jwgorman

Doh, roger. Thanks. Snip snip it's gone.

So I decided that my 15 year old Khorns needed to have a refresh. I stuck to the AK-3 schematic with the exception of a 10ohm non-inductive resistor over the autoformer taps per ALK's suggestion. I used erse coils and 1% dayton caps. I don't think I'm going to get hired by klipsch as a x-over tech I think it came out well, even if it might not be the cleanest lay out. Sounds good. Not sure I heard much difference, but then again, I spun a lot of vinyl last night and I didn't want to stop.

Sorry to resurrect this but THANKS for this suggestion. It is working great.

Cool, I'll check it out. Thanks

I think I need to build some of those quasi corner attachments.

You know that didn't strike me until I was about to check this thread again, and I started singing that line in my head, then I read this post and the 70s all came flooding back at once... The Cordoba with its rich Corinthian leather, Torn Between Two Lovers, Pet Rocks, Click-Clack balls, polyester leisure suits..... oh man...

Thanks everyone for the replies. I will check out the NOS Valves site and thanks for the other tips/links/thoughts. I know my personality is prone to experimentation and the whole tube variable thing would probably drive me and my wife nuts. Then again, that's part of what made this hobby so fun back in the day. I had those Wright amps too. Small world. I have fond memories of them. They could do solo instrument, acoustics stuff so convincingly but every once in a while you want LEd Zeppelin to show up and nothing in my price range could match that MC162 for concert level volume with finesse (at least in the short list that I tried). Now, I think I'd fall off on the other side of the fence. I suspect either of the luxmans I've mentioned would be a great comprimise and I'm certain either of the built in preamp on the luxmans would stomp the daylights out of the C15.

So I'm enamored, of late, with Luxman gear. Unfortunately luxman is not widely distributed here, consequently auditioning is a problem. So this question might end up being more theoretical: I'm getting back into hi-fi after 14 year hiatus of using my stereo to watch movies and suffering through my McIntosh C15/MC162 combo (long story) and I have a fond memory of a Luxman SQ38 EL34integrated through the Khorns many moons ago. But I have also read a lot of good press about the L550 Luxman class A solid state and the whole class A thing makes a lot of sense if you don't require a whole lotta juice. Given that either amp has plenty of wallop for me, has anyone used either of these amps on their Khorns with long term success? I guess the L550 would take away from the insanity of tube rolling that I may be predisposed to. My recollection of the SQ38 with a Dennon 103/Thorens 320 is that it did the liquid midrange thing very well but my audition was temporary. The press has been very kind to the 550 and Art Dudley seems to have been taken with the SQ38. I suspect this is one of those situations where I can't loose. But I'd love to hear of some actual experience with either of these.

Sweet. Now we got to show you the secret handshake...

I really like vinyl. Partly due to the ritual (even more complicated now that I own record cleaner) and partly due to memories...like the first time I spun Zep's physical graffiti...or deseeding a bag (oops!) nevermind....Now that I am older and wiser I spin familiar records and this flood of memories comes back...for what ever reason I don't get that with the CDs...I haven't heard the sacds or dvds but I will...anyhow my $.02. nice to be back here in civilization.

AHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Get the Wright, get the Wright, Get the Wright. I've had one for 4 years (ok it's not the same model that you're considering) It's the best electronics money I've ever spent. It is so velvety, oh heck....this review is several years old (written when CLINTON was prez) but I'm still jazzed about this stuff! The current madness regarding single-ended-triode (SET) amps finally infected me to the point where I just had to evaluate one or Ifd need to be strapped to a gurney and shot-up with 50cc of Thorazine-STAT. My new pair of Klipschorns were frolicking in the warm tube-fired guidance of Audio Research Corp but I just knew there was more to life. Oh sure it sounded great but what did everyone else, especially the Japanese, know about the SET/horn combination that I didnft? And was it really that good? And didnft I need to spend a Kajillion dollars to close in on Valhalla. I needed answers. So I emailed George and Brenda Wright at www.wright-sound.com. And over the next couple of months I tuned in, dropped out and got lost in a world heretofor only dreamt of\the land of reasonably priced, quality hi-fi...The idea of using real-low- powered tube amps bounced around awhile in my evil head before I schemed enough interesting angles for an article concerning the use of a three-watt amp, oh, excuse me, three-point-five watt amp in conjunction with some big-*** horns. What kind of headroom are we talking here for one? And what about bass? Mmmmmmm. Bass. The ARC VT60/K-horn bass...youfd need a surfboard to ride that 35hz wave sometimes...Say what you will about the VT60fs black sheep status in the ARC line but that beauty will plumb the depths when called upon to do so. And what about an amp /preamp combo\with a phono-stage yet\that sells for less than my now-discontinued ARC VT60? What kind of quality are we talking about here anyway? Judged from the pictures on the web-site, the Wright WPA 3.5 and the WPL10V look more like mean and nasty test equipment from a Nazi lab than the graceful ARC stuff in my rack...coal-black cases with industrial switches and ruthlessly efficient 2A3 tubes FROM RED CHINA! What in the sam hell could this stuff possibly sound like? Besides Pat Buchanan would beat the dog **** out of me if he saw me burning RED CHINESE tubes. And just what about subliminal messages? What kind of communist propaganda would be oozing from these Godless 2A3 output tubes? One day Ifd be relaxing with a little Miles or Coltrane and pretty soon Ifd start with the gpower-sweating.h The phone would ring and Angela Landsbury, on the other end, would suggest I, gPass the time with a little solitaire.h Before you knew it, wefd have a commie operative in the White House... Doh! The Yin and the Yang of Life The love of music and the ggee-whizh of electronics comes together perfectly in hi-fi. It is the ultimate mix of art and science and all that happy crap. But in electronics, as the power and number of features increase so does circuit complexity and the sheer volume of componentry. It cannot be avoided. This is neither good nor bad necessarily. I would rather have a complex driver arrangement/network ala Richard Vandersteenfs Model 5 than a simpler rig that had simplicity as its only virtue. But a simple design that basically gets many important aspects of sound re-creation right, ala Paul Klipschfs Klipschorns, would seem to have less in the way of the music. (Although, if we were in Texas right now, Ifd stake the Klipsch design team to a fire-ant hill and dump a bottle of warm Royal Crown Cola on them for not removing that pointless elliptic filter in the tweeter path of their big three\La Scala, Belle and K-horn. It was put there to protect a delicate driver that Klipsch no longer uses. Snip the lead going to the cap and coil nearest the grill and you get rid of a ton of sibilance. Are you listening Mr. Hunter?) And whatfs true in speakers is even more pronounced in preamps and amps. The Wright Sound Company gear has far fewer components than most. It is the simplest hi-fi amp Ifve ever played with. And because it uses point-to-point wiring instead of the more common circuit board, it is less prone to noise infiltration. To my way of thinking, this means less in between the signal and you. Couple this with the fact that the K-hornfs crossover network has three capacitors, three coils and an inductor in the signal path wired point-to-point. See a trend? Yes, you cynical types are scoffing already arenft you? 1930fs technology\horns and SETs. Youfre right it is 1930s technology so if youfre looking for a technological showpiece youfll have to look elsewhere. But after extensive listening sessions with the Wright gear I believe the old ways are perhaps the best ways. Pete Townsend of the WHO once remarked, gLed Zeppelin perfected the sound of the four-piece band. Itfs gone downhill since.h And in some ways the same can be said of hi-fi. Brass Tacks The WPA 3.5 is a 3.5-watt-per-channel single-ended-triode, zero-feedback mono amplifier. It uses Magnequestý output transformers and is