JBryan

I agree that PWK and crew made their products to a price point and I think that's true for all but the most elite builders/manufacturers. I always thought of the Khorn as a great design but quickly learned that the implementation had limitations and could be readily improved upon. While I bet some user modifications have the folks at Klipsch scratching their heads or even rolling on the floor at times, I'm sure they appreciate that some tweaks can certainly improve the sound. IIRC, the Jubilee was originally designed to address some of the Khorn's short-comings and was actually considered as a Khorn replacement by Paul & Co. until the marketing department nixed the idea. I have come to prefer 2-way designs (actually a full-ranger would be ideal but I haven't come across one with enough range and 'thump' to do the trick) and I've always considered PWK's folded bass bin one of the best (and affordable) ways to get full, tight and authoritative bottom end. Where I found the Khorn lacking for my purposes was the tweeter which was a bit shrill and emphasized the forwardness in the Khorn's sound. Also, the integration between the mid-horn and woofer which crosses at 400Hz pushes the woofer beyond its comfort zone introducing distortion above 200Hz and muddying things up a bit. While the Klipschorn sounds good right out of the box..er, crate, I changed a few things to address my needs and did them to my price point. The speakers measure better in my room and sound right to me but there are plenty of other modifications mentioned on this forum that will sound good to others willing to give them a try. As well, I'm sure that more mods will come and with the right budget, the Khorn can be improved beyond what any of us have heard. Why we're even discussing modifications is a tribute to PWK's ingenuity. While many speakers are more easily replaced than modded, Paul's original folded-horn has been around for over 60 years and can still hold its own against the latest designs and its so easy to approach, the better question might be..."Why not modify?'.

Congratulations! Now, get some sleep.

Good for you Marty, at least you're trying! George Clinton puts on a great show regardless of which band he brings with him or which character he embodies that night. The sound system at 9:30 Club is OK but aside from the extra few thousand watts and +30 drivers, P-Funk will probably sound less distorted in your system. Soundstage and placement is the job of the recording engineer and sadly, live bands are rarely 'captured' well in stereo and there's nothing left for you to do about that. You might experience a bit less congestion with some decent wires though.... []

Joe, You're just following this hobby as far as it will take you. The journey IS the hobby - and you're probably coming around to the fact that there isn't a single piece of gear or system that will satisfy your every audio want. Audio Nirvana is a goal but as you've gained knowledge and experience, you certainly have concluded that the goal will always be out of reach. Also, your audio and musical tastes have naturally evolved as well as your budget and even listening skills - you do not listen to music the same way as you did a few years back. Through your varied experiences, you have a better understanding than many and that is a reward in itself. When someone goes on about how bad SET, SEP SS, Digital or P/P amps sound, you have experiences with each and can decide whether the opinion is worthwhile or simply coming from ignorance. When one starts shutting down these avenues the adventure ebbs and the hobby becomes tedious. 10 years ago, the most heated arguments on this forum centered on which was better - tube or solid state amps. It has since progressed on to such topics as SET vs P/P; vinyl vs CD; benefits of digital amps and the ever-present wires is wires and all this coming from a forum that appreciates horn speakers that were dismissed in most audio circles as grotesquely colored and distorted antiques from a by-gone era, long since made obsolete (as I'm sure Don would agree). All healthy topics but none have ever been resolved by discussion alone and are as often as not, stymied and destroyed by ignorance creep and ill-informed bias. You've learned that you have to put the time in and experience audio for yourself and while others can guide and inform, your own curiosity will bring the greatest rewards and keep the journey fun. So have fun and for cris's sake, stop saying that this amp or that speaker will be the last one you'll ever own because as long as this hobby excites you, you will remain curious to try new gear and gain new audio experiences - and that's a wonderful thing.

Bob Dylans' Mono box will be available @ mid-December and would make a great gift. I doubt it will sell out but the pre-order prices have been rising lately.

