Rock of the Westies

[Titanium Dome]

I made the 300 mile round trip to the desert today to Ken Pachkowsky's to give a listen to his Westlakes. Here's the proud owner with one of his babies.



His amps are the bomb, as well, not to mention the crossovers he's working to restore.

[Titanium Dome]

Here's a full frontal shot of the R Westlake, straight into the throat(s) of the horn(s). Beautiful to behold and to hear, the cabs and walnut horns are lovingly restored by Ken.

[Titanium Dome]

Ken's tube preamp is a thing of beauty. I had to use a little PhotoShop to try to capture the fire that lurks within the glass windows. It must be amazing at night. It has a sweet sound, but not sugar sweet: su-weeet!

[Titanium Dome]

Do these Westlakes qualify as "real horns"?

They're very impressive. They will definitley rock out.

I wish I had taken some dance tracks and club mixes.

[Titanium Dome]

I really appreciate you taking the time to share your treasures with me. you're a lucky guy!

[Ken Pachkowsky]

You are more than welcome. Like you, I love to share this passion we have. You have a broad appreciation of fine music. I was most impressed with dynamic range of the Arabic fusion CD you brought. Who was it again?

I hope I can get by to hear your system as well.
Who’s next?

Ken

[Steve Schell]

I'm glad you made it out to Ken's, TD. He has an impressive system, and I've enjoyed the listening very much both times I've been there. It's a nice drive as well; did you stop to visit the dinosaurs?

Ken, I hope that you can find time to head to our neck of the woods before too long.

[Regis]

This is great! Ken's speakers are pretty friggin' awesome. Glad you got to go out there and visit. Thanks for the great narative and photo's as well. Ken looks like he's got a very nice de-stressor system. Turn on, kick back and let the music take over!

[Titanium Dome]

...did you stop to visit the dinosaurs?

Ken, I hope that you can find time to head to our neck of the woods before too long.

I waved at the Dinos. I stopped at the Cabazon Outlets instead, buying two pairs of shoes and two sweaters at the Adidas Store.

I was tempted to go into Casino Morongo, but kept to my purpose and went home (solvent) instead.

BTW, I saw Ken's Phonic PAA2. What a cool toy, I mean tool. I understand you kinda liked it.

I'm trying to get a venue to do a Decade of JBL 1991–2000 before Ken leaves CA for Ca. Steve, Regis, Ken...all the SoCal guys could get a taste of L7, L5, L3, SVA1800, 4430 (mine are from the 90s), and Performance Series.

If I find the correct venue, maybe a couple of others could bring a 90s era speaker set, too. Okay, who's got HLS? XPL? 250Ti? K2 S5500, 7500, or 9500? Century gold? S3100MK? TiK?

[Regis]

I was most impressed with dynamic range of the Arabic fusion CD you brought. Who was it again? Ken

The Arabic fusion is indeed cool. Try 'Transglobal Underground's "International Times". Very interesting mix of Western and Eastern music. A mix of dance/trance/techno with traditional Arabic musical instruments that comes off as very refreshing.

[Steve Schell]

Titanium Dome, I liked the PAA2 so much I bought one. Actually I got the new PAA3, which is practically the same unit. This little sensation has proved very useful in balancing the system and learning about the room aberrations. Although is is lower in resolution (1/3 octave) than the LMS system, it is so handy that it has been used more in two weeks than the LMS has in the past year.

Anyone interested in a great little handheld RTA can search ebay for "Phonic PAA*" and find a bunch of them for sale.

[Ken Pachkowsky]

Yep, I have several RTA's including Audio Control 3051A, 3050A as well as 2 PC based systems and I use the PAA2 all the time. It's accurate and portable with the ability to take quick reads from several points in a room, sum and average the results and tell you what the exact settings should be per octave.

You can eq a room in 5 minutes. great for live gigs.

At 399.00 for the PAA3 its a bargain. I would get the PAA3 cause it uses a USB port to connect to a laptop. If you don't need that feature, get the PAA2 for 299.00.

Ken

[Ian Mackenzie]

Ken,

I printed that image of you and your wives out in color.

Very sexy.

Ian

[Titanium Dome]

So here's a bit of a blow by blow of music that I brought that I was quite familiar with.

Conjure One: Conjure One (Nettwerk)--Redemption
The Westlakes handled this tough track with aplomb, as good as I've ever heard it. They took the heavy mids that can drive speakers to breakup and pushed them out with authority. They handled the sharp percussion and tingling highs easily. Poe's exotic, erotic vocalizations were plaintive and powerful. I thought I could feel the desert sand blowing against my face and there was the slight scent of camel dung.

Bach (24bit/96KHz RCA Red Seal)--Double Concerto for Violin in D Minor
This was the area where the horns (and perhaps the temporarily added 076s) were less pleasing. This all string piece demands sensitivity, detail, and warmth, and the upper frequencies were a bit edgy (076's fault?) for my taste. The mids were lush and very full.

Erich Kunzel, Cincinnati Orch.: Time Warp (Telarc) Ascent and Also Sprach Zarathustra
This disc tests every system I've ever used it on at loud volume. It checks uniformity of frequency output as it sweeps up and down, it checks attacks and delays through its electronic percussive effects, it checks power handling by making insane demands at unexpected moments, and it gut checks woofers at both extremes of their output. It pushes midranges with full orchestral triple forte passages and even tells stories about the crossovers, be they nimble or be they club-footed.

The Westlakes were amazing in their handling of this material. They never missed a beat, they never backed away from the challenges, and they mocked the source material to find a way to defeat them.

Pink Floyd: Meddle (Mobile Fidelity)--One of These Days
This bizarro Floyd instumental pits one speaker against the other. It asks for a rock solid soundstage through which delicate and ponderous sounds flow from side to side, in and out, up and down, around and around. Weak speakers with poor imaging make this unlistenable, a disgusting, sucking sound of scratchy noise that eats into your brains like worms then writhes into your gut filling it with pus.

Great speakers make it a treat, a psychedelic trip sans mescaline. The Westies made it a very good trip, colors dancing delicately in my head and blue meanies pounding reassuringly on my gut. They also revealed the limitations of the Mobile Fidelity transfer. There's got to be a better version.

Sarah Brightman: Harem (Angel)--It's a Beautiful Day
On average equipment, Brightman's voice can be quite annoying. It sounds sharp, shrill, out of control when really it's just the speakers not being able to handle her prodigious instrument. The Westlakes rendered her demanding voice very well, as good as I've heard. She was firm, full, and flush with power. I wanted her to sing while I made love to her (with a bag over--okay that's harsh). Suffice it to say the Westies gave her a vitality and vivaciousness that many speakers do not.

The orchestral elements of her recordings and the production values are quite high. The Westlakes handled them professionally. It seemed the sound was exactly what was intended when originally recorded. Bravo!

Summation
I had a great time talking to Ken, holding the light , and listening to the Westlakes. His set up is first rate, from the custom made cabinets for his equipment to...well, I could go on...

As I told him, "If you find you can't take them to Canada, give me a call." He replied, "I hope you've got a fat wallet."

In this case, it's fat enough.

[Ken Pachkowsky]

Thanks for the info on all the cd's and the kind words.

As you are aware, these are probably my last speakers and I would not part with them. That being said, Julie just came in into the room and wants to know "just how fat that wallet is" ?

The system will remain as it was designed, a 4-way. Adding the 076/2405's made the highs sound metalic. They have been removed and will be sold.

Thanks again bud.