Dave in ABQ

Good post! Sadly, I usually only have about 2-3 hours a week to really sit down an enjoy my system. Add 4-5 hours of background while working listening. I sure wish I had a few more hours in every day.

Contratulations! I'm still in shock from my Klipshorn "find" a couple months ago. We have almost identical speakers, except mine don't have the risor or trim bottom. Great story too. Happy listening. [8]

I'm in the ignorantly happy crowd. [] My Khons don't have proper breathing room, the 1978 AA crossovers are no doubt dried up, and my vintage SS amps don't do them justice, but they still sound great! Can't wait to start "improving" them. [8]

Forgive me if you've posted this before Bob, but what's the price for a pair?

LOL! I've sent you an email with my phone number Craig, look foward to chatting. David

Ditto for me! Striking picture and great use of "play" equipment.

Thank you all for the enthusiastic responses. Gary, thanks for the information. Sounds like you have an interesting 299b with the larger transformers. I got real luck and found my 299b locally for a great price. No wood case though. I've been thinking of ideas for a little wood accent while leaving most of the amp open and free to breath. Born2RockU, I'm looking forward to listening all over again after the rebuild. Daddy Dee: "Yes, I found myself thinking the same thing before I tried tubes. I may be a willing victim of mass hysteria, but to my ears, they do sound better. Perhaps I just haven't listened to the right SS amps. Suppose I'd have to allow for that, since someone else I trust, Trey Cannon, thinks "the electrons don't care"" Trey might be right, but as nice as some of my vintage (granted they're in need of refreshing too) gear is, the sound of the Scott is definely different and very much to my liking. Tube Magic!! I'm a believer! [8] 126mhz , If a Jucey is better then the highly regarded C11, it must sound nice indeed. I've looked at them and they do seem very nicely built. Their price seems more then fair for their quality but out of my budget for now. Glad to hear that so many others think so well of the Scott tube gear given their low prices. Craig, I'll email you from home tomorow. I'm at work now. Guess I should acctually do some more work instead of goofing on the fourms. [] I look foward to chatting with you Craig. Dave C

Hey Gary, I'm looking foward to my rebuild. Did you have any modifications to your 299b done besides a basic refreshing of old caps? Anything you might have added after you had it rebuilt? Looks like you have some nice VRD's in your big system. Those sure look like some nicely built amps. Those are on my short list of eventual "final system" peices of gear.

Raptorman, if your Mac doesn't make you happy, I'll be happy to take it off your hands. Even trade you for a big SS Pioneer Receiver. LOL. Congratultions! If it sounds as good as it looks, I'm sure you'll be in audio heaven.

Thanks for the good advice to all. I've read enough great post on the Klipsch forum to know that new speaker crossovers and caps on my Scott should make a big difference. To be honest, I was a little afraid that the tube sound was all hype. I did not want it to be, but I'm the skeptical type. Extremely glad that I was wrong. [] Now as to Bob's AA rebuild, Deans Super AA's, Al's ALK's.......... Craig, thanks for the information on the tester. I hope you are correct on the Telefunken's. I bought the Eico for a princely sum of $5 from an old TV repair man. I sure trust your expertise over the workings of ancient little unit. By the way, thanks for the advice on the Scott 355 I was considering. I made one last minute bid for what I thought I could afford, and lost the auction by $5. Oh well. I was only lusting for the cool looks with the built in AM/FM tuner anyways. I'll have to keep an eye out for a nice 350b or a 333. I'm happy with my 299 anyways. Whats the best way for us to start up a chat regarding my Scott's rebuild. I'm not even sure what your services cost or how much it will need. All I know is that it does sound great already and everyone here at the Klipsch forum and at AK speak very highly of your great work. Look forward to sorting out the details and getting her rebuilt so I can enjoy some beautiful music long term.

Hello everyone, Ive been meaning to post this thread for a while and never get around to it. Ive owned my new Klipschorns for a little over a month and I still cant believe how great they sound despite my horrible room. The bass on the Khorns is deep and tight with a very satisfying tone, and subtle details are revealed on good recordings that I had missed on my other speakers. The Khorns really fill the room/house with beautiful music. When I bought my KHorns, I also got a nice little Scott 299B that Ive since taken the great advice from Craig and many others here on bringing her up slowly and testing her before plugging in to my big speakers. I bought a little Variac for $50 and I found an old Eico tube tester that while nothing fancy or probably super accurate, gave me a look into my tubes condition. After I tested out the Scott on some cheap speakers, I finally got brave enough to hook them up to the Klipschorns with my DVD player used for input. WOW! Considering that both my KHorns crossovers and the Scott are in need of a tune up for longevity and better sound, I could not be happier. These are the first tube amps Ive ever heard and everything that everyone says about them seems true to my ears. When playing the Kronos Quartets Night prayers CD Lacrymosa track on my SS Pioneer or Kenwood receiver, there are some extremely high notes sung by the soprano female singer at her climax of the passage. With SS those notes are almost painful if the volume is up loud. With the little Scott, not only are the highs much more tamed, but there is a lushness and three dimensional sound that is hard to describe if youve never heard tubes. If any detail is lost, Im death to it as it sounds great. Of course the Khorns are very revealing so there is probably a balancing out. The sound is almost liquid like. I know there is much contention as to whether tubes color the sound or not, but I defiantly like the shades I hear. My wife too was in absolute agreement that the music is much more enjoyable and soothing with the Scott. I put on Bruce Springsteens Streets of Philadelphia and I must admit I felt so emotionally moved; my eyes teard up a bit. I know there are probably better tube amps out there, but I sure love the sound of the little 22WPC Scott with my Klipschorns. Now for some advice. Are there any other tube amps new or vintage for under $800 that would compare/beat the Scott 299B for sound that also has a decent phono? If I keep my Scott, which Im pretty sure I will, Ill have one of the great techs on the board rebuild her. The tubes are all Telefunkens but the 12AX7 and 7189's average only 55 on my Eico tube tester (50 being the minimum good). Therefore Ill have to allocate some money for new tubes. I was eying these ones: http://www.thetubestore.com/ehx12ax7.html Im open to any advice, but price is a factor with me unfortunately. Hope you enjoyed my ramblings.

