edwinr

I hope you're feeling better. I'm now sold on the flu shots too. Like you, I had a couple of awful bouts last year. Yes, a mutual friend [] told me of your new project. When it comes to pre-amplifiers, there's so much 'BS' around that it makes choosing a good pre-amp harder than it has to be. It's nice to be able to deal directly with the actual designer/manufacturer. I can see good things coming out of the new NBS Preamp.

Congratulations on your new preamp, Craig.

I've got the remastered CD collection (stereo). I think the remastered CDs are fantastic, but I can't wait to get the vinyl version. I had all of the Beatles albums years ago, but stupidly, when I thought CD was the future of audio, I sold them with a bunch of other irreplaceable albums.

Cool room. I'm sure you'll be able to make the klipschorns work. It might not be ideal, but then what room and speaker combination is? False corners sound good if you have to go that way. You might find other speakers may be even more intrusive than Klipschorns in your new room.

Pycckbi05, if you need somewhere to uncrate them, let me know. I have plenty of room at my place. []

Use Firefox instead of Safari. It's a browser issue, not a brand issue. Ahhhh... I knew that! [:$]

Thanks Russ. I was trying to edit the post, but my mac doesn't like this forum. Edwin.

and this: http://www.remusic.it/index.php?MasterId=g1_184&id_item=184&lng=3&node=330&rif=c61d348c0b

You may have seen this: http://www.remusic.it/index.php?MasterId=g1_189&id_item=189&lng=3&node=330&rif=6535544e34

Congratulations, Neo. The Matrix has been kind to you! []

http://www.remusic.it/index.php?MasterId=g1_184&id_item=184&lng=3&node=330&rif=c61d348c0b, and; http://stereonomono.blogspot.com.au/2010/12/klipsch-belle-1971.html.

Best of luck, Dean.

Bruce, I see that the Moondogs are no longer available, which is a shame. At the moment, the Stereomour is the least expensive 2A3 kit available.Sunnysal, I see you're a 2A3 fan as well! This seems to be the tube of choice, and many seem to favor it over the 300B designs. You may have noticed, I changed my avatar just for fun. From a SET denier to a possible(?) convert!

It amazes me that after over 60 years of production, the Klipschorn can still sit in the same room as modern top notch loudspeaker system and not be embarrassed. It's a concept that many would think is nonsensical. I know the Klipschorn has had incremental updates over the years, but the basic design is unchanged. What I don't understand, is how much smoother and more dynamic the Klipschorn sounds compared with the La Scala/Belle, while using essentially the same drivers(?). I originally thought that my Belles c/w a Klipsch subwoofer would offer very similar sound to a Pair of Klipschorns in good corners. After owning both, I realise how wrong I was. The Klipschorn is a totally different animal, and the La Scala/Belle offer only around 80% of what the Klipschorns offer. The Summits can comfortably 'better' the Belles in the categories I mentioned before, but not the Klipschorns. P.S. This is not to bag my Belles. They are a great buy and an audiophile bargain. It's just that the Klipschorns are so much better. P.P.S To put this into perspective, if I now had choice between the following similarly priced speakers that I am familiar with; the new Summit X, the Magnapan MG20.1R, the ATC SCM100ASL, the Wilson Audio Sophia 3, and the Klipschorn AK5, I would without hesitation, buy the Klipschorns. If I had bought the Klipschorns instead of the Summits, I would probably still have them - I would have found some other way to raise money...

Thanks for that link, Colin. I had already read your review and it was this very review that prompted me to research Bottlehead.com!

Thanks pauln. I suspect Bottlhead amps, because of their circuit topology, are prone to hum and other noise. I guess there are things you forgive in something you build yourself. It's a worry though when you have noise and reliability problems with 'hi-end' amplifiers that you paid full retail for. I have had these problems and they have left me very suspicious of certain manufacturer's products. The Bottlehead Forum is very good and can help those like me who have very little technical training. I can solder and I can just barely make work my way through a circuit diagram. But that's it! I need to do something that's not too expensive but offers genuine sound improvement. As I indicated the previous paragraph, I am sick of paying full retail and then losing big $$$ again when I realise that the 'hi-end' component that I bought in good faith is not as good as it was made out to be by the manufacturer.

Great post CT vintage. Electrostatics are not for everyone, but many horn fans will probably like panels as well. I tried Vantages at home a few years ago. The bass output was amazing. But the soundstage was minimal if you weren't sitting in the sweet spot. The Summits were better, but not by a whole lot, and were beaten by the Klipschorn. I never compared my Belles directly with the Summits, but I reckon the Belles offer a far wider soundstage. I have a couple of discs featuring Chopin's nocturnes and I seem to remember the Summits reproducing some background studio sound better than the Belles - although the actual piano reproduction was very similar to what I reckon my Belles can manage. I like your video. I won't spoil what you did for others who might read this thread, but I can understand why you choose as you did. []

Check out this new design from Bottlehead.com. It's an integrated tube SET amplifier using 2A3 tubes. It's offered as a kit for around $749. Here's a pic...

