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Great idea, Ben.... Feel sorry for the sucker who's going to get stuck freighting the amp out to Pakistan to me! -F

Didn't mean to wake up a dead topic... but I feel that recognition was due. First, the bad news: I sent the Electras back. Took a bad hit in the stock market (yeah, yeah... what was I doing there in the first place!?!), so I can't afford them. But the main reason was that no matter how good they looked or sounded, i couldn't justify their performance-for-price ratio to myself. That coupled with the fact that I would really have to plug in good money into the electronics didn't sit well with me. However, having said all of this, it was one sweet pair of speakers which I spent a good couple of weeks listening to thoroughly. Ran through many many cd's that I know well, and started to really get used to and warm up to the sound that so effortlessly poured from the speakers. In the end, I did find the bass a little heavy but...... Alas, I drift into a non-Klipsch review on a Klipsch forum, so I'll stop right there. However, onto the recognition that I spoke about earlier: After a good two weeks of silence from my KHorns, I powered them back up a couple of nights ago. Hats off to PWK and then all of you who have veered me into this direction. After spending so much time dedicated to listening to another pair of "High End" speakers, I have really found appreciation for my KHorns in a way that I didn't think was possible. I strongly suggest to anyone out there who is starting to get blase about their home setup. Find a high end store that is willing to in-home audition a pair of their best speakers at your place, and shut down your Klipsch system for a few days. Talk about baptism by fire! Somehow, though, my wife didn't appreciate me telling her that it was a good idea to go out and audition other things to appreciate what you have at home... Wonder why? Later, -F

---------------- On 4/4/2005 8:24:56 AM 3dzapper wrote: Fauzi, You have Type A crossovers? On the x-over board are two silver colored metal boxes one larger than the other. Those are the the caps. The larger one is 13uF the smaller, 2uF. Replacement is straight forward, solder new wires and terminals and copy the wireing exactly (do one at a time so you can copy). As to where to buy replacement caps in Pakiatan, I haven't a clue. Maybe you can get them when you visit Canada later this year. Or order a pair of Bob Crites', DeanG's or Al K's for delivery while you are over here. Rick ---------------- Rick, Phew... that wasn't too bad. I checked it out, and I see what you are talking about. Although, I was having trouble reading some of the other specs on them. I think it says the voltage of the caps on them also. Anyone know what that might be? Yes, it's the type A. I'm able to get caps over here, but not those made specifically for music. The ones that you get here are those that are general ones that are meant for a regular circuit board, which I'm sure can be soldered onto the x-over board. Would these be better than the old ones that are on there right now? I think I may be able to mess around with it, provided someone can give me the ok to try to get the right spec capacitors. Help out, someone. -F

I keep trying to hide my ignorance, and never get the right response because I come across as knowing more than I actually do... So this time, I'm going to shed all facades and come clean.............. I don't know what a capacitor does, how to replace it on my KHorns, where they are, if it's an easy job or not, what they look like, where I can get some new ones... My '71 Khorns I'm sure need to have them replaced... and from what I've heard, it's an easy enough job. So taken with a grain of salt, I'm sure I could mess around with them a bit and do it... I just don't know where to get started. Pictures would be good. Anyone out there who can help this poor soul who has bared all in front of forum members?!?! -F

Waaait a mooment!!! So Loof is not really an obscure Norse warrior king?!?!? I thought I had heard a few good stories about him in high school!! Cute, lynnm... really cute! -F

---------------- On 3/27/2005 9:31:13 AM jbsl wrote: Well open mouth insert feet!! I just checked my email and had a message from ebay saying I had won the auction for $305. Now I have to drive to Houston pick them up and. So now I will have La Scalas on the 3 front channels with KLF 20s as my rears. This one is a 1975 and mine are 2004 so I may have to get Dean to make a crossover that will match the ones in the 2004 La Scalas. May not have to since I'm not going to use the center to overpower the other two but use it to fill in the center a little bit to bring up vocals and any solo instrament playing center stage. I'll post pics once I get it. Xman ---------------- Xman, Not to put a damper on things, but I've heard one too many horror stories, so I find it's better to sound stupid than be sorry. Hope you're taking cash with you when you pick them up, and not sending it to someone... Considering you had thought that you lost the auction, and still you get an email saying that you won.. Probably nothing wrong with it... just wanted to point out that things like this have happened in the past... Ask timmykid! Anyways, if all's kosher... Congrats. Sounds like a good score! Later, -F

