JBryan

What JJK said...You did have speakers or a dummy load hooked up to the amp, right?

SDave, I can't quite make out form the pic but I have a friend (also named David, BTW) in NC who found a pr of horizontal JBL 2-ways with D130 woofers in the local Habitat for Humanity thrift. They had legs like in the pic but I'm not sure about the shape. The fella that helped him load one in his car (all that would fit) also mentioned that there was more gear in the back that he would bring out when Dave returned for the other speaker. Dave returned within the hour but found that someone else had sold the other speaker along with the gear the fella had stacked on it. Apparently no one noticed the sold sign...he was really BUMMED! Not only for losing the other speaker (which he had already paid for) but he really wondered (and still does) what kind of gear went out the door with it. Ah... lost opportunities.

Keep up the positive attitude Dean. Our thoughts are with you and your family.

Maron said: ",,, IF THE PARAGONS SOUNDED ENEMIC I,M SURE THE XOVERS NEEDED NEW CAPS,, BECAUSE THE OVER ALL SOUND COULD PEEL THE GREEN OFF YOUR TEETH AT FULL TILT,,," Well Maron, it has been a few years but the gent was quite meticulous with his restorations and took some pride explaining it all, including which caps were best in which xover. I did listen to the 3 models together - the Paragon on the floor, the big monitors above and behind them and the Hartsfields on the other side of the room so I did have the benefit of hearing them together and the monitors easily out shined the other two (clarity, extension, impact) with the HF's bettering the Paragon. If he used SS amps or more powerful tubes, perhaps my opinion would change but to my ears, it wasn't that close. "I HAVE A GOOD PAIR OF K HORNS THAT I LOVE TO TWEEK WITH JBL OR TAD COMPONENTS,,,I TOLD SHELTIE DAVE ,THEIR HIS WHEN I DIE..." I need a better crop of friends!..preferably much older than me.

A few years back, I was referred to a gent who could fix my Janis sub. The fella that sent me to him also mentioned that he had a collection of JBL speaks so when I went to his shop i mentioned that I had listened to a few prs of vintage JBL's in my system. He sparked right up and invited me to his house to see his collection...and what a collection. He didn't have a large house but every room had at least 3 prs of JBL speaks - Everests, Studiomasters and such in one bedroom; a Minigon in his BR; and of course, 2 Paragons, 3 pr of Hartsfields and a couple of huge studio monitors in the living room. There were many other speaks that I've forgotten but needless to say, it was quite an impressive grouping of classic JBL. Several speakers were hooked up to vintage tube gear (Marantz, Scott, Fisher - he didn't like McIntosh gear for whatever reason) and we listened to classical selections through the Hartsfields, Paragons and the monster studio speaks. I preferred the studio monitors by a wide margin though the Hartsfields sounded wonderful if a bit laid back and lacking anywhere near the powerful bottom end of the monitors (dual 15" woofers will do that). The Paragons, while beautiful speakers, didn't sound at all impressive - very thin and veiled with a not so surprisingly small soundstage. I'm sure the room and gear had something to do with it but this guy restored every speaker in that house to spec or better and he obviously knew what he was doing (he owns a pro sound company, setting up and running systems for concerts). He even fired up the Minigon in his bedroom but he was using a Lafayette receiver and could only play the radio - it sounded half as good as the Paragon which is to say, not very good at all - but it was pretty. After a couple of hours, we went back to his shop and before I left, he showed me a room full of future restoration projects - all JBL except a couple of ancient Jensens and a Patrician with a 30" woofer. I told him to call me when he had those up and running. He's repaired a few vintage speakers for me since but I have yet to be invited back to see his collection. He did say that he's bought and sold a few Hartsfields and a Paragon and sent all of them to Japan. The way he talked, we soon wont have any of these classic speakers left in the USA.

Here's the link... http://www.lowes.com/pd_143785-35681-CH1-W_0__?productId=1017229 There are other (possibly better) choices at Lowes but these work well, adhere very nicely and were the cheapest solution I could find quickly. Hope it works as well for you.

Any decent amp, tube or otherwise will reproduce frequencies beyond the capabilities of most speakers. Also, all amps distort so you'll just have to pick your poison - its just that some poisons taste better than others...

