WopOnTour

LOLOLOLOL [] PS> To the OP- The 8B is a steal for less than a grand The 2's will go for 5 figures IMO WopOnTour

Speaking of that, has any of the DIYers here ever found a decent source for metal cover cans for their trannies?? (I've just made my own with various materials which is a royal PITA!) WOT

Do they still sell the bronze colored KLIPSCH emblem for the older Lascalas?? Mine were missing when I bought them (although the "sticky" stuff is still there) but sure would like to add them Can I just call customer support? Anyone have a part number? Thanks WOT

A local yokel recently ordered this push-pull DIY 2A3/45 amp kit (with various options) http://www.diyhifisupply.com/diyhs_joplin.htm When it arrives I will be completing the assembly and initial setup for him Seems like it's very cost effective with various available upgrade paths Havnt heard one of these yet (maybe someone here has) but will let you know how it goes HTH WopOnTour

Ahh I missed the 2 terminal strips in the back 40... and the UL/Triode switches... and the attenuator (or lack thereof) [:$] Nice layout ! I've used a few of those IAG copper backed boards from partsconnexion.com... nice pieces http://www.partsconnexion.com/catalog/TerminalStrips.html Are those your own custom wound trannies?? Look HEAVY! WopOnTour

Let's see... 4 front mounted mini-sockets (typically 2x12AX7/AU7 driver/splitter combo?) each pair on it's own copper-backed plate mount (4 corner mounting holes instead of socket clamps) Central top-side attenuator in between... 6 octals very likely 4x EL34 or KT88s (in pushpull pairs of course) on each side with top-plate bias measurement point and adjustment pots Hmm 2 left in the middle... maybe DUAL 5U4G/GZ37 (extra one for DC heaters?) or perhaps the extra is for a push-through top-side mount of a showcase filter cap ? like a 47+47 Black-Gate Muse?(looks too small though) Maybe BOTH for caps and we've gone to silicon rectifcation underneath? Back corner mounting with 2 sided grommet pass-throughs of the output iron definately indicates Ei. I count 0,4, and 8 ohm taps on each back-end plate (with RCA) so maybe some big Hammonds or perhaps even a pair of Magnaquest (not Tamuras or other centrally pinned Japanese tranny and definately not toroidal Piltrons or OTL or anything else too wierd) EIC and fuseholder in back right... The extra cuts for the power transformer (and 4 extra 1/8" holes) has me going a bit though,.. Maybe one of them counter-sunk Fender types with both primary and secondaries fitted on one side? (or perhaps one of those huge 500-0-500 Harmon Kardon trannies you "ended up with" somewhere ?) Bottom side mounting for chokes... perhaps the extra holes???????? But then again I guess it COULD be 4 stage single-ended... [] WopOnTour

Great! Thanks! was actually SHOCKED to win the auction for this pair of 511Bs for only $99 as I was the opening bidder for inital asking. Good to get a deal once in a while.Hopefully they are in as good of shape as they appear to be. (he sent me a better pic of the pair after dusting them off a bit- lol) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=190064774933 BUT Those adapters look like they are constructed of plastic , is that correct? If so are there any other sources? (preferably CNC'd aluminum??) Regards WOT

Yea, no doubt the MC2100 is a great piece of iron. (I've always loved the "Heavy Metal" looks of the McIntosh amps) I've heard only one 2100 though- owned by an aquaitance that uses it to influence an ancient pair of Bose 901s.They sounded fine (in a "house party" situation at least- didnt hear them otherwise) IIRC there's definately no lack of horsepower under the hood, that place was shakin' But I didnt know about the autoformer business. How does that influence the sound? Does it make them more compliant to varying loads on Heritage? WOT PS> I just bought a pair of 511Bs on eBay myself (although I havnt received them yet) and plan to do a little playing too. Do you know of a source for an adapter for the "thread in" K-55-V??

