Kriton

OK, jumping in here... First, the crossover cap refresh for a Heresy is pretty easy using Bob's method - I took my time and came out with a pretty decent job on my H1.5's that I am refinishing - you absolutely have got to get the crossover off the terminal cup, as Bob suggested...it is a cramped mess. The sound difference in refreshed caps, whether you do it yourself or have Bob do it for you, is really pretty marked - as has been mentioned. You can TELL the difference in one sitting, trust me - not an esoteric change here. Second, Heresy's kick - and they will sound better than any speaker out there with a good (or even mediocre) amp, that is until you turn up the Cornwalls next to them. I never fail to have folks jaw drop when they hear the Heresys, and then smile even wider when the Cornwalls are turned on...I have models spanning the range of years from brand new H2's to 80's H1's and while all different, they are each spectacular in their own ways. I can't beleive the KG would put those speakers to shame unless something else was wrong. Your Heresys shoudl NOT be that problematic...and one suggestion that I would throw out there that no one has mentioned - did you check each driver to make sure the tweeters weren't blown? Stuff a sock in the horns in order, make sure the drivers are all working - you would be surprised how often I have thought a speaker sounded weird, only to find out that the tweets or mids were messed up...Sorry if this is rudimentary, but the simplest solution is often the best. K

Fritz, Wow - cool, I think I understand. Those amp numbers by the by are for my Sunfire 400/7 amp, directly from their owner's manual - but this is a strange animal, so I used it for the hypothetical... The sensitivy of the RF-7's that I am running is 102dB @ 2.83 volts/1 meter, which is all the more confusing. I can not see even coming close to mustering a watt as the volume would be incredible. I need to get the calculations down... Thanks for taking the time to explain it... K

OKOK, now I am really confused - so label me the village idiot - let me give you a hypothetical: Say I have an isolation transformer that is rated at 500 watts continuous, and I have an amplifier that has rated consumption of 40 watts rest, 580 watts at normal use, and 1800 watts max before clipping - I am going to assume that plugging this thing into THAT transformer is big mistake? I mean, how many watts can be consumed by an amp which is powering a pair of klipsch speakers with 98dbs for 1 watt? There is little way I am going to run those things hotter than that, so do I have to worry about the consumption being that marked? If the amplifier does go beyond the 500 watts, the circuit breaker in the isolation transformer trips - will that hurt any of the components???? While amps are dynamic, what about pre-amps? And how is the wall outlet able to deal with these huge spikes in wattage? I am trying to get a handle on these things too, and I really liked the DYI pages on the balanced power supply, read the papers, and I understand in theory, but ... Thanks - K

Ditto and ditto - have several dozen yards of all kinds of wire from these guys, the interconnects are good quality, bare wire is relatively cheap, fast shipping, no problems ever after at least 5 orders - and the locking banana plugs they have for $5.25 a pair are EXACTLY the same as the locking plugs Cobalt Cable sells for $14.95 a pair - should tell you something. I recommend the Belden in-wall too, good price and tough stuff. K

Hey Fritz, Could you just post say a link or an item number for those Tripp-Lite Isolators? I tried to find them and either your post sold them all, or they are very secretive? Thanks! K

OK, I will weigh in, long time reader, first time poster... I heartily agree with UO, can't believe someone is still listening to that album..."Sister Havana" is one of my test songs too... I have a new test cd though, and it is fairly new - Nickelback, All the RIght Reasons - this rock cd well, rocks...the first song (Follow You Home) starts with a drum riff that will scare the hell out of you if you don't watch the volume - but it gives your woofers a fantastic work out...this is a pretty loud album that you will just want to keep turning up... "Next Contestant", and "Animals" deserve particular mention, but the whole album is rocking - you like UO you will like this cd... K

But wait! There's more! I have two pairs of CW 2's, and one pair (87's) are made with PLYWOOD and the other pair MDF, both have front mounted drivers and sealed backs...so the confusion goes on and on... K Edited to add...Some folks claim the older CW 1's sound better (esp. alnico magnets, etc...) but then others (like DeanG) will tell you that the CW2's were a superior speaker from the driver performance and crossover standpoint (higher tweeter, lower bass, front mounted driver reducing dissipation, etc.) ... I love my 2's, they absolutely rock. Can't say about CW1's, but I wouldn't kick them out of bed...

