Shock-Late

quote: Originally posted by tblasing: I used to have a Sansui reciever that looked a lot like that Marantz. Also had a Marantz integrated helping out in the early days of biamping some JBL L-300's Summits. I think it was an 1150D model. Can't believe I was using a Bogen DB230 tube amp for the LF on those things! Hey, I like the designer cinder block!! Oh the days.... huh...I'm usually speaking french...what's a "designer cinder block"?

Thanks for your comments, guys! I'm very happy with this set-up. In fact, I'm wondering what a more expensive amp would offer me, more power maybe... But I plan to buy a second Typhoon and use them as monoblocs, 150 watts/channel. It could be fun! I'll post picts of the inside of this amp; it's built like it has to deliver 2 times more power! The tuner came from my grandfather, who died before my birth in 1977. he was mad about italian cars and hi-fi. This is the only piece of equipment my family kept after he died... a pity, because I saw some picts, and he had a great system with monobloc tube amps and massive speakers. I believe he's living back trough me! I'm the only other person in the family to be mad about hi-fi. I wouldn't sell this tuner, even if it reaches high prices here in belgium (seen same model in a shop last month: 450$).

I have to make a 50 pages website for school... Didn't know what subject I would choose. The obvious one is: Klipsch!!! So, I need pictures, graphics, docs, everything about Big Old Klipsches including the actual heritage line but also discontinued models like cornwall, chorus, shorthorn,... The website isn't for commercial use, of course. It's only an exercise for school. Everyone who wants to send (good) picts of his Klipsch and/or system, picts of pieces (older drivers, etc) and also if possible a short description of the model he owns, would GREATLY help me! It's not easy to find big klipsches here in Europe. And I don't have much time... Send the stuff to: Franca.Gallo@skynet.be Thanks a lot! Frans

Just a little picture of my rack... OKAY so it's not High-End stuff to be sure. But I think for the amount of cash it still sounds pretty good. That little amp is a real MONSTER, never heard electric bass or battery sound so dynamic an real than with this amp. From top to bottom: MUSICAL FIDELITY "Typhoon" power amp (2 x 45 WRMS) ROTEL RC980BX preamp KENWOOD DP7090 CD player (four Burr Brown PCM 1702 chips on each channel) MARANTZ USA "Model 120" stereo tuner Nordost Solar Wind interconnects QED Qudos speaker cable .......Klipsch (of course!) LaScala

Gasp! it seems like I finally reached the "maximum number of attached files"(6)... I cannot attach any more picts mith my posts... So what do I do? I'd like to retrieve older picts from my folder but I don't know how to do it... if someone can help!! Thanks! Frans

Well, the idea of a subwoofer has some merit, but you should definitely hear a pair of Heritage-line speakers before doing anything else. You may well fall in love... Anyway, i'm not sure using your car sub would be a great idea; car subwoofers often rely on the small room they're in (the car) to boost the low bass; but put it in a living room and it may well lack bass extension. Of course then you could build a bigger enclosure for it, allowing it to reach deeper. Or maybe you own one of those woofers that go low even in a very small box... Some manufacturers make sub-amps, complete with crossover and level controls. I personnaly think, also, that a HT receiver is never as good for music as a good dedicated hi-fi amplifier....at least at less-than-stratospheric prices. huh...I'm not sure this helps... but wathever you decide, try before buying!!! have fun! Frans

HDBR, k77 and K77M are the tweeters, K55V mids It was the same when I bought my LaScalas; they didn't have original woofers either, they had TESLA beasts with massive alnico magnets and alu-basket. Beautiful things! After a while I decided to replace them with Electro Voice woofers I had at home; there was a slight improvement. Those EV woofers looked still more impressive... BUT i finally swapped them for a pair of Klipsch K33E and, while it's true they don't look impressive at all (and cost NEW what I paid for a pair of second-hand EV...), they work FAR FAR better in a la scala. Not only bass response has extended a lot, but midrange is also far smoother. The answer is: i'm not familiar with Peavey woofers, but you won't get LaScala performance without K33E woofers. They were made for the purpose... you'll miss a lot if you keep your existing woofers IMHO.... You should also try to find a second K77M ; it is better than the K77 and it is critical to have the same tweeter on both Scalas since K77M is louder than K77, and extends higher in frequency. Have fun! Frans

Huh... if you buy Scalas, you should change your amp too.... heritage speakers are the most sensitive about "cheap" sounding amps... as I found by myself. And they are able to sound AWFUL...with the wrong amp! Frans

...and inside view. Note the size of the condos: such things you often find in integrated amps! have fun. Frans

Picts of my Rotel 980BX preamp. here front...