1. Badly broken shoulder plus torn muscles and ligaments. I did it at work but the insurance wouldn't pay the whole cost. I was six months off work. 2. You can't judge an s/s or tube amplifier in isolation. Many will say that tubes amplifiers lack some bass compared to s/s - but what speakers are they being asked to drive? S/s can sound awfully harsh when matched with highly sensitive horns. Low powered SET amplifiers can sound laughable if you ask them to drive something like a pair of massive ATC studio monitors. I have been into horns for 'only' 8 years. I am still learning. But one thing I have learnt, is that horn speakers are much more influenced by what amplifier you drive them with than other speaker designs. If your horn sounds harsh, shrill, unlistenable, then there is something wrong with your amplification or source - not the speaker. The Martin Logan Summits, like other electrostatics, are also sensitive to amplifiers. The Summits could sound very ordinary when driven by average electronics (Sadly, average doesn't necessarily mean inexpensive). Funny enough, some of the best sound I got from the Summits was from my little Atoll IN50 intergrated amplifier @ 50 watts per channel. The little Atoll shamed my then Mark Levinson amplifier for listenability. Obviously the big ML was designed to drive something more demanding than the Summits (That's why I sold it for the Pass Labs X150). I am now thinking SET amplification... The Belles are okay. I will be keeping those. Mint Belles will be worth a lot of money in the not too distant future. They are an absolute bargain now. Klipschorns are also back in the mix if I don't buy another set of panels. But SET amplification intrigues me. The first few watts are SO important. Horns for general listening in smaller to medium sized rooms, will ask the amplifier to respond only a little above their idle. Many modern amplifiers have been designed to produce clean power well above where any decent Klipsch horn speaker will need to go. So where does that leave us? I'll tell you!!! Harsh, shrill distorted sound similar to what you might hear when starting up a chainsaw! I need to rethink how I drive my Belles. I currently use a CEC Tube 53 integrated amp. It does about 12 to 14 clean watts a side. It drives my Belles to ear bleeding levels. But I can tell it lacks some refinement at lower levels in my smallish room (20 foot by 24 foot). If I had a larger room like the long lost but sorely missed Parrot has, then something like the NOSValves VRD tube monoblocs would be the way to go.

Sorry the above post is hard to read. I'm posting with my macbook pro. There seems to be some issues with Apple computers and this website. (Edit: I jumped on a windows computer to fix the above posting issues...)

Thanks, quadklipsch. I eventually sold the Summits to pay for medical treatment. I miss them a lot. I ended up running them with an Audio Research LS25 mk2 pre and a Pass Labs X150 power amp. I never used these amplifiers with my Klipschorns. Now the newer breed of ML's can be driven quite nicely with a good quality tube amp. Perhaps the new Audio Research VSi60. Just recently, I auditioned the Spire and the slightly smaller Ethos. They sounded very nice, with the Spire winning by a nose. Both speakers feature powered bass A good combination that drove the Summits very well.; a 10 inch driver in the case of the Spire, and an 8 inch driver with passive woofer in the Ethos. The new Summit X is out of my price range so I didn't listen. When comparing the Klipschorn and the Summit, I was listening loud! I was recording 105 dB peaks 'C' weighted on my digital spl meter. Both speakers can drive a very large room to concert levels. Ultimately I guess the K'horns would go louder, but I reckon my ears would bleed before I approached the limits of either speaker. Looking back at what I wrote before, there was not a lot between the two. I now think the Summit resolved more low level detail with better imaging, but the K'horn had a better soundstage. It was really hard to get the bass right with the Summits. After over 3 years of tweaking, it was something unresolved. The K'horn was much easier to get right. Maybe my Klipschorns would have benefitted from better amplification than I used. There's a tendency to stick just any old amp on them because any old amp will drive them! This is where many, including myself, make a mistake. The Klipschorns deserve the best amp you can afford - not necessarily the most powerful one. The best amp I used with the K'horn was an Audio Note Soro SE. The worst was an old Pioneer s/s thing which I still own. Many people reckon SET amplifiers sound the best with Klipschorns. Maybe they're right. A lot of more powerful amplifiers aren't really suited to driving really supersensitive speakers at normal listening levels. The first few watts out of these amplifiers sound awful, but when driving 'normal' speakers, these 'awful' watts aren't an issue. You need to experience Klipschorns. When you do, you will develop an irresistible urge to buy a pair. You have been warned! P.S. I still own some Klipsch speakers. I bought a brand new pair of Belles a few years ago which I kept boxed. When I sold the Summits, I unboxed them and I have been enjoying them ever since. P.P.S. I've been toying with the idea of building a Bottlehead Stereomour SET amp. It punches out a whopping 3.5 watts per channel! I wonder what my Belles will think of that...

I would love to see a full Klipshorn review. But it is nice to see Heritage stuff getting some recognition.

ToneAudio editor Jeff Dorgay says he's going to conduct a full review of the Heresy III in forthcoming issue 38. ToneAudio is a great online mag. I download it every month for some great reading. Jeff discusses the review in his blog: http://www.tonepublications.com/blog/klipsch-heresy-iiis-a-ton-of-fun/

Anyone seen this website? Is it German? Lots of very interesting Klipschorn and La Scala system pics: http://www.klipsch-direct.de/referenzen.html

Klipsch changed forever when PWK passed away. It doesn't really matter now who 'owns' the company - nor does it matter if any owner after PWK has the family name of Klipsch, or not. What does matter is the continuing passion of the Klipsch engineers and having enough money to fully develop, then market their ideas...