configured so as to be self-biasing. It has an unusually low sensitivity (2V required for rated output) but worked fine with an ARC LS7. The WPL10V is an extremely simple preamp with a phono stage. Both the amp and preamp feature captive power cords. The power supply of the preamp feeds DC voltage to the preamp via a microphone cord referred to in product literature as an gumbilical cordh I placed the WPL10V unit on the second shelf of my Standesign Penta rack and its separate power supply on the bottom shelf. The ownerfs manual suggests separating the power supply from the preamp by at least 12-inches. I placed the WPA 3.5 Monoblocks side by side on homemade oak stand next to the Penta. Each component had its own Isobar surge suppresser/RFnoise filter connected to a dedicated circuit with an isolated ground receptacle. Hook up was typical with nothing unusual to report. The selection of ohm taps on the back of the amps was different from most tube amps in that there is only one set of binding posts. Selection of ohm taps requires the user to move a spade lugged wire to the appropriate terminal on a plated terminal block. I quickly settled on the 4 ohm tap and left it there for the rest of the audition. The amps offer no provisions for balanced operation. The preamp has no tape outs and no tape monitor, no mute, no tone controls, just two volume controls (one for each channel) and a selector. The phono stage is straight forward at 47Kohms shunted at 100 pF. The power switch is located on the power supply unit. For this and all listening of late sources included a Thorens TD320MKIII with RDC platter/Shure V15VxMR and Pioneer Elite PD65 CD player. Speaker cables were Audio Quest Indigo and interconnects were AQ Turquoise. As I mentioned, I chose to use Klipschorns for this evaluation due to their 104db/w/m sensitivity and because all us horn-loving types know the audio legend about PWK voicing his K-horns with a 2A3 Brown amp. From the first second of playback I knew I was in for a rare treat. After the first evening was over, I was convinced I was rocketing toward Valhalla. First off, I have to report that this Wright set-up is quiet. The amps gently buzz a second or two after turning on but this only lasts a second. After that, all is silence when no signal is being supplied. Likewise, Mr. Wrightfs preamp is also dead quiet. Even the phono stage remains silent. Klipschorns donft lie about noise. The sensitivity of K-horns requires extremely quiet electronics and the Wright stuff fits that bill as well as any equipment Ifve heard\tube or solid state. Mr. Wrightfs preamp/amp is as quiet as a Clinton cabinet member come Senate hearing time. Youfre probably wondering if 3.5-watts is enough to put the smack down on your *** and I must tell you that 3.5-watts from the Wright amp was plenty even when the decibels reached into the 108db+ range on heavy duty bass-intensive music. There may have been a little flattening or compression at this volume level but I certainly didnft stay up there for long. For a little louder than normal listening, averaging 98 db, the Wright 3.5s handled every transient perfectly and never even came close to running out of gas. The transient response was truly incredible. Way quick with the proverbial leading edges. This is not to say that the WPAs pumped out the volume of bass that the VT60 could. It never did. If jackhammer bass is what youfre after stick with an ultralinear design. The strength of the WPAfs bass reproduction was not that it could dilate onefs sphincter valve, but that you could hear every fret and pluck on well recorded software. There is a quality of bass that Ifve not heard before from the K-horns. Magneplanar quickness and articulation. This leads to the revelatory aspect of the Wright stuff. I had always thought that horns didnft really sing until they started getting pushed into the 98db range. The Wright combo made even soft listening sessions at 86db average enjoyable (My newest baby, Patrick Joseph, was sleeping upstairs). I could hear a loudness-switch-type fullness to the sound with the WPAs on idle. The Wright gear combo stripped away all pretense of hi-fi and replaced it with life and sunlight. I know itfs clich to mention that the zero feedback/SET amps remove electronic haze but it is true in this case. The Wright amps did just that. Fingers on guitars strings and bows across violin strings sounded incredibly lifelike, particularly on Willie Nelsonfs Somewhere Over the Rainbow LP (Columbia FC 36883). The entire album is a minimalistfs dream with no electric stuff nor drums and Chesky-like clarity. This album is Willie and some good old boys picking classics in what sounds like live takes and no overdubs. Here the WPA shined like no other amp Ifve had on the big Klipsch. Williefs voice was presented in such a lush and forward three-dimensionality that he stands in front of you as opposed to the more common gyou are there, looking in through a windowh non-sense. Willie is here baby, yeah! In the living room. If youfre toes arenft tapping when Willie and the boys break into