hurdy_gurdyman

Here's my best friend, Isha. She's resting up after one of our almost daily bicycle runs. Here's a link to more pictures. http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/the_hurdy_gurdyman/album?.dir=/cb32 I posted the link Waaay back in this thread, but hadn't actually put a picture on the thread, so figured I do it now. BTW, for some strange reason, she loves being in the snow, even taking long naps in it with temperatures around 0 degrees F. Dave

Say, any of you green thumb guys happen to grow bushel gourds? I'm looking for a couple good sized ones to make some gourd banjers (banjos) out of (seriously.) Banjos made from these big gourds have a wonderful sound. I have one made with a much smaller corsican gourd, but now want a big one! http://www.geocities.com/the_hurdy_gurdyman/More-instruments-2.html Dave

I picked up an old Sansui 8080 (two channel, about 80 watts per channel) receiver a while back. This is the second 70's Sansui I've had. It's truly amazing just how good these old receivers can be. I'm very happy with mine in my main system right now using some old Avid speakers with them. The Sansui replaced my Scott LK-48-b tube amp a while back. It's that good! Dave

---------------- On 5/22/2005 7:08:30 PM jt1stcav wrote: Dave, you do such wonderful work, why stop now? ---------------- Rheumatoid arthritis. Dave

---------------- On 5/21/2005 4:24:25 PM Parrot wrote: Do you know who Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" was written about? Answer: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the guy famous for his association with The Beatles. Neat looking hurdy-gurdies, there, Dave. A friend of mine has one she wants to sell. Any advice on the best place to do that? ---------------- Thanks for the trivia. I didn't know that. As for selling hurdy-gurdies, I always sold mine by taking one with me to gigs and then take orders to custom build one. I wouldn't know where to take one to sell. You might try http://www.elderly.com They sell on consignment and have world wide mail order. Dave

I just put some new pics up of instruments I've built over the years, if anybody is interested. Click on Dulcimores and on Irish Bouzouki's and Banjo's. The hurdy-gurdy pics are the same as has been there awhile, but might be interesting to anyone who hasn't seen them yet. BTW, I'm not making instuments anymore and only have a few of these ones left for personal use, so this shouldn't be considered a commercial post or anything. Just sharing. http://www.geocities.com/the_hurdy_gurdyman/ Dave

---------------- On 5/11/2005 5:56:33 PM miamagsdad wrote: How does this H/k compare to Fisher 500c? ---------------- I own a 500C and used to own the hk chorale. The hk was a nicer unit if you didn't need the tuner. It has nice iron on it and a very cleanly laid out circuit. However, it wasn't worlds better. The Fisher sounds fine, too. It (the hk) sounded even better when I converted it to EL-34's. I used it that way for three or four years. Just as a side note, this hk is one of the few vintage amps to get the thumbs up form the infamous Joe Rosen from Audio Asylum. He hated Scott and Fisher vintage amps (but did say the 400/500 Fisher receivers were ok.) Dave

I agree on the advise concerning Heresys. In the factory wiring, they are bright and will sound good only in a corner. Changing this is easy and will only cost the price of a couple of heavy resistors, some solder and some plumbers putty and an hour of your time. Amazing difference. Dave

That'a a harman-kardon A-260 chorale. I owned one of these. It was a great little amp. Wish I still had it (I kept the faceplate and the one good output tranny.) I loaned it to a teenager friend of my sons about 10 years ago. He had it playing in the basement while he was upstairs. Either an output tube or an electrolytic went bad. It hummed loudly. By the time he got there the room was filled with smoke and the amp was dead. Took out the power and one output transformer. The dummy blew the fuse and used tin foil in it to keep playing it. Real waste! This is perhaps my favorite tube amp of all those I've owned (would have to compare it with some I've had since then.) It's rated at 30 watts/channel. Fixed bias output. I have a Sams schematic and parts list for it. Dave

---------------- On 5/10/2005 11:19:00 AM TBrennan wrote: "but you'll never regret buying the Heresys." That's right. Because if you tire of the clangy, fork-scraping-on-china sound you can easily sell them. Nothing lost. My opinion ya understand. ---------------- I was under the impression that you liked Heresy's!!?? Dave

---------------- On 5/9/2005 11:57:07 PM DrWho wrote: You could get a nice pair of heresies for under $400 if you're patient, but they would be really lacking in the low end. A really good deal would be a pair of Forte/Chorus for under $600-$700 (After lots of work getting them to chicago from florida my Chorus II's ended up costing me $500). You could probably find a beater pair for less too. As far as specs go, the 45Hz is a -3dB point which means the bass is already starting to roll off there. That said, the speaker goes low enough such that I don't think you would never tell the difference until you've heard information below those frequencies. The boom from a kick drum is generally in the 60-80Hz region, with 40Hz being real low. The lowest note on a 4 string bass guitar is 32Hz. ---------------- Actually, the lowest note on a standard 4 string bass guitar is typically 41.2 Hz (low E). Lower tuning is available with different strings/alternative tuning or going to more than four strings. Dave

