HornPenguin

I could not resist knowing, so I went down to Radio Shack and purchased an SPL meter. My finding's were that my comfortable listening level is at about 94-96 db, regardless of the music type. I will listen to several CD's at this level and find that it is a sweet spot for my system. I would find it hard to believe that this level would be damaging to the ears. My system is very musical and non-fatiging that level. On occasion I like to go slighly louder to 98 or 100, but most of my listening is at night and I start to wonder about the neighbors.

Coincidence, I was thinking of buying some Linda Ronstat. I'll add Round Midnight to my list. Thanks. (And now back to the Frank Sinatra thread) - Brad ---------------- On 1/24/2004 8:09:25 AM William F. Gil McDermott wrote: Roy, I'm going to get some spelling wrong here. Let me suggest Linda Ronstat's " 'Round Midnight ". A 2 CD set. She does some classic numbers from the Swing Era. Backed up with the Nelson Riddle band, which might have been Frank's too. It is difficult to believe without hearing that the little gal from Country Western could shift to this and do it justice. But WOW, she is terrific. Evidently this is the music she grew up with. The songs pre date Sinatra. Amazon is also showing 'For Sentimental Reasons' as similar material. Telarc has quite a bit of Swing music too. Take a look at their website. After Midnight is a good investment. It will grow on you. Gil ----------------

What an amazing CD! This is without doubt one of the best quality sounding recordings that I own. The performance is excellent, enchanting. If all recordings were of this quality, I would'nt be having thoughts of upgrading to expensive monoblock tube amps. This is a must have for your music collection!! - Brad

Thanks JMON. I submitted my request for membership. I travel to Dallas every few weeks so it can't hurt to know some Hornheads up there. HornPenquin: You might also want to consider the DFW Hornheads as well. It's a closer drive for you. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DFW_Hornheads/ ----------------

I could possibly make a gathering in Little Rock with some notice. I live in Houston and would probably drive. It would be great to meet fellow forum members! ---------------- On 1/24/2004 2:32:40 PM DaddyDee wrote: I've been considering serving as the host for a central Arkansas forum gathering sometime in the next few months. I'm wondering who is local to Arkansas and/or might have an interest in the gathering. I live just 8 minutes from the airport in Little Rock, so it would be convenient in terms of geography. ----------------

Smilin, I used Dayton Audio Spikes from http://www.partsexpress.com They were 20 bucks for four. I was impressed with the quality of the spikes and Parts Express was fast to deliver. - Brad ---------------- On 1/24/2004 11:04:06 AM smilin wrote: What brand did you use for the cornwalls? where did you get them? and how nuch were they? Thanks-Smilin ----------------

Hey Smilin... I'm kinda new around here and would love to hear some good Klipsch systems other than my own. I might be in Chicago on a business trip in the next couple of months. Is there any way that I could catch up with you and get a demo? Enjoy the get together on Sunday! Someone said post some pictures, don't forget to do so.... - Brad

Gary, I took the risers off. I'm not to fond of the looks of them. Besides, I heard the improvement with spikes on other speakers and wanted to try them on the Cornwalls.

By the way, I'm using 4 per speaker. For the size of my Cornwalls and with how good they sound, I'll leave it at the 4 per. - Brad

There are a good deal of speaker models that do come with spikes. Also the stands that monitor type speakers use have spikes. One of the first things that I noticed when I put spikes on my Cornwalls was how much more difficult they were to move. No more sliding, now it is lifting and setting in place. But, I started to enjoy better bass and focus across the range. What I don't understand is why more tweakers on this forum are not raving about speaker spikes. - Brad

George, Where is the woofer disconnect point? By disconnection the woofer, does it leave the portion of the crossover in place that would roll off the frequency of the squawker where it used to cross over to the woofer, thereby creating an unwanted dip? Should the crossover effectively become a two way with full frequency extension on both the top and bottom, since the cross over/roll off would be handled from the active crossover between the two amplifiers? - Brad ---------------- On 1/23/2004 9:26:34 AM vacs2000 wrote: Hi You separate the Woofer part from the rest on the speaker crossover. You run 2 wires that connect the woofer directly to the LF output amplifier. Meaning you donnot use the internal inductor of the woofer. You keep the original network on the mid/tweeter so you have to run 2 other wires from there to the HF output amplifier. Best is that the output of the amps or active crossover is variable for adjudting the level right. Im my Cornwalls I have installed double speaker lugs in the back t facilitate connections. I use a marantz tube crossover. Fine if you have spare amps or like the improvisation otherwise I was not extremely thrilled. In anycase it is easy to reconenct everything if you donnot like the result. cheers george ----------------

Dean, If the components are connected like this: preamp > crossover > amp1(tube) > speakers (mid, hi) > amp2(solid) > speakers (low) How would this setup affect the sound of the amps since there would be nothing between them and the speakers? - Brad ---------------- On 1/23/2004 6:23:23 AM DeanG wrote: Keep in mind that unless you run the signal through a tubed electronic crossover -- you will be giving up much of what you like about your new tube sound. ----------------

I would like to explore the idea of biamping my Cornwall's. They have unmodified B3 networks. What I would like to do is modify the existing networks to allow the use of one amp for the woofer and a second for the mid and hi. I would utilize an active crossover set at the original crossover point. Has anyone had experience doing this that could help me with the crossover modification, or otherwise know what needs to be done and can help me out? I have been unable to find information on how to do this on the web and have not been able to search out any answers. - Brad