I'm sure you've checked the polarity on the cabs and each driver and made sure everything is working and properly hooked up. Look for corrosion on the wires - especially around solder joints and if necessary, clean them. Seems the next step would be to replace/upgrade the +25 year old capacitors as they are the most likely culprit if things sound flat. If you're handy with a soldering iron, its a quick and fairly cheap project. If you're still not satisfied, then by all means have at the conversion - if you screw up the motherboard you can always make another one. Its not like you're gonna increase or decrease the value of the speaks (beyond the cost of the parts) and it can be a great weekend project. Have fun

In a perfect world, the preamp's impedance will match the amp's but at best its a moving target and even manufacturers don't often match their own components. Add the cables' own inductance, reactance and capacitance and the signal is affected once again so its no wonder some folks can hear a difference. If one goes to the trouble to carefully match their components, then those with very sensitive systems should be able to discern differences in wires - especially longer-runs with higher I, R. C specs. Those that don't bother matching components when they build their systems have other problems but may use cables to tone down a shrill, tinny CD player or add a bit of high-end sparkle to a mismatched amp and preamp. I'll admit to a time when I was running through amps and preamps like candy and for a temporary fix, it was nice to have some spare pairs of silver and copper ICs around. The better cable manufacturers keep looking for ways to reduce their cables' I, R, C measurements on the assumption that the lower the specs, the less influence the wires have on the signal and the more neutral the sound. In the end, the differences are extremely slight. I've had quite a few cables in my systems and its a rare occasion when I notice an immediate difference and then its usually something I don't like about the cable. It could take weeks, if not months of switching back and forth to really decide whether I like one cable over another and what I listen for is very nuanced - the shimmer of a cymbal, the attack and decay of a single piano note, the clack of a saxophone's keys or the breath of a vocalist or horn player. The differences are slight and in some cases, not worth the effort but in a hobby that encourages obsessing over the details, its not hard to see why some folks treat cables and wires with the same priority as phono cartridges and tubes. Its all good - if a bit insane.

I tried several digital amps (Red Wine, T-amp, Hypex UDC 180 & 400) and found the Hypex UDC180 with lots of capacitance was the best in my system. Still, I found the amps very neutral at best, often sterile and sometimes harsh on the top end. I moved away from the amps but when I modified the Khorns a few months later and replaced the midhorn and tweeter, I revisited digital amplification and found they were excellent driving the bass bins (fast, clean and powerful). Voicing digital amps with SET amps and the speakers was a bit of a challenge but I found a chip amp that was designed to work with my Oris horn in mind and it matched very well. I sold all the other amps except the T-amp that I use to test speakers and such in the field. Definitely noticed improvement on amps with oversized power supplies and lots of capacitance but also noticed that some can introduce hum (probably an impedance mismatch) so be sure to check the specs before buying. The right amp will run absolutely silent and its so efficient that you can leave it on all the time - no noise, no heat, no worries. Have fun.

Unless you're just looking for a brand match for your MC-250, you'll be hard-pressed to find a McIntosh preamp at 3x your budget that will sound anywhere near as nice as the Apt Holman pre. The MC-250 is a fine amp but comes across a bit warm and 'thuggy' so you'll need a fast and crisp-sounding preamp to match with it and that's a hard find for MACs in your price range while the Apt is just that and has the benefit of an outstanding phono stage if you're into vinyl. If you can stretch you budget a bit, you might want to try the C-33 (@ $1K) but keep the Apt Holman close by and after 6 months or so, put it back in your system and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Have fun!

Tube rolling in most gear offers interesting results - sometimes it makes a noticeable difference, sometimes not. The problem I had with the AI Mod3a was that it pushes the tubes pretty hard and some tubes that may sound great won't hold up as well or as long as others. In my experience, the Siemens E188CC/7308 and Amperex ECC88 sounded very nice in the preamp but the Siemens only lasted about 9 months before they became noisy while the Amperex only lasted a few weeks. Telefunkens were expensive and I honestly didn't hear much improvement over the stock tubes (Sovtek, I think) while Sylvania and RCA tubes sounded rather dull and were noisy (I tried several NOS pairs). On another owner's suggestion, I found some Tungsram 7308s and they became my favorites - very clean and detailed with no noise. I used them in the preamp for a year or so and sold it to my bother-in-law who has been using it daily for the last 5 or 6 years and hasn't needed to switch out any of the 7308s yet. That's pretty impressive considering the AL's reputation for eating tubes.

