IMF owners thread!

[c-atle-79bay]

Welcome Roger. These are wonderful speakers indeed. Is your preamp ES TA-E9000? I"m considering that pre along with the sony TA-n9000es amp right now. Any chance you also had that at one time?

 

[rogermatthew]

Hi c-atle-79-bay, thanks for the welcome

No, my pre-amp is definitely the 1000 series (actually TA-1000ESD) and I've never owned the units you mention, though they do look quite good beasts!

I'm not one who changes stuff every five minutes (not these days, anyway!) prior to the Sony I was using a Nakamichi 600 pre-amp, which I sold recently.

But won't part with the speakers!

Roger

 

[c-atle-79bay]

But won't part with the speakers!

Roger

I agree to that, I force my wife into speaker auditions between my studios and Altec Sevilles and recently Altec Valencias, and we always both agree the IMF's just sound better "all around". I did really enjoy the representation of the Altecs, sound wonderful but just didn't have the dynamic punch that the TL design provides that ultimately anchors the sound.

That and altec valencias are not a simple swap out kind of speaker and I've moved a number of big speakers all by my self, carver amazings, 2 sets old/new, to the basement by myself, with out a wall ding.

 

[rogermatthew]

That and altec valencias are not a simple swap out kind of speaker

You got that right!

I agree, I've heard many good speakers, I do like horn speakers but they're just too massive to live with, but the TL design not only gives me the full-sounding bass I want, but the sound stage seems to have more depth. Despite the design being highly directional (deliberately) the sound seems to come from all over the sound stage, not directly from the speakers.

By the way, my wife doesn't really follow these things, but she does admit she notices the difference when she hears other people's 'hifi' systems. Be grateful your wife is so tolerant!

Roger

 

[c-atle-79bay]

I chanced into a real powerhouse amp this weekend, after just picking up a Marantz SR7007 non the less, but price was such yada yada yada. The amp is a parasound 2205a 220/channel and 1000 DF @ 20hz. The first thing I've noticed about this amp is the low, LOW frequency control and/or extension. No sure which it is. But on one of my demo songs, Steely Dan, What a Shame About Me, the opening bass notes hit harder and deeper than I've heard before. Beyond that handles Metallica with ease, have not had much chance to listen yet.

Any tips for songs with really low impactful bass? Any genre appreciated.

Also have added an ESS Heil Elite. Sounds great.

 

[SimplySound]

Any tips for songs with really low impactful bass? Any genre appreciated.

Also have added an ESS Heil Elite. Sounds great.

Check out the band "Morphine".... it's my "Bass Goto" reference. I specifically use the song "Feels like Swimming"!

I need to pick you brain on that Heil Setup... I saw a nice pair of Janszen 138's that could be interesting. So how did you do the crossover? Is it external or did you tie it into the IMF's?

 

[c-atle-79bay]

Thanks, Morphine is one of my goto too's for sure, an just remember Broomberg, Wood, not that low but lots of oomph. In any of them would be nice to hear low end I'd not previously heard that much.

I've just tied in the Heil's and set the level on the external crossovers and cut at 1K vs 5k. I believe the dial on the back is level control and not a brilliance/presence control.

 

[SimplySound]

I've just tied in the Heil's and set the level on the external crossovers and cut at 1K vs 5k. I believe the dial on the back is level control and not a brilliance/presence control.

So you are feeding both of them full signal in parallel and letting each of their X-Overs deal with the frequencies? This decreases the impedance, but I guess it's all good with your amp?

I do a similar thing with my Center Channel which is actually two R103.2's in parallel.

I was actually thinking that those Janszens would be a nice "Midrange Tweeter Experiment" for my R107's. Basically do what you are doing, but disconnect the 107 heads.

Thoughts? :scratch2:

 

[c-atle-79bay]

Yes, parallel, per ESS instructions, even for new heils. Don't know how much impedance hit they give, but so far no issues on any of my amps.

In my case I'm still running all the IMF drivers but have dialed down the HF to it's lowest setting. Too high and weird effects start happening, as it is more like I have ribbons back in the mix.

 

[SimplySound]

Yes, parallel, per ESS instructions, even for new heils. Don't know how much impedance hit they give, but so far no issues on any of my amps.

In my case I'm still running all the IMF drivers but have dialed down the HF to it's lowest setting. Too high and weird effects start happening, as it is more like I have ribbons back in the mix.

