Allan Songer

My dear Mr. McCall, If you have never owned or lived with tubes, I don't think it is any way fair for you to pass judgement on them in ANY way. You couldn't possibly know if "toobs" (as you so distainfully call them) are "distortion generators" to your oh-so-sensitive ears! If you don't know of what you speak, it's much better to just keep your mouth shut, rather than upset those of us who have lived extensively with all kinds of gear-- current prod., vintage, tube, S/S, etc. and have INFORMED opinions. I have been involved in this "hobby" for 30 years and have owned literally dozens and dozens of amps, 30 or 40 pairs of speakers, countless phono cartridges ,etc. I also spend a lot of time at concerts and clubs (4-6 times per month)listening to LIVE music--jazz for the most part. My aim in striving for "high fidelity" in my home is to get as close to the sound and feeling of LIVE music as possible. I could give a rat's *** about test data and specifications! For me, tubes (and horns, of course) get me closer to the sound of REAL music and that's what matters most. If I were a Dr. Dre or Eminem fan, I'm sure I'd need some monster Krell amps (just to name one possibility) and ANYTHING but horns, but that's something else again . . . I've even tried 3-watt 2A3 SET amps and found them somewhat lacking in the lower end--thier glorious midrange notwithstanding--perhaps with a sub? But I've never been able to get a subwoofer to meld with the music in my setup--maybe I've just tried the wrong ones (REL and Linn to name two). I listen to my "hi-fi" an average of 15 hours per week. I have one question for you--do you even like music? I ask, because I run into "hi-fi" people all the time who are into GEAR, not music. For what it's worth-- here's my current rig: McIntosh MC-30 mono amps (GEC KT-66 outputs) (2) McIntosh C-22 preamp Thorens TD-124/SME 3012/Ortofon SPU/GT-E B.A.T. VK-D5 CD player Klipsch Cornwalls (1963 vintage-vertical horn) McIntsoh MR-71 tuner (more tubes!) McIntosh MI-3 scope Silver Audio and Wireworld wires. I listen to my "hi-fi" an average of 15 hours per week.

Wow! I've never before heard anyone say that KOB is "poorly recorded." I'm so astonished I couldn't possibly comment. Ok, I'll try! Perhaps you're not used to live in the studio, direct to two-track recordings with no compression or other tricks. I'll agree that the CD of KOB I bought in the late 80's sounds like crap, but on vinyl this is a GLORIOUS sounding record! I've been told that the more recent KOB CD released are pretty good, but I haven't heard one. If you like the way Trane sounds on KOB, I suggest you look for the Miles Davis "classic quintet" records-- Cookin', Relaxin', Steamin', etc. These are great. Also, you should check out "Blue Train" on Blue Note and "My Favorite Things" on Atlantic--once you get into this, you can move on to the later Impulse! records.

I've decided to add and tubes and horns/jazz LP section to my wife's website for her cigar store. Here's the URL for any and all who wish to check it out. http://www.rjcigars.com/Mens%20Almanac/BachelorPad/bachelor_pad.htm

I've had great luck with gun stock oil followed with gun stock wax. I know that Herman Miller uses this on all of their walnut furniture and it really provides just the right amount of lustre. I can't reccomend this process highly enough. Any good sporting goods store or gun shop has it and it's cheap.

I use gunstock oil and then top it off with carnuba wax. Superb results--very cheap.

The best sounding integrated amp I ever owned was a Scott 299--these had perhaps the best phono section of any integrated EVER built. Stay away from the 299C and 299D, as they lost the magic of the 7189 output 299 and 299B. I know you can get a perfect one for under $500 that has been totally restored. I can't reccomned these little Scotts enough--for the money you simply can't beat them.

The Dynaco ST-120 might just be the worst hi-fi amplifier ever made, and that's saying something! If one could name one amplifier that embodies everything that was wrong with early solid-state the ST-120 would be the one. I wouldn't pay 10 cents for one.

DON'T DO IT! Banannas are NOT any kind of improvement over what you have! If you want to see and maybe hear an imporvement, then go with CARDAS binding posts and high-end thick gold spades. But banannas? No way!

I'd be willing to have a listen, my experience from 30 (!!!!!!) years ago notwithstanding. It just seemed like an extended boogie jam to me, but I guess they got MUCH better over the years. If Ornette wanted to jam with me, something must have been going on!

My Cornwalls have NEVER had any Grateful Dead played throught them, but I have a great story about the Dead from about 1972. I was an undergrad at Berkeley and some friends of mine convinced me to go to a show with them. I think they asked me becasue I had a VW van and knew I didn't get high, so I was the perfect choice to drive them to Palo Alto for the show. On the way down everyone but me dropped acid and by the time we got to the venue at Stanford they were FLYING. The first thing I noticed when we got in was that there were at least 20 guys with high-tech recording devices getting ready to tape the show--I'm talking REEL-TO-REEL for the most part! Before too long, the band took the stage and proceeded to f**k around with their instruments and amps for about TEN MINUTES until one guy stumbled to the mike and said: "All of my stuff works, but some of Jerry's stuff doesn't work yet." Then they continued to mess around for another TEN TO FIFTEEN MINUTES until Jerry started playing some sloppy groove on the guitar and everyone in the band sort of fell in. Immediately all my buddies were desperately trying to figure out what this tune was going to be and the ones that were correct became elated that they were right! Anyway, this sloppy groove continued for about 3 hours. It was the most BORING concert I had ever seen or heard. I'm not much of a rock-and-roll fan---I'd always liked the Rolling Stones and the Beatles and Cream and some other bands of the era, but The Grateful Dead where from another planet. They weren't particualary skilled musicians or vocalists and the tunes all sounded EXACTLY the same. Everyone but me LOVED the show. And everyone but me had dropped acid. So I guess you have to be halucinating to appreceate the Dead, I dunno... All I know is that I never had to drop acid to get into John Coltrane or Monk or Miles or Duke Ellington, so I guess the Dead just 'aint for me. To each his own. But every time I hear one of their tunes I think of Bob Weir stumbling to the mike on that sunny afternoon telling all of us that Jerry's stuff doesnt work. What a riot!