---------------- On 5/2/2005 2:46:39 PM colterphoto1 wrote: Thanks for clarifying the Yamaha thing. What do you guys consider OLDER? I have a new 2400 and it's awesome with my Cornwalls. Also have a 14 year old ProLogic RXV850 that also seems okay. Are we talking 20 year old models or ??? Can't imagine there being any of them around. Just got a HK430 and will begin testing it with various Klipsch this week. Can't wait- it's a friggin TANK! Michael ---------------- >Are we talking 20 year old models or ??? Can't imagine there being any of them around.< Just wanted to bring up the fact that there are a LOT of vintage ss gear out there way over 20 years old. I'm currently listening to a 25 year old Sansui receiver (which sounds great, BTW), and my mom is listening to a 1965 Heathkit ss integrated. However, I'm pretty sure not many over 20 years old have the current needed for the RF-7's, though. HK's, maybe? Dave

---------------- On 5/1/2005 10:22:02 PM NOSValves wrote: Khornn, Actually I know a good number of professional musicians and most don't have much more the a boom box to listen too. Professional musicians don't listen too much music they play it. I bet your one of those wanna be musicians. Craig ---------------- I agree that most musicians don't have a very good playback system. There are exceptions, though, as I've been playing most of my life and enjoy good playback at home. Many of the musicians I know personally, when they have some spending money, would rather buy new musical performing gear or new CD's to listen to than to buy stereo gear. I can understand this, as I was this way myself until just a few years ago when I started slowing down on the performing thing. Dave

---------------- On 5/1/2005 10:09:00 PM NOSValves wrote: ---------------- On 5/1/2005 9:45:02 PM hurdy_gurdyman wrote: Gordon Lightfoot and Loreena McKennitt are Canadian, also. Dave ---------------- The Edmund Fitzgerald! Did I spell that correctly? ---------------- Yup. Here in Michigan that's always been a popular song. Dave

Gordon Lightfoot and Loreena McKennitt are Canadian, also. Dave

I've heard the speakers completely disappearing act with a pair of Decware Radials and a pair of Hornshoppe The Horns. Both speakers were powered by SETs at room filling, but not LOUD, levels. You could not tell where the music originated from anywhere near the listening seat with either speakers. The speakers just vanished. It was a rather enlightening experience. I've never been able to get any of my speakers, including the Heresys I had, to just vanish like that, although I've been able to get better dynamics and play louder with my own rigs. Also heard some prototype open baffle speakers called Mini-Planers from Hawthorne Audio that also did a disappearing act quite well. Dave

fini, That was creative! Dave

---------------- On 4/26/2005 4:48:45 PM heresy2guy wrote: Even if I manage to find something with stronger bass then the HK430, I doubt it would be enough to change my mind because 63 hz is 63hz. Yeah, it might bump the lower frequencies to which the Heresy responds to enhance and therefore add some bass, but it can't change the fact that the Heresy II will only go so low. The Heresy II's are supposed to go lower then The 1's I had. With a ss amp, the Heresy 1's do start to roll off at around 60 Hz (sitting on the floor). With a tube amp, this is extended down to the mid 40's. There is a bass boost of a few dB's around 80 Hz, and the roll-off following this takes you down into the 40's. This is all caused by the under damping of the tube amp and has nothing to do with an amp having better bass than the HK amp. The tube amps have noticably less good of bass than almost any ss amp. It's because the Heresy's have such an over-damped bass that a tube amp will give them more bass and is a better match. I have several times measure good solid bass down to around 45 Hz. The bass bump around 80 Hz adds a bit of fatness which can be detrimental at times, but sure sounds better than the over-lean bass of ss amps. Heresys are in no way limited to 63 Hz if you use an amp that is matched to the very highly damped design the Heresys have. For most music, a sub becomes just an option, not a neccessity. For home theatre, a sub would be needed for the "rumble" which the Heresys can't do by themselves. I once had the Heresys playing for over a week before I noticed I'd forgotten to turn my subs on. The bass was that good. When I hooked my HK Citation 16 ss amp up to the Heresys, the bass became way too thin, even though the HK will blow away any of my tube amps in the bass on my other speakers. The good bass you can get with Heresys isn't a result of having an amp noted for great bass, it's more of a result of having an amp noted for sloppy, overly warm bass that most tube amps have. It's a matter of synergy where the better amp is less well suited for the job. Dave