The AR SP6 may be a good choice but in my experience, Conrad Johnson gear is a bit on the tubey and lush side (certainly more so than Audible Illusions. Still, nothing beats listening to one and deciding for yourself.

You may have just gotten used to the sound of the SF. I had a SF-2 preamp and found it to be a bit too sterile in my system. The AI Mod3a sounded completely different but didn't work out when paired with SET amps so I moved on. I've never used a Leak amp but from what I've read, like most gear of that vintage, they run a bit on the lush side so the SF may have been a better match for it than the AI Mod3a. I don't think SF made a full-function preamp (their phono pres are very nice though) and modern pres that lean toward the neutral side don't tend to have phono stages either but I'd suggest offerings from Audio Research and BAT that fall within your budget. Have fun!

I wish this forum allowed for polls as I am very interested to know how many cables fellow members have tried and if they noticed any differences. I wouldn't be interested in any recommendations or even if cables alter/improve the sound in any way - just which types of cables were used and if any difference could be heard.

Marty wrote up his experiment while I was submitting my post so I will relent. Cables and wires do sound different...except to Marty - anyone else?

Well, this is a far tangent from the original poster's intent. If this continues, I may never know how much to spend on cables and wires [8-)] . While I dare not dip into the fray amongst the scientists. engineers and philosophers, I do attend plenty of live shows and can honestly say that I've spent more time in front of musicians in the last 2 years than in front of my system. I prefer small, intimate venues but have seen my share of the big events as well. I have enjoyed most shows and a few have been quite transcendent but with rare exception, I prefer listening to the artists' music at home as the PA systems and the fellas manning the boards usually do more harm than good to the 'live' sound but we won't go there. Don't get me wrong, in the right room, most instruments and vocals - even an orchestra can sound amazing but the reason I attend live shows isn't necessarily to hear the music, rather to share the experience with the artist(s). To be in the same room, sharing the very moment and note with the musician is a joy and the instantaneous interaction and feedback between the artist and audience is why I'm there and while the music can be recorded and later reproduced, the experience can not. Most folks here will agree that music can be appreciated through even the crudest AM radio but like the selection of fine wines, tasty beers and good cigars, we can improve the experience of listening to reproduced music by carefully assembling those audio components that suit our ears. Even on this Forum, given that many of us use the same speaker, I'd wager that there's only a handful of folks that share all the same components in their respective systems. Everyone's criteria for choosing a system is different and is constrained by such things as budget, musical preferences, physical space, opportunity and knowledge/ignorance among others and these constraints determine to what degree we pursue the sound we want and how far we journey through this hobby. Some folks are content with the very first system they put together, others spend years slowly and deliberately assembling a system that suits them while others insert new gear like coins in a slot machine and they will never be satisfied. Point is that this hobby lures all kinds of people with vastly different perspectives but a few truths persist - all our systems are compromised, there is no such thing as a perfect set up, there will always be something you can do or add to make your system sound better and... uh, cables and wires do sound different.

Ah.... don't give up now - you haven't knocked your head against the wall enough to draw blood yet and that dead horse isn't even half beaten. I thought the resistor/capacitor comparison would surely get some traction and was a bit surprised how easily it was put aside. I guess if their function can't be readily understood, then explaining the nuances of cable and wire technology is a terrible waste of time. I'm sure there are better things to do but hey, I enjoy watching these debates spiral down the drain.

