Deang

That's great Don. Yeesh, if you think you ramble, I guess my meanderings must sound like inane babbling. Let's see, where can one by a tubed unit that: Is tube rectified. Has point-to-point wiring. Is all discrete. Has a derived center channel for subs. Has a balance knob. Has tone controls. Has a loudness switch for low level listening. ...and the aroma of Americas finest tobacco -- all for less than what one usually pays for three dozen pizzas. Thank God Craig doesn't chew.

Scalas and Wrights? I'll add them to my list

O.K. Will do.

I can probably get some good pictures for you. As far as sending it down goes, I don't know. I was actually hoping someone here with some sense would scoop this thing up. How about that sub Kelly? You'll need it for those K-horns your'e getting:) I believe #1 Loon goes to you old Yoda. I mean, I'm not the one fretting over whether to use a record clamp or not;) I wonder if the clamp, pressing the vinyl against the platter -- alters the distance between the groove walls, as the stylus moves closer to the center. Just a thought. I think I'm going to spend a few days comparing the Apollos and the Scott head on. The initial cursory comparison I did probably wasn't really adequate to draw firm conclusions. Besides, the Apollos are quite gorgeous, and after spending a couple of hours with them last night, decided it might be harder to part with them than I thought. Man, your'e brutal. The Cornwalls will only be my fourth set of Klipsch in 3 years, and two of those were part of my upgrade path to the RF-7's. I'm still fiddling with DQ's, but your not counting those against me are you:) Let's see, the amp count again. What is it? Anthem, Bryston, Superamp, Superamp DJH, and Apollos. Aragon was for the DQ's, can't count that one. Started with the Anthem before you started infecting me with you bizarre ideas, can't count that one either. So,4 amps. I need to save this post. This comes up every few months:) I know, "I thou dost protest too much." Oh well.

"Hell, I'm 95 years old. I can't hear anything over 2Khz!" -- PWK

Yes, I scraping money together for Jeff's Cornwalls.

Screaming Child -- 110db Notice that "Screaming Wife" wasn't on the list. Easily 115db. This necessitates 120db listening levels from a music reproduction system. Any system not employing Klipsch speakers will subject the audiophile to much more dangerous potential health risks: Brain damage, blindness, and possibly...death. Seriously though, 95db is tops for me.

I'm making some changes. Original plans have changed somewhat. For Sale: Craigmeister Scott 299A: This was Craigs personal amp, and has had just about everything done that you can have done to one of these. Cosmetically, it's an 8.5, and comes with the wood case. It's pretty much got the best of everything, including tubes -- which if I had any sense I would rob for the 'B' version that's coming. $550 shipped. (same as I paid) Heresies: Beautiful set, but not perfect. Of course, I have sometimes unrealistic expectations, and am generally picky as hell. Most of the speakers look like new, including the cane grills. However, there are some minor dings along a couple of the rear edges, as well as very small chip out of one of the rear sides, where the panel meets up against the corner -- easily repaired. These are 83's, with the plastic resin lenses. They also come with risers that are in better shape than I expected. A little bit of veneer has peeled off, but not noticeable when they are sitting on the floor. As usual, I make things sound worse then they are, that way there are no surprises. $525 shipped. (same as I paid) SVS 20-39+ & Samson pro 1000: Not that anyone here on 2 channel would be interested, but here it is anyways. Like new. $800 shipped.

Like the Twain qoute. Was it really two months? I got that last email from you about having to take a break from the forum to get some work done. You sounded like you needed some space -- so I gave it to you. Ah Master Yoda -- you can be so sensitive sometimes:) It was nothing personal, and I wasn't mad in the least bit. No money for K-horns, but have money for Cornwalls -- it's really just that simple. We have different priorities in our listening. I feel like I have to get some juice to carry the SPLs I like to carry from time to time. Where this is at the near top of my list -- it is at the the very bottom for you. Like I said, down the road, K-horns probably -- and then I can sacrifice the power.

http://www.klipsch.com/products/cutsheet.asp?id=88 Maybe they called them Cornwall II's back then because of the vertical horn? Don't know, I'm just going by the link, and the general info on the vintage stuff here on the site.

