kwingylee

southern, Hope you get that ST-70 fix. I can bring the Harbeths again if people are up for it. The Harbeths need to be in a smaller room. They should not be competing with Cornwalls. They will do a great job with voices, acoustic instruments. They are comparable to similar size Spendors, Proacs etc. Those of you unfamiliar with the BCC tradition, from which the Harbeth lineage is based, should look up Spencer Hughs, Dudley Harwood and the Rogers LS3A...

Al: Al: Thanks for the suggestion in moving the tab. What I did definitely is a first step.I measured the inductance of both woofer inductors. They both read 2.4mH, which is what the ALK-Us specified. The tweeter inductor is currently 20% too high in value. Anyway, I liked the results enough that I changed the other AA crossover today so both sides now matched each other. I used one single 40uF capacitor and multiple caps in parallel to make the 7.1uF. I will live this combo for awhile before I swap out the 0.245mH in the tweeter circuit. I like the way the crossovers look AND sound now. I do have some alphacore inductors that I can use for the woofers.

The Altec 511Bs are suppose to go down to 500Hz...and they are pretty cheap nowadays. I sold my spare set on ebat for $91.00

Last night, I finished morphing one of my Khorn's AA crossovers into ALK Universals. I used the existing inductors in the AAs and replaced all of the vintage capacitors with 1% Polypropylene caps from DAYTON. Of course I used the existing T2A transformer as well. This means I added the additional components only to the squawker network: one 0.3mH inductor, the 2.2uF cap and the 10 ohm resister. I simply relay those on the existing AA board. I also left the connection from pin 4 of the T2A transformer to the squawker. Comparing the sound of the two crossovers, the one with the ALK values definitely sounds a lot less forward. The speaker overall is much "mellower". The question I have is whether I should take the squawker output off a different pin? What do other ALK-U NW users have their squawker set to? Thanks for the responses...

A shot of the lively discussions in front of the downstairs system, waiting for Mike to bring up his new creation.

Here is James V enjoying the Chorus cabinets. These have the chorus bass matched with the BMS 4550 compression drivers on a QSC $12 horn. Very smooth and extended top. This is the driver mentioned in the lansing heritage forum as a worthy upgrade for ALTEC Valencias/Flamencos as a replacement for the 806a. I was very impress by the openness of the top. Unfortunately this driver barely makes it to 1K Hz. I will be looking for a set of the BMSs....

Here is Mike (aka Dr. Who) setting up my Harbeth NRG-1 bookshelves - known for their imaging and excellence in reproducing voices and acoustical instruments. Mike is flanked by the PRO CORNWALLs brought by Steve (aka frypwr). The Cornwalls absolutely rocked when driven by the Crown K1s. I am impress by the sweet sound of the combo at "sane" levels. The Harbeths saw limited action because the Dynaco St-70 brought over to drive them blew a rectifier tube. They were briefly driven by a Denon receiver and sounded clear.

Thanks Dr Who for a great gathering. Some pictures of the attenddees.

I am shock....the 19s are wonderful speakers.

I was thinking my Harbeth NRG-1 bookshelves.... haven't seen these do Hi Fi duties for awhile. I could bring my Newform Research R645s but these are fragile beasts. The 45" ribbons weight 60 pounds each I believe,,,,, OK, the small Harbeths, ... similar to the Spendor S3/5s... These are NOT the ones made in the UK.

Mike: I should be able to make it...say.....aren't you suppose to be at my place this Friday? Not sure I want to bring any speakers to your place, your Crowns will probably blow them out... Kwing

Like you, I picked up one of these on my first step back to vinyl. I bought an Ortofon OMC20 cartridge with threw away the AT and replace the belt. Mine even have the silver base like yours. I did two things (besides reoiling) that I feel really improve th rhythm and pace of the sound: 1. Add dynamat to the metal plinth. 2. Built s heavy base for it. Try the dynamat route first, its fairly cheap and you will like it. Following this, I picked up a TD125MK1 with the EMT lookalike arm. I use it with a NOS Shure V15 type 4. I like the TD166MK2's sound better. But then again, I am using the TD125 stock. Still regret selling the 166 to a local gentleman and fellow Marquette alum.

I got the USB to RS232 interface working finally. The culprit turns out to be the USB extension cables and the hubs in the chain.I got it to work with a straight DB9 cable or the USB/RS232 converter....

One more close up of the right speaker. Noticed the playdol and the Klipsch logo I got from Michael Colter nearly a year ago. They look great together. Some of the changes I made to ssctrojan1980's clone was to add heavy duty speaker posts. This causes the horns to tilt down slightly.

Some pictures finally. I have the system pretty much dialed in - and they sound FANTASTIC!!! I found that (like many others) damping the body and lips of the horns with playdol pretty much eliminates the ringing. I am very happy with the sound. Ultimately, I want to go 2 WAY passive with a 2" driver and take out the extra amp and digital XO:

kg4 guys, I am about to embark on building some universals, where did you get the transformers? Can I use the ones from my AA network?

