tom b. 57

Everyone have a very Merry Christmas and make sure you play all your favorite Christmas songs over some Klipsch speakers. I know I sure have been. I too wish everyone a very safe and enjoyable Holiday. Tom

WOW! Ten years and you're thanking everyone? Just kidding. This is a great forum and it's members like you that make it so. We should all thank you. So, THANK YOU! Tom PS: Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Welcome to the forum. I have owned Heresys, Lascalas, Belles and continue to own Cornwalls, and in my room and the type of music I listen to,(which is a wide variety of genres), I have preferred the Cornwalls. I like the other models I have owned, but, the Cornwalls seemed to reproduce all the different genres of music well, where the others seemed to favor certain genres more than others. That may be attributed to my room, equipment, placement of speakers, or, my hearing. Try to find resources,(other forum members, perhaps), in your area to check out the different models. Tom

I like ESS AMT1B's, Vandersteen 2C's and ADS L710's to name a few. They all do something different. I do like my Cornwalls best. I can only hope before too long, I will fall across a pair of Klipschorns at a price I can't pass up. Tom

"Not bad for 8 and 10 years old though. Got to give them the sickness early on LOL " I agree, my 5 year old Granddaughter has had a pretty decent system for a year now. She loves it. Parents, well, thats another story. Sometimes they don't appreciate Grandpa burning cds for her. I love it. LOL! Tom

Does anyone have experience with this turntable? I have been researching a bit online and it has kind of got me thinking about buying one, but, without hearing it or knowing anyone that has, I am very hesitant about making the plunge. $1,400.00 is a pretty big purchase for me. I'm not having any luck finding a dealer in my area with one I can listen to and examine. Tom

I have a pair of Vandersteen 2C's that I like quite a bit. I have them in my front room with my Cornwalls. They can't do everything that the Cornwalls can do, but, I don't expect that from them. I won't compare them to a Klipsch Heritage product because that is the old apples and oranges thing. They are a good sounding speaker, but, I don't think I would pay $400.00 for them. I got mine for $225.00 with stands and they are in very good condition. Where mine are placed I get plenty of bass, but, the highs tend to be rolled off a bit. All in all they are a pretty well balanced speaker, in my opinion anyway. The overall sound is in my opinion too different from the sound of Klipsch Heritage speakers that I have owned to try to do any meaningful comparison. I have owned Heresy's, Lascala's, Belle's,and I still own my Cornwalls. There are things I like about the Vandersteen's that compel me to keep them hanging around. Tom

I forgot to add, my favorite album is Led Zeppelin III. Tom

The first five albums did it for me. Starting with Physical Graffiti, I felt they changed direction somewhat and their music just wasn't the same. I like some of the later stuff they did, but, not with the intensity I remember exhibiting with their earlier works. I seen them in Seattle in 75' at the Kingdome. Terrible acoustics, but, man what an experience. Tom

Thank you for your response Mike. I received the DL 103 yesterday and have been listening to it quite a bit and am happy with what I hear. I am tossing the idea around of buying another and sending it directly to Zu for the upgrade. Since my last posting I have contacted Zu and asked them exactly what they do and how I will benefit. It is tempting to go forward with the Zu mod on a new cart. and then compare the diff. when it is done. I will toss this idea around for awhile. Thanks, Tom

Well, I ordered a DL 103R from Comet on May 20th and they still haven't received any from Denon, so, I got impatient and ordered a DL 103 from them, since they have them in stock. I hope it will be a good moving coil cartridge experience. What exactly does the Zu Audio upgrade do for these cartridges and what is the added expense? Tom

Thank you for clarifying that. I was kind of thinking that the stand-alone phono preamp should perform better. But, I am not a seasoned tech. Just a music and audio gear lover and my lack of technical knowledge is always an issue. Tom

Craig, I will certainly keep that in mind. Thank you. Tom

That's because the tube really doesn't do all that much in the Bellari ! The Bellari phono pre is more "Solid State" then "tube". Craig, what do you think of the Yaqin phono preamp? I thought I would ask you since you are one of the experts on the forum. Do you know anything about this unit? Tom

The Yaquin is sounding like it might be a relatively inexpensive way to check out if tube phono preamp mated to ss amp and preamp will benefit my desire for sonic enhancement. I did a little research and found that most people have nothing but positive remarks about this unit. This is certainly food for thought. The price is right, ( seeing that I am a bit of a cheapskate). It about killed me to spend $200.00 on a Denon cart. LOL Thanks for the suggestion. Tom

I am tossing around the idea of a tube phono preamp. The issue I am stuck on is, how much will I benefit sonically if everything else (amp,preamp) is solid state? I enjoy my Scott 299D's phono section now that the Scott has had a lot of the caps replaced and matching tubes installed, but, that is in the secondary system. My main system is a Phase Linear 400 and an Audio Refinement Pre-2 PSP. I am currently using a Creek OBH-8 phono preamp. It sounds good, but, I know it aint The Sh**. If you know what I mean. Any thoughts, comments or ideas on this subject? Tom

I finally brokedown and ordered the DL 103R from Comet yesterday. Yee Haw! It is on back order. Boo Hoo! I've waited this long, I guess a few more weeks won't kill me. Pulling the money from my wallet almost did. I don't know why it is so difficult for me to spend a little on a cartridge. Maybe because I know it has a certain short life expectancy compared to other parts of my analog system. Just haven't put my finger on that one yet. Could also be the size of the piece, I guess, maybe. Tom

They are not faded. They are correct. Tom

Those look exactly right for the olive green. They don't look quite as bad as I remember. Tom

I have owned several pair of KG4's and have had black and I guess what you would call olive green (ugly in my opinion). Have not come across any with brown grills as of yet. Tom

Yeah, I know. Old habits die hard Tom

Comet is where I plan on purchasing one from. I'm just such a tightwad when it comes to these things. I actually cringed when I put out $100.00 for an Ortofon red. I have been craving an mc cartridge since I got a taste of an older Ortofon mc a couple of years ago, but, it was old and soon after getting it the sound started to degrade because of the stylus being so worn. Tom

I am just about ready to pull the trigger on one of these carts. Is the price diff. of $76.50 for the 103R actually worth it in performance? Any opinions will be appreciated and considered in my final choice. Thank you, Tom

The only person I know that is remotely close to you is Pat Hickman and he resides in Camas WA. (Southwest WA) Here is his website: www.classictubeaudio.com I would suggest checking out his site and then if interested, contact him. He did very good work on my 299D. I'm not sure if this will work for you since you are on the Southern coast of Oregon. Tom

I think that if you get an opportunity to listen to some Frazier MK IV's or any other Fraziers for that matter, you will be pleasently surprised. I never heard of Frazier speakers until a few years ago and now I own two pair, MK IV's and what I believe are a pair of MK VI's in some very cool 50's or 60's style cabinets. Very nice pieces of furniture that sound great. Tom