Hey guys, I've now spent about a week listening to the speakers, and I have to tell you that I am extremely extremely impressed. Like some people, I had not heard of Focal / JM Labs until very recently when the Berilium drivers were being advertised, and the Grand Utopia was making waves at audio shows. But I had written off these speakers as "showcase" material that rich people keep in their houses to impress others at their audiophile prowess. However, after having heard them for myself over an extended period of time, I have been forced to place my preconceived notions aside, and admit the fact that they are just a rocking pair of speakers. Mids and Highs are liquid and light, no doubt. Of course, compared the KHorns on my system, I have to toe them in and out to get a clear "picture" of the sound, but once you do, it's a rewarding experience. The interesting thing is, in another post going on currently about the B&W Diamond tweeters, I had mentioned that I was interested in getting my second system started with a pair of 802 Nautilus that someone had lying around. Auditioned them the other day with Mark Levinson pre and mono blocks, and even though it was a very dramatic experience, it did not have the warmth that I find with these speakers. Of course, the 802's weren't broken in yet... but then neither have the pair of Electras that I have sitting at home. The only thing that bothers me is that (ASIDE from Heritage) I'm sure at the price tag of about $5k new, I'm sure there are other speakers out there that might give JM a run for their money. I have yet to come across them. Just wanted to oooooze some more about them... they might be leaving my home soon (if someone on this forum talks me out of keeping them), so I'm enjoying them while they're there. Later, -F PS: As for the French comments being made here, hmmmm.... there's a certain je ne sais quoi about the Electra series, no matter who's made them!

That's funny that this post comes up now... I was actually in the market for a pair of 802N, when I started reading up on the new Diamond series. Apparently, (and this was told to me by Pakistan's agent for B&W) the Nautilus line has been put out of production and they will not be selling them anymore. As it turns out, a store here has a pair of the 802 Nautilus that I'm trying to take off his hands dirt cheap. Wish me luck. -F

Sorry... crappy internet connection... Not only did I double-post... I double-topic-started! Read the other topic with the same name! -F

Hey guys, Just wanted to get some feedback, and update you on my weekend... An audio dealer friend just got a consignment of Focal / JM Labs' Electra speakers, and he let me audition a demo pair. Man oh man. Suffice it to say I was HIGHLY impressed. All weekend long I have spent a-b'ing KHorns and the 936's of the Electra Series. Note that they are still brand new, so they have yet to be broken in, I'm sure. Just a few quick surface notes on my observations: The workman ship on the speakers is gorgeous. They are in solid Cherry finished wood, with a beautiful grey baffle. Heavy as hell, and standing on the spikes, a good 4 ft. tall. 1 4" driver for the mids, coupled with 2 6" for the bass. A tweeter and a hollow bass tube. The sound is very, very sweet. Great mids. A little bottom heavy, but not fatiguing in the slightest. I think these speakers were made for jazz, because the instruments come across as very realistic. Right now I have a small entry level NAD power amp bi amped to them, paired with a loaner Krell pre. If interested, I'll post some more on my further listening later, but I am highly highly impressed. I've been auditioning speakers for the start to a second system. I think I may have just found them. Of course, my KHorns are here to stay... Just wanted to see what people think about this speaker... a little variety never hurt anyone. Later, -F

---------------- On 3/18/2005 10:40:46 PM thebes wrote: Wow man, things are starting to heat up. Uriah Heap that is. Had almodt comptley forget about this group. All your suggestions are lined up in various order, you know, mood,dynaimics etc. The Twins are casuing a near riot down on the dance floor, must be 20 guys gathered arond them nbd the dates they brought with them are looking peeved. I'm going to pull them off the floor for awhile,the could use a DOM Perignnopn infusion, anyways. Looks like this bash could last all night and probably all weekend, I mean the Eurotrash is just starting to trickle in. Keep them coming. OHMYGOD, Giner Baker just showed up! Gotta go.... ---------------- Spelling mistakes, little grammatical licenses, misplaced punctuation... hmmmmm. Sounds like you're writing post-VAT 69.... But the question is... WHY?!?!? The party's a' raging, tunes a' thumping... And thebes a' typing away... Get back to the dig, man! -F PS: I joined this forum a little late.. still confused about who the twins really are.. Some time, when I can muster up the energy and free time, I'm going to do a search on the twins and figure out what the heck is going on with this man!

