Deang

These are the places people shop who are looking for value. I think the move is brilliant. The only downside is that specialty retailers made good money off of the Synergy line, and now they won't anymore. I know this will hurt them. Gee, I guess they'll have to get off their butt and learn how to SELL again.

No, not a common practice - especially with 'Flame Linear' amps. Uhg. Wire. I agree with the amp/cable interface statement. It's not the wire -- it's the wire working with the amp on one end, and the speaker on the other. For whatever reason, I can't hear diddly squat of a difference between interconnects. I've tried very hard, but I can't hear it. It might be that all of the interconnects I have tried are not dissimiliar enough. I have never tried a pure silver interconnect. Speaker cable is completely different, as I can easily hear differences. Taking things to an extreme, to make sure I was not experiencing a placebo effect -- I broke down about 4 months ago and bought some silver speaker cables off of AudiogoN. I paid $160 for a set of Music Meter Silvers. Six teflon coated .22 gauge solid core strands of five nine silver per conductor/lead. Basically, I wanted to try a different conductor material. I argued with myself that if there was a difference between cables -- going to a different conductor would reveal it. I hooked these into my system and the difference was VERY noticeable. In spite of smoothness and etched detail, I found them too cutting at higher SPL's. However, this demonstrated to me that I probably was in fact hearing some differences in the cables I was trying. Rewiring the inside of my Cornwalls with Northcreek's silver coated copper made a difference. I didn't really expect to hear a difference, as the wire is after the crossover. I mainly did it to get some quality wire in the box that wouldn't turn green. I was surprised when greeted with cleaner treble. I subsequently rewired my RF-7's with this wire as well. I have stayed with extremes in speaker cable. For example: I bought a set of Goertz M-1's. The Goertz 'thang' is very low inductance -- very high capacitance. The low inductance is achieved by getting the positive and negative leads of the foil as close together as possible. Consequently, capacitance is way up on these, and some solid state amplifiers will oscillate when wired to it http://www.alphacore.com/mifaq.html kind of begs the question doesn't it? If wire is wire -- then how can this happen? At any rate, I found the Goertz cable to be absolutely killer between my Cornwalls and Scott, and equally fine between my RF-7's and Quicksilver amps. Six feet of this stuff, with nice silver plated rhodium spades (that fit inside the barrier strips of terminal screws), run $114 a set. Not bad. Next up is some Voodoo cable. I went for some Cardas Twinlinks. Also fairly inexpensive. Voodoo, because if you've ever been to the Cardas site, one is constantly bombarded with the 'Golden Q ratio'. Yeesh. What is appealing about the cable however, is the litz magnet wire construction and teflon/ cotton dielectric. Inductance is average, and capacitance is lower than most. Very different than the Goertz in both contruction and SOUND. This Cardas cable definitely sounds rolled off on the top compared to the Goertz and not as much mid-range detail. I actually prefer this cable on my RF-7's and Quicksilvers. I would like to try the Analysis Plus Oval 12 -- but I'm out of money. I've heard good things about this cable. The cable thing is interesting, and I think it's important to be open minded -- as long as you're not so open minded your brains fall out. With horns, I think it's good to stay with simple geometries, and I actually think the smaller gauges sound better. Comparisons with most of the 12 gauge OFC stranded I have laying around (Monster and Tributaries) -- the 15 AWG Goertz and Cardas sound much better in my tube based systems. By 'better', I mean 'cleaner'. Copy and paste url below into your browser address bar if you want to see something neat about the Goertz HT cable (just clicking on it takes forever to load). It comes in a 25' roll, unterminated. You clip the ends with wire cutters and 'shape' spades. I ended up drilling holes to faciltate terminal strips. $84. http://forums.klipsch.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=31061&sessionID={935BEAA4-2862-47B6-9132-509D3E3F010C}

Very, very interesting. Someday I'll have money again.

Sounds like you are just complaining that one side is louder than the other. The RF-7 is substantially more efficient than the RF-3. This means less power is needed to reach the same volume levels you enjoyed with the RF-3. This also means your volume control doesn't have to be turned as much. It is a common problem that most volume controls do not even out both channels until they are about at the 9 o'clock position. Of course, with a set of RF-7's -- at this point you are being blown out of the room. Take advantage of your balance adjustment and simply turn it until both speakers are playing at roughly the same volume level. Power conditioning is a good thing. IMO, a basic conditioning system like the Monster HTS-1000 is sufficient. Begin saving for a low powered integrated tube amp.

It took me all of week with my Cornwalls to realize I was going to have to do something about the midbass. I really didn't have any problem with the sound of midrange. I found out with the lenses attached to the baffle, they really don't ring at all -- only when not attached. I did spray them down with acoustic damping spray -- which after 48 hours really didn't do squat. I could lay them on floor and do my tap test -- and they still 'pinged' like crazy. I was glad to read what Chris said about the Type B crossover. They do sound very good just the way they are -- buy you always wonder what improvements might come with a change in the crossover. Based on Kelly's strong preference for the Type B, and Chris and Allan S. both staying with them -- I think I'll just give my soldering iron a rest.

You would do this and do what -- run this all through the preamp section of your Outlaw Receiver? Besides, if the harshness was related to digital hash -- you would also notice it at 70db. Have you done any mods to the Cornwalls?

Bumped for mOOn -- who should buy this amp to run his new Belles.

Bumped for mOOn -- who wants to know more about damping. Rope caulk on the sqauwker -- round and round she goes, where she stops, only the mOOn knows.

