Tubinhard

Hey look, it's the Craig and Dean Show!

No, for your music you want to keep your eyes focused on SET. The price of that Cayin puts you in Welborne Labs territory. you can get a pair of the amps (monoblocks) below with the Ulitmate Upgrade Package for $1700. If you want them assembled by Welborne Labs, it's an additional $300, but I believe Craig has a standing offer to build a set for free just so he can hear what the fuss is all about.

One thing at a time. Remember, your original request was for a tube amp around $500. If you want to do SET correctly, you will also need a preamp -- even a good passive will cost you a little. So, figure between $1200 and $2500 total here. Most here are travelling at the top end of this scale. Be patient.

Very cool. Enjoy your RF-7s.

"Scale" was never an issue for me until I heard the Klipschorn, and no -- the RF-7 does not excel in this area. Now, I can achieve a larger scale with them by loading up the room -- but it takes power, and what I believe to be excessive SPL to get the job done. Of course, this is with Rock music, and other types of works just aren't going to sound right at these levels. More properly applied, I believe large scale soundstaging is a combination of sufficient room loading, and more importantly -- a large baffle, with large lenses, producing large propogated wave fronts. The RF-7 just loses out here unless confined to near listening usage, or using sufficent power to reach SPLs capable of loading the room properly. Personally, I think it's a great speaker for Rock Music in small to moderately sized rooms -- but they really need 50 watts or more. We have taken different approaches with implementing the crossover modifications. I prefer getting rid of the PCBs, and getting the crossovers out of the cabinets. I tried a rework recently with the PCBs, and it didn't take me long to figure out it would take monumental changes, involving much time and work -- very cumbersome. You must have the patience of a Saint. I would like to find a nice sized box to use, and I even considered plexiglass -- which would look rather impressive. What I really wish is that we could collaborate on some nice crossovers for the Fortes, Chorus', and anything else where Al has left a gap for us to fill. You seem to enjoy tweeking these circuits, and I certainly enjoy building them. Surely we could come to some kind of agreement regarding the financial aspect.

I had a similiar thoughts while reading your cap conditioning posts -- that there had to be a way to load the caps up with sufficient volatage for break-in, without the use of the prescribed procedure you outlined. I never thought about White or Pink noise -- though some of my music comes close to them.

Khornquest, I do believe the following dealer may do International Shipments. The Audio Connection, Stereo Video Center, (812) 232-1663, Towne South Plaza, Terre Haute, IN 47802 Now, you might also try the Dealer Locator on this site, and find one in Europe offering more reasonable pricing. Dee, Your pictures didn't show up in your post. Did you upload to the server first? You can't copy from your PC into a post. At any rate, what were you asking about exactly -- the crossover picture I posted earlier in this thread? If so, that's the new crossover being used in current production Klipschorns.

I agree with Leo 100%. That $400 isn't worth accepting the risk of a damaged shipment. Also, any possible future warranty issues will be much easier to deal with. You have them, you are obviously happy with them, you have local dealer support, and I think you should count your blessings and leave well enough alone!

Keith, I would imagine you could upgrade some of those crossover components for about the same or less than the cables and tubes will run you. Those components are the single most important thing between the amp and drivers -- not the cable.

Thanks Dave, hope you find that Jolida soon, because my son is ready to buy within the next week or so. He's got my RF-7's set up in his room with a crappy integrated from the early 80's -- and it's killing him. Well Craig, what I can I say except that you're right. Yeah, everything you said was true. Man, that hurt to say that.

I'm still not convinced that type of rectification is a make or break kind of thing. Uhg, stop with the "looks" thing. I don't mind something less than stellar looking, but I'm not into something that looks like it was dragged off the bottom shelf of someone's garage. In truth, it wouldn't take much to get those looking pretty minty. So, what do we know about the Fairchild iron? I sure don't see much underneath to get all excited about. Geez, I think a Welborne has more parts than that.

