Kan 1 setup advice needed
Posted by: Andreas Nystroem on 30 December 2000
with laminate floor (pergo) and the walls are drywall with some kind of painted glass fibre wallpaper (this is probably not the correct term for it but I dont know what it's called in english). Any setup tips would be highly appreciated.
[This message was edited by Andreas Nystroem on SUNDAY 31 December 2000 at 11:21.]
1. Rigid Mounting - stands should be bolted together VERY tightly (if using genuine Kan stands). Veins in temples should bulge during this process 
Ensure there is absolutely NO movement AT ALL in the floor-to-stand and stand-to-speaker interfaces. This is critical. Once the stands are levelled and secure at the floor end, place speaker atop and apply a firm thump to the top center of the Kan. (If you have screws in yours, a mod I've never heard, this may not be necessary, but you may need to adjust screws to ensure rigidity). If the screws are not tight I'd be wary that this could reduce rigidity, but removing them would require finding a suitable filler - I'm not sure what would be most appropriate here!
Filling the front and rear cross-members of Kan stands with lead shot aids stability, improving sound but without coupling a large mass to the speaker.
2. Position as close to a solid wall as is possible, but ensure the cables do not touch wall where they exit from speaker.
3. Feed with a good source, they're terribly unforgiving, the old maxim of Garbage In, Garbage Out applies here.
4. Enjoy - they're amazing speakers, and I've yet to find the limits of their musical resolving abilities, they've never failed to tell me what is going on further up the audio chain, they just won't shake the foundations.
Andy.
Andrew L. Weekes
alweekes@audiophile.com
quote:.
they just won't shake the foundations
Oh? I've just playing Leftfield's leftism through mine. Try the track called "Open Up" 
Andrew
Andrew Randle
2B || !2B;
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The proportion of box and driver size do not automatically mean a speaker does or doesn't get deep bass extension
This is partly true, with some clarification. For significant levels of deep bass you need to move a lot of air. This implies large surface area to drive units, port enhancement (and corresponding change to cabinet tuning / bass rolloff) or long throw on drive unit.
Since the Kan is a small sealed cabinet (with inherently early, though more gentle, bass rolloff when compared to a ported design), with a small driver and a relatively short throw it's never going to move the air volumes that larger 'speakers can.
It is possible to get small speakers to produce deep bass, but not significant levels, or vice versa. Any 'speaker designer will tell you these are the inherent limitations one juggles with when trying to produce a balanced design.
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Other factors are more important such as material of cabinet (Kans are VERY rigid with hardwood veneer over MDF glued AND screwed together), strength of drivers (again, VERY strong), type of internal wiring <snip>
I feel we're confusing quality with quantity here, all of the factors you mention can affect perceived bass quality, but the likely effect of a more rigid cabinet, for example, on bass quantity is that it is likely to be reduced, as a direct result of the fact it is acoustically inert and thereby not contributing to the bass output of the loudspeaker (by, in effect, increasing the surface area of the radiating surface).
One of my favourite aspects of Kans is that owing to the smooth and relatively gentle bass rollof they have (ported design have much sharper bass rolloff) the bass does not dip in and out of audibility, in the way many designs can. This adds to the perception of good bass extension, and bestows it with the uncanny ability to follow bass lines that belie its diminutive proportions.
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(DMS and Keltic get REALLY deep bass from a 160X240mm driver)
and a significantly larger cabinet volume!
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I lived with SBLs in my home for about a week when they first came out and I will tell you that Kans "active", which I now have, get deeper bass than SBLs "passive" with the same amp
I'm not sure if it's fair to compare active v. passive setups unless the value of the combinations is similar. Driving Kans actively would allow for greater bass extension as a result of better drive unit control, but again there are fundamental physical limitations. I don't doubt for one second though that the perceived musicality of active Kans was better than the SBL passive setup, although I do doubt that actual bass extension and levels are better with Kans than SBL's. Without measurement we'll never know! Again there is a difference between quality and quantity, and I, like you I'm sure, would always choose the former over the latter.
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I am not saying Kans get deeper bass than any speaker on the planet, but mine do rattle pictures on the walls, cause drinks to buzz across the coffee table, and even cause the flames of candles to move!!
Again, I have no doubt of this, but it doesn't mean there's lot's of deep bass to do this.
I should clarify my original statement about 'shaking the foundations' to make this clear. If we take the traditional audio spectrum of 20Hz - 20kHz, the whole of the bottom octave (20Hz - 40Hz) is essentially missing from the Kan, with a significant rolloff during the second octave. Many of the tracks we listen to that have 'deep bass' have nothing of the sort.
The Leftfield track that Andrew Randle quoted is an interesting case in point, I've just performed an FFT analysis on this track (by the way, thanks Andrew. I only bought this album the other day, although it's been on my 'intend to purchase' list for ages. I found it in a bargain bin in Virgin and haven't had chance to listen to it properly yet - what a surprise to hear the dulcet tones of John Lydon on this track).
The Leftfield track does have some bass at about 40-50 Hz, but, more significantly, there is even higher levels (6dB higher) of the second harmonic of this (80-100Hz), and it is this that is being perceived as 'deep bass'.
During the last two minutes of this track, the low bass does increase in level dramatically (some 10dB), and it is a credit to the Kan that this can be heard clearly, adding significant additional bass weight to this track, but it does not have the impact that a wider range transducer would give it.
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BTW, over the years I've heard several "active" Kan set-ups with two 250s and four 135s and the music is SO good, I can't even remember if the systems had ANY bass!!!
I can see myself going this route as well, since it will be a long time before I can afford anything better than Kans, they are just SO musical 
My original comment was purely in relation to quantity (something I really don't care about that much) and no amount of persausion will convince me that Kans reproduce the bottom two ocatves of the musical spectrum at any significant level - the laws of physics really cannot be bent
Andy.
Andrew L. Weekes
alweekes@audiophile.com
[This message was edited by Andrew L. Weekes on WEDNESDAY 03 January 2001 at 11:45.]
I used Intro 2's in the end, they told me all I needed to know. I was quite impressed with these, and it just shows how magazine reviews can mislead. Despite sub-optimal setup of the system as a whole (and the fact the pre / power were brand new and only powered up that day) they were musical, rythmic and revealing of source improvements.
Driven by a NAP500 (and CDSII etc.) they were quite astonishing - I could quite happily live with them.
It will be very interesting to hear my Kans with some muscle behind them, although my Nait3 has provided sterling service until now.
I shall soon be the proud owner of CD5 / NAC112 / NAP150 / Flatcap 2 and a Prefix for the LP12, just as soon as the share certificate from my sharesave scheme arrives.
Can't wait
Andy.
Andrew L. Weekes
alweekes@audiophile.com