Time to time I come across a mention of the Kennerton GH50 which back in the day I wouldve kill to get a pair; it was always the fact that they were the first ““horn loaded drivers”” - IDK if that still holds true (ignoring LSA) but I cant help but want to try them. I LOVE HORN LOADED SPEAKERS (still cant afford my heresys and altecs)
Things have changed and now Ive got a respectable mid fi collection, and these kennerton have gotten a lot more scarce and difficult to get as of now.
Also has something modern come out that could be similar to what this was back in the day? AKA the king of bass punch/impact
It just came to mind, am I truly missing out on these as a collector or maybe something that I already have (d9200, th900, auteur classic) is close enough - or somethign in my wishlist (diana dz, d8000pro og)…
I remember @M0N introduced these to me, so id apreciate your take on this
im a collector, my goal is that my headphones compliment each other and im trying to avoid getting ones with too many similarities in sound reproduction
I don’t know how much insight I have about how they hold up in current time, since I’m behind a lot of new releases and don’t know if value wise they’re still reasonable, but when I had them they were unique out of what I had, and while they didn’t work on everything, there were some aspects about them that I haven’t heard from any other headphone. They don’t exactly sound like horn speakers, but they have some of the same characteristics that makes horns so interesting as well. I don’t think these have too many similarities to the biodyna you mentioned because their presentation alone is different enough to differentiate. It’s kinda been too long for me to properly describe them, so I’d have to go and find what I said about them previously lol, there’s also a good comparison thread from @Mr_Makua which is worth checking out.
From a collecting perspective, from what I know the GH50 were the first, so that would be the one that’s likely most significant in a collection imo
I have the GH50 (non JM) and had purchased them after discussion with M0N. I do not often need closed backs as I live alone and mostly have open backs. I will say that it is and has been my favorite of the closed backs that I have ever tried. I am not really very adept at description but there is something different about them for sure. Would I keep them in my collection yes!
Kennerton from American retailers is extremely scarce and maybe non-existant, most retailers are european. Thats £1300 for a GH50 plus imports
Its extremely rare to see a GH50/JM in america nowadays. there have been less than a few in the past years.
This is why im a collector, and a strong selling point to me in this case, unique sounds produced only by cerain drivers is what I live for
Thanks!.. but sadly after reading this it all came back to my memory. Shoutsout @Mr_Makua this was so helpful back in the day
I say sadly because JM verion never sounded better but served in another way…
I dont recall anyone here liking the LSA version more than a few weeks, the OG version hasnt been made and sold for a while because there were many articles and forums citing terrible QC that were basically fully fixed by the JM edition, and Kennerton Made JMAudio an official distributor and warranty workshop for the model.
So yeah this marks the end of my nostalgia trip, another interesting contender fails to infiltrate my wish list.
Congratulations! Maybe one day ill get one too in excellent condition! For now the scratch is over
Now that we’re here, do you fellas remember some other headphones (open/closed) that featured technologies or drivers that seemed weird or out of place for when they were released?
I really dig those kinds of techd but a lot of them live only on some peoples memory, im always looking for new stuff to add to my “collectors wishlist”
““Do you remember headphones that had novelty drivers? Eg horn loaded GH50, AKG K340 with an ESTAT that lost charge, etc…””
Im trying to get to know some of those to see if I can get a nice nostalgia pick
I hope yall doing great.
@Jetman if I do find an OG GH50 im hella taking it, its susch a shame only the JM version (and now JM V2) ones survived since those seen to have a tunning I totally despise according to reviws.
No shade to JM Audio but I havent liked a single one of their tunnings from R9 JM extreme to XTC2.0, its way too much bass + recessed midrange so im skipping GH50 JM V1/2
If I remember correctly @Hazi59 had a rather strong opinion about the JM version and it was not good. Using mine is like a rare treat about every 6months or so (Too many others) as well as I mostly do 2 channel and a sub these days
You have TH-900’s. Unless you want them just to have them to look at, it is not worth the price. They will sound different, all headphones do, but better? IMHO, no. My king of closed backs is the TH-900Mk.2, they sound like open backs, and that is the biggest compliment I can give, GH50’s sound closed back.
It’s so very interesting to hear your various opinions on the tuning of some of these Kennerton models, in particular the GH 50’s and the vs1 of the JM tuned version
As i look to my right the one single HP hooked up for listening happens to be a Kennerton GH50, lol. For me these are keepers that i went out of my way for. I’m using this w/ a borrowed Eddie Current Black Widow and yesss…hehehe there’s a good R2R DAC on the front end and i’m happy. But my idea of happiness is a few songs here and there dispersed over months so it’s all relative. I just found it funny that @MacDLaw brought up my name and the Kennertons’ in the same sentence and BAM they happen to be out and operational. Too freaky what a coincidence….
This reminded me of the LSA HP-2 I bought since I heard they had a unique presentation, and I tend to like that which is strange on principle. (pretty sure this model fits)
Speaking from my limited experience with a pair of LSA HP-2 Ultra… it has been a very long time since I tried them, but I will do my best to recall what I do.
Take this with a grain of salt. I don’t know how else to put it, but they sounded both boring and weird to me together. As if you took some speakers, and put them extremely far away from you, to where you are just very faintly hearing everything. I am not describing the volume level when I say far away, but more so the feeling of the presentation. Idk if I would say that means a wide soundstage or not. I personally found them to be very lacking in bass, and I tried them on several devices, my laptop, my phone, my Cowon DAP, and my ifi Micro. Even the bass boost on the ifi just didn’t quite do it. I personally picked up on more bass with my KSC75 in that setup, although that could just speak to their scaling capacity.
In some ways they reminded me of the Nighthawk in the frequency response, a bit of this darker W, but to my ears this was like taking the nighthawks and making them more analytical, quick, dry, and perhaps even more wonky in presentation. Is that a good thing? If you like it. After trying them for a few weeks I basically just put them back in the box with the idea to sell them eventually, but I never got around to listing them, and they’ve been unused in storage ever since…
That is just my personal experience of them however, I can see why some people might enjoy them, they certainly have a unique tonality and presentation, but it was not engaging to my own ears. I would personally take the Nighthawk any day over the LSA. But I think the LSA was one of those things you didn’t know if you would enjoy or not until you tried. It wasn’t for me.
there’s a good R2R DAC on the front end and i’m happy. But my idea of happiness is a few songs here and there dispersed over months so it’s all relative. I just found it funny that 
they happen to be out and operational. Too freaky 
what a coincidence….