OB, yes, I just had a daughter (2 months old, so just is merely in my screwed up time frame), and thank you for your well wishes. She is already a pip, and I expected no less. Agreed, one of these days when HT's death is not so recent and the wounds have healed someone will have to do a real biography of the man, I agreed that it had to come from somewhere, but a lot of the folks that knew HT said that he really was like the man in F&L... Just finished the Libertine, seems I was closer to the end than I thought...hmmm...a rather strange and disconcerted ending. Syphilitic, he really doesn't have the redemption that I thought he would have, no revelation, no repentance. He does a good thing for the king, but it is really for himself, and dies with his ever loving wife that he has so cruelly mistreated and nothing else. Movie made me want to shower...harkens back to "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover" - nobody is innocent, nobody wins, all is *&^%, and the world spins on... Excellently acted, pretty amazing acting I thought from the whole cast. An exercise in shock theater...good for a first watch, but not on my list for a second any time soon. K

Hey, congrats on the new SACD player...I bought my Denon just for the SACD capability, and I have enjoyed it thoroughly. Places to buy SACD's, best are www.elusivedisc.com and www.acousticsounds.com - but be forewarned, they can be pricey. I have had some good luck on older SACD's at www.overstock.com, beleive it or not - except of course for the fact that they screwed up one of my orders (sent me a cd (non-SACD) entitled "Oh That Cello" when I had ordered an SACD sampler...took me forever to get it fixed and credited)....BUT they have some decent titles at relatively good prices. As far as some discs to get...I have to tell you that for testing your system, and for the sheer cool factor, the SACD version of Dark Side of the Moon is awesome. As far as good classical albums, I think that the format shines with classical music AND jazz...remember that (if you don't already know) SACD could refer to any number of channels of re-mastered music. For instance, some SACD's have only two channels, but they are recorded at higher bitrates, and are therefore better sounding (sometimes). Often, with the jazz, it is the front three channels that are live, without the rears. I mention this because it took me a while to figure out I had not been hosed...you probably already know this... I don't have my stereo in front of me, or I would tell you what I was listening to last night, but I definitely do have some suggestions - depends on your type of tune. Have fun. K

Respectful of Hunter Thompson? I mean, I love the "gonzo journalism" thing, and I find his writing to be painfully direct, historically important and disturbingly hilarious ("As your attorney, I must advise you to take as many drugs as possible") - but he was a tortured suicidal nihilistic amoral walking coma - Where the Buffalo Roam is just plain fantastic, though...Kind of like appreciating Dharma Bums with really liking Kerouac very much...I idolize the writing, but I would not have been to happy to be related to him. Remember too that I beleive it was Depp who threw a major private send off bash for HT, and was in contact with him for the making of F&L...I am just glad that he is at peace, the peace that he was not able to obtain with drugs and booze. Don't get me wrong, I think Depp's acting is superb, loved F&L, he was brilliant in Benny and Joon, I rather liked him in "From Hell" - he is NOT the same person in every movie, like say Julia Roberts, who is always Julia Roberts whether she is in 17 century England, a hooker in Hollywood, running away from her wedding, or making pizzas on the east coast. I just don't care for his political views and the clear loathing he has demonstrated for the United States (even though it was we who made him who he was). There are a lot of things wrong here, yes, but stay and fix don't leave and pontificate. With Downey Jr. and Edward Norton, I think Depp is one of the best of the younger players, just waiting for the right script... K

Check your PM's. K

Has anyone seen this flick? I started it and got a good portion of the way through it, but since I was watching with my MOTHER, I had to trun it off...she thought is was too "gross and disturbing" Have any of you developed an opinion on this one? Just curious - while I think Depp is a nimrod, I beleive he is still one of the best actors of this generation, what do yall think? K

Wow, that is nuts... What would something like that sound like? Isn't that MCM what that guy on Ebay was selling a while back that was like seven foot tall and in unfinished birch? Good grief! Can you still buy these new? K

