Deang

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

Ah...this changes EVERYTHING. You did not tell us that you had a multichannel setup! I should have clarified my use of the word "load". I was only concerned that you would have an amp running, without a speaker attached to each output on the amps. If you actually have speakers for each speaker terminal (outputs) on the back of the amps -- then you can be imaginative with your use of the amps. Before I render an opinion however, why don't you tell me the exact model numbers of your Adcoms -- so I can do a little homework. Now, about the RF7's. Yes, they are a tremendous value, and I certainly enjoy mine. I also just aquired some Heresies, and I find both the RF7's and the Heresies very musical speakers. I do believe the RF7's are able to generate more output without pinching up (compression in the high frequencies), and certainly can deliver more bass impact and dynamics. If you can afford them, the RF7's are a major leap forward over the RF5's. Some RF7's in the front, and your Heresies in the rear -- would sound very good. What are you using for center and rear channels now?

I'm with Kelly here. Jeepers.

OTOH -- all speakers are "voiced" using one thing or another, and Paul Klipsch used low powered tube amps to voice the Heritage stuff, so it shouldn't be surprising that they sound "right" with tube gear. If one is going to drive something like the Scalas with something that has a completely different signature than what they were voiced with -- it makes sense that some modifications are in order to restore the "rightness". Seems to me that much of this could really be done by tweaking the crossover, instead of yanking drivers. Ironically though, the RF-7's were voiced with solid state, but they also respond well to tubes. Hell, I don't know. Disregard the post...it's time for bed.

The way to solve a room acoustics problem is to have no room for acoustics.

Are not.

Man, you guys are brutal.

Kelly, what physically supports the motor on that thing -- or does it just hover in the air like that:)

Uh, lets work backwards on this one: I have no idea what your salesman is talking about. Biwiring will NOT make the amp work harder, or change impedance. The load to the amp will be the same. You would need a hell of alot of wire to effect what the amp is seeing. Biwiring mearly allows the drivers to be fed through their respective crossover implements. Also, the electrical variations particular to the bass frequencies, and the high frequencies, are contained to each cable. Advantages here are only typically heard with better than decent front end gear, or at higher SPL's -- where there is a lessoning degree of grain. I'm not exactly clear on what you are asking regarding the 5 channel amp. To use the amp, you have to put a load on all 5 amplifier sections in the amp while the amp is on, or risk damage to the unused channels. No matter how you try to use these two amps in a biamping configuraton (whether vertically or horizontally), you are going to leave some of the outputs without load. If you can stand to part with the 5 channel amp, you should. Simply biwire with the 2-channel Adcom, and sell the 5-channel amp and get yourself a nice tubed preamp. 100 watts of Adcom and a tube preamp would certainly sound better than some unstable biamping configuration with the two Adcoms. Besides, 100 watts will be plenty of power for either the RF5's or the RF7's -- unless you have a VERY large listening room.

Here he goes again with the "real" Klipsches bit

I'm working on it. Need to scrape up some dough though. Might be time to get that little Hafler box and try some multichannel.

Don't see it. Should have went to: dean.wescott@wpafb.af.mil Never mind, Private Messages -- I always forget about that. Damn, all kinds of stuff in there!!

I think folks would be very surprised at how many Cornwalls, LaScalas, and K-horns I have inquired about off of eBay and AudiogoN over the last 6 months. "Will not ship." "No boxes." It gets old. By time the time you get everything figured out -- a $2000 pair of K-horns is pushing $3K. You have mail.

I hate your avatar. It gives me a faceache.