I'm by no means an expert on the Heritage pedigree -- but I can tell you that if they were made in 1962 then they are not Cornwall II's -- which didn't come out until 1985. You probably just meant to say 'Cornwalls'. Congrats!

Well now, It is true that you are usually correct, and I'm not going to deny this. However: I remember the email from you when I was taking a hard look at Scalas. You said, "Get the Cornwalls, they sound better than ANY of them." By "them", I assume you meant of all the speakers in Heritage line up. You also told me not to get the Heresies, because you were trying to "save my back and my ears". This, even after I reminded you I would be driving them in conjunction with 500 watts of SVS subwoofing. You actually tried to warn me off of the Apollos initially, and I ended up liking them very much. Incidentlly, they are only putting out 9 watts for me because I have them on the 4 ohm taps. Also, if you go to the FAQ's at the Welborne site, Ron Welborne himself says the difference in the midrange between the Apollos, Laurels, and Moondogs -- is not a jaw dropping difference. I had read most of this stuff before making the purchase, and am glad I opted for more power over a miniscule amount of finesse -- finesse I might not even have noticed when one considers my musical tastes. BTW -- I did not get high current SET so I could do Metal. I got high current SET so I would have sufficient headroom for all of my music. Turkey:) $800 for a set of Cornwalls is a good move for me right now. I'm sure I will have no trouble learning the crossover and implementing the appropriate mods. I don't have corners for K-horns, and even if I did -- they are out of reach for now. I'm sure I will eventually do this, but will have to build false corners for them. As far as 2a3 goes -- only with a set of K-horns would I be willing to try it. At any rate, timing is just bad for this right now. Two Scotts: I'm still thinking on this. I initially posted I would sell the first one. I then changed my mind. I'm not 100% decided on this as of yet. One thing is true. A Scott does not sound the same on the Heresies as it does on the RF-7's. You give me a hard time, but the truth is -- you're as fixated and intriqued by the various signatures of amps and preamps as I am by speakers. The only difference between us here is that I have more back problems from dragging all this stuff up and down the stairs:) The Scott meets my needs, and meets my criteria for good sound. So -- what's wrong with having two? Ultimately, it's the speaker that carries the majority of the system signature -- and that's really where I like play. As I said though; still really undecided here. What do you think? Maybe yank the Hovland coupling caps out and throw some copper foil Jensons into the Apollos before I give them up? I'm open to suggestions here -- but money is tight. Anything remotely interesting is going to require selling off the Scott, the Heresies, and the Aragon (which I really don't want to do). I'm comitted to the Cornwalls. I told Jeff I would buy them -- and I try very hard to keep my word. I will think more on this.