Hmmm...I just watched it, and I too was mildly dissappointed - First I have always like Hugo Weaving - since his "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" days to the inimitable Agent Smith in the Matrix...HE is a good actor - even with a mask...BUT... I don't get the whole Natalie Portman thing...she was awful in the Star Wars movies, just unbeleivable - and while she is more so here, her accent is shaky at best, and she just doesn't have the chops, she is cute in a tiny slip of a girl sort of way, but just doesn't work for me - I liked her best and last in "The Professional" - and "Jersey State" she was ok, but she did not blow me away - in a manner of speaking... I thought the premise of V was decent...but I expected more...more plot development, more back story about the plague, more development with the police inspector, the friend who disappeared for having a copy of the Koran, more ties to mid-twentieth century fascism, and I expected at least a nod to PF's "The Wall", who did a better job I thought depicting the exact same atmosphere that V was trying to go for and that was a glorified music video...(The Wall still screws with my head sometimes, even now...for what it is, I thought the Wall was a fatally imperfect but fantastic and influential piece of film-making, IMHO). V ended too abruptly, got there too quickly, left too many threads, and the story was too easy to figure out - I cannot beleive that (given the conspiracy theorists that we have grown used to today) that there wouldn't have been a massive underground movement, a (more) brutal oppression of that underground, and a more fanatical ruling class...I didn't get that here...Portman was just too cute and too "normal" and her indignation too minimal for having gone through what she did, given she saw her mother bashed and removed with a bag before her eyes, and she was sent to a "camp" for reprogramming....Also, why did her hair stay short for months after she was shaved? Just a cool look, or what? She leaves V, gets and apartment and her short hair just somehow makes her invisible? In a society like they were trying to convice you existed, wouldn't she have to do a crapload more to "fall off the grid"? AND V just happens to pull a working subway car out of his , um, fanny filled with fertilizer based explosives? Now THAT would be a good stage trick...Just didn't buy it..sorry...I bought the first Matrix far far more than this.... I appreciated the Shakespeare references, but without context, they were just so much filler, I spent more time stopping the disc and going back to hear the monologues and trying to place the play then watching the movie... This was one of those where everyone in the room was saying, "I bet you the government was the one that gassed its own people", and "I bet she is going to get caught and cleansed, but it will be V that does it", and "I bet he is going to use that armored statue in some interesting way before the end"...and most of the predictions were true...Just dissappointed with this one - I was expecting better. Lastly, had I heard that Larry Wachowski was undergoing a "gender reassignment" and that he was calling himself Linda...does that mean that they are the "Family Wachowski" and not the "Wachowski Brothers" anymore? (Not that I have the least bit of problem with the "gender variable", I was just curious - and more so about this than the movie, if that tells you anything). Good sound though, explosions woke the baby... K

Hey all, I just have to ask, I have seen these advertised a for a bit and I am just crazy curious what these might be..or where they came from? http://dallas.craigslist.org/bar/191980747.html Obviously a commercial loudspeaker of some kind, but for what? K

I am sure I missed the thread, but what are these for? What drivers are we talking about, etc? K

Of course, I found that little tidbit after I purchased the XLR cables - and the TGIV - I tend to massively over research even after I buy the items - It was a review fo the TGIV that I read on an audio website, maybe audioholics? Can't say right now, but I know I read it somewhere... But here is my deal...I would pay (on average at least with the Blue Jeans XLR's) the same as some good RCA cables...and I don't know about you, but not all RCA are made the same - have you ever had an RCA male so tight that the female would just not fit on? I have been afraid of pushing the male right through the back of the damned amp! Some are tight fitting others are not - get out the needle nose pliers and hope you can enlarge them to get them to fit with over enlarging...etc. OR they are so loose that you are afraid you will not get a good connection, and you do NOT want to have to crawl back behind all of those snaking cables in the dark bowels of your system to tinker with it, do you? I sure don't. You get the picture - The XLR's on the other hand, fit like a glove pretty much everytime and are held in by clips - I didn't have any worries about seating them, damaging the back of the amps, or being able to get them off without cracking my knuckles... I remember seeing a TGIV for sale on Ebay a stretch back which had a *bent* rca jack on one of the speaker outputs - it looked like someone got overly frustrated and just bent the hell out it of trying to get it on (and those RCA on the Sunfires are heavy duty too!) - none of the others were bent or damaged at all - so I didn't think it was caused by a careless foot or being dropped - you just don't see that with XLR's - so...that is how *I* justify the cables...YMMV - My 2c. K