Richard, Mike: I was able to talk to the DX38 using a straight DB9 cable and upgraded the firmware to 3.21. Still trying to get it to work using my laptop and a USB/RS232 converter, It fails to download the parameters from the DX38.IT would start but would not complete (usually stuck at 64%) and complainted about communications error... I do notice that the hiss level decreases when I turned down the input level. So I am staying this way for awhile. Mike, I am near downtown Chicago. You are quite far from me but you are welcome to come over anytime.

James: I was able to barely get 3 people into the room. One comment I got was "you weren't kidding when you said small" LOL. I can probably 2 people at one time - MAX.... You can fit 20 of my rooms into Steve's room.

Mark: I have signal generator, cheap RS SPL meter, a scope and an assortment of power supplies but I do not have any test equipment to do this easily. If someone around Chicago have such devices, they can come and help me out. I am shooting not completely in the dark but definitely sight impaired. I do like what I hear and I have my Harbeth M40s as my reference for what a speaker with flat response should sound like. kwingylee

Coytee: Tom and another gentleman from the Chicago Horn Club stopped by last night and gave my system a listen. I wasn't playing anything bombastic or particular loud. I think they like it. I need to do a tad more on the 511B/808-8B equalization to bring the vocals back a bit. Otherwise the system sounded pretty smooth and balance. I am looking for some FR curves on the 808-8B/511B combo so I can dial in the equalization better. We had just heard SoundLab A3s with Atmasphere amps and some very nice front end equipment. So our ears were tuned up. Everyone prefer my setup...I take it as a real complement. The system I demo'ed was biamp with a CJ MV50 on the top and Plinius SA250 MK4 amp on the bottom. The system is connected balance except for the tophat. I would eventually like to go passive. Don't really cared for the additional back ground hiss. There are plenty of 511B/802-8G compensation circuits out there but the crossover is typically set to 1.2KHz. I have some work to do. The consensus was that I don't need a 2" throat or TAD drivers. The system just needs to be tweaked slightly. BTW, I am trying to hook up the DX38 to my laptop. I am using a USB<>RS232 converter. I am having difficulties getting the 2 to talk. What do you have your COM settings set to and what kind of cable do you use?

I second the punker X mod Sony option. The Sony unit actually sounds terrific stock and I believe is only $49.00. If not, I have a Kenwood KT-815 tuner that I might be willing to let go for $100. I used to have AU717/TU717s driving LaScalas....a long long time ago (bought everything new)...this is bring back some memories.

James and SWL: I lost my camera (again),,,that is why no pictures. I am shopping for a new (and good) one. The speakers look like Darth Vader. Why so long? Space. The clones have been sitting in my friend's basement since August 29, 2009. They went into my listening room the day AFTER my wife went on vacation. Although I did not plan this, I got them running this weekend, exactly one year after I got them. Having people over will be tough. My room is very small (but well treated) and cannot have more than 3 people in there at a time. I do not have a humonguous place like Steve... My first guest is going to be Tom Brennan....who is coming over this Saturday and give me his opinion.

My frankenstein Jubilee clones are up and running. The results exceed my expectations so far. Here is my interim system: ssctrojan1980 built rosewood Jubilee clones upgraded with JPS wires and WBT like terminals. Altec lansing 511B horns with 808-8B drivers (picked these up on Friday). The 808-8B is the pro version of the 802G used in M19s and can handle more power. EV DX38 electronic XO. This is a very nice unit but a little hissy. I plan to get a PC cable and do some firmware upgrades so I can use RACE. But one thing at a time. I used the DX38 file coytee sent me last year and equalized the Jub bottom as recommended. I also delayed the Hi frequency output by 2292uS. The Hi frequency cssover point is set to 660Hz as oppsoed to 380Hz. I don't feel comfortable with crossing the 808s so low. The general recommendations for the 808 XO is around 800Hz.... I went to the lansingheritage website and found as many unequalized 511B/802G and 811B/802G curves as I can. I then used the 4 band parametric equalizers to TRY to flat the curve. This is a work in progress. There are a lot of curves, I used them to determine a general trend and trust my ears. I used mail and female vocals to voice the settings. I am running a fully balanced system except for the horns, which is temporarily using a Parasound 1000A amp. This will hopefully be replaced by another Plinius amp soon so I can be 100% balance. My trusty CJ MV50 is another option. The sound is outstanding!!!! I can definitely live with this for awhile. Very little horn shout and the dynamics is something. I can attest that the Jub bottoms have much more slam than the enveloping type of Khorn bass. Suggestions are welcome...I am a happy man. I might even entertain selling off my 1977 walnut khorns .......

Mike: Check out the Yuichi Arai A-290-S with a claimed Freq range of 600Hz to 20KHz using a TAD 4001 or JBL 244x driver. The frequency response curve is incredibly flat with the TAD...and not bad with the JBL. This horn has been around since 1990. Break out the wood shop...... I have a Jub clone bottom and am exploring possibilities.......

Great thread....looks like this may help solve my Jubilee tophat dilemma - dump the ALTEC 511Bs and go down this route?