gExactly Like Youh check your pulse. I must also report that the Wright combo images like no other equipment Ifve heard on the K-horns. Perhaps I should say that the combo got the hell out of the way of the image because much like fine optics, Ifve come to think that, as a general rule, the image is always there. Itfs just that the more optics/electronics you throw in its way, the worse the image. But whatever the case , these things image like a mo-fo. Not only did the K-horns image well side to side, the Wright combo enabled them to have front to back depth (a common criticism of K-horns is that they donft image front to back) In fact, if your speakers wonft image with this Wright combo, chop them into firewood ecause they ainft no good as speakers! The phono preamp is an incredible bargain considering it is part of the $749.00 price of the WPL10V. Because the preamp did not have a tape out I could not truly test the phono stage unto itself. Be that as it may, it proved an excellent match with the much-underrated Shure V15VxMR. Vocals were forward and centered solidly when recorded that way. The lush presentation of female voices, notably Tori Amosf gCornflake Girlh from the Under the Pink LP (Warner UK pressing) revealed every breath\and Tori knows how to use her breath, grrrrrrrrrrr\she took and every heretofor unnoticed inflection. As far as I can tell there are no provisions to adjust loading short of soldering in new components. And I did experience a slight hum when turned to the phono input and I touched the volume controls. Grounding problems? I dunno but it occurred only when I touched the volume knobs would never be noticeable on<98db/w/m speaks. As a linestage the WPL10V offered no surprises. It is not as edgy as the ARC LS-7 can occasionally be but does not seem to sacrifice delicate information in trade. How George Wright pulled this off I really donft know. Talk between sources (tested by playing a CD and then changing the selector to another input channel) was incredibly low. Again bettering the ARC LS-7. I donft personally care for dual volume controls and would prefer to see an Alps stereo pot or some such arrangement but I canft argue with results. I am having extreme difficulty describing what the Wright combo sounds like because it gets so far out of the way of the sound. In terms of transient response I know of no peers. In terms of getting close to the performers, Leon Redbonefs version of gI Ainft Got Nobodyh from his Whistling in the Wind CD (Private Music P2 2117) got downright spooky what with being able to hear his lips move and subtle groans that I never heard after dozens of times hearing this tune. The Wright stuff presents music in such a live fashion\minus the cyclic compression and fluff of typical hi-fi gear\that itfs almost unfair to call it stereo equipment. Itfs more than that. One phenomenon I noticed with the Wright gear that is worth reporting is a lack of sensitivity of cable choice. I did prefer to use the AQ speaker and interconnect wire but I got satisfactory results with the original Monster Cable running to the speaks and some basic Monster M350 interconnect. Typically Ifd hear a great deal of difference, switching between cables but in this case the difference was much less pronounced. I had to call George Wright and ask him about this. He acknowledged it and attributed it to lack of introduced feedback in his circuitry. Roger that! So is it good stuff? At this point I need to remind faithful readers that this is relatively inexpensive, hand made gear! I did not make any excuses for itfs price and held it up to some very esteemed products. The question I kept asking myself was not whether this stuff was better for the money, rather was this stuff better period. In many ways the answer was yes. In everyway that is important to me now the Wright gear bettered much more expensive stuff. If I really wanted to grockh and gpunch out the jams booyh I would probably turn to the VT60 for muscle. The VT60 can ghammerh and gslamh in a way the Wright stuff canft. But for critical listening and for acoustic music bring on the Wright. A properly voiced ultralinear for the bass horn and this 2A3 SET for the mids and highs in a bi-amp configuration on the K-horns-- heaven! If you buy audio gear for the thick face plates and ten-ounce volume knobs youfll not consider Wright Sound Company. The Wright equipment uses good stuff like Hovland capacitors and Noble pots but itfs in no danger of winning beauty awards. Maybe a signature edition, eh George? With big-*** iso feet things and Babinga-wood side panels. And as Ifve mentioned, Ifm none too fond of the dual volume control arrangement. I would like to see some high-end jacks, lugs, etc., mounted on a bullet-proof plate due to my constant plugging-in and unplugging gear. Small picks indeed for such wonderful products. I heartily endorse the design skills of George Wright. Wright Sound Companyfs WPA 3.5 Monoblocks and the WPL10V combo does for SET amplification what the original NAD 3020 did for entry level gear back in the early e80s. jwgorman

