George Roland

A fit? Yeah...talk about sinking feelings! I've bought and sold a ton of audio equipment on e-Bay and Audiogon and this is only the second instance of damage I've encountered. Gotta do bullet-proof packing! I was VERY fortunate. The seller was very responsible and honorable. He refunded my money through PayPal, so it happened almost instantly. George

I'm sure no expert on this either, but so far no one has mentioned wall construction. I'm guessing you would do well to insure that the walls in the corners where your K-horns are going are solid. Those walls are part of the horn and you do not want them flexing while playing music. Perhaps somewhat closer-together studs or maybe a double layer of wall material would do well to make these walls more rigid. Best, George

A "straight wire with gain" is an ideal not a reality. Every amp I have ever heard sounded different from every other amp. If you have separates, pre-amps too are very differnt sounding. All I know to do is try out as many as you can and begin to narrow down on what suits you. Good luck, George

If you want to give your Cornwalls' bass drivers a workout, try the opening of Bach's Toccata & Fugue in D min. on the Michael Murray Telarc CD-80088. It's awesome. For opera, I just got Gunod's Romeo and Juliette on EMI, Cond. Plasson, and it is really beautifully recorded. A great performance and wonderful sound. Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D min.SONY SK62634, Cond. Abbado is a really electrifying performance, and, as my Christmas Bonus recommendation, you can't go wrong with Handel's Messiah on original instruments, Cond. by John Eliot Gardiner on Philips 411 041-2. Happy listening! George

After a long thread on the sound quality of SETs recently, I took the plunge and bought a pair of beautiful looking used Welborne 300s on Audiogon. They arrived Tuesday night, smashed to bits in transit, Big holes in the cartons, broken wooden bases hanging out of the holes, parts rattling around inside. They were returned to the shipper, and I got my money back, but I'd rather have had the amps. What a heartbreaker! Oh well, I still have my Blueberry coming. Hope it makes it! George Roland

Congratulations on your new Cornwalls. It sounds as though you got a good deal on them. I let a pair slip by me recently, and I'm still kicking myself for not picking them up. Ah well, maybe next time. Let us know what you think of them after a good listen! George

I found, on Audiogon, a pair of nice looking Welborne 300Bs that're on the way to my house right now. Should arrive Tuesday or Wednesday. I hope these would be considered good used ones! The seller assured me they were quiet, a step in the right direction for sure. Can't wait to hear them! George Roland

Thanks, Mark, for reading carefully my original posting and responding to it. I have no partisan axe to grind one way or the other here. I have a 100 wpc tube amp (ARC VT-100) and a 100 wpc solid state amp (Hafler 220) I can listen to. Whatever strengths or weaknesses these amps may have, they can provide me with dynamics. I have never heard a SET amp and know many members here, whose opinions I respect, who listen to and love them. I listen almost exclusively to acoustic music. Classical music, symphonic music and opera as well as folk music, acoustic blues, some rock but not at ear-splitting levels, and Mark got it right...I'm maybe willing to sacrifice some dynamics for inner detail, clarity, timbral accuracy and so on. It seems that, as I read these fascinating postings, that the linearity of SETs, and lack of feedback may give them the edge in those areas over high powered amps that are more dynamic. Maybe we agree that a 5 wpc SET isn't going to be able to best a 100 wpc amp for dynamics or ultimate volume? Mark read my post and recognized that is it the quality of the sound I am seeking responses to. Surely dynamics are important but not the only criteria. I'm wondering now from those of you who have experience with both types of amps, SETs and high powered, very dynamic amps, if you could comment on the relative strengths of these types of amps in the areas of timbral accuracy, layer upon layer of detail and clarity?