Any SET amp which doesn't make bass isn't using the proper output transformers (the same could be said about single ended pentodes also.) There's nothing about SET design itself which prevents amplification of bass frequencies. That's true - I wont argue that with a decent SET amp - even 1.5 watts, there is plenty of bass information to be heard. I was thrilled with the bass coming from my 45 amps for several years but after hearing a fair share of well-implemented systems with higher power amps feeding Khorns (and the like), I found my system lacking the same visceral impact in the bass. I concluded that 1.5 watts wasn't enough power to easily push the Khorn's 15" woofers. I tried several amps but couldn't find one that could duplicate what I was hearing with the 45's on the top end so my solution was to split the signal running the top end with 45 amps and digital amps powering the bass bins. Its a bit more complex and the digital amps can't match the sonics of the 45 but I'm satisfied with the trade-off.

That collapse looks catastrophic! I'll have to consider bracketing the top shelf to wall studs (as per IKEA's instructions) just so I can sleep at night. Being used, I don't know how old mine is either but it does have 24" long steel rods screwed in at the corners which I would guess are there to prevent just such an accident.

I'm a SET fan, through and through but if you're looking for a single solution, you may be disappointed - especially with the low-watt amps (8 watts and under). The mids and highs will be glorious, like nothing else out there but the bass will be lacking and eventually, it'll become an issue if you listen to Pop/Rock and the like. The Khorns' bass bin needs at least 20 watts to really to its thing and more is better (to a point). I'd suggest a few options - all tubed as I've never heard a SS or digital amp that sounds as nice with Khorns. First, you can go the vintage route - Scotts, Fishers, Marantz, McIntosh, etc. sound very nice with horns and with a few modifications, can sound as good as most modern gear. Plus, you can get tubed integrated amps (Fisher, Scott, Sherwood, etc.) that'll work great and won't cost a lot. I wouldn't suggest a McIntosh integrated but their lower wattage amps sound great on Khorns - the MC-225 and MC-30 monos sounded the best in my system. Unfortunately, like Marantz, the Macs are getting expensive. Another option would be more modern tube amps. I have limited experience with the higher watt amps but a couple stand out - Music Reference RM9 and Transcendent Audio T8 OTL monos. The RM9 was powerful and liquid and the T8's were fast and accurate (though I could never completely rid them of a slight hum). BTW, whatever route you take, do not accept any noise..any! Khorns are very sensitive and will pick up and pass along any noise. That slight hum or background hiss robs you of the low-level detail that adds so much to the listening experience. Match your components, use a line conditioner or whatever it takes to rid the system of all noise. I can't tell you how many times I have been at a fellow enthusiast's house, listening to an otherwise wonderful system but the experience was diminished because of the noise . Another interesting route is a triode push/pull amp. I've heard a few of these and they all sound pretty darn good with horns and full-range speaks. I came across a Melody i2A3PP integrated amp a few months back and it sounded beautiful through a pair of vintage Tannoy speaks - detailed, quiet and powerful. If I still had a full set of Khorns, I'd definitely give it a try. Well-build using great parts, these can be had used for @$1500 and include a very nice line stage preamp so it may fit in your budget. Check it out and have fun.... http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/melody3/i2a3.html

BTW, we have several IKEAs in the Balt/DC/Philly area so these bookcases show up quite often on Craigslist and they are usually cheap (I paid $40 for a 5 x 5 Expedit case and I've seen them in the FREE section as well). I had to disassemble the one I bought but it didn't take long and I knew how to put it back together and that everything was there and undamaged.

I picked up a 5 x 5 Expedit bookcase and quickly filled it with LPs. I could use another one but don't have the space in my listening room. They seem very sturdy and quite capable of holding records w/o extra bracing. My only complaint is that the bins aren't tall enough to hold the Mobile Fidelity box sets (Beatles, Rolling Stones, etc.). Also, I did find a quick and cheap solution to line up the records and keep them from sliding through. I found 5' PVC cable holders at Lowes for just under $5 each. Simply cut to size with shears, peel off the tape backing and press into place. Have fun.