Let's see, what can I say that won't get me banned... You told me so what? That Class A DHT pull-pull won't take down a set of MK III's in a room the size of a gymnasium? Man, I just don't need more than 20 watts or so in my room. I figure since I'm going to be right up on the damn things, why not stay with Class A? I am struggling here a little bit. It would be nice to have some slam on the bottom, but I'm worried that being so close to the lenses -- my ears might end up paying the price. Don't know, don't know. Class A Triode really does sound sweet -- maybe too sweet for Rock-n-Roll you think? I've been thinking about that -- but it's hard giving up the soft, smooth treble. Those squawkers need all the help they can get. I won't spend any money until you have a chance to chew my ear off.

The Canary went bye-bye today. I took a bit of a beating, but I really want to go back to monoblocks. Yeah Greg, 300B push-pull is really where I want to be -- but a little out of my reach right now I think. The Fairchilds look interesting, but I don't see anything there better than a good set of Quicksilvers.

I AM the Chairman of the Amp of the Month Club. Anyone want to join. Fees are reasonable. Gee Craig, first Kelly, and now you. Man, I might have to give up on myself!! Dave, I don't know if you're serious or not -- but my son had a fit when I sold those to you. He wants those really bad, and I've been waiting for another set to come up on Audiogon. Definitely would take them back if you were considering unloading them and getting a set of Quicksilver Horn Monos (hint hint).

Probably great if you can live with the low wattage.

Craig won't be too happy with me, but he'll get over it. Right now, I'm looking for a good Direct Coupled Push-Pull. Of course, I'm open to suggestions. Forget the 1, 3.5, and 8 watt stuff -- it ain't gonna happen. Since Mike Sanders uses Klipschorns, and I was really happy with the Mono-60's, I'm going to give him a call on Monday and see if he can twist my arm into buying his Horn Monos. I believe they are Direct Coupled, but use substantial feedback. It should be an interesting talk. Still looking at the possibility of some nice 300B monoblocks if I can scrape the dough together.

These guys are definitely coming on strong. http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?ddampstube&1077137488

http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?ampstube&1077673357&class&3&4& http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?ampstube&1077674137&class&3&4&

Gee, I don't know guys -- anyone around here know anything about setting up RF-7s?

The RF-7 is in a different league. Two 10's instead of two 8's means lower distortion levels, and the RF-7 uses a pro-style compression driver with a phase plug -- that is almost twice the size of the one used in the RF-3. It's a substantial jump in performance in every area. Also, the RF-7 is much more sensitive, and will generate as much SPL with 1 watt, as the RF-3 will do with 5 watts.

Maurice, It's time to send the amp in for a check up. If the bias is drifting, then it needs to be looked at. I'm sure Craig would give it a looksy at reasonable cost. You need to protect your investment.

I really don't want to get into a RF-7/Heritage debate here, but some of you are expressing an opinion, and making a judgment about this without full knowledge. Put 30 to 60 clean tube watts on some RF-7s, and I'm sure you wouldn't be able to help but agree -- they sound excellent. It might not be your preference, but they are great speakers -- and they definitely do some things better than Heritage.

Maurice, It's not "your ears", it's the diaphragm behind that horn. It typically takes a week of good listening for it to settle in. When I talked to Steve P at Klipsch a couple of weeks ago before ordering the Klipschorns, I told him I was looking forward to reviewing them. The first thing out of his mouth was, "Give those drivers about a week or so to break in before you do that." I said, "Yeah, I know."

Good women are priceless. Sounds like you got a good one Allan. Everyone over here caught that flu from hell -- everyone except me. Looks like when it finally does hit me I'll have a lot to look forward too. I just hope it waits until after my road trip to Terre Haute Monday. So, Christmas was spent playing nurse to everyone. Still, God spared me -- at least I had the energy to stay ahead of all four of them.

Audio Flynn said the B&Ws were articulate and laid back. From this, you managed to draw out "detailed and clearer sound". I don't think I could put the word "articulate" to the 804's. However -- "laid back" is definitely appropriate. If you want "detailed and clearer sound", buy the RF-7s. B&Ws are great sounding speakers if you enjoy sleeping while listening to your music.