CaptnBob

Save yer money. Get a good turntable, and you won't be spending so much time and effort being aggravated. Also, figure on spending at least $75-$100 on a new cartridge. One play with a bad stylus can take the joy out of any LP.

That would add - the meter on the tube tester started burying itself to the left.

What tubes are supposed to be in this amp? The sticker on the bottom says 4 - 7591, 4 - 12AX7, and 2 - 6GH8. The Scott website agrees, except subbing 6U8s or 7199s for the 6GH8s. The tubes themselves are no help, as the lettering is long gone. I tried testing them as 6GH8s, but they didn't seem happy early on in the Hickox tube tester, so I pulled the plug. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Bump!

Hate to be the old killjoy here, but, do be careful with your hearing. You are well into the permanent damage range with this. Mr. Klipsch used to take an spl meter with him to symphony concerts, which can get into same the spl regions, and take measurements. He liked to prove that his speakers could easily match that level, while other brands - specifically AR-3s - could not.

Hate to be backward, but what was the scam? Return of the white truck? Wife selling the Corvette? Beefsteak mine?

Thanks; I feel much better. I was afraid I did it when I wiped off an errant bit of Fanfare overspray. I get the feeling this amp was not overly appreciated in its former life. I mean, wouldn't you move it out of the room when you were painting? It's not that heavy. On the positive side, it must have pretty low miles - there's no scorching of the cabinet or grill from the output tubes. All the tubes seem original, except for the 5AR4, which proudly states "DYNACO" on it. It sounds pretty good too - very romantic, a little dark, but really nice. Yes, I know - it should be refitted.

The thing is, the rest of the faceplate looks almost new - so does the rest of the amp, except for some weak lettering on the back. Oh, well, it's not so bad I can't live with it, I just wish it hadn't happened. Why would these guys use water-soluable paint on these things anyway - like the famous, or more correctly, infamous dial numbers on the Marantz 18 and 10-b. Grump Gripe. Thanks for your suggestions. I wonder if a dry transfer thing would work. They're used a lot on model trains.

I've got a Scott 299c which is impeccable except for some worn lettering around the volume knob. Anybody know where I could get it "freshened up" for a reasonable amount of money?

You're welcome, Dave. I'll just transfer all the balances to the guy on the back of the tape deck.

If I may paraphrase the "Great Major Breakthrough" flyer from long ago, "Yup, I did it too." I was getting ready to repaint my 74 Cornwalls, when I saw them, right there on both squawker horns - my Social Security number and Missouri drivers' license number as well. As I think about it, I'm pretty sure I did the woofers inside too. Shows what kind of trouble you can get into when you put too much stock in contemporary wisdom. Bob A.

I'm pretty sure the delay and pitch bending are due to a setting on the Vocopro - they brag about it on their website.

Let's narrow things down a bit. Does the the receiver work ok with just the Klipsches plugged into it? Do the tuner and cd player work at the same volume levels as the karaoke player? What are the outputs from the mixer called and what do the plugs look like? What are the inputs you're using on the Pioneer look like and what are they called? Finally the big one - is is possible you are just trying to run the system too loud? Let us know and we can go from there. Bob A.

I believe it was, although I recall a lot of time was spent on the Bose 901. Bose had recently published a book of warranty cards from people who had traded in their Klipschorns, VOTTs, Concert Grands and so on for 901s, along with letters from customers who had "placed the 901s on top of the (your speaker here) and the 901s were clearly superior..." You can see why Mr. Klipsch would consider this a "causus belli." No one ever seemed to ask how you could have a fair test of a speaker needing to be in the corner with one designed to be in the middle of the room if one was sitting on the other. But that was just me... Bob A.

I actually asked Mr, Klipsch that very question. He said the idea was they could go either way, while keeping the tweeters as high as possible and near ear level - the older vertical Cornwalls actually have arrows on the back telling you which way was up. He envisioned people putting them under windows or built in bookcases. In fact, the width of the Heresy was determined by the average space between the top of a door and the ceiling. But I digress. Mr. Klipsch found out after a few years that hardly anyone was using them horizontally - not surprising, since the literature refers to the "preferred vertical position." He adopted the totem pole configuration so he wouldn't need to build, stock and ship the speakers in pairs, and wouldn't need to flip the front panels during construction. My vertical Cornwalls came with steel gliders hammered into the bottom, so the decision was pretty much made for me. The fir plywood used in those days was not all that pretty - lots of plugs and all - so that I would up painting them black. They're still pretty striking. The tweeters to the inside is to minimize early reflections from the side walls. If your speakers are away from the walls, it's not so much of an issue. Boy, I'm glad I got to go to those seminars Mr. Klipsch used to host. Really down to earth, and things presented to even I could understand them. p.s. It appears yours were made in 1973 - a year before mine.

The big deal on a lot of Lencos was the infinite variable speed - you could get it anywhere from around 13 rpm up into the upper eighties. This is important if you are a purist collecting early records, as the 78 speed did not become standard until fairly late in the game. Lencos had lots of torque, a massive platter to smooth out wow and flutter issues, a mediocre arm and plinth, and on occasion, rumble issues.

It used to be that if you were shopping for used Dynaco amps, you didn't want one that was factory made - evidently they got a bit blase on the assembly line. The way to tell was a factory job was riveted together and a kit was held together with screws. Of course, I've seen some kits evidently assembled with a flamethrower and a bucket of molten lead. Bob A.

