kevinmi

Time to open it up and have a look

pic of components

I recently purchased a used Cary SPL98P preamp with the F1 upgrade. This pre came with the black faceplate and red body, which looked great, but didn't match my other silver compoents.

You might want to check out a CD player with a tube output. There are several different brands out there, and the price for a used one has come down significantly over the last few years. The tubes help to give it that warm analog sound.

Those are the most beautiful non-Khorn speakers I've ever seen! I'd have to put grill cloth over the bass openings before my wife used it as a knick-knack shelf!

I can run my Khorns with a1.8 watt set amp to acceptable levels.Bridged in mono I get 5.8 watts, and I can't come close to turning them all the way up. I think you will be suprised on how little power it takes to run the mid/highs.

I have a second EV Dx38 laying around that you'd be welcome to borrow for a while if you'd like. You could go so far as to triamp your Khorns with the EV on one side (it's 2 in, 4 out) and the Behringer on the other. Or, you could biamp both speakers if you have some kind of divider between your midrange/tweeter. Honest offer if you'd like it. I even have a box already to ship it in. I'll pay shipping to you and you pay it back. Lemme know if interested. Thanks for the offer, Coytee, but I'm going to do some playing around with passives for a bit.

I knew we would run him out sooner or later!

Tom, I am currently using a Behringer active crossover (on loan) and I'm experiencing more noise than with my passive setup, that's basically scaring me away from actives. Maybe I would have better luck with a different brand? The Behringer has way too many features for me. I just need to adjust the crossover points and slopes. I like to keep the signal path as clean as possible, but I do like the tuneability of the active setup. I think I hi-jacked this thread- sorry, my bad

Is there a way to bi-amp correctly using passive components? Is there a way to use the amps for specific frequency ranges without having an active crossover in the mix?

I usually run a passive "Universal" type of crossover with this setup. Right now I am trying a Behringer DCX2496 active crossover that is on loan to me. The active crossover is amazing as far as all the adjustments available, but you have to have 6 channels of amplification (3 stereo amps in my case) plus 3 runs of speaker cable to your speakers. It is definately going to be more expensive!

I bi-amp my Khorns with a 60wpc tube amp on the lows, and two 5.5w SET monoblocks for the mids/highs. There is more than enough power for me with this setup. I am, however, running different drivers/horns for the mids/highs. Try it, I think you will be pleasantly suprised!

In my listening room I'm looking right down the throats of my horns at my listening position. I would literally have to be out of the room before the driver was obscured by the side walls of the horns. I'm thinking off axis distortion wouldn't be a problem for my set up, unless it somehow interferes with the signal coming directly at me from the horn. Am I reading this right or am I missing something obvious here? Keep us posted on your great work!

I'm using a Latino ST-120 (60w/channel) for the lows and a pair of bridged Decware SE84 triode amps (5.7 W/channel) for the mid/highs. Also using a tube preamp (Cary SLP98pF1), so it's tubes all the way! -kevin

I picked that up also. I'll second the excellent sonics of this vinyl. I also got Jeff Beck's newest vinyl (OK, not his best work IMHO),and the dual LP ORB from David Gilmour. Not happy with that one at all, mostly electronica sounding. I just got the reissue of the Stones Exile on main Street ,2 180 gram vinyl lps, and Pink Floyds 30th anniversary 180 gram vinyl Dark Side of the Moon delivered yesterday. Haven't listened to either one yet, probably will later tonight.

I know how you feel! I've bought a few new LP's lately and I feel like I'm a teenager again, although I certainly don't look it! You should get yourself a turntable and listen to your LP's before framing them. It's amazing how good vinyl sounds these days!

I'm thinking of upgrading my preamp, and I'm looking for advice. What I'm looking for is a full function tube preamp with remote, or maybe a passive pre. I'm thinking along the lines of AR, Conrad/Johnson, Cary, etc. I need something with absolute low noise to please my tube amp/Khorn combo. This is for a dedicated 2 channel system. Please give me your opinions on what you have/recommend! Thanks in advance- kevin

Dave, I just put in a pair of 220ti tweets in my Khorns in place of my Crites tweets, and they sound great so far. I think they complement the 405 mids a touch better, but I've only had them in for a couple of days. They are a tad louder than the Crites also. -kevin

When you get done buying every type of tube in sight, bring them up to Flint so I can do a comparison in my amp on your dime! Sure would save me a heck of a lot of time and money!

I love Romex. I'm thinking about having my whole house wired with it.

Vintage McIntosh SS stuff is supposed to be tubey sounding. I had some until I bought tube stuff.

Dave, you are correct about the power. I ran one in stereo bi-amping the mids/highs for a month or so, and it was plenty loud enough. I just bought some Selenium 220TI tweeters to try out, and with their higher SPL than the Crites tweets, I should achieve greater volume still! I'll be buggin' you next about the tube output on the Behringer unit! -Kevin

Right now I'm using a passive setup, like a Universal clone, with bi-amp capabilities. I plan to go to an active system like the Behringer DCX2496 or something similar.

another pic

Whole system pic