Best preamp I've heard so far (among "cheap" preamps): the one I use for now! ROTEL RC 980BX. no tone controls, lots of inputs, very neutral, transparent sound, incredible dynamics. Far better than the Technics, Marantz and NAD preamps I tried before. I use it with a Musical Fidelity power amp. It's not made anymore (it's from 1996 i think) but easy to find second-hand. I paid 200$ for mine, in mint condition. I'll post a pict of it, it's serious stuff. Frans

been to madisound.com, seen the hovland prices...gasp!! around 63$ for each crossovers (20,...$ each cap!!!), I hope the improvement it makes is worth it!

Thanks everybody for the input. I'll go for the re-building process. Are they less expensive alternatives to Hovland MusiCaps? I'm not even sure I can find them in Belgium... my first intend is to fix my broken x-overs, not to improve their sound. Now if I can improve it... What's the cost for replacing squawker and tweeter caps with hovlands? thanks! Frans

Some picts of those two different K400 horns. I suspect the left one is the older one, I had never seen this model before. The biggest difference however is the weight. The newest one is heavier, as the metal is less thin. Any of you guys has such horns in his heritage speakers? from wich year are they? Frans

Welcome on board! I would swap the woofers if I were you, since they sometimes have a hard life... they're robust enough, tough. But since you have two new, use them! For the rest, I would if I were you try to put the other components in one of your k-horns so you'll be able to decide wich one sounds best for you! I only know the older version with AA / K55V but as long as the tweeter is concerned I like the k77M better than the older k77. In fact is depends of the amp you're using; the k77 isn't as loud as the k77M and could be useful if you find the sound too bright. Have fun! Frans

I'm afraid some capacitor on my left AA x-over has finally gone bad... so it is now time considering buying new crossovers. There are different possibilities for me: -buy a set of ALK x-overs. But I don't have the money and I'm living in Europe... -buy a set of AL3 x-overs directly from klipsch, or second-hand if I find some -replace the components on my AA set with new, high quality stuff. I'm considering the last option, since this would allow me to do it "step by step", by first replacing the wrong components and later the rest... BUT I'm slightly concerned about wether or not I would like the sound of a "new" pair of AA x-overs... all AA i heard so far where old so maybe their sound with new stuff isn't that good... Al, what do you think about it? is it worth healing a pair of AA??? thanks... I don't know wich way to go! Frans

Miki, I think with your size of room it would be more wise to build a pair of La Scala if you absolutely want to build them by yourself; you could also pick up a pair for a lot less money than klipschorns ( i bought my scalas for 250$, so everything happens). Scalas don't go as low in the bass than k-horns but are much more flexible with room placement; IMHO I think they image better, the more so when placed parrallel against rear wall. Lot's of people say tractrix horns sound better than exponential; original k-horns and scalas use exponential and while it is true that midrange quality isn't their strongest point, I think they sound...pretty good! Why use an eminence woofer? The K33 (made by Eminence) is cheap (100$ a piece), and is made for the duty. You'll find a pair via your nearest klipsch retailer or directly via the distributer. Last, huh... be careful with the amp you choose. Big horns can sound AWFUL with the wrong amp. Same goes for Cd players, cables.... have fun!

One other pict of the cornerhorn. In the rear you can see one of my scalas; as you see they were heavily modified for PA use; the last user even put piezo tweeters in it, of course I ditched them! (hence the holes...). I plan the re-fill those holes soon; but I like the grey paint-job. Anyway I catched them for cheeeeap!! The bass bin isn't JBL; it's just because the previous owners did use them with JBL woofers... don't laugh! my set-up usually looks better, without all the stuff lying everywhere lol...

HDBR, In fact I'm not flamish, I'm walloon; Frans is in fact a diminutive for Franois wich, I think, is difficult to read for english or german or dutch people... ) Anyway, that's true there are some tensions between flamish and walloons but we try to keep it as "political" as possible; in real life I have lots of contacts with flamish people, I use to buy them a lot of second hand equipment (they seem much more interested in audio than us, walloons) and they sell their stuff at silly low prices... they can even be friendly!!! lol I'm trying to make other pictures of my equipment, so I can put them here.

