what are "kabuki speakers"???

[Bill S]

Excuse me? I built them so I should know. Don't u know the difference? The entire cabinet is solid 15/16" walnut. I don't & would never use veneer over particleboard or OSB. They took 4 months to build. I guess now you want to talk about resonance huh?

MDF is very stable and thus used for speakers with veneer laid over the top. I'm sure your solid, almost 1" thick walnut is gorgeous and expensive but I wouldn't necessarily dismiss the properties of other manufactured woods. There is nothing inherently better with using solid wood for enclosures from a sonic perspective.

 

[Pio1980]

MDF is very stable and thus used for speakers with veneer laid over the top. I'm sure your solid, almost 1" thick walnut is gorgeous and expensive but I wouldn't necessarily dismiss the properties of other manufactured woods. There is nothing inherently better with using solid wood for enclosures from a sonic perspective.

MDF is the practical option from a commercial production standpoint.

 

[Pio1980]

Back in their 1970s heyday, Kabuki speakers were the barracks blasters of choice. Me, I had Dahlquist in the US and Rogers LS-3/5A in Germany back then.

 

[THD]

I thought those might be custom cabinets. I've never seen anything like them. They're very nice. Do they get daily use?

Absolutely, I prefer solid hardwood cabinets, very expensive but I don't care. It's worth it to me.

 

[THD]

MDF is very stable and thus used for speakers with veneer laid over the top. I'm sure your solid, almost 1" thick walnut is gorgeous and expensive but I wouldn't necessarily dismiss the properties of other manufactured woods. There is nothing inherently better with using solid wood for enclosures from a sonic perspective.

Nobody said there was a "sonic" advantage. I prefer solid hardwood, you can't veneer edges of MDF at home, solid wood can be sculpted without that crap. Manufactures don't use it because it's too expensive, that's the bottom line. Chip the edge of a veneered cabinet & all you have is ugly MDF or particleboard. I have 5 sets of speakers out of solid Walnut, building 10" studio monitors at the moment, mailny because I have a source for the thick dried walnut. However this thread is about Kabuki speakers, which mine are certainly not. I only wish the naysayers could hear them.

 

[Bill S]

Kabuki conjures up images of thin sounding speakers with ornate lattice grills to me, not a function of the number of components in them. Lattice grills weren't easily removed. Paper cones with cloth surrounds with a bright, tweeter prominent sound. I'm sure yours sound great. I would agree, wood enclosures in any mass market speaker would be cost prohibitive.

 

[quiet]

I have several veneer on plywood speakers. And at least two solid wood speakers. Apparently the nice wood works very well. And not always cost prohibitive.
These Kenwood KL777a's are walnut veneer on plywood. But not solid wood. They don't sound thin at all. Soft roll off starts at about 90 and it goes to about 30. No mid bass bump. Partly because they are acoustic suspension I suspect.

 

[Neil6988$]

I see most posts on this topic are old me as a newcomer realizes there maybe others searching this topic so i will update this post with facts not fiction. Everyone on this topic is moronic with capital m. They are correct about one thing the terminology but absolutely wrong about performance.kabuki speaker is so they say big speakers multiple drivers in small boxes light with decor why name kabuki stereotypes I guess kabuki is actually Japanese made theater ha like where most these quote unquote speakers were built.roughly early 70)s to late 80’s .now where most are deceived. Depending on what kabuki speakers you acquire 9out of 10 performance i have multiple pairs of these types of speakers & there better than most I have that are currently built today heck sum they blow away completely.that’s a lot to say for speakers that are 40+years old.fair price but extremely loud . Good kabuki brands kenwood kL-999x ,sansui spz-9 ,sansui 9000s,sansui 500xl Yamaha 91-91s and the list goes on .there are several other but start with these I didn’t think much at first when run off a 100x5 receiver but once I connected to a 500wattx4 channel dj. amp these speakers holly sh#t did they come to life crisp high loud vocal miss.& great bass except certain songs which contains frequencies that would destroy they best speakers on the market.avoid these songs like the plaque but if you must wire in a subwoofer for those notes . Just make sure your home is durable.& just let the kabuki pick up the more normal tones after all there loudspeakers not room shakers although mine do just certain tunes could benefit from a sub. Long story short don’t discount big speakers in light small boxes check them out give them their full power guarantee you will be surprised

 

[Poultrygeist]

Where more is less.........