I was prepping a Crown CX-844 and a Marantz timer for sale on the 'bay, when I noticed something which could cause a lot of trouble. Back in the old days, when dinosaurs and electric pencils were new, people were advised by law enforcement types to engrave their names on their electronic equipment to facilitate its return should it be stolen. So far, so good. But they also advocated putting a number with the name to minimze confusion - like a social security number! Both the Crown and Marantz have a name and a XXX-XX-XXXX number on them. This could lead to a lot of strange charges showing up on someone's Visa statement. Now I have to figure out how to take off the numbers without making it look like I boosted the tape deck... Bob A.

Well, in my case, I'm planning on winning the lottery and moving into a couple of 20 room mansions, and I want to be prepared. And it is fun to swap stuff in and out of the system from time to time as well as not be musicless when something goes out for repair. NOS is absolutely correct - system matching is a paramount and often lost art in audio. When I first got into hi-fi, and dinosaurs and Studebakers roamed the earth, my Marantz 2s sounded much better with the preamp out from a Nivico 5020 receiver than they did with a Dynaco PAS 3. My Marantz 7 starts losing top end if it's more than about six feet from the amp. At the movie theaters, you'll often find that the individual amps, pick-ups, speakers and so on sound terrible on their own, but put them all together (and put the speakers behind a perforated screen) and you can have a pretty magnificent result.

If these are the ones I'm thinking of - 8" woofer, dome tweeter with a foam ring around it, black vinyl cabinet, tweeter level control in the upper right hand corner of the front - there's no way these things would have the output for almost any kind of P. A. use. EV designed them for small studio monitoring. Now, if we were talking about a Sentry III or IV, you'd be in business, but the 100, I'd leave in the home theater or basement. It is a fine sounding speaker, used within its design limitations, but a P.A. speaker it ain't. The only time I used them sucessfully as p.a.speakers was for lectures in a 100 seat classroom, and even then, they were "huffin' and puffin."

Thought I'd wade in here. Back in my Dahlquist days, I replaced an Audio Research D-79 (75 wpc) with an ARC D-160 (160 wpc. There was a big difference - better bass, the stereo imaging went from bas-relief to 3-D, and the sense that it would never run out of power. Very seductive. The only problem was the high rise flames that came out of it from time to time. The second time it took all 10 6550 output tubes with it. I understand this is not uncommon with some of the bigger power tube amps. Tube rolling seems to make more of a difference with some amps than with others. Going from GE 6550s to original Gold Lion KT-88s made a huge difference in the Mc-275 - made me forget all the dents and pitting. EL-34s vs. KT-77s in a Marantz 8b, not so much. Chinese Silver Dragons vs. EH ersatz Philips in a Marantz 9-II, quite noticeable. You have to trust yourself.

The market may make the decision for me. $1,900 for a Marantz 19 on ebay? I know that's an aberration, but still ...

On the Sherwood, with the power off, try turning the volume knob back and forth a couple of dozen times real fast. Sometimes the "exercise" is all it needs to be listenable. Then listen to it. You might be pleasantly surprised. Those 22 series Marantz were really great products. As Mr. O'Brien, the man running the McIntosh clinic said when he checked out my 2270 - it may have been the first one he'd seen, as he seemed genuinely surprised at how good it was, "They have some real engineers over there."

Already have nice tube amps - this is for the office.

Let's throw this out for debate - it's time to "thin the herd" a bit and I'd like to get some different perspectives. I've got three receivers - a Marantz 18, and Marantz 19 and a McIntosh 4100. Their respective virtues and vices: Marantz 18 - the last of the original "Saul & Sid" Marantz - handsome, scope receiver. In a bit rougher shape cosmetically than the other two. Sounds really good in an early solid-state sort of way. Design has an evil reputation for unreliability; this particular unit was assembled from the remains of two failed receivers. Works well now, and has new dial glass. Marantz hand stenciled the numbers for each receiver so it would be accurate regardless of unit to unit variation. Good idea - until someone tries to clean it with Windex. 40 wpc rms and they meant it - this one's closer to 50. Marantz 19 - Touted when build as the world's most expensive receiver - kind of an odd thing to brag about. $1,200 in Nixon era cash. Elegant looking, with a shutoff for the scope - good to avoid burns. Near mint cosmetically except there is some kind of goo or something on the inner dial glass. Doesn't affect performance, but does look odd - it comes across as a shadow on the left end of the dial. The stereo light and the dial pointer light don't work - my tech said there didn't seem to have ever been provision for them - that is, no lamp socket, no wires, no nothin'. Again, ugly rumors about reliability, though not as widespread as the 18. A bit softer sounding than the 18 - not as detailed, but not as edgy, either. This particular unit has never given any problems, except for the non-existant lamps. Rated at 50 wpc rms, but good for about 55. McIntosh 4100 - The first McIntosh receive that actually said "McIntosh" on the faceplate, and the receiver Orson Wells was listening to "Mozart" on in the "We'll sell no wine before it's time" ads. Powerful - 100 wpc. I've never tested it, but being a Mac I'm sure it's got more. Just about every feature you could want, from a five band equalizer to a switch that lets your turntable turn it on and off - in case you like going to sleep listening to lps. Sounds pretty good - different than the two Marantz, but nothing objectionable. My beef with it is this - what was Mac's design department thinking? Putting a vinyl clad cabinet (and not even good vinyl) on a receiver this expensive? Knobs and buttons galore, apparently stuck in wherever they would fit? Yellow flashing lights and meters instead of McIntosh blue? I know, did I buy it to look at it or listen to it, but still, the overall effect is, for want of a better term, kinda cheesy, and compared to the Sun Valley units, pretty dated. Well there you have it - let the discussion begin.