Bumped for mOOn -- who wants to know more about crossover changes.

Dude, you are in for it now -- you are about to enter the 'Heritage Zone'. DIY Hell baby -- you're gonna love it. I like the tan grill cloth -- it's a nice contrast. You want to keep the material original, and your best bet is contacting Klipsch for a replacement if you want to change color. I wouldn't worry about them losing value by changing the color. However, I bet changing that cloth could be a pain in the arse -- it's probably glued in. I don't have any experience messing with Heritage crossovers, but there are plenty here who do. There has got to be at least a 100 threads about this between here, 'odds and mods', and 'updating older speakers'. Same with the damping thing. Whatever changes you end up doing -- just make sure you keep the original boards intact so you can put everything back to original. My experience over the last year upgrading crossovers for Dahlquist DQ-10's and my RF-7's has taught me that doing it brings significant improvements. Lowered noise floor, and complete zeroing out of the grain -- resulting in mirror smooth treble and even more low level detail. I don't know if these results will be found with Heritage however -- wait 3 months and I'll tell you, because after I get caught up -- my Cornwalls are next. I don't know what year your Belles were made -- fiberglass or plastic resin horns are probably not going to need the damping that the old metal lenses need. If you are still curious about this -- find my recent thread called, "Hyde Banished". It's probably just a page or two back. Heck, I'll find it and just bump it. I don't know what you are going to power them with. Try to cheat them and they will punish you. Start saving for a tube integrated.

After going through enough amps over the last year to play a good game of Jengo, I'm telling you, there's magic in the hot glass -- and most of the differences in sound amount to nothing more than a bunch of hair splitting and comparing shades of gray. They ALL sound good. Mark, Hanging up the iron? I'll believe that when you send Craig those Dynacos you have buried. Hell, you're his mentor. Why not get yourself a nice set of RB-5's and run them with a NOSvalves Scott -- and pass those old six-shooters to Tonto.

Hmmm. Well, my 60 watter has about 5 to 7 watts of Class A, my guess would be the the Scott has about 1/2 watt. Got your offer Marvel -- we could try the camera bit since I have one. Heck, I might just post them in a new thread and let you guys go at it. Anyway of reverse engineering? If you know the circuit and the values -- can one surmise the transformer specs?

Is one side 'brighter' than the other, or just 'louder'? Been like this for a while and you just noticed -- or did this just happen? Before you worry about wiring (which probably doesn't have a thing to do with this unless a lead came off one of the drivers) -- you need to carefully check to make sure each driver is working. Low volume, and careful listening with one of your ears. I'm close -- if you want me to come and take a peek -- shoot me an email.

I want Craig to figure out how to turn a Scott 299B into a pure Class A amp --that's where the magic really is.

Have them now 13" from the wall, 21" from the side walls, with acoustic foam mounted to the wall, next to each speaker, extending about 3 feet out -- to handle the first side wall reflection. It seems like the whole wall is acting as a baffle -- and sound is everywhere. Speakers are now 8 feet apart, center of horn to center of horn (as opposed the 6.5 they were). Center image is still stable. Highs have smoothed out, and the bass seems more even. Interesting.

Craig, I love you man -- you're a trip. You're also full of sh!t. You'd have this thing on your test bench with a piece a paper, and have the whole circuit diagrammed out in 45 minutes. A schematic probably wouldn't tell you everything you need to know about the transformers anyway -- they're specciaal. Custom wound to his specs (whatever that means), and the associated info is not likely to be on the schematic.

No way. RF-7's would sound great a foot apart!

Sometimes, and to our shame -- Justin is the most 'adult' person here.

How much are you willing to spend? Two channel only? Do you HAVE to have tuner?

yah, me knows. I was only concerned about impeding the functioning of the port. So, it is 1.5. So now, do I have to factor in both ports (RF-7 has two 4" ports in the rear)? Thanks!

I don't think he was trying to be 'nasty'. I think he thought he was being 'funny'. Man, I don't know. I've got my Cornwalls 7 feet apart, and the couch is 7 feet back. It was the best I could do -- and it's borderline. The bigger horns really need some room to breathe. Being that close...I just think they're going to end up sounding like a P.A. system. The biggest problem you would have is the cancellation effects from the speakers being so close together. There is such a thing as too much speaker for a given room -- and I think this is one of those situations. Would you believe in this situation -- a set of Heresies would sound dynamite.

Well, they use a cathode biasing scheme, and I can run KT-88's, KT-90's, etc. I just have to make sure the tubes are matched using real voltages (under load) -- I think I have that right. The truth is -- they will always sound best with the EL-34's. Based on my understanding of cathode biasing -- it works good if you stay with the same tube type, not so good if you go to something else. Believe me, I have no problem with the EL-34.

I knew it was SS rectified when I bought it, and of course there is no rectifying tube. I wasn't much concerned about this, since my last three amps used it, and I was happy with all of them. I certainly think there is more to how an amp ultimately sounds than whether it is tube rectified or not. Yes, it is a very simple design. A little over a two dozen parts overall, and only 5 parts in the signal path. Kelly voiced some criticism over the parallel arrangement of the EL-34's. Most of what I read seemed to indicate it was more of a good thing. What sayest thou?

12AX7 & 12BH7. Can you guys tell by looking if that's a silicon diode for the rectification?

I've searched the web endlessly. I called Mike Sanders and though he was very nice about it -- said no way. I am most definitely interested in manual adjustable bias. That would be the bomb. It's the ONLY thing I don't like about them! Kewl.