HPower

I was originally looking at one of Frank's EL84 amps and we tried a couple amplifiers at my house with the Cornscalas. I forget which EL84 model I preferred but when Frank heard it on my speakers he felt he should swap out the (I think) Jensen's for some Mundorf Supreme's SGOs. This is when I became a believer that caps can have a huge influence on sound! After we got the EL84 amp nailed down, Frank suggested that I consider the 2A3 tube. I took Frank's advise and had him build the amp shown above, I could not be happier!!! Fantastic detail with the then Cornscalas, then Jub-Likes and not my Peavey/510s! This is what I went with... optioned out as Frank saw fit based on my room and speakers... http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews2/triodelab/1.html Both my SF preamp and MP DAC now have similar Mundorf SGO caps in them, thanks to Frank. You will not regret going with Triode Labs, Frank is a fantastic builder.

Normally, I try not to get out there with VW guys (especially from Vegas 🤔 ), but... Mr Frank Ing is about as good as you could ask for a straight shooter to be. Mine are not Hashimoto (James) transformers... But, Hashimoto are fantastic and Frank will NOT build an amplifier that will not blow you away!!! I am fortunate to live only about 20-25 minutes from his house, by happenstance. A couple or so years ago when I was looking for a nice SET amp I was referred Frank and dropped by his shop, end of story! Frank has been at my house several times to listen to my Cornscalas (at the time) and took the time to fine tune "my amp" ... he actually swapped out coupling caps on my kitchen counter to make things great! I think you have Craig's VRDs, going with SET from Frank... you will have the best of both worlds. Fill free to use me as a reference to Frank, will probably not matter as he will still give you his primo service!!! Tom, from Newmarket...

Hey Threeonefour, I love the Canuck content, GREAT amp!!! As I look at my CA-150 which runs my bass bins, I realize, my whole rack is almost Canadian. Musical Paridise MP-D2 tube DAC Sonic Frontiers Line One preamp Xilica XP 4080 Xover CA-150, bass amp Triode Labs 2A3 tube, HF amp I will call my speakers Canadian, home brew... Peavey FH-1 / K510s.

What I would do... Right after I ran out and put the $1200 down for these...

What I would do... I liked my idea so much, I posted it twice. 😎

Ya, I also like the look a lot. I picked these HIPs up 6-7 weeks ago for $600cnd, mind you I did have to drive to Montreal to pick them up (about 7 hours each way). They are not spotless, but they are in very nice condition and sound pretty good as well. Pretty rare up here to find nice Pro Klipsch. The closest I could come to finding a source for trim was in this old thread started by Michael were "Panacea Engineering" chimed in a said he was in the process of making molds to make the corner pieces... But then I could not find a follow up to see if he actually followed through with this. And I see, he has not posted here since April 24, 2016... not sure what happened to him?

I am thinking that I would like to turn my beater La Scala projects into an early Eighties pro look, just like my 1980 HIPs. Is there a source to find the aluminum 3-way corners and the the angle edging for the straight runs? I am sure this has been asked a million times but my searches have come up empty to find a source.

I say, wait until summer time!

SCHWING

Ya, that is the back. This Boulder requires some fancy 32 amp connector and dedicated circuit from your fuse box. I am not sure what type of enclosure your 18s are in, but bass does require more power and JBLs are traditionally less efficient than heritage Klipsch. The Boulder was a joke 😉, I can't imagine anybody on this forum needing this kind of power. SET amps are not everybody, but I have run both Cornscalas and Klipschorns with 45 SET (1.8-2wpc) and 2A3 SET (3.5-4wpc) and never felt I was "underpowering" my speakers.

Hey Emile, You need one, or 2 of these... https://www.avhub.com.au/news/hi-fi/world8217s-most-powerful-amp-at-ces-395109 With all due respect, you have got to stop looking at those MAX wattage numbers on the specs of your speakers (especially the Pro models that you are rightfully enamoured with). This just is not a concern in "most" home situations, maybe different in a 600 seat auditorium where your 904s would normally be. "Have always had under-powered amps Ran my KPT-904's (600W ???) with a Marantz 2252B (52wpc)" Claude has tried to illustrate just how much power is required to make "our" high efficient speakers sing, not a ton of power is really needed. As Paul said... "What this world needs is a good 5 watt amp." - Paul Klipsch

Hey Claude... not as sad as I was to learn they were no longer living in the Motor City. 😂 But, I have my thinking cap on in hopes of getting back close to the audio bliss that those Tigerwood's provided me. 🤔

Well, when I had a pair of speakers similar to Claude, I use to power them with a Classe CA-150 (150wpc @ 8ohm, 300 @ 4ohm) on the bass bins and then a Triode Labs 2A3 SET (3-4wpc) on the K402s... This was in a 15ft x 20ft room.

Thanks Dean, I think I will pass on the VSF-Cast/Pio-cu. I am sure they are fabulous Caps, but the cost of diminishing returns can be pretty steep.

Hey Dean, I hear ya, no worries. My main query was about whether or not I should purchase these 2nd hand Duelunds. They do get huge props as one of the elite caps you can get, but even at the price of these used ones I could get two: Jupiter Capacitor 12uF 100Vdc VT Round and four: Arizona Capacitor 2uF 200Vdc Blue Cactus Series, and maybe have change to buy a Big Mac. But if the Duelunds are "all that" I might grab them? Tom