But the MC2100 is a solid-state power amp Not that we need to get into THAT debate, but there are obviously a LOT MORE options in a 1/2 decent $1000 amplifier if you intend to throw SS into the mix. (Dussun V6i immediately comes to mind- great Klipsch SS amp IMO) But thought you were strictly looking at integrated tube options. BTW> Another new $1000 integrated tube amp that we heard (and really liked the SQ) during our recent quest, that is available as a "kit" was called an "ELLA" from diy-hifi (Hong Kong) http://www.diyhifisupply.com/diyhs_ella.htm It has 4 inputs, can use EL34s, KT66 or KT88 tubes AND has a remote control and looked to be pretty good quality (except for the "chicken wire" tube cage which was horrid IMO) It sounded great on a beautiful pair of newer model Martin Logans when we were shopping,(but I still prefered the Cayin) but didnt get the opportunity hear it on any Klipsch Heritage models (but I wish I could have). Anyone know of this amp?? WopOnTour

Yea, I took my first ride in an car at the tender age of 4 days. I guess that means I have 46 years and 322 days of "automotive experience" ? [8-)] Can I put that on my resume? [] WopOnTour

Ahhh I didnt realize the kit came with resistors and assumed that was left up to the builder (which I guess it still is) I was thinking of going to the Wellbourne remote control attenuator but I might just try this control out in my JEL 300B DX (currently using el'cheapo ALPS 100K) Where can this kit be purchased (must have missed that) and how much? Thanks WopOnTour Edit> FOUND IT! (note to self... learn to READ! - LOL ) http://www.transcendentsound.com/step%20attenuator.htm

IMHO dhtman is totally correct in his statements about belt vs direct drive. The rubber belts and heavy platters are in fact direct solutions to cogging issuesthat plague almost any decoupled motor drive system (especially with AC motors). But the belt DOES induce micro-speed variations (W&F) as it oscillates due to motor torque fluctuations and stylus drag. I just question whether the Technics 1200's direct drive system (or almost ANY vintage direct drive system) could really be considered superior due to their own issues/compromises like speed hunting (depending on the regulation method used- quartz phasing etc.), coupling/induction noise and obnoxious motor rumble passed through the platter. The Technics 1200 is NOT a Teres Certus As far as VTA and azimuth adjustments, if you've ever set up a table using a test record, you will find it DOES make a noticeable difference.Differences in cartridges and tonearm setup, can certainly affect the ideal tracking angle necessary for optimum playback. However, the necessity to install an on-the-fly adjustment system to compensate is not essential IMO and more personal preference. I have the basic Michell threaded VTA on my TD-800 and typically have set it up for 180g vinyl (which I have the most of) but I don't find it necessary to alter it each time for 200 or 140 (even though I have it marked for easy recall) mostly due to shear laziness and the fact that the effect is barely negligible when listening to most (but not all) material that I enjoy. It's more a comfort item that I CAN make the adjustment, should I feel the need (or a member of the Greek Audiophile Society is present WopOnTour

Simple Depends on what you're planning to do with it ! If it's for home "audiophile" type listening to vinyl of various music types ... the Rega If you are a club DJ type and into battling, backspinning, scratch'n and stuff then the direct drive 1200 series Technics is the table of choice [] JMO WopOnTour PS> If it's REAL important to you, there are various low-cost VTA "on-the fly" solutions for the Rega arms... not a biggie

Sounds great! THANKS CRAIG! I'm quite "adventurous" when it comes to the ol' soldering irons actually Not exactly sure what you are proposing to do at the output trannies (upgrade that weak ceramic bypass cap across that swamping reisistor mounted directly on the transformers perhaps?) But here's a pic of the A-50T guts. (sorry for the size) My plan was just to perhaps upgrade some of the caps and maybe the resistors (Kiwames or perhaps Rikens?) in the low level signal path. WOT

Nice find! What type/brand of and R value resistors do you recommend?? (other than the 100K of course:) WopOntour