Craig - the caps are: .22+-1 0% 600v EGA8707-17 ---------------- On 1/22/2004 9:34:36 AM NOSValves wrote: Tell you what if Kelly's picture of the under chassis is what your amp came like originally someone did some serious work and did a awesome job upgrading this already. I think the Triode operation is the big mistake here. Also if you could please check the value of the 4 yellow coupling caps in the front of the amp there is one each attached to the EL34's. Craig ----------------

Kelly - Dean, I agree that I should hold off and become more familiar with the amp. I'll spend a good deal of time with it over the next couple of weeks. I'm sure that I will end up with the conclusion that some further upgrades, especially the ability to switch modes would be welcome. Time will tell, and I do appreciate the advice that everyone here on the Klipsch board has given. I'm sure that when the time comes that Craig will be my first choice to perform the mods, if he wants the job. Meanwhile, I will purchase some replacement tubes. I need to get some 6922's for my ARC anyway and I want to make sure that they are fresh. The ones that I have now can be for backup. I'll seek some tube reviews out for the 5U4 and 6SL7's. I have a lot to learn about tube gear as both the ARC and Cary are new, but I think that I am already hooked after hearing them with my Cornwall's!! Sweet indeed. - Brad

Craig, Would you be willing to perform modifications to my amp? I realize that you don't normally work on Cary, but if you feel comfortable then I trust you. From reading over the ideas presented here, it appears that I should: - have it modified to add a switch for triode/UL - add a choke - try some new tubes, possibly the GZ-32 rectifier - look at the cost of upgrading the output transformers I may have missed something. What type of money am I looking at? Should I seek someone local in Houston to do the mods, or perhaps Cary? My budget is not huge, but if I could mod the amp to keep the sweet sound and get a real gain in the low end, it may be worth it. - Brad

Craig - Mobile, I was told by the owner that the amp was converted to triode mode. It is not switchable. Your suggestios are definately welcome. I am willing to spend a few dollars as long as it is within reason. If you feel than I can get significantly better bass punch, dynamics out of this amp for, say $400 bucks of so, then I would do it. - Brad

Last picture.

Second picture of three.

Craig, Here is the first of three pictures. They are large.

My Cary SLA 70 MKII arrived yesterday afternoon. I took the day off and patiently waited. The man in brown brought it at about 4:40. I spent until midnight listening to it and again for a couple of hours this evening. The amp made the trip without incident. I inserted the tubes and let it warm up a couple of minutes and then played a couple of songs at low volume. Then I turned it up some. My initial impression was not good. As a matter of fact, I had visions of putting it on eBay right away. It sounded lifeless on the first song I played at volume, Damien Rice - Cannonball (thanks Darla), an acoustic guitar and vocals piece sounded plain. The low e string on the guitar lacked attack. It seemed the amp had no bass. I switched back to my NAD 314, using the amp section only, and the song came alive again! I swapped the Cary back and played Santana Oya Coma Va and again it didn't impress. I was so disappointed that I walked away for a awhile. Try two. I swapped the 5U4's out for the others that were shipped with the amp and this time let it warm up a good deal longer. Now we are talking. The amp started coming alive. The vocals and various horns sounded much warmer, very good indeed. What was going on? Was it the tubes? Letting the amp warm up? I played 10,000 Maniacs Unplugged almost all the way through with beautiful, warm, absorbing sound! Light years better than earlier. I started swapping the Cary and the NAD back and forth, listening to a couple of songs and swapping again. The Cary has clearly, without doubt better highs and midrange, really noticeable in the vocals, better imaging. I really like the sound. The Damien Rice song still has a bit better attack with the NAD on that guitar piece, but I like the upper end of the Cary. So I guess it stays. I may get some new tubes and look at other ways of improving the amp so that it can match the NAD low end. I've been tubed. Any ideas how I can improve the low end on this amp? I still have cheap out-of-the-box cables and Monster to the speakers. The EL34 power tubes are low hour Svetlana's. It also has Philips JAN 5U4GB and Philips JAN 6SL7WGT installed, I don't know the hours on these tubes. - Brad

I used 4 spikes per speaker. I'll try to post pictures in the morning. - Brad

My Dayton 1 1/2 inch speaker spikes arrived last night, so strait away I pulled out the drill and went to work. I was kind of surprised by how easily and absolutely the speakers made solid contact with the concrete below the carpet. I also noticed that slight moving the speakers became a much more involved task. After placing the speakers, I warmed up the components and then put a Merle Haggard CD in. I listened for a bit and was not absolutely sure if there was an improvement or not, but the vocals seemed a little bit more focused in space. Still it may have been the "clean car drives better effect", I just wasn't sure. Next I put Santana, The Best of Santana on. I always enjoyed the bass line in Oye Como Va, a basic but pleasing rhythm, so I rather familiar with this line. Wow, it was like the bass had an anchor, I could pinpoint it's location on the stage. Much rounder, fuller and controlled sounding. I'm convinced that it was a good move installing the spikes. Some areas of improvement are extremely subtle, others like the bass much more apparent. Sweet, I'll listen some more tonight!

Good idea. I may spend some time with the amp and if I like it check with Cary about doing the upgrade. ---------------- On 1/13/2004 8:55:09 PM Guy Landau wrote: Why not let Cary upgrade them to Signature status? ----------------

Mobile - Thanks for the picture and information. I'm sure that I will be learning a lot about this amp and tubes in general in the coming days and appreciate you sharing. I may have more questions once I set hands on the Cary and have had an opportunity to check it out and use it for awhile. - Brad