Okay, Now Mike has made a claim for the linearity of SETs and your argument for higher power is related to developing adequate dynamics in the sound reproduction. So doea that mean that higher powered amps that produce, presumabley a wider dynamic range are less linear? Also how do dynamics and linearity play into the situation I am most curious about that I would call resolving power, that is the ability to reveal the maximum amount of inner detail with an open uncompressed sound? I must admit to being strongly attracted to a system's ability to reveal threads of every instrument in the ensemble...each instrument's timbre accurately shown so a clarinet, oboe, flute can easily be identified and distinguished in complex passages. Would SETs be better at this, and if so, why? George

Hi, I have no electronics background so a very technical explanation is not necessary. But I am wondering what it is about SET amps that makes them such a good match with Klipschorns and other very high efficiency speakers? I have an idea of the conditions amps are up against driving very inefficient speakers, and can understand that an amp designed for high power to drive such speakers might not be suitable for ultra-efficient speakers like K-horns. But, turning that around, what is it that makes SET amps, sound good? I know little wattage is required for very efficient speakers to produce high sound pressure levels, but what does that allow the amp to do better? Are good SET amps inherently highly detailed for example--revealing more information form the source? Is part of the answer just the relative simplicity of the circuitry? Thanks, George

Thanks to all who shared their advice and experiences on preamps. I contacted Juicy Music and ordered a Blueberry Xtreme. It'll be here in a few days. Can't wait to hear this preamp! George

I'm from the Meadville north of Pittsburgh, long way from Baltimore! Great idea though! Thanks for the suggestion! George

You're right on with these characterizations. ARC told me the SP-8 had too much gain for K-horns. I bought it before I bought the K-horns for use with less efficient speakers. It produces a lot of inner detail, but it is cold, hard and noisy with the K-horns.

I was looking over Juicy Music's Web site and reading some of the reviews there. I have a LOT of LPs, so I might be more interested in the Blueberry. Any thoughts on the sonic quality of the Blueberry and its phono stage or the Merlin and someone else's phono stage at abut the same price? Thanks for the information. George

I'm looking for recommendations for a tube pre for my K-horns. Right now, I have an ARC SP-8 and a Curcio modded Dynaco PAS-2. The ARC extracts a LOT more detail but it is unacceptably noisy and hard sounding. The PAS 2 is quiet (after considerable tube rolling) but doesn't have the detail. The ARC was fully reconditioned by ARC with all new tubes. Their guy told me it had WAY too much gain (24 dB I think) for K-horns (I bought it before I got the horns.) Anyway, with that as background, I'd be interested in recommendations for a pre. I've been looking at Foreplay III and Welborne kits. I can put a kit together if the instructions are excellent. I have no knowledge of electronics but am careful and have steady hands. Fire away guys. George

I have been listening to speakers for awhile now. I began with PSB Stratus Golds, then bought a pair of Klipschorns, then a pair of Magneplanar MG 1.6/QR's all three of which were in my listening room for quite some time. The K-horns recently were modified by putting my K55V's onto Altec 511B horns. I would like to check these listening impressions with you to see if you have had similar experiences, have a different take on these thoughts or maybe some suggestions on how my K-horns are set up that might contribute to my impressions. The Maggies and PSBs both seem to have wider dispersion than the K-horns. The sound stage through the K-horns always seems narrower. With the other two speakers, the sound seems spread over a wider area allowing for more information/inner details to be heard. When I switch back to the K-horns, I can often pick these sounds up, but the K-horns are seldom the speakers that first allow me to pick up on these sounds. For example in listening to Gordon Lightfoot's "Winter's Night" from the "Gord's Gold" CD, over the Maggies, I was startled to hear a small chorus of "ooohhhs" come in at the end. I had never heard this over the K-horns. When I returned to the K-horns, it was there, sure enough, but harder to hear, much less noticable. The PSB's sound closer to the Maggies than the Klipschorns in this regard. The second impression is about bass response. Here the Maggies and PSB's seem to go deeper. There are some bass notes, deep down, that the K-horn just doesn't let me hear. The K-horn's bass seems more articulate and sharp. Onset transients are better than on the PSB's or Maggies, that seem softer and blurrier on attacks. The Maggies in particular seem downright wooly, almost producing one-note boom at times. They seem very sensitive to placement, however, and this one-note boom can be considerably bettered with careful adjustments of position. The PSB's are somewhere in between. They go deep and have better focus than the Maggies. They aren't as sharp and clean as the K-horns, but the K-horns don't go as low...or at least that is my impression. As with the Maggies, though to a lesser degree, the PSB's are also influenced greatly by repositioning. I have read many of your statements regarding the often-neglected importance of the room, but these experiments have convinced me of the soundness of that advice. Do these observations conform to those any of you have made? My K-horns are in the narrow end of a long room. Placing them across the widees room walls, and perhaps using a center channel is impossible in my room. I cannot really set them up as intended and sit on axis between them. The best I can do is fit the bass bins tightly into the corners (with pipe insulation seals) then rotate the top cabinet towards the outside so as to bring the high end in lign with my listening position. This results in much better sound. Any and all thoughts on these topics are welcome. Oh, and BTW, I sold the Maggies. They're gone now. I kinda miss them. but there's only so much room in the room! George Roland