Good post Kelly. I think most of take these things as "givens", although we don't always clarify the specifics when we're rendering an opinion. I think part of this comes from all of us here being such a tight nit group, and having a pretty good handle regarding the various tastes in music and general listening habits. I do agree that certain types of music are better able to reveal the subtle differences in systems, and that others, like rock and heavier material in general (which is almost always amplified), by it's very nature -- masks these nuances. I think those who are hooked on Jazz and Classical have quite a challenge before them. Unamplified instruments, recorded in their own acoustic space, are certainly harder to reproduce accurately. I mean, does "accuracy" even apply all that much to a Gibson and Marshall Stack. To a point, but not on the same level as unamplified instruments. I want grip, grind, shimmer on the cymbals, snap on the snare, whack on the bass, vocals that are centered and "live" -- and get it all hanging out in front of me with a little warmth and some air. If a system can do that -- I'm estatic. I do listen to other things, and so expect females to sound natural, and not like they're spitting all over me from the stage, and I like my piano to have the percussive element remain intact. Something can sound very "musical", and not be all that "accurate", and of course -- the inverse here is true as well. I think ideally, we'd like to try to straddle the fence here -- and find a sound that delivers a sufficient amount of both. I feel very strongly that the Scott and Heresies meet this criteria (at least for me). I've been very taken with the sound, and am quite embarrassed over my past remarks regarding Heritage, and I repent in dust and ashes. Some changes are in the wind over here. I have been given serious thought to selling off the Apollos. They sound wonderful, they really do. If I didn't have so many other things I'd like to try -- I would just keep them. But I really believe, really think, based on what I am hearing -- that this vintage sound -- delivers 90% of what the Apollos give me. I love the extra ambiance and smoothness, but I don't notice it on everything I listen too, and sometimes I do wish they had more gas. Great amps, really -- but when a $500 push-pull has me glued to the basement to the point that I'm not turning the other system on anymore -- then something is seriously wrong (and it ain't the RF-7's!). Maybe I'm just enamored with this "new" sound right now -- and it will pass, as things like this usually do -- but damn, it's been a whole week. I'm also in a bit of a quandry over here. I want Jeff's Cornwalls, and I'll need additional money to mod the crossovers. I also need a little bit of money to do this next set of DQ's that finally showed up. Lastly -- I will also have to pay Craig to work the Scott 299b. I could swing these things over the next couple of months, but I feel like why bother, when I can unload the Apollos and square everything now. Complicating the issue further is that the Aragon isn't selling, and I was going to use this money to pay Jeff. So today I started thinking. I got two Scotts, the Apollos, and this Aragon that I really like the sound of. I don't like to admit it, because I'm supposed to hate solid state. It also dawned on me this morning that I really need the damn thing to test the DQ's as I mod the crossovers. I really can't test DQ's out with a 40 year old, 17 watt push pull. These DQ's showed in a condition much better than I expected, and with the exception of the woofers, ALL the drivers are intact this time. So, I began entertaining this thought of keeping the Aragon, selling the Apollos, and running both the RF7's and Cornwalls with the Scotts. Of course I only have one Scott right now, so what do I use on the RF7's if I sell the Apollos -- until Craig gets done with the other Scott? I lug the Aragon upstairs for a general ear cleaning session. Why not? I got all this crap -- mind as well have some fun with it. As I was climbing the stairs, it dawned on me that I had not tried the Aragon with the AE-3 DJH yet. I then remembered that I had done it with the stock AE-3 I had here for a short time. I liked the combo, and thought it sounded very good as long as I threw some watts at the RF-7's. I didn't think it sounded very good compared to the SuperAmp at low to moderate levels. However, today, -- I just wanted to get blown out of my chair. I'm not going to go overboard here. I'll just say that there is quite a difference between the stock and DJH versions of the AE-3. The combo delivers a smooth, warm (by solid state standards), and ballsy sound. Not bad, just different. It was actually a nice change. Just as before, I thought the Aragon 4004 MKII/AE-3 combo is a MUCH better sounding combo than the Bryston 3B-ST/SF Line 1 I tried. The AE-3 DJH makes this amp more than listenable, and to my surprise -- was fun. It's always the same with me. If it's clean, relatively grain free, grinds, snaps, and whacks -- I can live with it.

They are not supposed to be "tube friendly" because of some low spots in the impedance curve. However, I'm running mine with 9 tube watts right now -- and I think they sound great. You can do tubes with the RF7's -- but they should be run off the 4 ohm taps on the transformer.

Experience on this forum has taught me to LISTEN to the guys that have been around the block one or two times with Klipsch. If builder says the H&K sounds great -- than it does. Others here have taken his advice on the amp, and are very happy with it. Certainly worth giving it a shot at those prices -- you lose practically nothing. BTW -- have I been right about ANYTHING in the last year? Uhg.

Kelly, I initially had the 299a hooked up to the RF7's upstairs. Of course, my only source up there is the 9000ES. I thought it sounded much like the SuperAmp DJH, but without the midrange bite. There is clarity, and a very nice open quality -- without being aggressively forward. I also felt it was easier on my ears at higher SPL's than anything I've had in the house so far, including the Apollos. Yes, of course, I listen to mostly the hard driving stuff -- and this should be taken into account. However, I ran some other things through it as well: Ponty's 'Cosmic Messenger', The Motels, Susan Ashton, etc... Basically took it through the rounds: The pouncing piano stuff, female vocals -- I don't have anything with strings. At any rate, the Scott did good. It doesn't separate out the instruments the way the Apollos do, nor does it push the soundstage out as far. However, it has attributes I prefer over the Apollos, and all in all -- a very musical piece. One Scott, brought up to snuff by Craig, is less than a 1/4 of the money I have into the Apollos. One Scott, brought up to snuff by Craig, is $125 more than one pair of KR300BXLS'. I am still primarily a value driven individual, and these numbers are hard to ignore. I feel the dollar to performance ratio is tremendous. My son prefers the sound of the Scott on the Heresies over the Apollos and RF7's. My wife says they sound so close to the same that for all intents and purposes it's not worth rendering an opinion on. I haven't talked to either one in three days:)

Yep, you missed something, I got it -- and actually, it's a pretty good deal. After Craig gets done with, I have less than $600 into it, and it'll smoke most of the over-rated stuff out there.