Wow... I just snapped those are "Elites".... nice!!! :thmbsp:

 

[Sansui77]

Hes a couple of my IMFs.

Just brought a mint pair in original untouched condition TLS50 II. Get them end of this week. Anyone know of where i can source replacement midrange surrounds as mine have perished?

My Studio Monitors I've just restored. Just need to make the front acoustic transparent foam and fit badges.

 

[canuckaudiog]

Wow, it looks excellent! What did you do in terms of restoration?

For the surrounds, refer to the first page of this thread. There is some information there which should give you what you need.

 

[Sansui77]

The SM's had been delivered to me with corner damage. I didn't do the resto on them but the guy who did is a master at furniture restorations. Didn't re-veneer them as i wanted to keep them original venner from factory. I recaped the crossovers and the last owner re did the midrange surrounds. They come up looking like new. They have been french polished too.

 

[canuckaudiog]

The SM's had been delivered to me with corner damage. I didn't do the resto on them but the guy who did is a master at furniture restorations. Didn't re-veneer them as i wanted to keep them original venner from factory. I recaped the crossovers and the last owner re did the midrange surrounds. They come up looking like new. They have been french polished too.

Well, they certainly did a fantastic job on the repair. It looks great! I can't even tell.

Nice work on the speakers, sounds like you know what you're doing. That's always nice to see. I'm interested to hear about a comparison between the Studio Monitor and the TLS 50 since they are essentially the same, one is just a newer version and is a 3-way instead of a 4-way.

 

[Sansui77]

Well, they certainly did a fantastic job on the repair. It looks great! I can't even tell.

Nice work on the speakers, sounds like you know what you're doing. That's always nice to see. I'm interested to hear about a comparison between the Studio Monitor and the TLS 50 since they are essentially the same, one is just a newer version and is a 3-way instead of a 4-way.

Yeah he did.
I will have to do a comparison and a full right up in the next couple of months on the SMs and the TLS50s each using the same setups.
Will put some pics of my 50s in coming days.
Better pic of them

 

[Yvan_donald]

Hi,very nice and probably the last version of the studio with rib woofer cone.Interesthing they use the super tweeter,I will have imagine they use the more common tweeter generally use in three way.Yvan.

 

[Audiofriends]

Imf tls50

Good Morning,

The surround of the Peerless KO40 is not original, and actually I don't know if it even a Peerless. Note that the KEF SP1039 B200 bass speakers in the cabinet sometimes will hang downwards. This type of KEF has a big magnet, a wide very flexible roll, and somtimes the voicecoil wil scrath due to the misallignment of the cone. Further the switches on the back will be often dirty and need to be cleaned. The Cole supertweeter has normally a cap over it. Be carefully with them, they often get broken.

Best regards, Fred

 

[canuckaudiog]

Good Morning,

The surround of the Peerless KO40 is not original, and actually I don't know if it even a Peerless. Note that the KEF SP1039 B200 bass speakers in the cabinet sometimes will hang downwards. This type of KEF has a big magnet, a wide very flexible roll, and somtimes the voicecoil wil scrath due to the misallignment of the cone. Further the switches on the back will be often dirty and need to be cleaned. The Cole supertweeter has normally a cap over it. Be carefully with them, they often get broken.

Best regards, Fred

Hi Fred,

I'm not aware of any IMF models using the Peerless KO40MRF midrange driver. I used to think so but, in all of the research I've done I haven't found one model that uses it. Do you happen to know a model that did? The original TLS 50 and Studio models use an EMI midrange driver, and then later switched to an Elac midrange driver. The EMI looks similar to the Peerless, but certainly isn't the same unit.

 

[c-atle-79bay]

Hi Fred,

I'm not aware of any IMF models using the Peerless KO40MRF midrange driver. I used to think so but, in all of the research I've done I haven't found one model that uses it. Do you happen to know a model that did? The original TLS 50 and Studio models use an EMI midrange driver, and then later switched to an Elac midrange driver. The EMI looks similar to the Peerless, but certainly isn't the same unit.

How similar spec wise were those mids? I have both, as well as the moncor replacements sold by Falcon.

 

[canuckaudiog]

Good question. No idea. You may be able to find a spec sheet for the Peerless but the EMI would be a crapshoot. If you can find one for the Peerless you could compare it to the Monacor though.