lighting guy

Donation sent. Thanks! D

Robert, I live in Oakland and have a pair of Cornwall ones. The previous owner put new tweeter diaphrams in them and I have put new Sonicaps in the crossovers. Other than that, they are stock. You are welcome to come by some time for a listen. I run them on 2a3 and 300b SET amps. Darrell

Gagelle, let me know when you come to the Bay Area. If I'm around, you're welcome to come by to hear (IMHO) a couple of nice-sounding tube setups on Klipsch heritage. D

There is a certain three dimensionality that comes from a good tube system that I have yet to hear with solid state. Particualrly with SET (although I have yet to hear an OTL system). And it's not a vinyl-only phenomenon. In fact, I actally enjoy some CDs more than records when I compare the same music side by side, as the blackness of the background of many CDs helps the music jump out. Don't get me wrong, I've heard nice music (with lots of bass) from a really good SS amp, but the sound stage sounds flatter to me. Tubes don't always mean less bass, but even when it does there can be a certain "rightness" to the sound. I have a couple of different tube systems, and with the lowest powered SET I have incorporated an RSW-10 sub to help bring back the authority that my Belles lost with only 3.5 watts of power. I have never bothered to try bi-amping as some here have with good results. It's hard to describe what the tube sound is: "3d soundstage", "air", "presence", etc. But when you hear it, you know it's right. I find it most appealing with acoustic and vocal music, particularly if it's well recorded. Some say you're adding distortion, but as I understand it's 2nd and 3rd order harmonic distortion, and it gives the music (to me, at least) a fuller sound. It's not the same as distortion that is harsh and displeasing to the ear, unless you exceed the limits of your amplification and speakers. Not all tubes are created equal, particularly a lot of the modern production tubes sound brighter and crystalline to me. Older tubes from the golden era are more sought after. To me, that's part of the tube appeal as well. Collecting different makes of tubes and trying to find deals at local estate/garage sales. A vacuum tube itself is a thing of beauty to me, you have to marvel at the science and engineering of them. D

I liked the Spanish Prisoner, too. Recently saw it again on Netflix. Another good Mamet film is State and Main, about a movie crew taking over a small New England town. It has an all star indie cast. Rebecca Pidgeon (Mamet's wife) is in both films. Beautiful woman and a good actress.

sorry to hear that.

Are you still having trouble with one shutting down? I thought taking off the bottom plates did the trick? Darrell

davis419b, I had the same problem with one of mine shutting down. You may have already talked to Mark, but he suggested that I drill a grid pattern of 1/4 inch holes in the black bottom plates for convection cooling. I simply removed the plates altogether and put the rubber feet from the plates back onto the chassis edges so they stand off the floor. They run much cooler now, and haven't shut down again. D

Kudret, I live near Alameda, what can I do for you? Darrell

Fini, you have an email from me. D

STD, contact CIGARBUM from the forum. He bought my VRDs earlier this year and he can give you the bias instructions from the pages I sent him. I could probably instruct you from memory, but I might leave out some detail. It is very simple, you just need a tiny flat blade screwdriver and a good multimeter. Good Luck, Darrell

Cigarbum, looks lke you're enjoying the VRDs! I would like to hear them on your Cornscalas, bet they kick a**. Glad they sold to another Klipsch enthusiast. Have fun guys! D

Wincheter 21, I think Canyonman is right, different amps may yield different results in their tube selections, but here's what I've experienced. I have a set of Wright mono7's, the direct heated 300B offering from George (slightly different from his mono8- in what all ways I'm not entirely sure). I bought them barely used from a local fellow thru Agon. He sold them with a pair of Soveteks (which came stock) and Sophia "Princess" meshplates. I listened to them thru my Khorns and preferred the Sophias, better range without a lot of the crystalline character, but honestly I didn't give the Soveteks much of a chance. A while later in the search for more bass output I bought a matched pair of the reissue WEs. I felt like they had a very easy, natural sound but maybe a little muddy, (maybe more bass?). Eventually I began to notice that some of the detail in some of my familar songs was missing. I switched back to the Sophias and sold the WEs to a friend of mine who has Exemplar horns driven by Wellbourne amps. He swears by the WEs and bought mine as his backup pair. To each his own! I've also heard good things about the Sophia carbon plates (from Clipped and Shorn) but have no direct experience with them. Good luck! Darrell

I have that model cdp in one of my systems now, bought it at a garage sale a couple of years back-- for $5! Looked brand new, with shipping box and the remote unused. The guy said his son bought it for him as a present years ago but he never really used it. It's played flawlessly for me and sounds quite good. One of my best audio finds for the money. D

I actually spent my formative (high school) years in Hope, AR; lived right next door to PWK himself. I heard Khorns first (I know-spoiled for life!), then Heresies and La Scalas at various places, but never at Paul's home- unfortunately. Knew a few cool people that worked at K&A. My first pair of Klipsch were brand new '77 Heresies, my graduation present. I was the envy of my college dorm! Darrell

Gary, FWIW, it's 2:00 that Mark suggests for the volume knob when setting the gain levels on the BBX. D