Given your room size, a single-driver setup would be ideal. Perhaps you should flesh that route out a bit more before giving up. Some full-range drivers like AER, Gotoh, SEAS, etc. offer 20Hz-+20KHz range and impart a intimacy and staging that most multi-driver speaks can not duplicate or approach. The cabinet size can be problematic in your room but there are designs with small footprints that can be seen and discussed at most SD/FR forums out there. Another option would be the Open Baffle design which has plenty of followers who moved from full-range cabinet designs. I'm not completely convinced that the OB is the best option but it certainly has its devotees. If you're sure you can't get what you want without a xover, then there are coaxial and duplex speakers like Tannoy and vintage Altec Lansing which offer plenty of bottom end without a big footprint. Of course, Klipsch and other efficient 3-way speakers can work in your room too but keep in mind that you really need at least 12' from the drivers to listening position to properly mix the sound. Any shorter and you tend to lose cohesiveness and can readily discern separation between the drivers. With Klipsch, you have a very nice design that most folks can be very happy with that's also simple enough to encourage a lot of us to tweak and modify to suit our needs and taste. There is no 'best' speaker out there but every design has its superior qualities as well as its compromises - you just have to decide which is the best for you. Given your constraints - 11' x 9' room and 7 watts/ch, I'd still consider a Single Driver design but regardless of your choice, there's lots to learn and plenty more decisions to make. Have fun

Like my other story, the lesson learned is that a good deal will not wait. After losing the Gibson 335, I started carrying around a few hundred dollars at all times. I figure that if I'm mugged, the actual violation will bother me a lot more than the amount of money stolen and being able to make an instant deal has come in very handy on numerous occasions. A few months ago, I saw an ad on CL for a 1968 Gibson Les Paul Custom for an unbelievable price and immediately sent an email. The fella called 10 minutes later and said I was the 1st to inquire and that we could set something up for next day. It was a little after 10pm at the time but I suggested that if it wasn't too late, I could be there in 30 mins. He agreed and it was lucky for me 'cause by the time I'd driven over, he had gotten dozens of emails, some offering more than twice what he was asking and one guy even made it a point to tell him his guitar was worth 3000-4000 dollars and that he would appraise it for free (nice trick - I bet it has served him well). I told the seller that these guys were just trying to get to the head of the line and there was no guarantee that he'd get any more $ for his troubles. I also told him that if his LP was indeed a 1968, it would be worth a lot more than $4k - more like $20K but there were only 200 made that year and they were all black which his was not. I had seen the pic in the ad so I had brought some books along to date the guitar (not an easy task for a Gibson) and we determined that it was probably a '72 or '74 so he felt better. To his credit, he did say that he'd stick with his asking price so he ended up with the price he wanted, I got a nice guitar at a great price and we both walked away satisfied that it was a fair deal.

Too many stories of deals gone bad - the worst I can recall is about 10 years ago, I walked into a pawn shop I often frequented looking for guitars and such. The fella knew why I was there and pulled out a guitar that had just become available. It was an original 1961 Gibson 335 in excellent condition. We negotiated a price pretty quickly and I said I'd return with cash in an hour. I offered a deposit but he said it wouldn't be necessary.."it'll be here - don't worry". I get back from the bank and the salesman is nowhere to be found. Another fella says that he was at the other shop, so I wait for 45 minutes before he returns. After trying to avoid me for a few minutes, he said that the boss called while I was gone and wanted to see the guitar. I'd have to go to the other shop and talk to him. Surmise it to say that the boss doesn't want to sell it until he has the guitar appraised by local dealers. I try to explain that the price had been agreed to but he's not willing to sell it just yet. At this point, we both know I'll never see the guitar again so he throws me a bone and shows me a very nice Rickenbacher 'Hawaiian' lap steel in chrome and offers it to me for a good price but says it wont be available until the following Monday. I regretfully accepted the situation and took him up on his offer BUT insisted I leave a deposit which he accepted and wrote me a ticket. I stopped by on Monday morning to pick up the Rick only to be told by the boss that 2 dealers bid up the 335 and the one that lost out was so upset, the boss offered him the Rick to calm him down. He apologized, gave back my deposit and said he'd find another guitar for me but at that point, I was over the whole thing and left. That's a bad experience, one of many but I can name 10 good ones for every bad one so I can't complain too much.

