pete almquist

hi all, i've debated with myself about whether to post on this subject or not because, although i have an amusing anecdote to add i don't know specifically about what components are involved aside from the speakers. however, i think you might get some fun out of this story... years ago when i first bought the klipschorns i didn't have a system that was worth a darn. radio shack's best reciever which turned out to be a real disappointment. anyway, a friend of mine who happened to be a musician and a real music lover bought a very nice ss system and a set of bose 901's. he wanted me to listen to them because he had heaard the the horns and wanted me to hear how good his sounded in comparison. sure enough when i listened to his system i was blown away by the 'wall of sound'. one of the first albums he played was 'dire straits' with sultans of swing on it. anyway, suitably impressed i asked him if he would like to try his system with the klipschorns for comparison and he jumped at the offer. a week or so later he brought his system over and hooked it to the horns. after a couple hours of listening he was somewhat depressed and it wasn't very long after that that he sold the bose speakers and got a set of different speakers. i don't recall which type he got...they were enormous but weren't klipsch. i have a feeling he felt like he needed to find speakers that sounded better than the klipschorns as a matter of pride. they were about 6 feet tall, 4 feet wide, and about 4 inches thich if i recall correctly. i heard them once and was really impressed but never got to compare them them with the horns. were they magnapans? i really don't know. i fell out of touch with him after that but that got me to realize that i needed to get a better system than i had to play the horns. i got the best nad ss component system i could buy from crutchfield some of which i still own today but only recently got the bug to upgrade mostly because of starting to lurk on this site. i've very much enjoyed reading all your posts and do realize that my experiences are very limited and that my mileage probably varies widely from others.i'm not bashing any brand, just relating an experience. hope everyone's having a great evening! pete

hah, in my case it helps to be in the middle of two acres of woods. besides, the neighbors dogs and the occasional target practice of hunters is louder than any noise i make. here in the woods of virginia hunting seems to be a major pass-time even off season... btw, thanks for posting that...lots of fun!! pete

erik, you seem to be remarkably knowledgble about clocks...do you work on them? i do for a hobby/extra income. i thought the clock in the pic was interesting also. must be time only which is a bit unusual... pete

been using the trends amp for over a week now and so far haven't been tempted to go back to the nad ss amp. just been enjoying the music...

wtf??? what are these latex things about?

allright!!! now i'm fired up! listening to moody blues at almost an ear-screeching level. drove my wife and kids out of the house... well, one of the kids is still inside but she's come in a couple times complaining about the sound level. anyway, just seems like a great day for classic rock and mostly psychedelic at that. hope all are having as fun a day as i am. pete

no, no, sorry to break this to you but dr. who's robot's always looked like animated tin-cans...

hey all, thanks again for your replies. does dean have a web-site? how can i go about ordering these caps and what are the price differences. dean if i am treating you in the third person forgive me... on the other hand royalty often uses that form... thanks again! pete

heh, heh...i just noticed something. was reading the user manual that came with the trends amp (yes, amazing isn't it...). anyway, you notice how a lot of manuals from the orient are translated funny? this one has a rather obvious error; it says to turn the volume knob clockwise to reduce the volume. damn, it just kept getting louder for me...

i have to admit i was taking this post seriously while reading it, even tho i was scratching my head at it's content. what a goof...

good morning dave, thanks for the quick reply. hope you are having a nice morning. wondering what the bike in your profile is about. are you a bike dealer? i'm into mountain biking although i dont have a high dollar rig. i have a cadex (made by giant) aluminum frame hardtail that i've had now for a number of years. i dont use it extremely hard and its hung in there pretty well. about ready to replace the front shocks tho...getting a bit soft. have a great day! pete

hi all, after reading new member jerol's post and the various replies i got to wondering about the khorns i have. as far as i know they have never been either upgraded or ever had anything replaced in them. if i remember correctly they are 1982 vintage. one of the posts mentioned about the capacitors starting to leak after a time. i dont want that to happen and so far it hasn't but i have to wonder if this phenomenon is due to high volume playing or some other kind of stress to the speaker. possibly heat related? point being, if i monitor the condition of these caps and i dont see any leakage, would this maybe be an indicator on whether or not it's time to replace them? in other words, is it a good indicator of the capacitor's performance level? i suppose it wouldnt hurt to go ahead and change out these 25 year old caps but the speakers already sound so good i just dont feel all that motivated at this time. is it probable that a noticeable improvement of sound would result in changing them? thanks very much for the advice! pete

hi there, not sure exactly what you mean but sitting here looking at the album and the jacket art is all black and white. the labels on the discs are red. its a polydor release and there are two discs in one jacket. hope this helps. pete

hello, just wanted to let you know that my wife has a few albums she would be willing to let go if the price is right. she has the following: live at the filmore east, exc. cond. not in the original sleeves but in quality anit-static sleeves. brothers of the road, exc. condition. enlightened rogues, also in excellant condition. she says they were rarely played and tapes were made of them for regular listening instead of playing the lp's. i've never listened to them and can only say they look in great shape. she isnt sure waht they are worth but asked if you would care to make an offer. if so please e-mail me at petealmquist@wmconnect.com. thanks.