Huh? Wow, your set-up is almost the exact same as mine! How did that happen? I run XLR's in my Sunfire setup - bought them from Blue Jeans too - good cables, pretty cheap...now can I tell you that in such a short run I heard a difference from the RCA's that I started out with? No...BUT all of the XLR's are bundled together and if they are better at noise reduction, seems to me that they might be better off than similarly bundled RCA's? Who knows...I frankly like the way they lock in the connectors, no pulling these bad boys out. Really just your preference....if you read the manual (or maybe I saw it on the net) the XLR ports on the SUnfores are not *really* balanced outputs- apparently the XPR and RCA jacks are internally connected, and so the XLR jacks are not really balanced in the accpeted sense of the word...so I don't know if you are getting the bang for the buck or not - i think it is just a preferential thing at this point. Hey, you want to trade your rs7's for a pair of refurbed Heresy's?? K

Aren't these the same guys who sell the mighty pebbles, and that radio shack clock with the magic dot on it that somehow cancels out interference or some such nonsense? Nice wall plate by the way... K

Offer over...just called them. Upgrade is 169.00 now... Damn. K

Hmmm... I like this movie - it came and went incredibly fast in the theaters, if was ever in the theaters. Story about an older pensioner (legendary Bill Munro) with heart problems (played by Anthony Hopkins) from New Zealand whose life long ambition is to run his 50 year old souped up twin cylinder death trap Indian motorcycle at Bonneville, and his travails and travels to get to Bonneville (including the he-she who helps him, and ground up dog balls - don't ask). I enjoy pretty much anything Anthony Hopkins is in...I still expected him to try and eat the kid always hanging around his shop...He IS the movie of course, and while the story drags a bit, the race scenes and the speed trials kept me on my edge (having broken a few laws on a motor cycle in my younger days). I thought it was an overall solid effort, and a good showcase for Hopkins. Has a few suggestive scenes (he seems to do pretty well with the ladies he meets) , but I think it is about as PG as they come these days, good "follow your dreams" flick for families. I recommend renting it this weekend. K

Of course the folks who know me know that I would have to weigh in on this a little...Also those of you who have met my wife know that I got lucky, and I tell her often. My five day old daughter Elise is a strange occurence in what was otherwise a terribly comfortable and understanding relationship - but as I told my wife, loving my daughter is easy, if for no other reason than because she is just an extension of my wife... But don't be fooled - I had/have deep misgivings about relationships (somehwat of an occupational hazard), and I have seen everything vile that people who claim to love each other can do to one another and their kids...it took until I was 35 to marry (after at least two failed engagements earlier in youth), after living together for 5 years...When we met I was at the lowest point in my life, I moved from another state, gave up everything, was living like a rat - but I got involved in something I really used to enjoy doing, and met my wife who was also involved and passionate about the same activity, and it was really over pretty quickly...I got very lucky - but so can you. All I can say is that I am so glad I waited till I was ready, because I know that if I had married anyone else there would have eventually been a war to end all wars. Nothing is forever, and to think that anything will last forever is to doom yourself to disappointment, whether it is folks just growing apart or the death of a loved one. Communication, to the point of distraction and boredom, is the absolute key, I think. Now lets dispel some rumors - first, Texas at least is a "community property" state, meaning that there are a few ground rules - first, what you had prior to marriage, what is given to you as a gift during marriage, and any **inheritance** - is yours - and cannot be divided upon divorce, unless you put it in a joint bank account, write joint checks and pay joint bills (thereby making it indistinguishable from her funds or funds you have made during the marriage). Keep it separate, it stays separate (with a few very minor exceptions, like interest income - but that is very specific). SO lets say you had a 58 Belaire that owned prior to marriage, and you sell it after marriage to put a down on a house - if you can show where it came from you would be entitled to get that down back first - before everything is split, get it? ALSO, at least here 50% is NOT the usual split. The courts here can split the community estate in any manner that they deem "just and right", meaning that they could (and often DO) give you or your spouse more than fifty percent of the community property or value, which makes sense in most cases - say you earn 200k and you spouse earns 20k - to split the estate fifty-fifty doesn't take into account the disparity in earnings between the parties. HOWEVER, every state is different!! The reason I mention this is most of us learned about divorce from what we have seen on Knott's Landing or Falcon Crest or "Cruel Intentions", and most of the time it just doesn't work that way... AND it changes every single time the individual legislatures get together and tweak the family code (hundreds of changes to Texas family code on average every two years) - My point is, call a good attorney in your jurisidction before it becomes an issue, and get your facts straight - call it a "prophylactic" meeting, and put those fears aside. Pay them for an hour of their time to tell you what the state of things are, and protect yourself - THEN, go get get that woman that makes you sing, they are out there - man, if a PIA like me can find one, friends - so can you. AND even if it doesn't last, god forbid - the good times have still been the best moments of my life so far. Just my insignificant 2c. K