HDBRbuilder, so you enjoyed belgium... great to hear that! I love my country. Belgian spirit and sense of humor are very special and I wouldn't wan't to be from anywhere else ;o) Have you been to Brussels yet? the old city is splendid. And yes, it's often rainy in Ostende ;o) Only problem about Belgium is: finding other klipsch lovers. We're very "bookshelf audiophiles" here if you know what I mean...(oooh lovely shoeboxes. do they kick?) All klipsch parts i bought, including the Scalas, were in fact used in the PA market. I tried to upload the "cornerhorn" picture, let's see if it works.

Three days ago I bought a set of K55V drivers (five, three among them being absolutely NEW in the original box with the black plastic cap on the driver output! I know have nine K55V...by the way, anybody wants to swap two of them for a pair of k55M? ) Well, with those drivers came two metallic horns i never saw before. They're klipsch, they're K400 but they are different from the k400 i've got at home ( i have two sets of them). They are lighter, they look cheaper and they ring much more since the metal is more thin. Size is exactly the same... except for external dimensions. what are they? a cheaper version for professional use ( i bet they aren't), or a "prototype" or "sooner" version of the K400? Frans

Now THAT's an interesting topic ;o) In the past years, being a Belgian student with not much money (you should see how much costs a pair of Klipschorn here in belgium...as much as a car) I've been using "false" Klipschorns. The bass section was using a pair of "cornerhorns" I bought for 80$ in a closing nightclub. They where using them for subwoofer duties. I was using them along with AA x-overs and K55V - K77M mids and tweets. Woofers were EV. Last year I finally got my hands on a pair of LS, so I dismanteled the false K-horns. Well, I often think about wether or not i could use the cornerhorns as subs; I wasn't able to try it yet, because I don't have enough money to buy a second pair of K33 (the EV woofers don't go low enough), but this topic gives me the envy to try... The cornerhorns (I have a pict but how do i post it on here???) differ quite a bit from the K-horn but the basics are the same; I suspect they might even reach lower frequencies; fact is they don't go as high as the real k-horn bass bins. But they could be effective as subs... so should I try it??? any comments or suggestions are welcome...) Frans

Thanks for your help, guys... I didn't have the time yet to try swapping anything but according to a friend of mine it's probably the tweeter and / or the capacitor in the crossover that causes the problem. I would agree with the capacitor idea since the previous owner already had to change the cap from the other x-over; I suspect this one has finally gone wrong too. I also think that it is time for me to change my midrange drivers; the ones I own were used for PA and i suspect they may be a bit loose, since they're about 30 years old.... so, surprise, yesterday I found a guy who sells five k55v units, three among them completely new and never used, along with two K400 horns, everything for 110 euros (about 100 $ I think) so i'm going to buy these. I hope they're from the latest K55V type with solder connectors! ) Frans

Something 's broken in my system, and I can't locate what it is exactly. Since a few weeks, sound seems to come slightly louder from the right channel than the left channel. It's quite subtle: voices aren't "center stage" anymore. They're more on the right, idem for solo instruments. Also, on some programs, it sounds like there's a slight distortion in the high frequencies on that left channel, it's a bit splashy and metallic, yet here again it's subtle and i'm not sure my mum for example would notice it... I tried with another amp, but wasn't able to tell if the problem was solved because the sound was SOOO different... Maybe I broke something in my amp's left channel; one day, without any speaker connected, and with only the interconnect to the left channel connected, I pressed "play" on the CD player; well the amp was "on", so was the preamp, and alas the preamp's knob was turned full up. And I actually heard something i never heard before: I heard sound coming from the amp itself!!! it sounded just like a walkman on someone else's head. So maybe I burned something in the input stages of thepower amp. But could it be simply the interconnect cable? My preamp is RCA and my amp is CANON so I had to make an interconnect myself... but as i'm not very good with soldering, and as the solder i used wasn't designed for audio use, maybe it's just that the cable on the left channel has become bad with time??? Or maybe the tweeter on the left Scala is burned, or the mid, but would it be so subtle? I'm really confused; there's something wrong, definitely, but I'm not able to tell where it comes from. If someone can help...it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! franois

Thanks for your advices, guys! Maybe I'll be able to build myself a pair... Frans