sunnysal

GTO, the pad is supposed to be for stopping cabinet resonances but you put this on top of the speaker and then a sheet of plywood and then your amp, voila! no vibration gets through at all! Black Hole 5 $51 for all the pad you will need for two monoblocks (and then some extra for whatever, the CD player?) http://www.speakercity.com/damping.shtml the vibrapods come if different hardnesses to match different component weights...these rubber pucks work great as well and are a little neater in appearance than the pad system (unless you build a nice wooden frame for the pad....)they are $24 for four, two sets needed for monoblocks...$48 http://www.audioadvisor.com/product.cfm?productid=1835 best of luck, Tony p.s. sorry for mentioning retail sites, hope this breach of netiquette will not raise to many hackles, it just seemed easier to direct GTO to where to find these items...

DIY is great but...I used Vibropods form audioadvisor and they work great...I also have made DIY stuff using the "black hole pad"...good luck, tony

nice system Mac! I too am thinking of a center channel (once I build a house for my k-horns!) you can see my system by clicking on my little house icon as well....regards, tony

mike, how many disks do you want in the changer? 5, 100, 200, 300? lets start from there...tony

Al once told me I was goofy for wanted to mount his X-overs on the topr of the K-horns for the world to see...dems sure is pretty!...I settled for my dynaco monoblocks on top of the speakers!...john, all is well in my house, lots of broken china, glasses and my garden dropped about ten inches below grade (I am working now on how to fill it back up to match my patio!)...believe it or not we are still having aftershocks (5.2-5.5, those would be big news in california, here we do not even get up out of our chairs/beds!)...thanks for thinking of us...regards, tony

frans, two points: 1. I would guess it would be around $75 to belgium (it was less than that to El Salvador where I live). 2. do not build it unless to stick to the quality parts specified by AlK save your money until you get to the build right or buy from AlK level, you will be glad you did! meanwhile tone controls work wonders...regards and good luck, tony

The important thing is that Klipsch has shown it IS thinking actively about the subject and monitoring customer opinion. Even if I disagree with Klipsch´s current policy (I wont bore you with a lengthy "why") I am thrilled your execs are out there listening and deliberating. Please also keep an eye on your peers, not necessarily limiting yourselves to high-end audio, who live somewhat in a balloon, but the entire audio and internet retail communities...you will eventually see your correct move in your correct measure in the cyber world...keep building great audio components, finding ways to inform the public about them and finding ways to get them easily (for both parties) into the hands of the public and...et voila! Warm regards, Tony

IMHO it is a good thing to de-mystify high-end audio...since for many of the components ray mentioned listening is more important than "knowledge", true ability to mix and match components may require skill, but if most people put together systems by themselves and stay within product lines (like those mentioned by Ray)they should have few problems and get really great results...how can you put together some awful system with musical fideltiy components? creek? bryston? come on! power to the people! I could walk into a circuit city, close my eyes, select anything from McIntosh and have true High Fidelity in my home in a couple of hours! Go, Go, Go Circuit City!

gto6, that is exactly what I did. I have Dynaco MkIV monoblocks sitting right on my k-horns, connected by 4 foot lengths of Cardas speaker cable (big bucks!) the preamp is 12 feet away from either speaker and I used well shielded interconnect cable (Monster cable M550i) for the 16 foot runs...so far so good...good luck, tony

some people claim better channel separation with monoblocks...

how about this, less than a grand from frank van alstine...I am trying to convince him to put in switchable outputs so I can buy one...tony http://www.avahifi.com/images/sp4i.gif

rrstones, try a pair of rb-5s...small, dynamic, add a decent subwoofer, and forget any bose product....

nice box al! did you do the machining for it, or buy it off the shelf? regards, tony

I agree with my other klipsch friends, save and buy the finished unit from Al, unless you really, really will ENJOY the process of making them yourself...Al knows how to put these together...regards, Tony

I seem to rememeber that a lot of vintage McIntosh preamp and integrated amp equipment is equipped to derive this signal and send it to a center speaker...someone else will have to ring in on the Klipsch gizmo....regards, tony

joe, I am using sovtek all around...the electro harmonix el 34s and then straight sovtek for the 5ar4 and 7199...haven't tried tube rolling yet...let me know your thoughts....regards, tony

