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Thanks John, really fascinating stuff! Post more often, I really enjoy it! warm regards, Tony

I still play around with my Hickok 600a tube tester, trying to measure if my tubes are getting tired or if they are matched well ( I run both 2A3 and EL34 PP amps in my systems). Not sure it is really good enough for accurate matching, but it at least shows when two tubes are not near each other so I don't pair them. T

They stack up very nicely thank you. I continue to hear friend's high-end systems and visit audio stores and frankly have not heard very much that makes we want to swap out my k-horns. But the Klipsch sound is a love it or leave it kind of thing IMHO, you either love them or they aren't your cup of tea. You need to audition the various candidate speakers with your music, ideally in your room before deciding. Speakers are perhaps the most important decision you will make in putting together your system. Let us know what you decide. Warm regards, T

squeezebox does it for me! used ones on ebay all the time...the touch is what I use, the duet looks good too. regards, T

I still drool over that, but not as much since I got my Moondogs. Bruce Thanks Bruce, I still love them and they will probably always live in my main listening system! the 8b would be for my family room system to replace the dynaco mkIVs. Moondogs are not too shabby my friend!

you have gotten good advice here. I would throw my weight behind the Nelson Pass amps mentioned earlier and if not then perhaps some lower power McIntosh gear, I have had McIntosh gear hooked up to my Klipschorns and they sounded great, too powerful, but great! The Nelson Pass stuff is a no brainer, great quality and legendary sound. One piece of advice audition any amp if possible in your system, most serious dealers will allow this. If not possible at least audition them in the dealers location and try to do so with speakers with the same family characteristics as our Klipschorns. Auditioning is the only way to make these type of important decisions. best of luck and let us know how it all turns out! regards, Tony

I may be one of the few people here who really like the sound of vintage amps and the 8b is a great one! I have enjoyed my EL34 PP Dynaco MkIV amps greatly and my current main amp which is a 2A3 PP amp (not vintage, built for me) but I still plan to get an 8b some day. I have heard them (and pair of model 9s!) in a friends system and loved them (the 9s were great too!). but so far I havent found the right one at the right price, I will have them worked over (caps, etc.) before putting them into "production" becuase vintage amps do tend to blow up on you if you are not careful. Warm regards, Tony

they look something like the U-Turn audio tables BUT they have no off-on siwtch and the arm looks different from the models currently on sale....warm regards, Tony

I have used these pearl tube coolers on my rig for years, I thought that by aiding heat dissipation I might increase tube life a bit...not sure they help, but they dont seem to hurt...warm regards, tony

"To each his own" is nowhere more true than in audio IMHO, so some people, strange as it may seem, love model 19s...some of these people are people whose opinion I respect. Many were pillars of this Klipsch community back in the day...so I will leave it as 'try it for yourself"...T

They are highly regarded by many forum members, some have even left Klipsch for those 19's....listen and decide. regards, T

This may be an unwelcome aside but...every time I have tried any up-sampling schemes they have degraded the sound exactly as you are describing they had worse "dimensionality", they sounded "flatter", etc. I always found the direct, non-up-sampled outputs to ALWAYS be superior. In fact I found that any digital processing of the signal tended to make me give it the thumbs down. Nowadays I tend to find the highest quality source materials I can (at whatever smapling or bit rate it is found) and send it right to my DAC->preamp->amp->speakers for listening, no further manipulation of sample rate or bit depth added. you may have just discovered that is true for you as well. keep us informed, T

Nice work as usual Dean! and congratulation Emil. like someone else said on the thread, it all makes me want to get out my checkbook and swap x-overs...again...warm regards, T

that is a crazy good price for the Modulus preamp, a real high end preamp that retails for ten times that asking price! GLWS. T

Here are a couple of biasing links. The first from your amp provider (see page 40): http://site.triodestore.com/NEWST70Instructions.pdf This from another good source (page 11, ignore the battery part): http://www.curcioaudio.com/st7_mnl.pdf Bias should not make a huge difference in sound unless you are way off. you google for some discussion about biasing an ST-70. Let us know when you are ready to tube roll, lots of opinions around about best things to try. Warm regards, Tony

this was a great buy! I think you might benefit form some tube rolling, those chinese output tubes are the not the best choices out there for an ST-70. burn-in should not really be a factor. before soldering anything try swapping out the tubes for some russian or NOS tubes, there are lots of great EL#4 options out there, 6CA7 have not been my cup of tea buy YMMV. see if that helps. BTW do you know how to bias the thing? T

