NJbob

Since you are demo-ing High end speakers Go listen to a pr of Magnepan 3.6's or 20.1's. They are differnt than anything you ever herd. Not better not worse. The best imaging you will ever hear. and in your price range. The only problem is you will need amp's and I mean amps, they can suck up 500 watts...but if your going all out you should here them. Great with SS amps and Tube preamps

Congradulations, you are in for a real treat..I have just finsihed rebuilding a pr of LS and cant believe what I have been missing. I have a FI X 2a3 amp and Hott roded Dynaco VTA70. I never thought I would give up my Magnepan spekares and High current amps..untill now Enjoy my friend Bob

Here goes, 1) They need to break in. Interanl wires and -x-over parts are all brand new and can chnage even in a few hours. 2) I'm not sure which reciever you have (is it a new one or one from the 80's) in my opionion you need a nice PP 30 watt tube amp.(Especially if your reciever has a main out) 3) Give your ears time to adjust.. 4) placement, Placement , Placement move them around.

Some better but not great pictures its hard to get a good shot

Sorry for the bad pictures, I only had a phone camera. The VTA70 is a st70 with a board from HIFI4tubes.com. It took the sweet sounding amp into a new High end hot rod. This thing is cleaner, better bass and a viel is lifted. Yes these were the black beat up one's I displayed a couple of weeks ago. I buit these with 3 sheets of wood and about 40 hours work.

Whats your preamp? Yes records are unique, some are not recorded well at all , especially live rock. Go get a some good vynle and try again. Also cartridge alighnment and break in is required. hang in there you wont be disapointed it takes work

Here is the pic, I finished about two hours ago and have been burning in the new X-over to driver wire...They are fabulous The set up Empire TT Bottlehead Seduction and modded foreplay Dynaco VTA70 amp Thanks for everyones sudgestions and help over the last two weeks

Wow, did I say WOW. the I installed the VTA board in my ST70, I have a new amp. This tightened the bass, lifted the viel and gives the punch that amp was missing..I highly recomend that board for the ST70. I couldnt imagine ever needing any more power for the LS. This amp controls them like it owns them.

I completed my Dyna ST70 - VTA upgrade and will get to install it tonight. In the meantime I picked up a Empire 698 TT and ran it through my Fisher X-100,,,,,Kabam---what a combination. I bought the fisher last week and man can that amp drive those speakers. I was impressed with the preamp too (dead quiet) now i'm using the phono section and the adjustable magnetic gain on this thing just tunes in the TT to the amp....Next step some new 12ax7 for the phono section... One of the best features of the Empire is, the suspension is on the platter and arm not the plinth, I can jump and crank up the system and I get no TT issues. Just phono bliss....(PS my other rig is a VPI MKIII with SAMA) The fisher has all original caps and it sounds great. I was going to send it out to be restored but no need. I had to spend some time cleaning all the contact's but it was worth it. Best $180 I ever spent on audio. I'm going to build a cabinet for it this weekend

Lets see how my deal stacked up Won the bid for 70's in beat up but 100% working shape - $480 Delivery to my door by the guy $125 Three sheet's of new birch wood - $90 New x-over caps - $77 Misc parts and finishing supplies -$75 I'm at $847, then If i sell the old cabinets (200) then i'm at $647. for a nice looking great sounding pr of LS Lots of hard work I put into doing this (Priceless) would not do it again. enjoyment of these (Priceless) at least for now

I have tried all three, on my Fostex 94DB/watt BLH speakers (fe166). the 45 sound ok, nothing special because it couldnt drive them to well, like an am radio. The 2a3 is magi with these speakers. drives them, bass is to die for, volcals are nuthing short of someone in the room with you singing without electronics. as the speakers are limited over 15k they do just fine. The 300b had more power but nowere near the magic of the 2a3, when I say magic I mean how the music is just in the air I'm sorry if I cant expain it correctly. Now hooking up the 2a3 with my Lascalla, I was disapointed.(I did do it before I changed the 40 year old caps in the x-over) SET with the right speaker is realy something to hear and enjoy. Its not to everyones taste.

