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IMF owners thread!

Woodwind, They're tremendous speakers for classical, opera, vocals, music along those lines. But they're lousy for music like rock, music that really doesn't go much below 40hz and relies heavily on a mid bass slam. The OP was the one that brought that up, he misses the mid bass slam. Fine English monitors, generally speaking, don't have mid bass slam, it's all mush. Try putting on Cream, jack the volume to approximately 40 watts with a Ginger Baker drum solo. Your chest should feel like you're getting hit by a freight train, hairs on your arm should be at attention, a tear should be rolling down your left cheek. Another issue I have with the fine English monitors are their large, complicated crossovers. Again, they're great for classical, opera, and vocals. But after so many of my lively recordings go through those crossovers, they've been wiped clean of their character. Every recording I have all sounds the same. My opera recordings, classical, Some Girls, Cheap Thrills, all sound the same. I sold my IMF's, and some other fancy English monitors I paid over 2k for pronto.

The OP asked whether they should go for a subwoofer, or just go for all new speakers. My vote is for all new speakers.

Biggles
 
Thanks guys, i actually find them quite able to handle most genres quite well. Just a little missing with the heavier stuff. I have always loved IMFs . My first speakers were the SC 2s that i found in a junk shop. Ill likely keep them as i dont think ill be able to replace them with anything undern 5k that would compete.
However i might look into another more lively set to handle the heavier stuff. Perhaps JBL or Klipsche. Too many speakers out there and its near impossible to audition any in your own listening conditions.
Can you guys reccomend any speakers that might cover the heavier faster stuff?
Thanks again.
 
My favourite all time speakers are the super compact mk2! They never cease to amaze me. I even bought the TLS80s thinking they would sound similar. They do not. The 80s do sound amazing and even prefer them over the klipsch r7iii ( 10k aud) and a new 14k aud JBL 4xxx monitor i recently tried! They have way better imaging and bass. However i do prefer the supercompacts punchyness and ability to sound great with all genres including metal, electronic etc.
Can anyone recommend a speaker that sounds similar to the super comps with say three times the headroom ( spl handling) i was thinking about stacking them with kef candinas but would rather not stack speakers due to the issue it can cause.
 
I am the proud owner of a pair of TLS80 mk2 speakers. My amplifier is a Sonneteer Campion driving 33W into 8Ohm. I really like the sound but as most people I guess always seek for room to improve. My two questions are 1) would switching to KEF R107 with the same amp make a big difference and how? 2) the sonneteer has pre-out. Would adding power Amp/mono blocks improve sound quality with the IMFs and what amps to look for?
 
The amp system that was designed to work with the IMF 80s was the Luxman M400 and C1000 (power and pre-amps) made in 1975. This combination was used to demo both the speakers and amps at HiFi shows etc. Another option might be the Luxman LRS series of separates. That said, (and I own both of those Luxman types), I am currently using a modern Luxman 550AX Mk.2, a class-A integrated amp. It works very well with the IMFs, which use I either on their own, or alongside Dittons - 66s or 662s. The sound is wonderful and fills a room almost 30ft long.

PS. I have also had geat results using the Trio monoblocs.
 
I'm thinking about stacking some Als40s with super compacts. They are supposed to be phase matched so might actually be a nice match.
 
I know the 2a is more desirable and imf website states that the Mkii is phase matched with bigger models. There is not much info regarding xo differences or tonal differences between the 3 Als40 models
 
I found some early MkI Als40s and they do not have the 3 way switch at speaker terminals like the MK2 . All I can find is scraps of comments like " mk1 has a more complex xo or sounds more neutral ( drivers are peerless and kef mainly) " MK2 has more bass and is bit boomier( kef and elac is a common driver combo used) " all individual comments and with different variations of early, mid later MkI and various MK2 versions this question is very difficult to solve.
 
The published frequency response curve for the IMF ALS 40 is shown below. It is relatively flat, but does have some variation here and there. There is a broad dip in response between 1.2kHz and 5kHz.

1725605935173.png

The published frequency response curve of the IMF ALS 40 Mk II is shown below. It is a bit flatter in the region between 400Hz and 10kHz. The bass response has been raised about 2dB in a shelf-like manner. It also has a more rounded and gradual roll-off in the low frequencies.

1725606134548.png
 
I didn't listen the the 40s for long but The Als40s sounded boomier than the super compacts . The SCs are tighter. I was thinking about getting rid of the Tls80s but am getting them "future proof" upgraded as they are phenomenal in soundstage , bass and awesomnes
 
Tinkerbelle said:
I have a pair of IMF RSPM MkIV Improved.

The pic is with front screen removed.
Click to expand...
How can you tell which Reference Monitor you own I mean what is the key to say a Mark III vs a Mark IV? Also I don't want to ruin the front grill cloth but I want to get at the crossover board to see what the trouble is... so how do you get to see the front of the speaker enclosure? Maybe I was too timid but pulling at that grill cloth did not seem like a good idea
 
I am looking to buy a Cambridge Audio Azure 851W. How would this change sound quality where I currently use a 33W Sonneteer Campion integrated amp?
 
I recently acquired a set of cosmetically compromised Professional Monitor Mark 3 (Thanks Yvan). I was able to worked out what I believe to be the crossover schematic. It’s similar to the one for the TLS 80 available online but with some differences. I appreciate any feed back on what I am sharing here. I am pretty sure the connections of the 33 ohm resistors are correct.

R1 = 15 ohms
L1 = 4mH
L2 = 0.12mH
L3 = 0.53mH
L4 = 1.9mH

So after listening to these for about a week, with the ALCAP caps from Falcon and original inductors. I decided that that mids and highs are not keeping up with the bass. I went ahead and replaced the 60uF, 6.8uF and 6.0uF ALCAP capacitors that led to the midrange, tweeter and super tweeters. I replaced the 6.8uF and 6uF caps with Mundorf/Sonicap polypropylene combo caps. I used a 60uF AXON cap bypassed with a 0.47uF Mundorf aluminum cap. I also replaced the 15 ohm resistor with two sand cast resistors because there was strong evidence of burning on the original part. I have done only one speaker so far. Comparing the modified vs the unmodified speaker, there was a huge jump in micro dynamics on the modified speaker. This is before the caps even had a chance to burn in. I will be performing the same changes to the other speaker. As well as replacing the supertweeter caps with Solens.
 

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