I like the Audioquest type 4 which was already mentioned, I have also used 10 gauge, stranded cord from Monster (like zip cord) and it works fine. I have a pair of very high end speaker wires, with electrically biased outer layers, etc. in my main system now but honestly I never heard any difference between those expensive wires and the two I mentioned. They were a gift and I keep them in the system because, frankly they don't sound any worse and have cool blue LEDs! I am not a vociferous anti wire guy like many on here, but I have not been able to detect any real difference between wires in my system and gave up trying. I have though read all the literature I could on the possiblity that wires can affect sound and do think it possible they can. I have mentioned before that it always seems strange to me to see people poo-pooing the possiblity that wires can have some affect on sound while all the time tube rolling, playing with their electrical sources, vibration isolation, etc. YMMV, T

if you really want to play with the sound on a k-horn I think your suggested swaps are too minor in nature. i think you need to think about swapping out the mid horn for the wood tractrix version and pair it up with a higher quality compression driver. IIRC someone also used altec 311-90 horns with 290 drivers to great effect. and perhaps replace the tweeter with the JBL 2404H or other higher end item. I lost my enthusiasm for all this after trying out some alternate components, active crossovers with triamping, etc. and went back to "stock" k-horns and love them. If you like the basic klipschorn family values than I think you might audition the 60th anniversary (someone mentioned that before) still a k-horn but with all the factory upgrades, should sound really nice.

congratulations! do we have any info as to what ingredients are in this mask? Perhaps I missed an earlier post on the subject but is this an off the shelf cleaner or a homemade poultice? thanks, T

is it a full 1080p projector? thanks, T

I have a MA6400 integrated I bought from audio classics in NY, I suppose it is not really vintage since it was produced in 1995 BUT...I loved the music they produced with my Klipschorns, but frankly they were much too powerful. So I moved them to my bedroom system where they drive Klipsch RB-5s and installed a PP 2A3 amplifier. Thus I dropped from 100watts/channel to about 5watts/channel and never looked back! the models you mention are from the previous two generations (5100 and later the 6100-6200) but I assume they will both have the same family values. these are good, clean, punchy amps with full sets of controls. If you do decide to go for one of these get the lowest power model possible (the 5100 was 45watts/channel). warm regards, tony

It's one of the Onkyo I've been testing, a TX-NR636. I agree with everything you mention ~ done all that already. I wanted to keep that out of the equation for now. I know I have some WiFi issues which are slowly getting resolved. I already use a repeater for the main 2Ch system downstairs. And I know there's a lot of steel things between the main router and the rest of the house (steel shelves in closets, vertical cold air return/air ducts, kitchen appliances, steel beams & posts). I didn't experience this with a Denon AVR-X1100W I'm also evaluating. The Denon has external rabbit ears. I have an Onkyo TX-NR838 on the way. Should be here Tuesday. It also has rabbit ears. Should be interesting to see what happens. I just thought it was strange that the sound gain level would affect WiFi connectivity - as if it weren't drawing enough current to jump the break "so to speak" in a physical connection (as an analogy). Artto, I cannot imagine how volume level would interact with wifi and cause shutdown. If shutdown is only occurring during internet access at low volumes I would conclude some sort of software issue is ordering shutdown and not the wifi per se. it could also be some sort of internal RF leakage issue at lower volumes, is the volume transformer based? wierd. T

Congratulations on your k-horns and welcome the k-horn club! Do make sure the bass cabs are well sealed into the corners to get the best bass, not just volume but quality of bass. keep us updated as you enjoy them! T

I listen to a lot of rock at high volumes. I had auditioned a SET 2A3 in my room and felt it perhaps lacked a bit of punch at high volumes so I had a 2A3 PP amp made and have been happy ever since. I dont have measurements of its output but it must be close to twice a SET so lets say 5 watts. I have never felt the need for something more powerful in my system. My room is not enormous so if you listen loud and in a big room you may want more power than a 45, 2A3 or even a PP2A3. good luck and let us know how it turns out. T PS I own and have auditioned tube and SS amps up to 200 watts in my same system and room and to date have yet to feel the need for more power than my PP2A3.

First thing when trying to pick a cartridge is to decide budget. how much do you want to spend. I come from a somewhat budget oriented background, diminishing returns and all that. Given that, I have heard good things about pairing audiotecnica, grado and sumiko cartridges with the LP12. MM or MC really depends on your other equipment, I would also suggest checking out Linn's cartridges, they are well thought of and should be a good match for the arm, no? but it all starts with budget, through out a number and get back a specific recommendation.. warm regards, tony