Randy, hang on before buying anything for a few weeks...I have a preamp (with tone controls and two switched outputs, for the speakers on the terrace) on order from sound valves...if I does not suck there will be a pratically new creek available in el salvador!...I will keep you updated...regards, tony

they are vibrapods (#2s) and though I may suffer some microphonics (my hand cannot feel any vibration when placed on the amp at reasonable listening levels) I get some benefits...one, looks cool...two, short expensive speakers wires are within my financial reach (these are cardas crosslink at 1M less than $100)...besides I am really enjoying the tube sound...maybe later I will add a pair of isolation pads under the amps...meanwhile I sit on the couch just in front of the speakers and enjoy a huge holographic soundstage...wow! Van Morrison floating in front of me singing, more realistic than ever before, I am in heaven! p.s. randy, I am using the creek passive preamp here and it sounds great!

here is how it came out (only missing a fully featured preamp) the bedroom is now like this: regards, tony

one last note from the soap box...the sooner manufacturers start supporting the end users and not the dealers the sooner they will "get it" distribution methods will change (they always have) but getting the goods to your clients should be prioirty number one! I wish Klipsch would take this to heart instead of towing the party line regarding "supporting" brick and morter dealers...tony

gentlemen, I do not understand why we are always so apologetic for buying on-line...I respect traiditonal hi-fi retailers but I often have purchased equipment on-line and fell none of the politically popular guilt for doing so...often the prices are better! I have bought from Crutchfield, JandR, Amazon's shops, Audioadvisor, Audioclassics and yahoo's shops and have had excellent experiences with all fo them...the basic rules apply...do not buy any item you would be better off auditioning first (only buy after you have acutally heard a component or do not care about hearing it!), only buy from proven reputable dealers (all the ones listed above stand behind their products)...I was forced into going on-line, a move from Manhattan to San Salvador will do that too you! but I am now totally converted to the on-line experience, where appropriate...so buy on-line without hesitation and feel good about it! regards, tony

congrats q-man!, that is a monster HT!...Tony

I´ll try to post some pic some (have to borrow thge digital camera again) but you are basically right...I took dowels (threaded steel dowels) and they psuh against oak blocks on both ends which are pressing against the constrained layer dampening sheets...the sheets were cut into pieces roughly 8" X 24" and glued to the side walls with contact cement...they really do seem to have lowered the coloration effects I thought were caused by cabinet vibration...I may even glue some sheet to the upper sheet of wood on the squawker cabinet...it dampens like I assume the caulking works on the horns...only you need to put some pressure against the wood sheets to help them stabilize...I tried putting just the dampening material on the wood but I could still feel vibrations until I added the pressured blocks...pictures to come...regards from sunny el salvador!, tony

well its in...I started with one side only and think I heard some interesting changes...since I have that really screwed-up "floating" speaker problem on one side I cannot be sure of any scientific analysis but...here it goes...post installation I think I can detect some change, especially in the mid-bass region...vocals, acoustic guitar, sax, pianos seem to have a slightly "faster" mid-bass sound...I think I also have achieved a little more tonal variety from the bass...this could easily mental, since I was hoping for some of these results but...I feel less "one-note" bass from the k-horns...how much comes from the stiffening of the panels and how much from dampening vibration I do not know...I am happy with the mod...regards, tony

Just got in some dampening sheets from speakercity.com, the "black hole pad" and "black hole 5" these will be mounted on the big panels of my k-horn bass module to dampen upper-mid and high frequency vibration of those panels...these sheets in addition to a couple of threaded steel dowels pressuring wooden blocks set against those same panels...between stiffening and dampening I hope to "purify" the bass somewhat...these pads are neat in that they are constrained layer dampening all-in-one with9out the fuss of making it up yourself...an excerpt form the catalog description: "Layer 1 - High loss vibration damping material (same as the Black Hole Pad), deadens resonance from the cabinet. It is very strongly bonded to the wall with PSA film for optimum performance. Layer 2 - Polyester urethane flexible open cell foam ¼ in. thick. Thanks to its special vibration-isolation characteristics, it de-couples the vibrating structure (the cabinet wall) from the rest of the damping system, thus optimizing its performance. Layer 3 - Barrier septum 1/8 in. thick. Made of limp flexible vinyl copolymer loaded with non-lead inorganic fillers, it acts literally as a dead wall, thus isolating the vibrations in the walls of your cabinet and the vibrations created inside the enclosure from each other. Layer 4 - Polyester urethane foam 1 in. thick, structurally optimized for acoustical dampening, (specific permeability, density, stiffness, pore size and shape). It is highly effective at "soaking-up" maximum sound energy with minimum thickness. Layer 5 - Thin diamond pattern embossing, densified with polyurethane film surface. This unique surface layer improves dramatically the performance of the whole acoustical system, especially the lower mid-bass frequencies, (very sensitive range where simple acoustical foam becomes mostly ineffective)." sounds cool, huh? let you know how the project turns out...regards, tony