I used a pr of EML solid plates in a Korneff 45SE amp for years and while they didn't have that 'air' that most 45s offer, they did add some punch in the bottom end. They are closer to 2A3 than say, the globe 45 but still a good-sounding tube and sound more like a 45 than 2A3. I would recommend them if you want to use the 45 amp to power Khorns at higher volumes. Another trick is to bi-wire and run the wire to the woofers through an autoformer like Paul Speltz offers. This will allow you to change the impedance to the woofers and..."are used to multiply the impedance of any speaker so that it "feels" like the optimum load for the amplifier being used. They are very helpful in matching speakers to amplifiers. By adjusting the speaker's impedance, both the damping factor and the maximum power transfer of the amp/speaker can be tailored for the best sound." Noise never was an issue with the Korneff 45SE - its a very quiet amp.

Howard's makes some nice products. I use the 'Restor A Finish' with older finishes to hide scratches, blemishes, remove dried out and sun-damaged coats and add a new sheen. My lacquered walnut finish had begun to crack (crazing) and the R-A-F re-almalgamated the finish nicely. I reapply every few years and it works like a charm. Raw birch and such will benefit from an occasional light (very light!) sanding with 400 or 600 grit paper. You just want to sand away the dirt and blemishes and be extremely careful around edges. Use a block along the grain and clean up with mineral spirits. Boiled linseed oil is easy to work with. A light sanding to remove dirt and blemishes and scuff the finish (use 400 grit paper or good quality 0000 steel wool dampened with MS), clean up with mineral spirits and apply a coat or 2 of B-L-O with a clean lint-free cloth (microfiber works great). Wait a few minutes and wipe off excess. When dry (a few hours to a day will do), buff/polish and your set for a few more years. Be aware that these chemicals are flammable and require good ventilation so don't smoke and wear a respirator unless you have a spare lung or 2 on hand. Have fun!

I've had both, still have the GG but never found a good use for either. A good record cleaner/machine will make your records sound as nice and quiet as they're gonna get (dirty/moldy records might benefit from a steamer). If you live in a dry climate, a humidifier will prevent a lot of static and a grounded floor mat and Zerostat gun will take care of the rest. Have fun.

Be sure to cut the juice before you start digging up that rod.

I don't want to post such things because it'll be a document of an obsession I'm not particularly proud of, maybe even a record of my decent into a compulsive disorder and certainly something my wife is better off knowing as little about as possible. When I had less than 1000 LPs, I was in control of things; when I hit 2000, I still thought I was in control; after 3000, I began to wonder; at 4000, I became concerned so now I've stopped counting...problem solved.

Mapleshade produces some very nice sounding CDs - I really like the simple, straight up recording techniques Pierre uses - sometimes with only a single mike overhead. As a rule, I don't mention any TS finds but I wanted to share an experience that many of us have encountered at one time or another. Yesterday, I walked into a local Goodwill and as usual, I went straight to the record bins. I immediately came upon a copy of Gentle Giant's 'Giant Steps' - a very good retrospective album and one I've never come across in a thrift shop. I kept flipping through and found every original GG title except Power and the Glory and In a Glass House all imports and most on the Vertigo label. I found plenty of other progressive albums... Yes, Patrick Moraz, Bill Bruford, Peter Gabriel, Genesis, etc. - 25-30 in all. There were quite a few promos and 2 bootlegs of Genesis concerts in the pile I put aside. I then proceeded to check out the records...and my heart sank. Scratches, dirt and cracks abounded. I examined each record and the disappointment rose with every one I pulled. In the end, the only record worth taking home was Gentle Giant's 'Missing Piece' and even that was stretching my usual standards. I only take records home that I would be willing to play without cleaning (though I always clean 'em). The record was a bit dirty but I just had to take something from the pile....bummer.