 

[Yodathedog]

I see most posts on this topic are old me as a newcomer realizes there maybe others searching this topic so i will update this post with facts not fiction. Everyone on this topic is moronic with capital m. They are correct about one thing the terminology but absolutely wrong about performance.kabuki speaker is so they say big speakers multiple drivers in small boxes light with decor why name kabuki stereotypes I guess kabuki is actually Japanese made theater ha like where most these quote unquote speakers were built.roughly early 70)s to late 80’s .now where most are deceived. Depending on what kabuki speakers you acquire 9out of 10 performance i have multiple pairs of these types of speakers & there better than most I have that are currently built today heck sum they blow away completely.that’s a lot to say for speakers that are 40+years old.fair price but extremely loud . Good kabuki brands kenwood kL-999x ,sansui spz-9 ,sansui 9000s,sansui 500xl Yamaha 91-91s and the list goes on .there are several other but start with these I didn’t think much at first when run off a 100x5 receiver but once I connected to a 500wattx4 channel dj. amp these speakers holly sh#t did they come to life crisp high loud vocal miss.& great bass except certain songs which contains frequencies that would destroy they best speakers on the market.avoid these songs like the plaque but if you must wire in a subwoofer for those notes . Just make sure your home is durable.& just let the kabuki pick up the more normal tones after all there loudspeakers not room shakers although mine do just certain tunes could benefit from a sub. Long story short don’t discount big speakers in light small boxes check them out give them their full power guarantee you will be surprised

Way to come out punching there dude.

 

[BamaBilly]

I see most posts on this topic are old me as a newcomer realizes there maybe others searching this topic so i will update this post with facts not fiction. Everyone on this topic is moronic with capital m. They are correct about one thing the terminology but absolutely wrong about performance.kabuki speaker is so they say big speakers multiple drivers in small boxes light with decor why name kabuki stereotypes I guess kabuki is actually Japanese made theater ha like where most these quote unquote speakers were built.roughly early 70)s to late 80’s .now where most are deceived. Depending on what kabuki speakers you acquire 9out of 10 performance i have multiple pairs of these types of speakers & there better than most I have that are currently built today heck sum they blow away completely.that’s a lot to say for speakers that are 40+years old.fair price but extremely loud . Good kabuki brands kenwood kL-999x ,sansui spz-9 ,sansui 9000s,sansui 500xl Yamaha 91-91s and the list goes on .there are several other but start with these I didn’t think much at first when run off a 100x5 receiver but once I connected to a 500wattx4 channel dj. amp these speakers holly sh#t did they come to life crisp high loud vocal miss.& great bass except certain songs which contains frequencies that would destroy they best speakers on the market.avoid these songs like the plaque but if you must wire in a subwoofer for those notes . Just make sure your home is durable.& just let the kabuki pick up the more normal tones after all there loudspeakers not room shakers although mine do just certain tunes could benefit from a sub. Long story short don’t discount big speakers in light small boxes check them out give them their full power guarantee you will be surprised

Your first post and you literally called “everyone on this topic is a moron with a capitol m” (without actually capitalizing it)? Got it.

 

[kevintomb]

View attachment 703568

For scale. That's an Ikea Expedit on it's side.

Just curious, bass wise, how far down do these go?

 

[Yodathedog]

Punctuation and spelling are your friends.

 

[BamaBilly]

Punctuation and spelling are your friends.

People calling folks morons should use good grammar? That’s solid advice

 

[goodolpg]

I see most posts on this topic are old me as a newcomer realizes there maybe others searching this topic so i will update this post with facts not fiction.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Everyone on this topic is moronic with capital m.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<They are correct about one thing the terminology but absolutely wrong about performance.kabuki speaker is so they say big speakers multiple drivers in small boxes light with decor why name kabuki stereotypes I guess kabuki is actually Japanese made theater ha like where most these quote unquote speakers were built.roughly early 70)s to late 80’s .now where most are deceived. Depending on what kabuki speakers you acquire 9out of 10 performance i have multiple pairs of these types of speakers & there better than most I have that are currently built today heck sum they blow away completely.that’s a lot to say for speakers that are 40+years old.fair price but extremely loud . Good kabuki brands kenwood kL-999x ,sansui spz-9 ,sansui 9000s,sansui 500xl Yamaha 91-91s and the list goes on .there are several other but start with these I didn’t think much at first when run off a 100x5 receiver but once I connected to a 500wattx4 channel dj. amp these speakers holly sh#t did they come to life crisp high loud vocal miss.& great bass except certain songs which contains frequencies that would destroy they best speakers on the market.avoid these songs like the plaque but if you must wire in a subwoofer for those notes . Just make sure your home is durable.& just let the kabuki pick up the more normal tones after all there loudspeakers not room shakers although mine do just certain tunes could benefit from a sub. Long story short don’t discount big speakers in light small boxes check them out give them their full power guarantee you will be surprised

Way to come out punching there dude.

That's not funny.

 

[goodolpg]

All kabuki, no morons.
Or is it all morons, no kabuki?