Chuck, Are your 902's 8 or 16 ohms? If they are 8 ohm, will you need to mod the x-overs? George

When I was carrying the 511Bs around and would tap them on something, they'd ring like a bell, but once they were bolted to that 3/4 inch plywood baffle, they rang a good deal less. If I rap the backs with a knuckle sharply there is a short thunk. If I do the same on the insides of the horns from the front, there is still a bit of a "bong" sound, but far less than without the baffle. I have never heard anything while playing music on them that sounded poor. George

I agree with the previous posting. I like e-Bay a lot and have found it very useful. I bought my k-horns on e-Bay and would never have been able to score a pair at a good price where I live otherwise. Sure there are a LOT of scammers on e-Bay. I'm sure I will get stung at some point, but so far, things have worked out well for me as a buyer and seller. Always check second chance offers to see if they appear in your "My e-Bay" messages. If not, it's likely a scammer. I NEVER bid on an item from a seller with no feedback. I sell only in the contiguous 48 states. Before I bid on an item that's costly, I read the seller's feedback very carefully. Also, ask sellers a LOT of questions or talk with them on the phone. Anything seems fishy...don't bid. Best, George

i hasten to add that the K-horn bass is wonderful. I certainly do not feel it is lacking. There may be other speakers with bass that goes lower or plays at subjectively higher volume, but the K-horn's bass' ability to retrieve detail, timbre, onset transients, is very good in my experience. I gotta do something about my K-horn cabinets that're beat to death, but the sound is glorious. George

I wanted to try an alternative to the Klipsch K-400 horn on the Klipschorn. I heard the Altec 511B would be compatible with the K55V drivers and would provide a little smoother response, perhaps a little less strident and "honky" at high volumes. I have not spent a great deal of time listening, but based on what I have heard so far, I feel secure in saying the the Altecs do not appear to me to be inferior to the K-400 in any way. I believe them to be smoother, a little more open sounding. I feel they may spread the sound out a little more. I would be interested in any other forum members' experiences with this pairing. Several encouraged me in trying this and it has been a fun road to go down. The K-400s are still in the K-horn cabinets, so all that is necessary to AB them is to change out the squawker wires. I'm still using my Crites' tweeter and crossovers. This turned out to be an inexpensive "tweak". What a great forum community this is! It adds a lot of enjoyment to this hobby. George

I couldn't get all the pictures to load before...trying again. George

Hello to all! Well, after several weeks of gathering materials, hardware and trying to find the time to do it, I finally got my Altec 511B horns mounted on supports and wired into my K-horns. They sound really great...smooth and clean at any volume. Thanks to all of you who encouraged me to try this out. My next step may be Trachorns! George Roland

I haven't had my old beat up but wonderful sounding K-horns for even a year yet, but it has been really fun listening to different equipment over them. One thing's for sure...they reveal more about upstream components than other speakers I have tried. I have listened to Dynaco Mk III's, a Hafler 220 and my current favorite the Audio Research VT 100, reccently back from ARC for a fine-sounding tune up. While we're talking about amps, just don't forget the pre amp either. I have just been trying out various tubes in my little Dynaco PAS-2 and every one sounds different. I just tried a Tung-Sol this evening and it sounded very different from the Electro-Harmonics it replaced--richer, creamier with better defined bassWhat fun this all is! Enjoy your K-horns! George

So John, Sounds like you just tightened the flanges down flat? George