I respect and appreciate Mr. Russell's opinion and the first part of his 'white paper' is chock full of useful information that can be used to determine the best wire for an application. Where his argument diverges is when he brings up Mr. Gow's cable test which uses Monster brand cable as the 'exotic' cable. My experience with Monster branded wires over the years suggest that Monster sells little more than glorified lamp cord and it would be difficult for most anyone, myself included, to hear any difference in the cables. Mr. Russell goes on to say that he is aware of more expensive cables but hasn't heard them nor does he have any interest in doing so. That and the general tone of his argument tells me that he entered into it with a very distinct bias - an engineer's bias. Having grown up and surrounded by engineers in my family, I know that process well. They see a problem, reference the data out of a book and pull out their calculators or slide rules to come up with the most practical solution. Its a viable tact but doesn't take into account any factors outside of direct experience and training and tends to accept well-documented assumptions as fact. Mr. Russell has no experience with the wires and cables he dismisses as hyper-marketed fool's gold and yet references the same material that others use to dispel the 'wire is wire' argument. Mr. Russell offers good advise in that what he covers is practical for 90-95% of audio enthusiasts. Many of us are challenged enough just finding the right amp to go with our speakers or the right preamp to match with our amp. Cabling and wires are simply too small a component and offer too little opportunity to improve our systems to bother with the task of switching out and listening to a myriad of wires. If I understand Mr. Russell's logic, I'd say he would put switching wires in the same basket with rolling tubes, as in if one 12AX7 has the same specs as another, there would be no point to switching them regardless of their manufacturer or vintage - there simply isn't any difference to discern. My point is that while the differences may be small, almost indiscernible in some cases, with care, diligence and patience, I can usually hear them. Most of the time, it isn't a "night and day" difference and that term really shouldn't be used for such subtleties and there really isn't a practical experimentation method I can think of but over time - sometimes months, the differences do become apparent. It may not always be a positive difference and sometimes it's frustrating to realize that its been a complete waste of time but for some, the experience is worthwhile and trying to get that little extra enjoyment out of your system keeps this hobby fun and exciting. Whether this is just a phenomenon based on psychoacoustics or perhaps even neurosis, is arguable but that's another can of worms.

I've been demo'ing a pair of Grover Huffman's SX cables for the last month or so. I've used them with a pair of Tannoy Windsors with 15" Gold monitors and various amps - Melody 2A3PP, McIntosh 2100 and 5100 and Scott 222c. Before the Grover cables, I was using solid silver wire, a copper DIY 8 gauge and Monster cable. The copper was a bit veiled with muddy bass compared to the silver which was more detailed if a tad bright and etched on the top. The SX was a big step up from the other cables in resolution, detail, spaciousness and frequency extension. I had recently gotten the 222c refurbished and upgraded by Terry DeWick and while it sounded much better than before, I still felt it had that vintage sound - a little dull and muted compared to modern amps with a slight loss of bottom end and a thin soundstage. The SX cables came into their own with this amp and the sound was a revelation - bold, detailed without the slightest veil and the bottom end was surprisingly good. The overall presentation was full, smooth and nuanced. After a few days with these cables, I had to rethink my impressions of the Scott and as well as my general bias against vintage equipment. I have a pr of CF-2's and CF-3's and in my experience, they would benefit from decent cables (editorial - don't let the "engineers" dissuade you, their math is based on science and Science has proven nothing. By all means, get some zip cord and compare for yourself. If you can't hear the difference, then consider yourself lucky and move onto the next challenge). The 2 cables I would suggest in your budget are either Grover's SX (@$30/ft) or AlphaCore's MI-2 at about the same $/foot. The SX is more musical while the MI-2 is more analytical in its presentation - choose according to taste. I'm sure there are plenty of members here who have experience with other cables that can chime in but that should give you a place to start. Have fun and good luck!

No tops needed if you're keeping the top hats.. I started w/o the top or bottom plates but the Oris horns needed somewhere to sit and I needed to seal the now-opened top area so I made the tops and bottoms out of walnut. It added rigidity and the bass sounded a bit tighter but its not necessary.

I'll also add that the braces are screwed into the false corner walls but utilize the bass bin's' existing bracket and wing nut assembly (formally used to attach the wings). This keeps the bass bins original and allows easy access if I need to pull the speaker away from the FC's.

I put these together a while back before I replaced the top horn. I used the standard design (4' x 8') hardwood ply but to keep the footprint small, I backed that with a 1" sheet of high density MDA and sandwiched a sound absorption mat in between. My room didn't allow the Khorns to fit in the corners and I wanted to move them around for better imagining and soundstage. My initial impression was very positive - the bass became more defined, articulate and slightly deeper than w/o the FC's. All n' all, a very good tweak when corner loading is not practical for both speaks.