Rick / Craig / Audible Nectar (LOVE that name!) Thanks a lot for all your input. With a heavy heart, and tons of self-persuasion, I have convinced myself that 2k is just waaaay to much to pay for an amp that still needs a little bit of work. Tried a ton of things, short of changing the filter capacitor, but nothing seemed to work. So, after many evening of not having my KHorns hooked up to anything but humming tubes, and an SS pre, I finally re-connected my McIntosh MA 6400 SS integrated. WOW! That's all I can say. Each time I fire this thing up, I wonder why I ever thought about changing it. Last night, I had an extended listening session with Sade crooning right in front of me... Most fun it was!! Anyways, so I remain tubeless for now... but without much regret. Does it get warmer with tubes? Probably. Does it nicer than this? Not likely... at least, I can't imagine it being worth the headache that I was about to get into. Next time I travel though, I'm sure I'm going to get thinking about venturing down tube alley again. Until that time, however, Mac SS is king for me. Regards, -F PS: Does it really get warmer? I really, really can not imagine it.

Hey there, How bad an idea is it to change the polish of my KHorns to match my living room tv cabinet? They're black right now, with some blemishes on one of the bass bins. My TV cabinet is a wonderful rustic look, with reddish browns and hints of green (yes, green... it looks FAR better than it sounds!). And man, do the grains in the wood show! So my idea was to polish sheets of plywood and Cementex them onto the speakers. My questions are: a) Will that effect the sound in any way? I should think not, since the sheets will be 3mm thick, but I'm sure you guys have far more experience in this than I do... and How blasphemous a thing is this to do? Needed the ok of the forum village elders before I embarked upon this journey, so hopeful, I remain. -F

Rick, Thanks for the info. Will give them a shot when I get home. Craig, I will try to fiddle with the tubes themselves and "jiggle" them into place. Interesting thing is that right now I have them lying on the floor next to each other with the pre and cd player on a small rack behind them. Hence there are cables running back and forth all over the place. Maybe there's magnetic interference from the pre to the speaker wire, though I doubt it. But, as I was saying, the interesting thing is that when I moved the power cable for the non-humming (or lesser humming) amp, there was a quiet thunking sound, and it too developed a hum... until a moved the cable around some more, and then it disappeared. Not so with the other amp, though. That continued to hum no matter what I did with it. What about the silver tower things? Filter capacitors, is that what they're called? Can those be replaced easily, if they need to be? -F

Ok, It's my 101st post, and I have the MC-30's that I was talking about. Finalized the price right at $2000, subject to the audition at my house for a couple of days. I'll write in more detail later when I have had time to screw around a bit, but the sad news is that there is a hum in both channels. In one of them, you can hardly hear it when you really put your ear to the relevant Khorn. The other, however, is loud. And I didn't hear them on the Snells where (at the owner's house). What could it be? Remember, I'm completely new at this. I remember someone on this forum telling me that the tall silver things (see how new I am at this?!? ) could be the problem. If so, then I'm kinda stuck because I don't know if I'd be able to get that part here. Gonna try swapping speakers to see if the hum follows the amp. Meantime, any comments would be highly appreciated. However, turning the gain up on the one channel that does work.... Sweet. Very sweet. No imaging to speak of yet cause I'm just listening to one channel, but plugged in a Diana Krall cd, and it was good fun. Really good. And right off the bat, the spark that ignited the last topic was put to rest. Absolutely, unequivocally, and undeniably, there is NOOOOO lacking bass whatsoever! Smooth, tight, and er.. plentiful! Give me a few tips as to how I can get the darn things up and running. Thanks, -F