The big weekend is comming I'll be ready to install my driver's in my new cabinets they came out better than I thought and cant wait to hear how they sound (going from broken down leaking plywood to tight as a drum birch). I'm looking for some final recomendations and tips. 1) Can someone confrim the spade size (#8 screw) on the AA x-over? 2) Rope caulk the midrange (Remember I do have the older drivers) Anything else? As always thanks for any help or sudgestions Bob

I just rebuilt mine with the kit and what a diference, I have been burnig them in for the last 12 hours and the speakers are sounding better and better as time goes on...BIG improvement from the old cans BJ Bob

Cabinets are stained first coat, in the meantime I replaced the caps in the x-over and have them burning in as we speak. The old cainets are full of spaces and leaks. I cant wait to get these done... Here is todays pic

I have minwax, and only tried it on a scrap...the problem i'm talking about is where I have imperfections (Man made) where I made mistakes, small glue spots, chips, ex, ex,,,,,I'm thinking a light stain is less ovious....The cabinets came out good but being a non profesional that just wings it, they are not 100% Black Stain might be an idea. I'll buy a small can and try it on scraps...

Well the cabinets are together and are almost done being sanded. I treated one back panel with oil (Pre stain) and it looks nice, in the meantime I tried oil and then a coat of the walnut stain on a scrap...it seems the walnut stain realy shows wood imperfections. I thought the sample was well sanded? Any sudgestions, before I attempt to stain or should I just oil As always I apriciate the help NJ Bob

If you go with either of these, I have a Bottlehead foreplay II modded (SNubber, C4's boards and stepped attenuators) that would work great with those amps. That I would let go at good deal Let me know NJBob

I'm using 9 layer (3/4")...I'll let you know how they sound, I should be done in about a week.The second cabinet shoudl be completed by tonight, then its sanding, staining, and the install. In the meantime I'm also recapping the x-over and will re-wire with better cable. My old ones are using that 18 guage white stuff...I'm pretty sure I will just use # 14 lamp cord or f I can get the monster xp cheap

Thanks, thats wood filler for end splinters, it will sand down, I am going to stain dark walnut after I do a pre stain treatment..

Mission PCM7000 CD VPI MKIII with SAMA (Grado Sonata) Dynaco FM 3 IPOD

Right now I have four amps and would rather tune up the fisher. FI x 2a3 - Great sound not enough headroom Dynaco ST70 (I'm putting in the VTA board next week) - Plenty of power nice sound Fisher X-100 - Killed the stock st70 realy brought out the best in the speakers so far (But I think the Preamp with the st70 was weak link) after I do the upgrade I will try another preamp. Oddessey Mono amps (High current SS beast's with great bass) I have not tried this amp yet on the lascala's yet maybe over the weekend

I'm not sure of the formula, but do not put the port near any side, you should have some distance....at least a couple of inches. Maybe somone can give the correct number...

I just received my new caps for my AA x-over and noticed the value of the woofer coil 2.5MH, I happen to have a pr of 14guage Jantzen Cross-Coil Copper Foil Inductors coils at 2.2Mh sitting around..would it be ok to use them? Thanks NJBob

I didnt try that, I'll try that tonight..(verify the phase) on the left speaker

This past weekend I scored a Fisher X-100... Big suprise when I hooked it up. Blew me away. This thing pounded my speakers, better than my ST70 and bottlehead preamp (I'm thiking my Bottlehead is a weak link). Anyway I have been playing all around all weekend with it and love it. It does have a problem, the left channel has lower gain, I went and swapped all the tubes (2 at a time, right to left) and no change. Are any of you techies that can help me. I'm pretty sure that it's Old coupling caps or the Volume Pot. I did try and use the balance control (Hard as a rock to turn) no difference, also the more you turn it up the more pronounce the problem is. If i turn the Bass and Treble up to 3-oclock on the left channel it evens out. The only new cap is a Quad can (This amp has no noticable hum) So can anyone help me? Anyone offer opinions on this amp (Mine is its great) Thanks Bob