You're a class act Craig. I'll send it down after I get it and take a few moments to drool over it. I sent you some mail.

oops, didn't know about the tuner. Oh well, couldn't have afforded it anyway. My wife's gonna have my head as it is.

Actually, I was kidding about the insult bit, but some reason, my didn't show up at the end of the line of the initial post. Kelly, review my post above -- I'm sure you'll have some input. Make sure I got it right as well. I'm sure you will have something to say about undue complexity, and the advantages of keeping things as simple as possible.

Room big enough? Hell no! I'll be stacking all that Heritage stuff right around my head.

No Jeff, this amp is for the Cornwalls. As soon as my Aragon or Gibson sells, I'm sending you money. I may be able to work something else out as well -- I'm still working it. I'll be selling the 299A. I'm going multichannel with Cornwalls, Heresies, and the Hafler box. Impedance will be dropping to 6 ohms, and I think the 299b will do a little better in this regard than the 299a. Keith, don't be pissed. If you want the 299a Craig just sold me, you can have it for the same price Craig sold it to me for. This was Craigs personal amp, and it's been tweaked to the max. I also went over the chassis myself and addressed some cosmetic issues -- it's VERY clean. Craig can vouch for this. Craig, I can't send you the amp until I pay Jeff for the Cornwalls. I'll be listening stock for a little while, so I hope it works. I'll send it down as soon as I have my duckies in a row again.

"Do you work at an audio store??" I don't know Kelly, but I think I've just been insulted. The original Adcoms from the late 80's and early 90's utilized bipolar devices. These transistors gave great bottom end slam and control, but tended to be a little bright, and somewhat grainy through the treble region. The problem was mostly noticeable with speakers that tended towards a somewhat forward signature. Your 545 uses bipolar devices. The newer Adcoms, such as your 5-channel offering, utilize MOSFETS. These devices typically have a warmer signature. I lived with an Adcom 555 for some time, and have also owned several amps utilizing MOSFETS (such as the B&K 4420). I know from experience that MOSFET amps are much warmer through the treble than amps utilizing bipolar devices. This of course is a generality, based on my limited experience with both, at similiar pricepoints. An interesting configuration for you, might be to wire the 545's to the woofers of the RF7's, and then taking two channels from the 5400 -- wire up the horns. This will be done in the horizontal biamping configuraton. Left channel of the 545 to the left channel woofers, and right channel of the 545 to the right channel woofers. Then again -- left channel from one of the amps in the 5400 to the left channel horn, and right channel from the 5400 to the right channel horn. Use the remaining three channels to do the JBL center and two rear Heresies. Now, some irregularities come into play here. When you biamp, you are splitting the total speaker load. The nominal impedance of any given speaker is based on the drivers being driven together. Creating separate loads from each driver(s), to each amp -- will create different loads to each amp. For example: instead of nominal impedance being 8 ohms -- it may now be something like 6 ohms for the woofers, and 10 ohms for the tweeters. So, the amp/channels driving the bottom will have more than a 100 watts, and the the amp/channels driving the top will be less (maybe something like 50-60 wpc). Since the woofers generally require more power, and the tweeters less -- this really nothing to get to excited about, but I wanted you know. I would not use a Y connector. Go to www.caryaudio.com and email them. Tell them you want some Y interconnects. Give them the length and ask for the price. These cables are made to order, and are configured and soldered properly for what you are doing.

That does't make any sense. Why in the hell would someone copy your story??? It would have made more sense to submit it early if that was what you were worried about. Anyone "copying" after you submitted -- would have been disqualifed.

Randy, Did you make the calibration curve adjustments? http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/general/messages/49147.html