man now we're talking. that sounded really hot. the bass was amazing and the highs...wild wild stuff. "Its like there's a whole band inside my speakers!" With all the incredible components that go in to make up these speakers it would be hard to say which play the biggest role. When I first started contemplating the big studio monitors (after the 4430's) I knew I wanted something with horns in it. For me personally I think the horn just adds a different quality of sound that you just dont get from a regular tweeter. I am not knowledgeable enough to speak eloquently about such matters and do not mean to sound pretnetious (see free MR38's :rotfl:, that was my main rig till nov.'06) these are just my layman's observations. With that said, I wish I had a copy of some Blue Oyster Cult, the cow bell's probably sound amazing on the 4345's..."need more cow bell over here!"
I also wanted to see what Dark Side of the Moon sounded like, I put it on and turned it up to the 11:oclock mark...... first that thump thump, deep and gutteral, but when the music finally comes on.....HOLY CRAP! the whole room was enveloped in music and it was all around you, it was very surreal, you could almost see the music, I remember Bill Connors the guitar player on Stanleys firt album talking to me about music in terms of colors. Beautiful, absolutely beautiful! and SCARY! This was pretty friken loud, but it was still really clear and crisp, I think this is what my kind hearted harbinger of haggis of a friend Mr. Macaroonie was telling me about, that you may not know how loud the music is till you go to speak and you cant hear yourself, it is that clean of a sound. I am not playing these at what I've heard described as "stupid loud" levels I just wanted to see what they would sound like at a reasonably high volume. Also bearing in mind that they sound fantastic even at modest levels, the urge to blow the windows out of the play room has not come over me.

The sound on these monsters is very mesmerizing as my wife finally had to come into the room and tell me we had to go :biting: I just wanted to stay there and listen to music all day, so if you do not see me posting in the coming days you know where I am :) :D ;)

[John W]

Krunchy,

Glad to hear you got things hooked up and are getting to play with the new speakers. Sounds like they are acclimating to the room just fine. Thanks too for all the kind words regarding the construction of the speakers. I put a lot of time into them, but am happy to see they have a good home. From my perspective, the whole transaction couldn’t have gone better.

Anyway, one suggestion: Dire Straits – Brothers in Arms

If you have a comfy chair right in the sweet-spot its like taking a 45 minute vacation.

[Krunchy]

EDITED:

Thank you John, I am glad that you were happy with the transaction as well, I only wish more things in life went that smoothly :) I do think they and I are acclimating quite well to each other. I think they'll stick around for a while yet, as a matter of fact upon seeing them out of the boxes Randi looks at me and says "you know,I thought they'd be bigger" story of my life! :rotfl: Well, at least I'm on solid ground on the WAF end of things

As for the kind words I could have gone on for a while longer, meant every single word of it and I dont doubt that you indeed spent a lot of time building them, it shows.

Dire Straits, there is hardly a band I love more dearly than this, I have been in awe of Mark for such a long time, I have to conciously restrain myself from playing them for fear of OD'ing on them. Your suggestion is duly and eagerly noted! ;)

[Chas]

Hey, don't forget some jazz. Miles or Jimmy Smith is pretty cool on 4345's.

It's good to hear that they arrived safe and sound.:)

[Krunchy]

Will not forget the Jazz Chas, I promise, listening to Dexter Gordon's one flight up ;)

[SMKSoundPro]

Just PLEASE promise no kenny g.


Congratulations Mr. Krunchy... its a 4345, oh and wait...and another! TWINS!

Please keep us up to date!

Again,
Way cool!!! Congrats!

Scotty & Lisa in Anchorage.