Hey there?! Was running an interesting (if slightly fiery!) topic "What's all the fuss about?!?" detailing my ventures in buying a pair of MC-30's. It's a closed topic. Was that because of the Craig / DON Showdown? Do the moderators do that often? Or am I one of the lucky few? Was going on sunday and quite looking forward to putting my views and results up on the forum... Oh well! -F

Hmmmm... Interesting... I'm sure you've followed the thread that Colin started a couple of days ago about the listening network for Heritage speakers. This is case in point about why the company is not pushing their Heritage line as much as we would like them to. Interesting piece. -F

H2G, As long as the forum member who started the topic is not liable for any damages thus ensued.... BRING IT ON!!!! LOL! -F

Wow! Interesting, interesting thread! Heresy2Guy, I agree with you wholly on the fact that Klispch just is not promoting it's Heritage line like we feel they should be. I also agree wtih you in that Kllipsch is catering more towards the higher margin driver-based mass market out there. However, I don't necessarily think that this is a bad thing. In fact, the way the competition is nowadays, if Klipsch doesn't do exactly what they are doing, they stand a good chance at losing their place in the market. I don't have much experience in the commercial side of the audio business, but knowing distribution channels and sales strategies like I do, how they are promoting the Reference and Synergy lines is just what the doctor ordered. In our food product based manufacturing company, we live by one maxim, and one maxim only: If the distributor is not happy with your product, the end customer will never get to see it. In other words, the task that Klipsch was faced with was nearly insurmountable. Changing an entire line of horn-based, hand manufactured and highly costly products into a line of highly competitive, high distributor margin giving products that not only stayed true to the company's founder's beliefs, but also catered to the existing market and satisfied the stakeholders in teh middle. If they hadn't received the reviews that you mentioned, I highly doubt that there would be ANY Klipsch product in ANY home 5 years from now, save for us die-hard Heritage owners. Colin, great thread. H2G, great response. Really, really made me think. Regards, -F PS: I had typed a huge response before this, and not all of it showed up in the preview. How do I type longer responses? Max, perhaps you could help out here?

Hey there! Congrats on the score! Get ready to torture yourself about whether you really want to now start to get into tubes or not! Been doing that now for the past 6 months, and my brain's starting to get reeeeally tired! Have fun... post pics and reports, please. -F

Don / Craig, PLEASE! Didn't mean to start anything between you guys. Just asked an innocent question, and sincerely appreciate ALL the responses that I've been getting. Now that that's out of the way.... The good news is that I've decided to buy them. Going to go over with the cash on Sunday. Pray and wish me luck... And to all forum members: Get ready for an onslaught of (mostly) stupid questions. If I start any further flame wars, I apologize in advance!! Excited, I remain, -F

Hmmmm... Maybe I'm not up to speed on the prices or just didn't read it properly... what model could he be talking about? -F

---------------- He got very confused when I started to refer to him as M the M. Different strokes... ---------------- Max, Too funny!! but seriously now... I can't seem to take a small risk with tube sound living here. No low price Dynacos and Eicos available here. I think I'm just going to jump the gun, buy them and then pray that I love love love them. If I go in with that attitude, there's very little chance that I won't like them! -F

Boys, Thanks for the tons of input... (although, I'm not quite sure if all of it answers my questions, really!) I'm going to try to convince the guy to let me bring them over on Sunday. Hook them up to my SS pre and let loose! The general feeling that I'm getting from all of you is that tube pre is definitely better, but I'll probably still enjoy SS until I can get it. However, this nagging feeling will still remain that DON may just be right. If I do get it, which I probably will (because you just can't find these damn things in Pakistan), I'll probably love it... but that pinch will be way down there somewhere! Let's see... more on this later! What offer should I give the guy? -F

Dax, thanks for the response... Actually i was thinking of doing something right along those lines. In fact, I have a nice NAD power SS amp (C230 I think) that I was thinking about biamping with sometime down the road. But I'm still confused about whether or not I really need a tube pre to get the "complete picture" of the tube sound. -F