CaptnBob

Well, there I was, thinking things were going to work out. I hadn't heard from the buyer in five days, she was ignoring my emails, and had no apparent intention of returning anything. Then, two minutes before the case expireds, she emails me, saying she was sending it back. So we'll see what the next chapter is. I told her I wanted it packed and shipped by UPS, to minimize any further complications. Sigh. It is a woman, by the way. The nice Vietnamese lady who runs a restaurant near here confirms it's a female name. She also says to give it up and walk away as quickly as possible. Probably good advice.

If you go to look at them, take a flashlight. If you hold it right up to the grill, you should be able to see what's in the cabinet and be able to identify the drivers from the shape of the tweeter. They probably are home made. There was a theory at one time, back in the pre Theile days, that the port should be the same size as the woofer. Ports were bigger back in those times.

I wonder if that's why Dave asked me how to make something look like "an accident?" My first thought when I heard a Paragon - "Wow - that sounds incredible!" My second thought - "They sell for how much?"

The 315s are well thought of, certainly in the same league as the 604, the EV-15trx, the Jensen 610, and the Trusonic 206. I'd stay away from the Karlsons. The cabinets are way efficient, but not very linear in the midrange. It's generally considered a pretty dated sound. In fact, I'm not even sure the 315s will fit in Karlson cabinets, as the tilt back of the woofer may make the bell cover hit the bottom of the box. Try a big bass reflex cabinet or Jensen Imperial.

PWK claimed his research showed the T-35 to be smoother over most of the audible range. Considering what the 350s are selling for nowadays ...

My grandfather used to work at Famous Barr - St. Louis' equivilent of Macy's. He said it was not uncommon for people to buy entire sets of china and silverware, use them for a party, and them return them - unwashed - for a full refund which was always granted. This was during the 1930s. The more things change ...

Thanks, folks, I feel better just for the support. It appears the policy now is: he sends me the amp, or whatever he claims I sent him. I can inspect it for three days, and then have the money sucked out of my paypal account. Theoretically he is supposed to pay for return shipping. Or I can wait and let it float up to ebay for adjudication. I haven't heard from him since he told me he threw away the box and packing, and I replied and said that made everything harder. I don't want to be specific, but I do have pictures of some "anomalies" which pretty are specific to that particular 15. Still, everything is blocked by the "He advertised one thing and sent another" ploy. The thing is, if he'd just emailed me and said, "I'm sorry, it's just not going to work for me," I would have taken it back.

The nitwit threw away all the packing material. He just emailed me to tell me he can't email me. Right. I have many pictures (including one of the serial number) but this will still be no defense as he is saying I advertised one thing and sent him another.

I did insure it of course, with signature required. However, UPS won't touch it unless you have the packing, and this guy has not responded one way or the other about that.

Well, it started like this - I put my faithful Marantz 15 on ebay, along with a complete discription and a dozen or so pictures from different angles. Some guy in Texas with many positive feedbacks has high bid, so I wait until payment comes through, replace the pilot lights, pack the amp carefully with styrofoam, large bubble wrap, more styrofoam, and a small sheet of plywood across the front, and send it off via UPS. So far so good. Then last week I get an email from this guy stating that I misrepresented the amp and that it was "broken in the middle on the top." He also said he wanted his money back. Now, if you are familiar with Marantz 15s, you'll know "breaking" the top middle would involve tearing into a sheet of 3/16" aluminum. Dented I could see, but broken? Anyway, I told him to keep all the packing for UPS and to send me pictures. No pictures. He wants my home phone number so we can "discuss" it. No word on the packing material one way or another. He has now kicked it up to ebay, and they have put a $500 freeze on my Paypal account. In his complaint, I misrepresented the "item" (note it's never the "Marantz" or "the amp," just "the item") and the breakage has migrated from the middle to a corner. I am also "not responding," even though I am sending him multiple emails. He offers pictures but doesn't send them. Still nothing on the packing. I look up his feedback. Every thing is good. Everything is also purses, jewelry and other things in the $10-$20 range. Why is he suddenly buying $500 classic audio? Further investigation - Paypal has ebay account as one address, but the payment coming from another, un US verified, person. This was the address I was told to send it to, and that's where it went. UPS says so. I have sent him the tracking number. Got email from him last night. Says he can't send me email and suggests it's my fault. Think about that for a minute. ebay's solution is for him to send the amp back to me (a concept which has not crossed the mind of the guy in Texas) inspect it for three days, and then give him his money back. First of all, this violates the first Ferengi Rule of Acquisition (sorry, non Star Trek types) but more important, doesn't this mean, he can damage the amp, or switch it with something else, and send it back to me, claiming it doesn't look like the pictures, or has different serial numbers, or says "Emerson" on it because I misrepresented it? I'm not liking how this is playing. If something doesn't happed by the 20th, it goes to ebay for resolution, and they're not noted for their sympathy to the seller. Any thoughts? Anybody in Houston with a big, ill tempered dog?

