TheEvan

I rememeber that brochure... It does look like Brazilian rosewood. But it could also be Macassar Ebony which has a profound light/dark figuration. Either way, I want em.

oops, that's a KX200

The paucity of locations to actually audition Klipschorns is a real problem. In many product lines the flagship is as much a marketing tool for the lower lines as it is a salable poduct itself. Before hearing Khorns I had dismissed all Klipsch as the speaker of choice for head-banging pimply-faced teenagers...something along the lines of Cerwin Vega or similar rock n roll crap.. That is, until I went into a salon in Dayton to audition some Magnepan. One record I brought was some pipe organ. The Maggies were nice hifi speakers. I saw the Khorns lurking in the corners and asked to hear them. The salesman made the switch, cued up the organ record again, and I soon said 'what is THAT sound??'. "The organ pedal, sir" was the reply. I was floored. While I had heard these pedal notes before on my speakers, they were SO down in output I was mostly hearing their higher overtones. With the horns I was IN the cathedral and those pedal notes were exerting their characteristic perceptible pressure on my body....wow. What sold me though, was the thrilling realism of a simply-miked classical guitar recording with no bass content to speak of. But i am a classical guitarist and I KNOW what the real McCoy sounds like. I never looked at the Klipsch name the same after that. If I couldn't afford the horns, I would've bought something lesser in the line. After the audition all other speaker brands pretty much disappeared in my mind. Actually several friends have gone the Klipsch route after hearing my Klipschorns and they bought lesser models and are quite thrilled. Soooo, it seems imperative that Klipschorns are put out there where the public can hear them. They are a fantastic marketing tool and would probably generate some horn sales as well. Having been in retail I understand that you can experience something of a dealer revolt if you start making stocking Khorns a condition of dealership rights. I wonder if Hope's marketing budget would allow some sort of cooperative arrangement where Klipsch picks up part of the cost of stocking Khorns. Ok, I can see this is fraught with its own problems, but.... Do you see my point?

After reading some of this i went to my storage building and dusted off a languishing 60's Fisher KX-202 integrated amp. Actually, my intent was to try and localize the problem that caused me to put it away so I could bring it in to a tech. Wellll, the fuse holder was loose, THAT's what was wrong. Blush. I confess, I never paid much attention to the hookups & knobs, but lo & behold it has a center speaker output with a widely stepped attenuator...maybe 8 positions. So I'm going to experiment with an old Sansui speaker before I start looking for a Belle, LaScala, Heresy, Cornwall, etc. BTW, the Fisher sounds pretty darned good. A bit more forward and punchy than the Jolida 302b I've been using. Bigger in the mid-bass and tighter in the low bass. The phono section sounds pretty good, too. Full-function, tape monitor, etc, doesn't hurt either. It uses 2 7591's per channel and I'm guessing it makes 20 or so watts per channel.

Help me with this... I currently have a Jolida 302b, am itching for an SET setup. Seems like any options that involve full-function preamp options (phono, monitor, 2 sets of pre outputs, etc) involve too much $. Is there any way I could use one of these integrated puppies and buy a box that will handle extra inputs and monitor/record functions...without really messing the sound? The only sources whose sound I really care about are cd & phono, but I want & need to hook up the rest.

Thanks Al, I've asked several Klipsch dealers about the center speaker setup I had heard PWK recommended in bygone days...none knew of it and couldn't suggest how to connect it. My question, since the center spkr is used to "fill" the image, and isquite low level compared to the mains, can I get away with a Heresy or Cornwall or less to blend with my Khorns? Or MUST I have something as fast (and expensive) as LaScala or Khorn?