Those are "Wire World" cables-I think they are the "Oasis" line, but I don't really remember. I traded a nice humidor from my wife's cigar store for them (my cost was about $200 or so). There's a high end store in the same area and the owner is a really good customer of her's. I'm sure they're much better than the old zip-cord I once used, but don't know if they're any better than any nice, thick cable.

And here's the same speaker from the front: http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=757826&a=10308307&p=34745532&Sequence=0&res=high

Yes, that's the ALK network in place. I think it's the first one made, as Al had me do some serious comparisons during the later part of the development stage. You will not be sorry if you invest in a pair of these networks--the biggest improvement in my system was in the quickness of the bass--the decay from a plucked bass string for instance tightened up remarkably. To put it simply--the Cornwalls just sounded BETTER with the ALK--go back into the archives and read my initial post on this.

I think the woofers went to mud magnets in the very early 70's--you'll notice that the magnet is square as opposed to round--I think they're made from some kind of ferrite slurry and therfore called "mud." I doubt if there is much of a sonic difference if any bewteen Alnico and "Mud" magnets, but I've never done any kind of comparison. Mid-horns and tweeters remained Alnico for several years after the woofers went to "Mud." Does anyone know why?

Here's what yours probably look like inside, but if they're from 1971 they probably have a mud magnet on the woofer instead of Alnico. http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=757826&a=10308307&p=34745536&Sequence=0&res=high You'll noitce that the grill cloth wraps around the plywood panel that the horns and woofer are mounted to. There is no separate grill!!!

You're grills ARE NOT held on by velcro and THEY WILL NOT pry off. They are screwed on and you will have to REMOVE THE HORNS AND WOOFER from the inside and proceed from there should you wish to remove them!!!!! This is the way the early Cornwalls were made. If the grills are decent I advise you to leave well enough alone!!!!

Better link: http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=757826&a=10308307&p=34745556&Sequence=0&res=high Sorry for the multiple post.

There are TWO stickers on the back of my Cornwalls! http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=757826&a=10308307&p=34745556&f=0 You'll notice that the sticker of the left shows that the speakers can be placed in either vertical or horizontal postion! I've never tried it the other way! By the way, the "risers" under my Corwalls are made from walnut, steel, and sand and weigh about 80 pounds each and are supported by spikes and cones. I did this "tweak" about 3 years ago and it REALLY tightened up the bass!

Yes, they work. By the way, that's an ALK Cornwall network (the first one I believe).

Here's a couple of images that might help: http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=757826&a=10308307&p=34745536&Sequence=0&res=high http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=757826&a=10308307&p=34745573&Sequence=0&res=high Hope these links work.

That's exactly right! For the first few years ALL Cornwalls were built with vertical horns in a L/R config. Later, these remained avilable as "special order" items and were called Cornwall "II." It think this all ended in about '71 or '72, as I've never seen a "vertical horn" model built after the very early 70's. Mine are 1964 vintage, have vertical horns and do not have the "II" designation.

That's exactly right! For the first few years ALL Cornwalls with built with vertical horns in a L/R config. Later, these remained avilable as "special order" items and were called Cornwall "II." It think this all ended in about '71 or '72, as I've never seen a "vertical horn" model built after the very early 70's. Mine are 1964 vintage, have vertical horns and do not have the "II" designation.

My brother-in-law is a high shcool chemistry teacher and has access to pure (well, 99%) alchohol and he gives me a pickle jar full every now and then (kind of like moonshine?). I think they might actually distill this stuff in the Chem lab, but I'm not totally sure.

I listen to vinyl about 85% of the time and have developed a terrific system for cleaning records. First off, I HIGHLY reccomend the "Disc Doctor" cleaning fluid and pads--I have found nothing that works as well and I've tried everything, believe me! My system for cleaning a newly acquired LP (new or used) is as follows: Thoroughly scrub with Disc Doctor fluid and pad and then vacuum with Nitty Gritty. Flush with distilled water and vacuum again. Follw this with another scrubbing with a 3:1 mixture of distilled water and 99% pure isopropyl and then another vacuum. Scrub again with pure distilled water and then a final vacuuming! I know this sounds like a pain in the butt, buy you can clean a record in about 8 minutes this way and IT WORKS! After this prcocedure I zap the LP with a zerostat and then into a anti-static sleeve it goes. Every time I play a record I brush it with an AQ carbon fiber brush and I always clean the stylus (again with the Disc Doctor stylus cleaner--it's the best) between records. And remember--once a record is cleaned throughly, you will more than likely NEVER need to clean it again if you take care of it and your stylus.

Due to the way my system is set up, one run of wire is SIX FEET longet than the other. I think that this is a MUCH better option than having a bunch of wire coiled up in the corner behind the speaker. I use Wireworld wire that retails for a bunch of money, but I acquired it as part of a "trade." My wife owns a cigar store and the owner of the audio store down the road a piece loves cigars and so a bargain was struck!