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US Amplifiers & Speakers

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Jason1

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US Amplifiers & Speakers

PostThu Feb 18, 2010 2:21 pm

Does anyone know of amplifiers and speakers that are made in the US? I have heard of Manley, VTL, NHT and Meridian, but need to do some research on them, what they offer and the costs. If there's a way I can avoid buying anything made in China, that's my first choice. DefTech, I found out from the company, is designed in the US but made in China. Carver used to make nice amps, but they are out of business now.

Jason
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Jason1

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Re: US Amplifiers & Speakers

PostThu Feb 18, 2010 2:23 pm

I just heard from Crown, they say all but XLS, XS and CCA Product is made in the US.
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engrssc

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Re: US Amplifiers & Speakers

PostThu Feb 18, 2010 2:36 pm

For what it's worth, there are some very good condition Carver amps sold on eBay quite often. I bought a pair just recently, excellent and very reasonable cost wise.

Rgds,
Ed
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Jason1

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Re: US Amplifiers & Speakers

PostThu Feb 18, 2010 4:18 pm

Thanks, Ed, I've seen those as well. I found a website you might be interested in. They repair and upgrade Carver amps, so if you should ever have an issue with one they could help out.

http://carvermk2.com

Jason
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RichardW

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Re: US Amplifiers & Speakers

PostThu Feb 18, 2010 4:21 pm

I think these people are American: http://www.svsound.com/index.cfm.

I have always wanted one of their cylinder subwoofers :mrgreen: but they seem quite expensive in the UK.

Regards,
Richard
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engrssc

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Re: US Amplifiers & Speakers

PostThu Feb 18, 2010 5:01 pm

Thanks, Jason. I had that site on my old computer, but it apparantly didn't transfer when I upgraded.

Rgds,
Ed
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Jim Reid

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Re: US Amplifiers & Speakers

PostThu Feb 18, 2010 5:12 pm

Sure Klipsch speakers are still made in the US, see:

http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/about/overview/

Still have a factory in Arkansas, probably in Hope where
Paul Klipsch began in the '40s. I have three Klipsch speakers: two of
the big corner horns and the smaller Belle Klipsch, the three
drivers in each of these is horn loaded as Paul designed them.

I have the large horns, not in room corners, but in corners
of the correct size built; these can be placed anywhere, even
outdoors if necessary, with a corner speaker nestled into each.
Jim Reid
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Jason1

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Re: US Amplifiers & Speakers

PostThu Feb 18, 2010 5:25 pm

I don't know what happened, I did a post but it vanished ... twice now I have had this happen, not sure what I did wrong.

I received replies from two companies where I asked them about where their speakers were made. Here is what they told me.

SVS (SV Sound)
http://www.svsound.com/

The S-series speakers are made in Asia to our exacting specifications. We do final QA/QC in Ohio on each shipment to ensure they meet our high standards. The M-series speakers are final assembled in Ohio using a combination of foreign and domestic parts. Our subwoofers are the same - final assembly in Ohio using foreign and domestic parts. Our subwoofer drivers are designed and hand-built in Ohio.


NHT Audio
http://nhthifi.com

Our speakers are NOT made in the US. Most of our products are made in Shenzhen, China, ROC, some in Taiwan. More importantly perhaps is our speakers are designed and engineered in Benicia, CA. The company is employee owned and operated. There are no external investors – we are not part of a big corporation. We don’t do this for the “Man”. We do it for love.


Jason
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Jason1

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Re: US Amplifiers & Speakers

PostThu Feb 18, 2010 5:31 pm

Thanks, Jim, for the lead to Klipsch. I checked their web site and they have a lot of different types of speakers, bookshelves from around $200 to $4,000 (per paid) and on and on.

Has anyone used any of their speakers for the manual sounds of the organ?

Jason
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Jason1

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Re: US Amplifiers & Speakers

PostFri Feb 19, 2010 11:33 am

Klipsch replied to my inquiry about speakers designed and manufactured in the US. Their reply:

Here is a list of the speakers that are still designed and manufactured in the U.S.

All Heritage products (Klipschorn, LaScala, Heresy, Cornwall )
The Palladium series
Reference models RF-83, RF-63 and RC-64
All Cinema systems (commercial theater)


Does anyone have experience with any of the above? Once I compile a list of US made speakers I plan to audition them and I will share those results if anyone is interested.