Wrench722 Coincidentally, a good friend of mine asked me that exact same question about 3 months ago. His budget was $1000 as well. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> Are you considering tubes? Do you need just a power amp or require an integrated design? If a tube based integrated design is what you are looking for I have a suggestion/recommendation in that price range... Cayin The story... As I mentioned a few months back he had asked me to assist him in picking out a decent quality tube amp for $1000 to enjoy with his Klipschorns. At the time, he had them driven by an older Sony ES Prologic receiver he had kicking around and they sound pretty damn good (his source is mostly CD and SACD) But he absolutely loves the musicality of my JEL 300DX (and Lascalas) and I've even offered to build him an amp, BUT feels they are just a bit under-powered for his liking (his opinion not mine) so he wanted something with just a bit more punch but still with that beautifully warm tube tone. (He listens to a lot of C&W, jazz & blues) Anyways, after searching the Internet and going back and forth with dozens of emails, it was clear there is currently JUST A TON of low cost (<$1000) no-name and off-brand tube amplifiers flooding the NA market these days- mostly out of Hong Kong and Taiwan. Of course after spending the better part of 3 years building, rebuilding, upgrading and tweaking about a dozen reiterations of my own SET- I was somewhat skeptical of the component selection and build quality one might expect out of such low priced units. Since he wasn't really willing to just risk it and purchase one of these off-brands on eBay or on-line without a hearing them first, we called a few local audio stores to see if anyone was stocking anything similar. To my surprise many did. Eventually one Saturday we both headed out to a couple of more obscure local audio shops downtown in order to check out a number of lower cost China sourced offerings including XIANG,Dared,DIY HIFI, and Cayin. Well we BOTH ended up buying Cayin amps! LOL He eventually settled on the Cayin A-50T ($999) which I can tell you that even with the "no name" Chinese (or Russian?) tube compliment (2x12AX7,2x12AU7, 4xEL-34) sounds absolutely fantastic on his K-horns! (and getting better every day) It's a push-pull AB1 amp that peaks out at 2x16W (triode mode) which IMO is more than enough power with Khorns for typical listening room levels BUT just in case you are entertaining or throwing a party (or have a larger room as he has) it also has a really neat feature allowing you to double the power and switch to 2x35watts connecting the EL-34s in ultra-linear mode-which with K-horns is guaranteed to wake the neighbors! He's connected to the 8ohm posts and it still sounds excellent (albeit painful) @ max volume I might add with very little if any distortion. Before we bought, the proprietor at the shop was even kind enough to let us remove the bottom (and side) plate covers to check out the internal componentry. I was initially less than enthused by obvious "clones" of brand-name capacitors (REALcaps? and what the @#%^ is SWELLONG??) These were quite obviously designed to look very similar to RELcaps and Hovlands but just HOW would they PERFORM? .There were a few recognizable name-brand components as well (ALPS volume controls, Nichicon and Rubicon electrolytics, WBT RCA jacks and speaker binding posts, and some very decent looking "no-name" toriodal (power supply) and EI (output) trannies. But the construction, point to point layout and build quality appeared top-notch I must say. It even has a remote control. After about an hour listening to various CDs and LPs he was sold (and I was as well- lol) About the only suggested improvement might be to swap in some matched NOS valves for these "no name" (Cayin branded)units especially if you don't have the patience to burn them in for a few 100 hours in order to soften them up a bit. But even right out of the box I don't find these EL34s as glaringly bright as I have with many other newer Chinese and Russian tubes. Myself, I absolutely fell in love with the Cayin HA-1A headphone amp after only 5-10 minutes previewing it with a pair of decent (SR225) Grado cans. (I have RS-2s) It's based on a pair of EL-84s which is a tube very near and dear to my heart as I had more than a few old Harmon Kardon and Fisher amps back in the 70s based on that drippy sweet valve.It too is switchable between triode and ultra-linear modes albeit to only a maximum 2x2.4watts. However, it can also be used as a pre-amp and even has 8-ohm speaker outputs! (It still sounds extremely good on my Lascalas but clearly not enough power IMO) I also loved the fact that the HA-1 has selectable headphone impedance from 6-300ohms as I actually have quite few sets that vary greatly in load. So I ended up buying his demo unit for $650. Although I had never really heard of Cayin until 3 months ago, (I've since learned they've been around a few years) about all I can say I am impressed with their entire line up features-wise and VERY impressed with the sound quality given the price point. I'd sure like to hear how Cayin's more expensive KT-88 and 6550 amps sound. I had an HK Citation 2 back in the early 80s that I sincerely miss, but maybe the Cayin A88T or A100T might be a fitting "modern" alternative? Does anyone here have one or maybe heard this amp perform? Anyways , there's not much info on Cayin available on the web but you can check them out here: http://www.sparkaudio.com/indexe.asp http://www.vasaudio.com/ There's also a few favorable reviews, specs and much better pics on Acoustic Sounds (good people) http://store.acousticsounds.com/browse_detail.cfm?Title_ID=16537&section= http://store.acousticsounds.com/browse_detail.cfm?Title_ID=17073&section=equipment Just thought I would share and Good Luck on your search WopOnTour

