kevinmi

I'm in Flint,MI, and have a pair of Khorns hooked up in my basement. The only problem is that nothing is stock on them except the bass bins. The woofers are Crites' cast replacements, the horns are my handbuilt Tractrix wooden horns being driven with Selenuim drivers. My crossovers are hand built ALK Universal clones modified with the 4500 crossover point. I do have a pair of Crites tweeters laying around also that I can put back in the system for comparison. The speakers are bi-amped using all tube amplifiers. The bass bins have enclosed backs. The bass sound should be close to the same coming from my Khorns compared to yours. You are welcome to drop by for a listen anytime. I would also be willing to drop by and give a listen to your set up when you are done with it, but I don't claim to be an "expert" with golden ears. If nothing else, you can listen to my modified Khorns and see just how far you can go with the various tweaks out there.-Kevin

That is one of the best news items I've seen in a long while! A little sunshine for a grieving family.

I've got several turntables, and one of them has an acrylic platter (Opera Consonance). The others have aluminum platters. I believe the acrylic platter has better damping than the aluminum ones, but the aluminum ones can be damped with absorbent material underneath. The acrylic platter I have is a pain in the a$$ to keep clean with the frosted finish. It does have a cool factor look to it, so I guess if you want the look of acrylic and are willing to put up with the extra upkeep to keep it looking nice,it might be worth it. I would try some damping material on my original platter first to see if it makes a difference. Again, Vinyl Engine is a good source for information.

Actually, we have quite a few mosquitos up here also. I make sure my blood alcohol level is way up there, so when the mosquitos drink my blood, they fly off drunk and crash into the grill!

This deck ROCKS thanks to the AW-650 speakers! These are the best all weather speakers I've ever heard!

Weber Grill hooked up to natural gas, stainless steel vent hood.

R. speaker

Left speaker

I hooked up an old Leapfrog system to my remote, and now I can control the music from the deck!

stereo in the garage powering the AW-650 speakers

pool

AW-650 speakers

While on my 2 week vacation in July, I had a pool put up, and I built a couple of decks in the back yard complete with Klipsch outdoor speakers

I have two different turntables set up, one is a high end table with an expensive moving coil cartridge, and the other is a high compliance moving magnet set up. Sometimes one album will sound great on the moving coil set-up, and sometimes I get better sound from the moving magnet setup. It's truly baffling to me why this is, but I guess I'm glad I have both turntables set up for that very reason.

I have 5 different turntables, all of them from the 70'sor 80's with the exception of an Opera Consonance that I think is much newer. There are some great vintage turntables out there that can compete quite well with the newer tables. One thing to consider if buying a vintage table is the availability od parts if something breaks a few years from now. Also, if you buy a fully restored turntable that cost $200.00 new, you will end up with a two hundred dollar turntable. I would suggest buying a vintage turntable from a company that is still in business (Thorens, Oracle, etc.) or has a large support system in place. I'm not real knowledgeable about Dual turntables, so I can't comment on whether it would be a good investment or not. I would think the more expensive the model, the better the table would be. I wouldn't worry as much about the arm, as you can always upgrade the arm to a better one. Here's a link to the Vinyl Engine, which has some good forums and other info on vintage turntables***VINYL ENGINE***

Joe, from reading your posts over the years, I see you have been through quite a lot of gear, and high end stuff at that. It is great that you have given us your feedback on the different gear over the years, so people like me can get an idea how things sound without having to buy everything. I always enjoy your posts and respect your opinion on how things sound. I've been on the upgrade "journey" myself for a few years, although not nearly as much as you. It is a great feeling when the sound you have been looking for finally starts to come together. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm on the way! I have read good reviews on Thor equipment, but you are the first "real" person I've heard that actually own their amps. I hope I have a chance to hear them someday!

I have the Latino ST 120 amp also. I built this from a kit a few years ago and have been loving it ever since. Make sure you get all the upgraded caps from Bob- definately worth the price of admission! I had an issue with the gain on my amp coming on too strong too early through my Khorns, and Bob kindly sent me a schematic on which 2 resistors to replace on the VTA board to correct this problem. For less than a dollars worth of resistors, my problem was fixed! I also installed the volume control when it became available, and it has really come in handy. As far as tube rolling goes, I listened to Bob and purchased the Mullard tubes also, which was a big difference from the russian tubes I was using. I also have some Amperex 12at7's that sound good as well. I found an Amperex France tube that I use in the center position that is my favorite. I had the Sovtek KT88's in for about a year or so, and then I changed them out for the Genelex Gold Lion re-issues, which I think have a little more bass, but not a whole lot different than the Sovtek tube. I've never tried any expensive vintage power tubes. I'm using my St-120 in a bi-amping set-up, so it only does duty to 400 hz or so. I'm using my Decware single ended amps for the mids/highs with great results. When I use the St-120 amp by itself in my system, it is the quietest tube amp I've ever heard!

Another stunning mod. I love it when you add your personal touch to your equipment!

Boxx, I've got a service manual for the Teac X1000 series if that's the model you own. I'd gladly let you borrow it. It's pretty technical and way over my head, but it has all the specs and schematics. It would be good for a tech that needed the specs for adjustments and such.

I have a Bellari VP30 tube preamp that I used for around a year before buying my Cary SLP98 pre with a phono section. The Bellari only uses one 12ax7 tube, and the gain isn't as much as phono pre's using 2 tubes. This was only a factor for me when I wanted to record LP's onto my RTR player. I had to turn the gain on the tape deck all the way up to get enough signal to record. Also, replacing the single tube on the Bellari didn't seem to make any sonic difference, whether using a Chinese tube or a vintage Amperex Bugle Boy. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing. Of course the phono stage in the Cary blows away the Bellari phono, and at a cost of 10X more, it should!

Boxx, I actually found two of these silver/glass racks on Craigslist for $50.00. I made the wood shelves and combined them to make one big rack, giving me the necessary 24 inches in the middle for the RTR.

Here's the discarded LP covers. If anybody is toying with the idea of wallpapering the Mancave with LP covers, I'll gladly send these your way for the cost of postage!

A shot of the "new" turntable. An Oracle Delphi MK2 with MK3 upgrades, a Zeta arm and Koetsu Black cartridge.

another ceiling shot

Ceiling