Jason
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Jason1

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Re: US Amplifiers & Speakers

PostMon Mar 08, 2010 10:15 pm

I spent a fair amount of time emailing and calling amplifier and speaker companies to see if they actually manufactured speakers or amplifiers in the US. It turns out that yes, there are US made speakers and amplifiers. The bad news is that most of these run from just plain expensive to stratospheric! Brands like McIntosh, Snell, M&K, Klipsch and others do actually build speakers in the US, but the least expensive of any of these I could find was over $1,000 each all the way up into five figures. Clearly, these are audiophile speakers not really intended for a multi-channel organ application, unless the budget is quite large. Brands like M&K and Klipsch also offer speakers built overseas at lower prices. Boston Acoustics, SVS, Definitive Technology, among others, design their speakers in the US but build them overseas. Def Tech and SVS are built overseas, according to the information I was able to obtain from them; neither indicated any of their speakers were built in the US.

Amplifiers was an even more challenging task. Again, the high-end audiophile gear is made in the US and prices compete with that of many cars. Crown was the only one I could find that builds a line in the US that was modestly expensive (their CTS series, for example). The CTS-600 retails for over $1,200 for 2-channels, but I also found it on the web for $609. It is 300W/channel into 8 ohms, so that's about $300 per channel. Crown indicated that all of their amplifiers, except XLS, XS and CCA product, are US made. The CTS was the lowest priced US made Crown gear I found, though I can't guarantee there is not another lower price line. Interestingly, I found a line made overseas that seems to offer quite a bit for the money. That is the Emotiva XPA-5, a 5-channel amp with 200 watts per channel that goes for $799, or about $160 per channel. It also got some very fine reviews.

My conclusion: if money is no object, you can build an organ with US made amplifiers and speakers. Otherwise, we need to buy amps and speakers built overseas. That does not mean they are not good products; it just means that my goal to "buy American" in this case is thwarted by price.

Jason
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jwillans

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Re: US Amplifiers & Speakers

PostTue Mar 09, 2010 3:04 am

Hi Jason - Are you aware of Clinton Knight's blog?

http://homepage.mac.com/clintonk/iblog/B505170200/index.html

(also available from http://www.hauptwerkblog.org)

I mention this because he has done quite a bit of analysis on appropriate speakers/amplifiers for driving a large Hauptwerk organ. I appreciate that Clinton is going down the DIY route, and you are looking for off the shelf solution, but it may be cost effective to pay for cabinets building to your specification using high quality drivers (potentially American such as the Audio Nirvana range).

Just a thought.

James
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Eric Sagmuller

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Re: US Amplifiers & Speakers

PostTue Mar 09, 2010 6:24 am

Clinton can chime in here but I'm almost certain the Audio Nirvana drivers are made overseas, in China or such. He was kind enough to lend me a pair to try out, and I'm almost certain they said where they were made, and I was kind of surprised. Maybe I'm getting confused with another item though.

Eric
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toplayer2

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Re: US Amplifiers & Speakers

PostTue Mar 09, 2010 6:39 am

IMO, the best VPO speaker that I have ever heard is made in the USA. It was designed for professional studio monitoring and is extremely accurate and uncolored. What you get out is what you put in. This is the original Mackie HR824 (not the newer MK II which is made in China). They are self powered and thus need no external amplifiers. They are relatively compact yet have amazing bass to 37 Hz. They can play quite loudly without distortion. As the creator of the sample set in the forthcoming Paramount series, I used a single pair of HR824 for all voicing work. Altogether I own eight. The going rate on ebay is about $700 per pair. I have a pair of the very highly regarded B&W DM802 speakers in the same room. The Mackies outperform them in my opinion.

Joe Hardy
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Jason1

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Re: US Amplifiers & Speakers

PostTue Mar 09, 2010 11:20 am

I did read some of Clinton's blog, it's extremely impressive what he's done. I'm not of the technical sort to be able to do anything like that, though, and think the "off the shelf" mode is best for me, unless there's someone who can custom build speakers for me, which may make sense for the big sub-woofers. Does anyone have experience with the Definitive Technology Trinigy Super Cube sub-woofer? Does it really get down to 16hz?

I looked for the Mackie 824 and it seems it's a discontinued model. If that is accurate, finding a large number of them could be problematic. Martin Logan has come out with a new model with folding motion tweeter and cascading bass port at $249.95 (Motion 4) and even a smaller one at $199.95 (Motion 2). They got some good reviews, but I am not able to find the specs anywhere. I have listened to their electrostatics and they are quite good.

Jason
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