i suppose some might consider this suggestion cruelty to animals but since it was such an egregious case of 'speaker cruelty' i submit the following: strap the dog down in front of the speaker. play two hours of 'the best of lawrence welk'. either the dog will have an enormous fear of the speaker from that day on or he will be too busy waltzing to chew on it again. just my .02 worth. ;0 pete p.s. mea culpa...

hi all, shouldn't we make a stipulation that this prize should only apply for those posts that are worth a damn...? guess applies to me also. (damn it!!!) ))

hi all, was wondering what it would involve both labor and pricewise to rebuild a pair of klipschorn crossovers. are there kits? maybe a recommended parts list? what about starting from scratch and having the complete unit so it can simply be traded out to reduce the downtime? on the other hand is there such a thing as recycling the original so it can be used like a core charge or something of this nature? thanks for any and all advice about this! pete p.s. i was thinking about doing it myself but would also enjoy a price comparison of having it done by an expert. thanks again!

hello all, i cant help but think a lot of the folks here are like me and have the home theatre in a different room from the 2-channel music room. i use 5 klipsch sb series speakers for surround, ksc for center, powered sub-woofer and a sony db series 7.1 reciever. the only disadvantage to this setup is i can only hear sacd tracks on this system and not on my 2-channel with the klipschorns. still its fun to do that occasionally and then have the music room to myself when listening to two channel (tho i often have at least one of the kids wanting to sit in too, even for classical music believe it or not). our home theatre gets a lot of use mainly because the dvd and vcr is connected thru it and the kids watch a lot of movies, generally on a daily basis. we have an extensive kids movie library and they're watching it all the time. probably due to my work schedule (i work 5am - 3:30pm) i dont always have a chance to sit and watch night-time adult shows and there are only a few that i enjoy anyway. i do enjoy the occasional movie and the ht makes a big difference in the experience. on weekends i enjoy the car races. i'm mostly an open wheel and sports car fan but my son always wants to see the nascar races so i will generally watch them with him as well and it's fun to have the race sounds thru the ht system. the thing that makes ht most essential to me personally are the movies i see occasionally because that provides the theatre experience for me. when the music swells, the bullets start wizzing, the explosions start rocking the house, the action comes from all around you, that makes it all worthwhile to me. it's great!

hey there, well i really wasn't aware that there had been any debate but i suppose i'm not surprised. it's very possible that the reason why i enjoy virgil fox better is because of his drama and flair. e. power always seened stilted and forced to me. virgil fox's just flowed and was very moving and powerful. although a couple of his recordings i heard as a kid had some pop's type tunes the albums i loved best were baroque and early classical in nature. i very much enjoy his bach, clarke, etc. anyway, as mentioned before, just one man's opinion. pete

hi all, although e. power biggs probably has the greatest recognition power going for him (because of his catchy name i suspect) i like the renditions of the same works performed by virgil fox. i have recordings by both of them. maybe just a personal opinion but i think most would agree in a comparison... pete

please pardon me if i repeat myself...WOW

hmm, another question. my speaker setup isnt optimal and i've been raising the base gain on the nad amp to bring out the lows. what is available in the way of an equalizer in case i want to do this with the trends. obviously there are many equalizers out there but i wonder what might be available in a low cost unit that wont degrade the sound. thanks again for the advice!! pete

wow! so from my limited knowledge point of view it appears to have almost a perfectly flat response up past 9 watts. sounds like a very good match for the klipschorns...

p.s. would bi-amping be able to raise any real level of performance with the klipschorns? volume? better anything?

hi cut throat, (what is your name anyway...? ), well, i did intend to hook one amp to the speakers and enjoy it with the intention also of doing an a-b comparison with my current amp. i have mentioned also that i dont have the best system and i really hope to be able to hear a marked difference. be that as it may, i am enamored with the idea of being able to maximize as much as is practical with this pair of amps. if it's possible to hook up both and get a better sound and/or level of performance then i'd like to do that. however, if not then so be it. at this price point i'm not out by too much and maybe will keep the extra amp for a spare or maybe resell it. still i would very much appreciate whatever words of wisdom could be shared about being able to utilize both amps if it would yield any advantage. thanks very much for sharing your experience and know-how. pete