based on the schematic that DOES make more sense [Y] Thanks WopOnTour

They are 6 ohms if you use a constant impedance network like the ALK ES. Stock the LaScala's wtih AA networks have different impedances depending the frequency. Something like 8 ohms up to 400hz, then they drift up to 28 ohms at 1khz, then drift down to 8 ohms up to 2khz, drift back up to 12 ohms until 4khz, then drift back to 8 ohms beyond 5khz. A lot of folks put in a 15 ohm swamping resistor across tap 5 and tap 1 of the autofomer to help level the impedance peaks. Thanks Fritz I may just try the "swamping" resistor mod - a 10 watt'er sufficient? Does the resistor value chosen affect which tap you should use? WopOnTour

For a new TT in that price range I would suggest you look at the Goldring - GR 1.2 or the Thorens TD-158 Both can be found for just under $300 and will provide more than adequate "entry level" performance HTH WOT

oops

Stock Lascalas w/AA network to 8-ohm tap of JE Labs 300B (Hammond 1627SEA trannies) (LaScala's are 6 ohm??) WOT

Yea, I understand that "P" equates to 1976, but my confusion arises from the apparent ser# mismatch as well as the odd mix of a 5-digit stamp and 9-digit serial number (especially for that era) If you are having difficulty reading your label, I would suggest you take a decent digital pic of them like I did. I couldnt read the faded red ink with the naked eye either- but the digital rendering process appears to make certain details stand out. "Inspected" F. Barker's signature and even the LSBR model designation were barely apparent on the label pictureed above until the digital pic (I had actually assumed they were BB models but appear to have been painted/stainend black by a previous owner ) WOT

Thanks I checked and there ARE stamped-in numbers/letters the along the back panel plywood edge (within the rear cutaway on either side of the squaker) just as you state But they dont seem to coincide at all with the serial number labels (see attached photo) The wood stamps into there shows "8P943" on the LH side and "USA" is stamped on the RH end Now I'm really perplexed... WOT

No they are both broke off inside the diode Can I get them from Mouser or some place like that? Thanks Again WOT

Thanks guys One label is almost illegible and the other pretty bad as well with the numbers are all in red pen and badly faded making them difficult to read They ARE metal K400 horns with the round K-77, the K-55-V is the springloaded push pin type The AA network is the version with the zener diodes mounted to the angle iron on the left side ( and turned 90 degrees from the back of the speaker) If it IS an "S" though it would have a "strike-through" line across the middle, kind of like a $ sign (like they did on the 7s) It really looks like an 8 though. But why so many other numbers? Maybe the 5 is an "S" and the first 3 digits are something else? If so then the last 6 digits would sort of make sense- again making them 1978 models? Did they use the round magnet K-77 tweeter in early 78?? WOT PS> One the wires to a zener diode in each speaker is broken off. Can these still be purchased? Will it hurt to use them that way?? Thanks