Super score Mark! I'm not that knowlegeable about Altecs but sounds like a great price for some great drivers at least. Check out the Altec Heritage forum/pages for some information. [Y] http://www.audioheritage.org/intro.htm

Not my cup of tea those 50th series, but they do look well taken care of. Hiya Andy! You don't know me because All I did was lurk on the forums for quite a while, but I sure learned a huge amount of great information from your post. Good to see you back. David

My two Cents... Even if I had the money where $13,000 was no big deal to spend, I'd find other things in life to spend my money. Hell I think I'd give it to someone who needs it before splurging on something so esoteric (..and I'm not even a far left liberal). There may or may not be audible improvements on a $13,000 cartridge vs say a $600 one, but so what. I love audio and great sound but not so much as to throw money away on that last .00001% improvement. To each his own though.

Listening in mono to both speakers should help determin if your "diference" in speaker sound is physical or just the recording channel on one speaker sounding better (having different information on it). edit: hopefully your receiver has a simple "mono" switch. My old Pioneer SX-950 and my Scott 299B have one, but my newer Kenwood surround sound recevier does not.

Hello Meagain, I really don't know didley squat about this, but I just had a thought. (happens sometimes). When listening to stereo, both speakers don't usually play the same information. The left channel caries some of the program material and the right carries the other half. This would make one speaker sound very different from another if you were not combining the signal into one with a Mono switch or such. Of course, I'm just letting my mind wonder into your problem and I could be completely off base. Good luck in your quest. []

I only know Paul from his postings, but I think he might be "poking fun" at some recent threads. I tend to agree. Parrot, I think you need at least 400 watts on your KHorns to be able to hear the ringing your looking for. Volume at half of cource. [] Turn the volume down when people are talking. I know its a bit of trouble, but thats the best solution I can think of.

LOL! Power Conditioner Hair Products! [] Your always a riot Fini. OOPS Double post!

LOL! Power Conditioner Hair Products! [] Your always a riot Fini.

Nice pictures. Thank you Amy! Klipsch needs to get a Chinese manufacturer to reproduce those belt buckles for a decent price. They'd sell like hot cakes to us Klipscheads! I'd be first in line, and I don't like big belt buckles.

Great Post Greg! Very interesting read. The author does ramble on a bit, but its amazing that this article was ever printed IMO. He actually seems to value the emotional impact a system gives the listener more then the so called hi-end jargon and justifications. Though the article is a bit long winded, it is worth the read. The audiophile comunitiy could use more of this kind of discussion in my opinion. Here's what he says about loudspeakers: "Which explains, by the way, why certain old loudspeakers with a very high sensitivity and thus a very high precision in the rendition of dynamics, especially of very small signals---just like certain tube amplifiers with very simple circuits---and despite more or less obvious colorations and the omission of an octave or two, manage to reproduce with disturbing fidelity all the emotional intensity of an interpretation. Which should give our designers something to think about, and convince them that the musically more important kind of dynamics is that which loses itself in silence (footnote 14), not the kind that turns into noise."

Wow! what a read this thread has been! This thread should be a sticky for anyone wanting to know the opinions on the characteristics of the various Klipsch Heritage line. A great read for sure! Meagain, Hello and good luck on your decision. Like many others have said, "go listen to some of the generous offers at auditioning". As for my meager input, I've owned the Forte I's for about 2 years. They are truly great speakers that IMHO are very under priced on the used market. Very accurate sounding, great bass and very pleasing to the eyes too. On the other hand, I recently found a pair of Klipschorns locally and am still blown away at how wonderful they sound. The KHorns have a fullness and believability that is amazing! They do have a different sound that is hard to describe. My source units are not anywhere good enough to do either of my speakers justice, yet they both sound great despite that. The KHorns seemed like the Monoliths on 2001 in my living room when I first lugged them in there, but when they were moved into the corners they take up very little space for how large they are. I'm still keeping my Fortes though. Some of they guys have said it already; all of us have our opinions, and all of the Heritage line has its pluses and minus, but you really need to listen to them yourself. No amount of research will do you any more good. (I too am a research nut). []

Well Said Jim, Erik sounds like this is a good solution, temporary or not for you and you wife. I'm dreamin about the day we can own our own house some day. I've envisioning a resesed area for a a Belle or LaScalla in the center of the room with an accoustically transparent projector screen that can be pulled down in front of it when viewing movies. OH YeaH Baby!!! I can dream at least. []

Great write up D-Man! I love the details in your description. I'm very happy that your one step closer to ultimate sonic bliss. [] Jee, I just got my pair of KHorns a month ago and I'm already dreaming of all the cool mods I can do to make them even better then they are now. You guys are an insperation. [8-|]

Beautiful job Rio! Looks like you have quite a talent. Bet it sounds as good as it looks.