Good eye. It is indeed. One of two, consecutive. Rolled out of Hope in January of 1960. Thanks for the complement on the amp. I really wish I hadn't been so ambitious in packing it. I'll try Audio Classics tomorrow.

I just sold my Marantz 15, and was getting ready to pack it up. I decided to take the face plate off to protect against the dreaded curled corner effect, and the little light bulbs fell out. As you can probably guess, neither one still works. Judging from the black deposits on the inside of the envelopes, they were probably pretty close to gone anyway. I suppose I could have just put them back in and blamed it on UPS, but that's not real great from an ethical point of view. So - the lamps say "GI 7328" on them. Is that the right lamp? When I got this, the taillights - the big ones that actually protect the amp - were wildly wrong, so I am unsure about these - especially since the pins on the lamps seem way smaller than the spring clips they fit into. Thanks in advance for any insight on this.

I've got an original set of Gold Lion KT-88s in my Mac 275. They make all the difference in that amp. I am talking about tubes that are 40+years old now. The KT-88s actually made the Audio Research amps I tried them in sound worse. Go figure.

Webster Record's only serious competion in St Louis was the Record Nook in West County, well, and Streetside too. The Record Nook had a pair of AR LSTs on the wall driven by a Crown DC-300a. Roy (the owner) sold only classical and jazz, and was happy to do on the spot demonstrations for you. It's where I learned English import albums could indeed sound much better than the stateside counterpart. I still cherish the 15 or so EMI lps I got from him. While we are strolling, or stumbling, down memory lane, I'd like to give an honorable mention to the Classic Cup in Kansas City's Westport. The building was divided down the middle, with kind of an anteroom at the entrance. The anteroom sold art prints, greeting cards and crafts. If you went down the stairs to your right, you were in the record store, specializing in Celtic and classical music. The speakers were big Martin Logans. If you went down the stairs to the left, and had any money left, you were in a store filled with imported wines, cheeses, jams, cookies and fresh pastries and coffee. The aroma was heady and wonderful, and it was impossible to not feel incredibly civilizied and urbane coming out of the door. Last memory - after my mom passed on, the first Thanksgiving was quite dfficult for my dad, and me too. So we decided to do something different. The day after Thanksgiving, we got up at 4 in the morning, caught the 5:05 train to Chicago. This got us to Union Station about 10:30 or so. I don't remember if we took a cab or walked, but we wound up at Macy's for lunch. Then we spent an agreeable couple of hours window shopping and finally turned up at Rose Records, which was under the El tracks. Rose Records at the time featured five stories of records, including one floor of cut-outs, and a delightlfully seedy ambiance. After we had visited all five floors, and couldn't carry anything else, we rolled to the train station, boarded the 4:00 to St. Louis, and were back home by midnight. I rarely felt so close to my father...

Rudy Bozak was big on vertical bi-amping back in the olden times. His theory - and you'd be hard pressed to prove him wrong - was the bass channel would be placing heavy demands on the power supply while the other could just loaf along, and be less likely to clip where clipping would be noticeable and damage tweeters. By using the same amplifier for the high and low frequencies, you would minimize any discontinuities in the sound quality at the crossover point. You wouldn't have, say, a Phase Linear sound up to 400 hz and an Audio Research sound above that.

A moment of silence, please, for Webster Records, which is closing its doors tomorrow after 62 years in business. It's one of St. Louis' last record stores, and the only one I know of which focused on classical, jazz and world music. It was "old school" all the way, complete with staff who would let you play several different recordings of the work you wanted, so you could decide on the performance you liked the best. I can remember going down there fifty years ago with my dad to pick out the new Christmas albums, and what a treat and adventure it seemed. Somehow Amazon just isn't the same.

