Calling All Kan Users
Posted by: Ron The Mon on 04 January 2001
quote:
I have the Kan 2's which I am running with Linn bi-wire. Do you have a photo of your NACA5 mod that you could post? I would be very interested in doing this mod to my Kans, but have been perplexed as to how exactly it is done. A picture is worth a thousand words!
I don't have a digital camera, so I have had an attempt with Photoshop. Don't think it is worth a thousand words, but here goes...
It takes some effort to get the A5 stripped neatly and exactly the right spacing for the plugs, I did a dry run using the Kan as a template before actually soldering.
Tony.
as you know, I am amongst the ranks of Kan devotees. However, having Ransomed them off last year (remember the "Save the Kans" thread?), I feel unable to vote as a "kan owner" in the purist sense of the word. I just carry them around in my heart... and judge many speakers I hear these days by the standards set by Kans.
For those who are interested, mine were Kan I's, very late model, with single-wire bananna sockets on the back. Kan II stands, all ex Tony Lonorgan. The worked well and capably demonstrated and responded to many upgrades un to Mana, CDX/82/SC/140... and loved the XPS even better. They found an excellent home.
Here's a pic.
Rico - SM/Mullet Audio
PS - outstanding graphic, Tony! Should put that on your website, and supply also to the unofficial FAQ for publication.
After running them happily for years with a 42/110 system, I had more money to put into my system. The Kans kept responding to the improvements, however as I ended up in a large room, and had a bout of what I used to call the Kansyndrome, I finally retired them for a full range speaker that was, and is, more tonally nuetral, and capable of greater freedom in placement (B&W Nautilus 804's, which work wonderfully with Naim systems as long as the quickest timing is not your top priority.)
I keep the Kans as a bedroom speaker, and in the hedge that one day I may need to set up my main system in a small room again. While I love them, I prefer a warmer, richer speaker than the Kans on many types of music. They are at their finest on small ensemble jazz and folk music, and I love their intimacy with the performance. Their lateral imaging is very good, however depth of field is not optimized, to put it mildly.
I have never heard them in a full bore active system, but would be shocked if they were not amazing in that setting. I recall a story that Alexis Arnold of Nana used to tell about the closing moments of a hifi show where they had played a set of Kans active in a full "Linn/Naim" system. One show goer who had returned repeatedly to their suite all through the weekend finally confronted her. He asked, in essence, what trick they had used to get such great sound out of the two puny little boxes in front of him. He had surmised they had a subwoofer somewhere, and he kept pulling things apart to find it, a la Austin Powers pulling the "wig" off a woman with real hair, only to find no reinforcement. Finally Alexis explained the "trick". Look, she said, "If you had thirty thousand dollars of electronics shoved up your rear, you would be singing too!"
Viva la Kans
Cheers,
jim