---------------- On 4/25/2005 9:47:41 PM heresy2guy wrote: The HK430 I'm currently using is a virtual bass machine, and has given me, without doubt, the best bass I've ever experienced with my Heresy IIs. But the fact of the matter is, it still can't make up for the fact that the Heresy II wants to call it quits around 63hz or so while the KG-4s will stoop to around 38hz. I don't think any amp can come even close to rectifying that descrepency - even my HK430. PRactically everybody who's tried a properly-running HKx30 series of receivers has commented on how amazed they are at the unit's lower-end grunt; the bass output is so good that it can transform speakers like the Heresy, La Scala, and Belle. But no matter how well it might produce (or bump) the low end, a speaker's frequency response isn't going to change, so again, you're talking 63hz VS. 38hz. There's a noticeable difference. It's not quite as bad when I crank the Heresys to over 10am or so on the dial, because the Heresy II bass is very tight indeed. But at lower volumes (where I normally listen), after running them with and without the KG-4s, I can honestly say that the Heresys just need more oompf. I'm listening to some Strauss right now (klipp-klapp galopp, op. 466) and when I turn the KG-4s on they add so much more bottom end that it literally changes my listening experience to a smile so wide I'm practically tasting my earlobes. Now, here's the funny thing...I need to keep the KG-4s at least a foot from the walls or the bass becomes too overpowering...too boomy. THe louder the volume, the more space I need to place between the rear of the KG-4s and the wall. At lower volumes, I can ease them back to within 6 inches or so of the wall, but as the volume climbs, they need to come out. I suspect this is due to the passive radiators on the back. At any rate, I was originally transfixed by the newfound bass I experienced with my HK430 (as are most people) but that pales by comparison when dropping the actual bass response down to 38hz, which is what I've effectively done by adding the KG-4s to the mix. ---------------- Have you ever listened to Heresys with a low damping factor tube amp? The bass response does indeed change. You can even measure it. The bass rises from around 80Hz and carries down strong to around 50 Hz, dropping slightly to 40 Hz before dropping off. The difference is quite shocking. Technically speaking, the tube amp has less refined bass then the HK-430. This allows the bass to go a little wild and thus sound louder. The Heresys are an over-damped design and benefit noticably from an under-damped amplifier. Try an old classic tube amp like Fisher or Scott sometime. I think you'll be shocked. I have a HK-Citation 16, a huge 200 watt per channel ss amp with a damping factor of 500. This amp has awsome bass on the right speaker.With my EV pro speakers, the bass is simply awsome.Same when used on a CV subwoofer. When hooked to the Heresys, the bass is still taunt but very anemic. This is measureable with warble tones and SPL meter. bass has a gentle roll-off from about 100 Hz down. The whole system is hard to listen to like this. Now, hook up an underdamped tube amp like an old Scott tube amp. The bass "bloats" in comparison. The match with the Heresys is quite amazing. This same amp, when used with speakers that have great bass with ss, will sound very tubby and mushy in the bass. Not at all impressive. It's not just a matter of which amp has the best bass. It's a matter of which amp and speaker combo you have and how well matched they are. System matching can make or break the sound, and it's more then just getting an amp with great bass and hooking to a great speaker. Much more. Dave

My own experience with Heresys (Heresy 1's) is that what kind of bass you get with them has a lot to do with the amp used. A typical low damping tube amp flushes the bass out nicely and does not sound lacking. A typical highly damped ss amp will sound much thinner in the bass. I found my Heresys almost unlistenable with a high damped ss amp, but they were wonderful with an old Scott tube amp. The tube amp made it sound almost like someone threw the switch on the loudness control to "on". Dave

Here's another nice collection. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=50597&item=5769173174&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW Dave

A friend of mine who is a mechanic always says the good advise, "If all else fails, use a bigger hammer." Dave

Thought I'd mention I hooked up the AR-XA today with my old trusty ADC XLM cartridge. So far, the table seems to hold it's own with my Thorens TD-160. I like the spartan look of the AR, which is even more spartan than the Thorens. I'll listen for a few days and see what I think then. Anyone know if the less expensive Grado's perform ok in the AR-XA's, or do they hum like they do in the Thorens TD-160? Dave

Ben, Thanks for the links! Looks like I've got some reading to do. Dave

Interesting that this topic just happens to happening now. I just today stopped at the Salvation Army thrift store and found an old AR-XA for $5.00. It had a Shure type II cartridge with broken stylus (of course) and was missing the platter mat and dust cover. Of course I bought it. This table is simplicity to the extreme. I like everything except the arm which has a cheap plastic headshell and no anti-skating device. I may rig up a thread-and-weight anti-skate for it and see how it does. The platter is a bit lightweight but looks nice and runs dead quiet. Suspension seems fine and the whole unit looks well taken care of. Anyone know if an aftermarket drop in arm was available to upgrade the quality? Dave