LousyTourist

I think that would cover 98% of the responses. Generally speaking. [] And that is a sad state of affairs. Sometimes the prejudices of the members (OK, IMO most times) negatively affect the recommendations on this BB. I understand that there are a couple of manufacturers here that have successfully pumped their products here. But really. Closing your eyes is a bad survival trait. This hobby is the journey, not the end. Golf claps to those who would have him delineate what he wants, what he expects, etc. before pushing their agendas on him. If he wants to explore tubes, as he said, he should listen to some, and if still interested, try out an inexpensive version with the caveat that it might not be his final resting place.

uh, what's a vcap?

and like in the Seinfeld episode "they are real, and they are magnificent."

that is one UGLY *** avatar. It gives me a headache just to look at it. Not at all easy on the eyes like MY avatar. LT

I for one have an 8 watt SET and will soon (well, in a month or so after it's been recapped) have a 100WPC SS beastie. Also, I seldom if ever listen to music at 100dB, more normally 80dB or so. I wonder what kind of headroom 8 watts leaves me at those more nominal listening levels.... could someone 'do the math' as my pea brain doesn't seem to take in the numbers well. LT

Dennis, you mean their subwoofer?

I don't understand -- are you saying Cannonball was bad? Or are you using some weird newage meaning of the word bad that really means incredibly good?

Dang Steve, maybe the SET amps you are using (of which I know nothing) are the problem.... usually the output xformer has a lot to do with the sound, so you aren't going to find 'cheap' SETs that work well. When I went SET I went pretty high end and I have never looked back. My amps weigh about 40 lbs apiece so that's 5Lbs/watt. Good luck!

The things we learn when we are doing other things. I had a hum problem that I didn't even KNOW I HAD. I had gotten used to it, I guess. Then I bought a subwoofer, and during the setup/install, I got really annoyed at how loud the hum appeared to be. Well, one thing led to another, and I finally tracked down the culprit -- my tuner! Or, more specifically, the antenna lead into my tuner. The roof antenna goes to a 300 ohm balun, then a coaxial cable from the roof down to the tuner, with a stop at a junction box where it feeds the other tv sets in the house. I had a ground there to the water pipe, but apparently the tvs are feeding a lot of noise back into the line, because when I disconnected the antenna from the tuner, .... bah dah bing, no hum. I already had a ground isolator in my workroom; I put it on between the tuner and the antenna, and hoo ha, no hum. So, I guess the moral of the story is, ANYTHING attached to your stereo will cause these 104dB speakers to hum like a bastard.

Frz, I'm glad you responded. Isn't it odd how we decide things, but I had a chance to buy the FSR-15, didn't have a lot of experience with that model, and when I saw your sig line, I thought, well, here's a guy who likes them well enough to get two. Can't be all bad. And although people told me I'd have trouble finding a sub to keep up with the khorns, I think the FSR does just fine. Sounds like your settings are close to mine. I wasn't happy at 40Hz, or 60, and finally settled at 80.

Hi all, I bought an FSR-15 to cover the bottom octave that my khorns didn't touch. My interpretation of bottom octave is 20-40Hz, and the second octave as 40-80Hz, which I think is correct. My initial setting was at 40Hz, as that was as low as the variable crossover on the FSR-15 would go. Then I tuned it by ear and was somewhat surprized when I ended up with the xover set closer to 100hz(!) I dragged out some old response graphs and noticed that while the khorns dropped like a rock after 32Hz, they were on their way down as early as 50-80Hz. Along with the graphs came out my dusty rat shack SPL meter and the Stereophile test CD with its bass decade warble tones. Adjusting by meter I ended up with the crossover around 80Hz and a fairly flat response between 100 and 20Hz, with a 5Db dip around 50 and what must be a room response generating a 5dB peak around 20hz. Is this consistentwith other's experience? I was toying with the idea of a Behringers Ultra Curve thingie to get it really flat, but perhaps I am getting too picky?

Maybe I should qualify the comparison. I am looking for a subwoofer that will complement my klipschorns. The sub should perform between 20 and 32Hz well, and I listen exclusively to music, so I surely do NOT want a sub that is well known as 'punchy'

The SVS sub: http://www.svsound.com/products-sub-box-isdv.cfm The HSU: http://www.hsustore.com/vtf3.html anybody have an opinion?

a low cost sub that will work with my Klipschorns. I don't listen to music loud, and were I to get in the mood to shake the walls I would happily shut down the sub. I am told a HSU subwoofer is a good model, and there is one for sale direct from factory for about $699. I am not opposed to buying used. I only want (and this is blue skyish) 20-32hz reproduced by the sub. The khorns do the rest. Am I dreaming?

If $50 is your idea of lunch money, then sure. If you pause to think about it, then probably not.

agggh. Alan, why did you tell us this? Is it too late to start a new career in the movies?

My Bad! I had to laugh at the (insert adjective of choice here) post expecting people to list their LPs, so since all the good responses were already taken in the thread, I thought I'd be a big mouth and start another one sarcastically mimicing the original. Imagine my surprise when ladies unmentionables swiftly became the topic! I guess these things lurk very close to the surface in us Internet Denizens.

I'll start: Jennifer Warnes "Famous Blue Raincoat" and Patricia Barber "Cafe Blue"

Not mine, no affilliation, yada yada http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ele/148947820.html

Gil gave you the right dope there... false corners if necessary, or good sealing with some kind of weather stripping. Also, the room dimensions (and your seat relative to the speakers) have a LOT to do with the sound. Good integration of the horns sound takes about 8 to 9 feet (IMHO) from the face of the speaker to your seat. Make sure where you sit that you can look to the left or right and be looking directly down the throat of the speaker. Your kit sounds fine, otherwise. Spend some time listening and getting used to the sound.

ah yeah, there is so much more to the music experience than just plunking down and listening. I find that the desire to 'tweak' is ameliorated by the vinyl/tube/horn rig. The whole record ritual, from selection to cueing, and then ... the best part ... the music starts to flow and I don't feel like getting a better DAC or what-the-h3ll, although I must confess that I splurged on a Garrot FGS cartridge and don't regret that a bit. Those that want the remote control, 300 CDs in a changer six speaker 'music you can feel' AV experience are in a whole different mind set than I am.

I biamped (briefly) my 79 khorns, mostly as an experiment about a year ago. Got a SS integrated amp, fed it off the preamp out and wired its output directly to the woofer (no change in xover necessary -- opening the woofer circuit effectively removes it from the circuit). Adjusted the bass level via the volume knob on the integrated, and listened for a week or so. No significant change, but then I'm running 300B amps, not 2A3s, so I took it all apart. The biggest and bestest thing I've done for my khorns was put in a Bob Crites type A xover last weekend. The 25+ year old caps in the old xover must have been going bad. I'm not one for 'flower talk' but the sound opened up, a veil was lifted, blah blah blah.

It would seem to me that most tube lovers started out with SS, spent years with SS, and eventually 'discovered' tubes. Most SS lovers, on the other hand, have very limited experience with tubes, possibly hearing some here and there, but nothing on the order of living with them for years before 'discovering' SS.

I am sure that there are good SS amps out there; I haven't heard them all despite a couple decades of trying. But when I bought a $500 Steve Deckert tube amp (which I immediately returned) I nearly jumped out of my skin on the first track.. Albert King, I think it was. Ol' Albert sounded like he was sitting on the table next to me with his guitar. I've never looked back....