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DCM Time Frame 2000's

gmjunkyard

gmjunkyard

New Member
Hello to all,
I am new to this site and I need your advice and info if you have it. Years ago when I worked for Circuit City during its' hayday (mid 80's - early 90's) the factory reps would come around at the Holidays and offer the sales crew incentives for selling their products. I fell in love with the DCM Time Frames and purchased two pair of TF-600's (through the factory incentive program) which I currently own. I knew they also made a TF-1000 but didn't consider it at the time since I didn't have the room or the power necessary to drive them accurately. I vaguely remember the DCM rep saying something about a monster the engineers were going to create in the Time Frame line but I never heard anything else about them nor did I ever see any evidence that they existed. That is until last week. A good friend sent me a link to a craig's list posting of a pair of (what I thought was a typo) DCM Time Frame 2000's. After I realized and verified what they were I jumped on them like an Ethiopian at a free buffet. I now own these monolithic beasts which were in pristine condition thanks to an avid audiophile. I know very little about these monsters and I want to know the full back story as well as the specifications. I own a Harmon Kardon Home Theater receiver with 45 watts per and it does a decent job at driving them at low levels. I would never crank them up with this receiver for fear of clipping so I need some advice on what kind of power amp to buy in order to hear these things at their full potential. Surely someone out there knows or has a contact to someone who knows about these speakers. For right now I am content to rent a copy of 2001 A Space Odyssey and let the monkeys dance around them. I welcome any and all advice from you guys and girls who know a lot more about this than I.
Thank You all in advance for your help.
Sincerely, M. Myrick
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Beautiful speaker and I have met the designer Steve Eberbach and he is a hell of nice guy. I have TF400s which I quite like, those must be amazing.

As for an amp I would recommend a top of the line Sansui, Pioneer, or Marantz integrated from the late 70s. Like a Sansui AU D11 II, AU 717, AU 919, AU 9000 or AU 20000, Pioneer SA-9500 or SA9800, I don't know the model number for Marantz but one with 80+ watts per channel and those are 70s watts which are RMS both channels driven and thus more gutsy than the watt ratings for home theater equipment.
 
Welcome to AK, and congrats on your score. I have a pair of TF600's in my garage hooked up to a Yamaha CR 1040 that makes some very nice sounds.
 
Thank You barredowl for the info. I'd kill to hear his ideas and thoughts on designing them as well as all the details of the back story. I'm sure he gets requests all the time so I don't have my hopes up. If you have his ear, forward my address to him and ask him if he has time, to drop me a line. Thank You for the info and if you run across anything in the future just forward it to me.
 
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Biggest TimeFrames I'd ever seen are 1000s.

Congrats on having a rare set of 2000s, and best of luck with them!
 
First, Welcome to AK! :thmbsp:

I have a pair of TFM-700s, and like them very much. DCM understood how to make some very nice-sounding speakers! :music:

You have the "holy grail" of the TFM series. CONGRATULATIONS on owning some very fine speakers that many of us wish we could even just hear, let alone own! Please let those of us less fortunate know how they sound, once you have found an appropriate amp for them. We enjoy your luck, vicariously!

I don't believe these are "amp killer" speakers, in that they won't drop down to sustained 1-2 ohm levels (like some old Infinities and a few others sometimes will), but they probably do need plenty of power in reserve (headroom) to really sound their best. I think you have MANY choices of amplifier to drive these with, but never having owned the 2000s, I don't know which would sound best with them. Good luck and have fun finding out!
 
I was listening to a particular cut from the Dire Straits cd "on every street" entitled "fade to black" this evening. I heard things in the music that I had never heard before (which is frequently becoming more commonplace since I got these 2000's). I noticed that the details were so distinct that I could detect the drummer hitting slightly different spots on the cymbals. I literally had goose bumps on my arms. I wish everyone could experience this just once. I think I'll get the Telarc discs out and see (or hear) what things I can hear anew. I hope my poor HK receiver can take it :) Anyone have any opinions on the Adcom GFA 5500?
 
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I'm sure the HK can handle it at least to some degree :) Those have to be fantastic speakers. I have little bitty baby DCMs (TimePieces) and was really impressed at the detail and coherency of the sound. I can only imagine what those TF 2k's are like... thanks for sharing pics and info!
 
"After I realized and verified what they were I jumped on them like an Ethiopian at a free buffet."

Now that's freakin funny.:lmao::lmao::lmao:
 
I have heard a set of the 2000's once. Driven by a Yamaha, and it was worth hearing. Very nice find.

I do think that if you've got anything with a transmission line it helps to be stable down to low Ohms. My TW-1 is helped by the 400@4 ohms my Hafler P-500 pushes. Really opens up!

Not a fan of Adcom, the caps seem to leak all over the place on those. The dual-mono 585 might be fine but that's the only one I like. I appreciate the HK line better like shimniok suggests.
 
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Susurus, thank you for the heads up on the Adcom. I've given some thought to my selection and I do believe the SX-1980 would be a good choice. Anyone have an opinion on the marriage of these monsters? Do I need to worry about vaporizing my furniture or bruising my ears from the sound pressure?
 
Never even knew these existed, I guess that's one of the several reasons l still come around here. Nice find gmjunkyard!
 
I don't believe these are "amp killer" speakers, in that they won't drop down to sustained 1-2 ohm levels ...
Click to expand...

I'd hesitate on that general statement. Any transmission line, quarter-wave, or similar usually does have awfully unusual impedance curves, and always low efficiency, and that's a recipe for vintage amp stir-fry.


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SX-1980? check in "search" for threads discussing this one. Opinions range from love to hate and border on irrational zealotry on both sides.

My simple opinion, and humble too, is it's got a super tuner, great looks, and if you like large neg-feedback SS amps it's the bee's knees. (Unless something goes wrong.... those outputs are unobtanium. Better to test TW's on an amp you can replace first.)

I've only heard one hooked up to JBL's so I won't try to figure out if these two rare birds would fly together without the DF becoming an issue.
 
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I would recommend a high powered sansui as someone suggested..........can't go too cheap with that magnificent set-up!Lucky guy you are!
 
Thank You all for the comments. I'd much rather listen to advice from folks who have a knowledge base such as this forum provides. Any and all are welcome to chime in.
MM
 
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