 

[Bdbras84]

I see most posts on this topic are old me as a newcomer realizes there maybe others searching this topic so i will update this post with facts not fiction. Everyone on this topic is moronic with capital m. They are correct about one thing the terminology but absolutely wrong about performance.kabuki speaker is so they say big speakers multiple drivers in small boxes light with decor why name kabuki stereotypes I guess kabuki is actually Japanese made theater ha like where most these quote unquote speakers were built.roughly early 70)s to late 80’s .now where most are deceived. Depending on what kabuki speakers you acquire 9out of 10 performance i have multiple pairs of these types of speakers & there better than most I have that are currently built today heck sum they blow away completely.that’s a lot to say for speakers that are 40+years old.fair price but extremely loud . Good kabuki brands kenwood kL-999x ,sansui spz-9 ,sansui 9000s,sansui 500xl Yamaha 91-91s and the list goes on .there are several other but start with these I didn’t think much at first when run off a 100x5 receiver but once I connected to a 500wattx4 channel dj. amp these speakers holly sh#t did they come to life crisp high loud vocal miss.& great bass except certain songs which contains frequencies that would destroy they best speakers on the market.avoid these songs like the plaque but if you must wire in a subwoofer for those notes . Just make sure your home is durable.& just let the kabuki pick up the more normal tones after all there loudspeakers not room shakers although mine do just certain tunes could benefit from a sub. Long story short don’t discount big speakers in light small boxes check them out give them their full power guarantee you will be surprised

Punctuation helps tremendously when trying to read a post, just saying.

 

[quiet]

I see most posts on this topic are old me as a newcomer realizes there maybe others searching this topic so i will update this post with facts not fiction. Everyone on this topic is moronic with capital m. They are correct about one thing the terminology but absolutely wrong about performance.kabuki speaker is so they say big speakers multiple drivers in small boxes light with decor why name kabuki stereotypes I guess kabuki is actually Japanese made theater ha like where most these quote unquote speakers were built.roughly early 70)s to late 80’s .now where most are deceived. Depending on what kabuki speakers you acquire 9out of 10 performance i have multiple pairs of these types of speakers & there better than most I have that are currently built today heck sum they blow away completely.that’s a lot to say for speakers that are 40+years old.fair price but extremely loud . Good kabuki brands kenwood kL-999x ,sansui spz-9 ,sansui 9000s,sansui 500xl Yamaha 91-91s and the list goes on .there are several other but start with these I didn’t think much at first when run off a 100x5 receiver but once I connected to a 500wattx4 channel dj. amp these speakers holly sh#t did they come to life crisp high loud vocal miss.& great bass except certain songs which contains frequencies that would destroy they best speakers on the market.avoid these songs like the plaque but if you must wire in a subwoofer for those notes . Just make sure your home is durable.& just let the kabuki pick up the more normal tones after all there loudspeakers not room shakers although mine do just certain tunes could benefit from a sub. Long story short don’t discount big speakers in light small boxes check them out give them their full power guarantee you will be surprised

I'm sorry, were you speaking? Afraid I wasn't listening. Could you repeat that?

 

[egellings]

Kabuki-what an odd little word to describe a ho-made speaker with a randomly selected mish-mash of drivers crammed into ta box. Saw this definition:

kabuki
[kəˈbo͞okē]
NOUN

1. a form of traditional Japanese drama with highly stylized song, mime, and dance, now performed only by male actors, using exaggerated gestures and body movements to express emotions, and including historical plays, domestic dramas, and dance pieces.

 

[JoeESP9]

I see most posts on this topic are old me as a newcomer realizes there maybe others searching this topic so i will update this post with facts not fiction. Everyone on this topic is moronic with capital m. They are correct about one thing the terminology but absolutely wrong about performance.kabuki speaker is so they say big speakers multiple drivers in small boxes light with decor why name kabuki stereotypes I guess kabuki is actually Japanese made theater ha like where most these quote unquote speakers were built.roughly early 70)s to late 80’s .now where most are deceived. Depending on what kabuki speakers you acquire 9out of 10 performance i have multiple pairs of these types of speakers & there better than most I have that are currently built today heck sum they blow away completely.that’s a lot to say for speakers that are 40+years old.fair price but extremely loud . Good kabuki brands kenwood kL-999x ,sansui spz-9 ,sansui 9000s,sansui 500xl Yamaha 91-91s and the list goes on .there are several other but start with these I didn’t think much at first when run off a 100x5 receiver but once I connected to a 500wattx4 channel dj. amp these speakers holly sh#t did they come to life crisp high loud vocal miss.& great bass except certain songs which contains frequencies that would destroy they best speakers on the market.avoid these songs like the plaque but if you must wire in a subwoofer for those notes . Just make sure your home is durable.& just let the kabuki pick up the more normal tones after all there loudspeakers not room shakers although mine do just certain tunes could benefit from a sub. Long story short don’t discount big speakers in light small boxes check them out give them their full power guarantee you will be surprised

Who died and ordained you the Oracle At Delphi? It's been a long time since I've seen such a self aggrandizing post.

As for "kabuki" speakers. None that I've ever heard in 50+ years with this hobby are worth listening to. They without exception sound truly awful. This opinion is supported by the overwhelming number of posters on AK who think/feel/hear as I do. Like kabuki speakers all you want. Rest assured there are very few who agree with you and they are generally "newbies" also.

I suggest listening to some universally agreed on decent speakers (Klipsch, JBL, Advent, Infinity, etc.) and then come back and tell us what you think.