Hmmm...actually I have found that the birch takes stain fine, especially if the grain has been open forever, and the pores are screaming for stain...I would like to go the reveneering route myself on my pair of old beater H2's, but there is just something about that whole process that just makes me want to take a drink... I will tell you what I have done...I like black speakers, don't know why, but especially in my theater I just dig black speakers, something about not knowing they are there - distraction of pretty wood things ...don't know, but I like them alot - NOW, while regular stain seems to have worked well in the non-black projects, black stain on sanded birch looks like crap! Comes in very brown-not quite black looking...just assume that any stain that you use it iwll be lighter in birch than it should be - I ended up getting some Behlen black wood DYE, they make other colors, but this stuff was like ink man, and the blackest black you have ever seen. The H1 i used it on shined up to a satin, and it looks really fine - so that might be an option for you? K

OK, hold on - lets try to fix the speaker first... First, I feel your pain - when I first got my RF7's, there was a woofer that was not working on my right, and I was pretty disappointed (to put it MILDLY). We need to try to fix the speaker, because frankly, sendng them back is really not an option - it will be a roll of the dice whether they will get there in one piece, and back again in one piece, it just makes my head hurt to think about it...AND if your RF's were absolutely pristine like mine were, the thought of some ape man handling them makes me even madder.. OK, first, have you been able to isolate which individual driver is not making up for the sound? Are all the drivers putting out sound, just not enough? These speakers had (have?) a nasty tendency to come loose in their connections - in other words, my problem was that the cable came off one of the woofers in transit, and all it required was taking the driver out, hooking up the wire and putting it back together, carefully. If all of the drivers are making sound - then it sounds like maybe a crossover problem? In that event I would pull the crossover out of the one that is good, swap with the bad speaker, and fire it up using your meter to measure at the same volume the SPL...and determine that way whether it is in the crossover or the actual drivers...If that doesn't reveal something then you are dealing with a blown or substantially altered driver - and that -individual- component is all that has to be replaced or repaired - it may be just a diaphragm in the tweeter...This is really the same work that your authorized dealer would do were you to haul them somewhere, and you will be a lot more careful with them. You will need a star head for your screw driver, the drivers are surprisingly heavy so be careful when you remove them - if you want to avoid that, try to stick your hand in the tuning port and as far up as you can to check the cable terminals on the woofer you can reach. ALSO, just for giggles, make sure that the foam placed in the bottom fo the cab is not blocking one of the ports thereby muffling sound.. OK, if you know all of this already and have tried all this yourself, then I am sorry for telling you what you already know - I just never knew any of this stuff until my went south, and I wanted to share NOW as far as the warrantees, nope I think at least through the retailer you are screwed. Go read the fine print on the contract, I bet you they gave themselves an out in case they went under. Those warrantees are one of the biggest money makers they have, and while I have in the far past bought them myself, I would never bother these days. I have heard that Klipsch is good with customer service, but the only experience I really had with the technical service was over a set of Promedia computer speakers that were very expensive, that were notorious for having the amplifiers fry, took me months to get it back, cost me $60.00 bucks to have the thing reworked and was a generally overall BAD situation. HOWEVER, after being on this forum, I can say that Amy and Trey have gone out of their way to help and secure excellent response to folks with problems, and I would suggest that you send Amy a private message and explain the problem, after doing the torubleshooting. Hope that helps. K

OK, dammit - I am with WooDog on this one, you guys are killing me! Man, if I could sneak out, I would be there - but there are signs that the birth is really imminent...Well at least I already put the Heresys in her room...she will have a pretty kickin' little system before she is even born... At any rate, if you guys can pick me up any good picts or memorabilia, I will make it worth your time! Trey - I have been working too - will PM you shortly. Don't have too much fun or I will ahve to come after you ALL... Bruce