Mark, Josh has moved on to his Olive Music Server, and I must say, it sounds very nice. I have 2 cd players, both Marantz. My better one is the SA 8260. Good detail, but a touch brittle to my ears. I also get a fair amount of no-plays due to read errors. My other one is a multi-disc CC 65SE. A nice player, but maybe a little muddy. I scored it for 5 bucks at a community garage sale, in pristine condition. One of my all time best audio scores for the money, hasn't given me any trouble (knock wood)! It sold for $500-600 in its day. The Apollo is in a different league, very silky AND detailed. I've been reading a bit about some people having trouble with read errors, how has yours held up? D

Josh, Fini did it! Fini did it![6] And after I wrote in and said all those GOOD things about your hosting, and I bashed Dave Mallete for his slam on OUR bay area. [] Thanks again for the loan of the Mullard and Rega Apollo. It's a great combo, my system has NEVER sounded better. I've got to do some serious thinking; I need to sell off some of my collection. D

Mark, first we heard an Amperex orange 6dj8, it had nice definition and dynamics through Josh's Belles. Then we switched to a Mullard and didn't pull it out. To me it sounded a bit more liquid while maybe losing some dynamics. Testing was pretty subjective as we weren't doing really critical listening. I have the Mullard in my BBX right now as Josh was kind enough to let me borrow it. D

Ahem.....3 big cities Dave.......SF, Oakland, San Jose, and a BUNCH of small ones in between.[] More people than this Arkansas boy feels comfortable around sometimes, yet it manages to feel homey most of the time. It certainly helps to have Klipsch bretheren around! Josh, I had a great time at your fine crib last weekend. Good people, music, food and drink! It was fun to do all the comparisons even if critical listening was hard to achieve with all the socializing. After all, the comaraderie is the most important feature of the get-togethers. I am currently listening to your Apollo with the Mullard 6dj8 in the BBX. Very, Very Nice! It was fun to hear all the different speakers, including my first Cornscala. Nice work Bob! Incidentally a couple of days later Bob helped me do a quick re-solder job. This community here is a great resource. Thanks Fini for the help posting the picture of the VRDs, and for bumping the post yesterday in the GS section. I was able to post my first picture (all by myself [:$]) yesterday in the cleaning colored vinyl thread. Wow a technical breakthrough! Bryan, sorry I had to leave before I got to see the school's system, I'm sure it ROCKS. Myron, good to see you again, hope you find those Khorns for the "barn". Next time we'll have to get Mark D, down here, it's pretty much turned into the JM club. Darrell

Mark, I'm proud to say I own Juicy Music components and have recommended them to friends. Prouder still to say I've met you. You're a great asset to the Klipsch community. Good luck in retirement! Enjoy your future projects! Darrell

Hey Josh, Any weekend in February, other than the first one, is good for me. I'm a believer in synergy within audio components. I remember in our ('07? !) shootout when we hooked up the W 3.5s with the Blueberry at the end, I was disappointed with the results. I'm very happy to have a Wright system and a Juicy Music system coming together. I would agree with all the posters that the Wrights seem more prone to tube issues. I've rolled quite a few tubes in both the pre and the two pairs of SET amps and the quality of tubes DOES make a big difference in them. I think George is a bit frugal in some of the internal components he uses, I know some folks who have gone inside and upgraded caps, for instance. Darrell

Gary, I cannot give you any direct comparisons, but I do own similar equipment from both companies. I have a WPL20, which is essentially the phono stage you're asking about built into his WLA12 linestage. It sounds great! I have it mated with his SET monoblocks and enjoy the sound very much, very resolving. I also have a JM Blueberry Extreme and like it very much as well. I usually have it mated with NOS Valves VRDs but I have a pair of Pcats on the way (thanks LeeW!) and am really looking forward to the pairing. I have two systems, one with a set of Khorns and one with a pair of Cornwalls. I been changing around a fair amount lately, to enjoy different sounds. As far as the Tercel, I can't help you, but I don't think you could go wrong with either company. I think they are similar in their philosophies, which is to bring audiophile quality sound at relatively affordable prices. Giant killers in a way. They're locally produced products from stand-up guys. As far as build quality, I think I'd give the edge to Mark Deneen, although I must admit I've never seen George's premium series except in photos and have never heard those amps. Not sure where Eldorado Hills, CA is, but I live in Oakland and would be happy to have you over for an audition of either system. Good luck in your journey. Darrell

Fini, absolutely! I was sad that the last get-together fell through. D

Thanks guys, for your responses. FWIW, I wrote to George Wright about what I'd experienced and he said the gain on the two amps is the same. He posited that the diffence in volume is in the tubes themselves. The 300B requires more drive, some Chinese makes are more sensitive and play louder (for a while). The WE 300Bs must need more gain. Craig, I NEVER would've tried this direct method with your amps! I only did this with the SET amps b/c very early on someone loaned me a pair of Wright 3.5s with a set of attenuators to audition on my Khorns. I figured with the lower sensitivity of the Cornwalls I couldn't be too far off trying this direct method. I like to shake things up sometimes, that's part of the fun of this hobby. Invalid test or not, I learned something. Darrell