JMON is so right. Both design homeruns. But in the end the Cornwall is better. Because it's cooler. The first pair I ever heard was in the early 70s. Looked cool sounded cool. Yeah baby. JWGORMAN

Ah the carver cube. One day in a local salon many years ago--a store which sold klipsch and yamaha and mac and maggies and other solid products--a sales rep came in and bodly announced that his "little cube" could blow away a heavy SS yamaha amp that was on the floor. I and the sales staff was curious and more than skeptical as the yamaha stuff had earned a reputation as well-built and musical. The enthusiastic rep hooked up his cube and proceeded to fire up a record. Seconds later the cube burst into flames. The lead salesman at the store was in tears from laughter. I felt a bit sorry for him. This is my only memory of the cube. jwgorman

The crossover post amplifer would be the crossover in the speaks. Khorn crossover points are in fact much different than the newer model you mention. jwgorman

DJK, To put this in chimp terms that I can understand, would it be correct to say that an amplifier receiving a full bandwidth signal is going to amplify a full bandwidth signal. Any crossover post amplifier will not allow the system to play "louder". I always assumed mdeneen's example was right. Upon reading your posts I believe I see what you're saying. How's that for simian engineering? jwgorman

Sadly, a watt is not a watt. Sort of like the Army issuing black berets to any rear eschelon nimrod, the term looses meaning. If you look at Mcintosh amps, they have large capacity power supplys (ie, big transformers, beacoup storage cap capability etc) I bought an old 20 watt per channel integrated sansui circa 1977 whose modest power supply equals many modern 100 watt per channel offerings. Unless you purchase from a company whose name is synonymous with solid engineering and quality construction you are probably not getting the real deal. Obviously there are other companies besides McIntosh but I happen to have some experience with them. You can always haunt garage sales and ebay looking for any Yamaha, Sansui, Luxman from about 1975-1980 and, providing they ar functioning properly, you won't go wrong. jwgomran

I did a similar thing to Nanci Barnes once down in Hope. She gladly loaded up my Uhaul with Khorns and showed me the door. Small price for her to pay to get me the heck out of there. And I should probably mention the cornwalls have to be veneered plywood or I recreate the whole Sharon Stone/Basic Instinct/interrogation scene. Then nobody keeps lunch down. jwgorman

Mendeen, I have tried something similar to your set up (only taking it out of my pre's dual outs) running the high horns (on khorns) with the Wright 2A3s and the woofs with a mac MC162. I could never quite get it to gel. I certainly cannot explain the science but something was a miss. I preferred the sound of the Wrights or the Mac run full range. The electronic crossover's I've tried (bypassing the passive crossovers) were not particularly refined, certainly not transparent and thus unuseable. Running one tube amp and one ss amp on the khorns always seemed like a logical thing to do but I could never quite nail it down. I attributed my particular difficulties with my multi amp rig to the fact that I'm running a SET tube amp on top and a PP SS on bottom. I need to try this with a PP tube on top perhaps. Like the new Wright Sound Company 10watt PP 2A3 monoblocks...yeah, that's right...honey, I need another amp...My wife would probably just shoot me. jwgorman

Bob, I want you to give appropriate weight to this threat. It's not funny. If Klipsch does not start to make cornwall IIs again in veneered birch and oak, I'm going to come to your office, all dolled up in something very risky from Victoria's Secret, heels and nasty red lipstick, announce to the office that "I'm having your baby" and sing Donna Summer's "Love to Love Ya Baby" at the top of my voice. You been warned my friend. Your (social) life will be completely snuffed out. I know where you work fella... kiss kiss jwgorman

Bob, I want you to give appropriate weight to this threat. It's not funny. If Klipsch does not start to make cornwall IIs again in veneered birch and oak, I'm going to come to your office, all dolled up in something very risky from Victoria's Secret, heels and nasty red lipstick, announce to the office that "I'm having your baby" and sing Donna Summer's "Love to Love Ya Baby" at the top of my voice. You been warned my friend. Your (social) life will be completely snuffed out. I know where you work fella... kiss kiss jwgorman

mdeen is right about that whole measurement business. At the dawn of the 21st century (and I suspect at the dusk too) our ears/brain remains the most sensitive detector we know of. Mr George Wright has designed perhaps the ultimate amps for klipsch products. His WPA 3.5 monoblocks can really hammer with a pair of khorns if that's what you're into. I suspect his new pushpull 2A3 based amps would be the things hifi dreams are made of. His 10 watt push-pull 2A3 amps are $1700 per pair. The WPA 3.5s are $1300 per pair (I think) If I had Cornwalls I'd try the 10 watters. Of course I use his preamps too. Simply musical, lifelike. I've never regretted them. Some of you know I also have Mac SS gear--good stuff too. But particularly with a quality recording of solo guitar or voice, or small jazz group, the "lifelike" thing seems easier to pull off with the Wright gear. jwgorman

DJK, So for the klipschophile on a budget, what electronic crossovers do you recommend? JWG

Ok guys, I've for gotten this scheme. On the AK-3, The high lead from the mid goes to which tap again? The other taps are -3db, -6db? Am I remembering this correctly. jwgorman

Bob, DJK, I use the foil on my amps and it does make a difference. My feet are warmer, I love my wife nearly 10% more and the dog seems happier. jwgorman

So Klipsch Inc, starts this board for the "convenience" of its customers. Yeah right! R&D for free says I. Evil corporate types. Picking your brains for all the engineering leg work. Bob G just plays us like a stratavarios and enters all the data into a room size main frame. All the while dropping you guys just enough info to spur you on. I bet he laughs a lot like Dr. Evil. Probably has a 1/8 scale replica of himself too. And a hairless cat... Evil, evil, evil jwgorman