I did. Mike said to replace the 6U8 on the multiplex corner. Smart guy, that Mike.

I'm looking at a McIntosh MX 100 z series tuner preamp with a multiplex light that's always on more or less. I vaguely recall there was an easy way to deal with this (besides sticky tape) but I seem to have forgotten it. Any ideas? Thanks Bob A.

Excellent amp - probably one of the three or four best of its time. Downside - runs really hot and a fan is almost a must. It's also hard on output tubes. This can be a consideration when you're talking Genelex. Plus, for some reason, the paint flakes off pretty easily. This may be a by product of the heat. Still, if an amp can stand next to a Mac 275 or Scott LK-150 and not look ridiculous, it's got something special.

Well, let's see. My Cornwalls are verticals, made in 1974. Crossover points are 600 hz and 5000 hz. Crossovers are type Bs. Tweeters are K-77s, mids hammertone grey K-55s. Woofers are coffee colored square magnet K-33s with fiber composite (who are we kidding here - paper) cones. Frequency response is 38 - 17,500 hz. The cabinets are made of fir plywood with visible plugs. Not at all ready to stain, regardless of what the ads of the time said. SPL 98.5 db at 1 watt / 1 meter. Weight and dimentions as above. Earlier CWs had 1000 hz and 5000 hz crossovers and the same 1000 hz horn used in first Heresies and the Shorthorns. They also used Jensen woofers.

First off, welcome to the forum. We're glad you're here. I'd probably go for the Cornwalls, if everything works. Check the tweeters in particular. See if the guy will come down a bit - say, $600 or $650. See if the guy will take the backs off - everything should say "Klipsch" on it. Go with a friend to hear them - particularly if the friend is big and looks like he could have a bad attitude. There have been several instances of late of fake listings where the potential customer (that's you) goes to the given address only to get jumped, robbed and beat upside the head. So go with your instinct. If things don't feel right, they probably aren't. But I digress. The Cornwalls have a much better low end than the Heresies. They go louder, too. $700 is a bit much for thirty year old Heresies. I hope this helps. Virtually anything will drive Cornwalls - even a Sony receiver. Only problem is any flaws will be magnified.

If your speakers are too close, your picture will start looking funny - odd color blooms, and so on. You shouldn't have any problems if your speakers are more than a couple of feet away.

Let's start at the top. The MX 114 is an OK tuner-preamp and definitely worth getting fixed unless something really horrible has happened to it. The 2505 is a fine amp and will probably do more like 70-75 WPC. I used to use a 250 - the plain dress version of the 2505 - with a pair of La Scalas to fill a 1100 seat auditorium. In short, you won't be lacking for power, unless you're looking for serious hearing damage. The La Scala's not really lacking for bass - what's happening is the speaker is "voiced" as a p.a. speaker, with a midrange designed to punch the vocals through the mix, and also to project the sound over long distances. Try getting a good equalizer - none of the cheap junk, but one like the McIntosh MQ 101 or one of the SAE parametrics, and try backing out the midrange a bit while boosting the top a little and the bass a bit more, and put the speakers in the corners where they belong. Your friend is right about subs - about 85 per cent of the ones I've heard do more damage than good. Try this for a little while before doing anything else - well, get the 114 fixed first. I had a 2205 for a while and, not to put too fine a point on it, was distinctly unimpressed. The 2255, a significantly different proposition, was much better. Audio Research made really good preamps and amps, but they were "sports car audio" needing frequent tuning and repairs. If you want to get your feet wet with tubes, try a rebuilt Scott 299 for a while. You'll be able to use it for a while, see if you like it, and, if need be, sell it without taking too much of a bath. Just make sure it's been refitted. If you're looking for what I'd probably do, is A-get the 114 up and running to full potential. B - get a good equalizer (anything sold by Parts Express is, by definition, not a good equalizer) C - use the system for a while and see if you like it. and D. look for a McIntosh 240 or Marantz 8b. These are expensive, but they really can make the big Klipsches sing.

I remember them being kind of grainy and unpleasant sounding. I know the JBL pro stuff of the same era certainly was. Of course, these are forty year old memories.

Hmm. They are labeled 12au7 and boxed as 12au7. I tried testing them as 12ax7s, but they didn't look happy, so I ended the test prematurely. I'll try again tomorrow.