Good for you Marty!...but you know there's a Sound Garden just up the road here in Baltimore - think of the gas you could've saved. Also, I've been listening to 'Bad as Me' quite a bit lately and its a great album - right up there with 'Mule Variations' in my opinion. I would love to get the LP but unfortunately, I've heard there were serious quality control issues and I thought they had pulled it from the shelves. I know Amazon did because they had so many returns. Maybe they fixed the problems and reissued it already...please keep me informed of your experience. Happy New Year!

I've only set up one pair of speakers at a time and have had the same speaks in my main system for almost 15 years though they've gone through some heavy tweaking and mods over that time. My 2nd system is more conducive to speaker changes and although I still only use one pair at a time, I've gone through quite a few over the last year or so - Cain & Cain, Abbys, Zu Definitions, Altec Brazillias, Tannoy Windsors - I even had some Klipsch Epic C-3's in there a few years back. Having a few pieces of audio gear laying around to occasionally listen to is cool and collecting can be fun but it can also be additive and without discipline, you can run out of space fast and test the limits of your SO/room mate's relationship so take care. I've found that I have way too much gear that I've either only given a cursory listen or have never even hooked up. These 'things' were brought in gladly with the best of intentions but over time, have become a burden so have fun but take care.

Happy Holiday Marty! Of course, you're welcome to stop by anytime you're in the neighborhood, have a beer or two, listen to some music, maybe take in a jazz show at An Die Musik or a progressive band at Orion. I'm always looking for a buddy to go hear some live music and be sure to take a few records with you - if the bourbon warms me up, maybe we can fit a box in your car. Have a safe trip and a Happy New Year!

I've been sorting and culling the collection recently and aside from Beatles' records, which I have boxes and boxes of and haven't thought to count copies of each album, I've found at least 5 copies of ELP's 'Brain Salad Surgery' along with Jethro Tull's 'Thick as a Brick', the Who's 'Tommy', 'Quadrophenia', 'Who's Next', Neil Young's 'Harvest', Jimi Hendrix's 'Bold as Love' and most of Yes' albums. I also found 10 copies of Peter Gabriel's 'So' (not my favorite of his) but oddly enough the album I have most copies of is Dire Straits' 'Brothers in Arms'...go figure. I'm only working through the Rock LPs for now and I still have a thousand or so to go but most are from before I thought much of Dire Straits so I'm hopeful that I've found my last copy of 'BinA' . Of the dupes and rejects, about 10-15% of the records are not in a condition I would play on my TT so they're going to the dump. Another 30% or so I would play but they need to be cleaned so those are bound for Goodwill and the rest are perfectly fine but as with the OP, I haven't a clue what to do with them. When I used to have folks over for listening sessions, I always had a box of duplicate CDs and encouraged the attendees to take a couple on their way out. That worked for about half of the CDs so its not a final or very quick solution. I have fewer record buddies than CD's and only one family member that's collects so I'm stumped.

I also use a Mac with Safari which the gatekeepers at Klipsch do not support well or perhaps this site is a bit long in the tooth. I use a P, between a 'less than" symbol and a "greater than" symbol to separate paragraphs.

I don't see how timing would be affected unless the original xover incorporated a delay but I'm not sure there would much benefit to running 25w on top and 30w on the bottom. Aside from the amps' sonic signatures, you wouldn't really hear much difference and in the end, may not warrant the effort and expense. The active xover setup would give you the opportunity to try a low-watt amp (like SET) on top with either the Fisher or MC-30s on the bottom or the Fisher or MC-30s on top with a high-watter on the bottom (+150w SS or digital). THEN you'd hear a difference and it'd just be a matter of matching the amps' signatures. Have fun.

I've tried Rane, Ashley, Behringer, EV and others and found the Marchand xovers to be the quietest and least intrusive of the bunch. I have the XM-9 (SS) and XM-26 (tubed) models and recommend either depending on your needs and budget. http://www.marchandelec.com/

I certainly understand the drawbacks of leaving gear on 24/7 - both in 'Green' matters and expense. The only pieces of gear I leave on at full power is a pair of digital amps, although I do have a couple of tubed pieces that I keep on stand-by. I would actually prefer to turn the digital amps off but the few times I have, the bass bins that i drive them with sound a bit dull, slow and muffled for a couple of hours. Fortunately, at idle, the digital amps use about the same energy a s a flashlight bulbAside from the few tmes I have changed out gear, the amps have been on for the last 9 years with no problems (knock on wood). The efficiency of an amp or preamp is fairly easy to determine - after running for a few hours, touch it near the power transformer. If its warm, its not very efficient and hotter means even less efficiency.