sunnysal

I liked the 70’s HK 430 and 730. They go cheap on eBay and bat way above their cost. Let us know what you decide. Warm regards, Tony

"and it was through the building of Dr. J. Lessard's parallel-feed Horus 2A3 mono blocks over ten years ago that I also gained an appreciation for a choke in the position instead of a resistor." I wonder Eric what your thoughts are now on Jeff L´s amps? I still use the 2A3PP he built for me in my main listening system and have to admit I still love it! my only source of displeasure to this day is a constantly humming hammond trannie underneath, mounted on the front. let me know your thoughts. warm regards, Tony

Seti, Jeff lessard posted some good 2A3 PP schematics with parts lists, etc. On the Magnequest website. But I cannot seem to find them now...btw a great small PP amp is the el84 type; a dynaco st-35 or the eico or pilot equivalents we’re both great sounding amps. I love modern version from Roger Modjeski the Music Reference RM-10 MkII.

My 2A3 PP amplifier, designed and built by Jeff Lessard will be my last amp.

WB! Great looking system! Warm regards, Tony

If you are thinking vintage; Fisher, Scott and Dynaco, are all good brands to consider. Hard to suggest what you might do best with without having mentioned a budget or what kind of music and sound you enjoy. You also might consider some non tube stuff like the HK430, which I think sounds great with your speakers. Let us know more and the group can help more. Warm regards, Tony

I have reference series and heritage series speakers and love both. Just to nit pick. Forte aren’t really heritage line....regards, To y

I had a Dynaco ST-120 which sounded awful with my Klipschorns, as did my Marantz Esotec SM-6. The Marantz amp sounded great on my Magnepan speakers though. the Dynaco ended up in an attic space somewhere....

I have a Tripath amp and it sounds fine. For the price you can try it and use it if you like it. Mine is currently driving some patio speakers for background music usage. Enjoy, Tony

I still struggle with the concept of “better” components, I have begun to become more of a subjectivist, what sounds good to me is “better”. In my room, with my music, with my ancillary components my “better” speakers were my Klipschorns, that is why they remain in my system. Are there better speakers out there? In my years of amp, preamp and speaker shoot outs with friends and acquaintances, I found I like the way heritage horns sounded more than cone speakers or panel speakers, so I stayed with them. I have heard great music played on other systems, but my components were selected over the years to play my music the way I like it to sound. So... Are harbeth better than your Klipsch? If they sound better to you, than yes, if not, no. IMHO, YMMV, etc, etc. Enjoy the music! Tony

Beautiful! Post a detailed report on your amp shootout, we will all be interested to see what you hear and decide. Warm regards, Tony

As Dean so aptly said...yes. I have both tube and SS and enjoy both. The often religious-toned discussions about tubes versus SS, analog versus digital, interconnects and speaker wires, etc, etc. Frankly have left me bored and uninterested. I have enjoyed exploring playback technology both vintage and modern, it’s a fun hobby. I finally settled on a rather mundane system which lets me enjoy the music. Could I get back on the rollercoaster of searching for better reproduction? Perhaps. But as long as I stay focused on dancing around my living room and enjoying my music more than thinking about the equipment I probably won’t be making any more hardware moves. Enjoy the music any way you choose, playing with tech or listening to the music, whatever works for you is fine, enjoy! Warm regards, Tony

He has a bunch of amplifiers and is asking which we recommend. Not sure we read the same original post...

I know this sounds condescending but...try them all and decide for yourself. First if all, it is a great way the spend the weekend, to set up the rest of your system and swap out amps while listening to your favorite music. Secondly, in the end, recommendations serve very little; the decision as to what sounds good in your room, with your ancillary equipment with your music is very, very individual. Enjoy the process and decide what works for you, not for us crumb bums....please do let us know what you decide works best for you and why, we love to hear about those processes and decisions. Warm regards from sunny El Salvador, Tony

thought you might like this Nelson Pass article on wires nelson pass on wires

I love my PP 2A3 amp...unfortunately Jeff doesnt make them anymore...so it would have to be a DIY project...

Depends so much on room size and listening preferences, but those speakers are fairly efficient (+/- 95) so a 300b SET might get you what you want. I feel a good PP implementation can sound great and with a 300b PP or an EL34 PP you could no doubt get those jumpin. Let us know how it goes! Warm regards, Tony

8b were probably one of the best amps designed by the great Sid smith, only the model 9 monoblocks were considered better. It wasn’t called the golden age of audio for nothing! Buy them and don’t look back, you might want to have them looked over by a competent tech first though...let us know how this turns out, warm regards, tony

I never warmed up to the McIntosh speakers, though I do run a McIntosh MA6400 integrated in my secondary system, but the speakers...all those little mids and tweets firing at the same time...but as I always say this is a taste thing, not science. The 1200k or 2000k from the same line would be logical lefts and rights, but very expensive. You should probably carefully audition them somewhere before buying. Meanwhile maybe try to run a center channel more inlne with your Klipsch fronts, a heresy? A belle? Regards, tony

Klipsch speakers seem to excel at realism. My Klipschorns are one of the few speakers I can hear at a distance and not be sure if it is real or recorded sound, I haven’t experienced that with other brands. A sax, a piano, voices all sound amazingly realistic from my garden or upstairs in my den...regards, Tony

Love these quasi-religious fights about cables, SS versus tubes, write anything you want here compared with anything else you want here....in the end, what sounds good to you, with your music, in your system, in your home IS best for you. If you’re system playing music moves you to get out of your chair to dance with your wife, you truely have mastered the subject! These physics experts and electrical engineers can enjoy that aspect of this hobby as they wish (and constantly bicker about how many angels can fit in the head of a pin) but it always amazes me how they take a subjective conversation about how a complex music reproduction system pleases individuals and try to “teach” the rest of us something about what we should enjoy. Many of us have spent a lot of time and effort to put together a system that please us musically and aesthetically, we juggled many or all of the components in the system until it sounded best to us. Hilarious to see some forum members telling others they are wrong in thier choice or don’t really hear differences. If a hundred dollars got you a system that gets your toe tapping I congratulate you, if it’s cost you ten thousand I also congratulate you, you are receiving the gift of musical enjoyment. If you are trying to put someone’s down for thier tastes or preferences you should probably troll at prop-head or tech at audio asylum. Here at the Klipsch forums we have more tolerance traditionally than that, sharing opinions and experiences while trying not to cross the line into dogma or preaching. Or I could be wrong and the forum has degraded...regards, Tony

I spent some years trying out different interconnects and speaker cables in my system. Settled on some that sounded best to me, the rest sit in a box in my office. Audiquest, Van den hull, synergistic research, MIT, Cardas, lots of stuff sitting around, some in use, some not. None seemed to have as much influence on the sound as my electronics...so I focused on getting my system to a point where I loved the music and stopped tweaking. I am sure people can optimize any and all pieces of their system, including cables. I say more power to them, if it helps them enjoy the music more. I won’t call foul even if they use magic dots on thier LPs, Just don’t tell me what’s right or wrong for me in my house, on my system with my music. Enjoy the music. Warm regards from sunny El Salvador, Tony

I’m still here...not sure if I am one of the good guys..but was active starting in early 2000...warm regards, tony

That was a JFLessard preamp?