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Having had the opportunity to spend some time listening to NOSValves' VRD ST 45 (stereo version) and then later an older pair of the mono blocks I knew that this is what I have been looking for! I decided that I wanted to step it up notch and get new VRD monos with some upgrades. I asked for some pictures during the process since I like to see how things go together and I like to keep records of my own projects as well. Craig told me that currently tk49 here on the forum is building the cabinets for the VRDs. I contacted tk49 with some design ideas I had for the cabinets and he was very helpful talking me through to a final decision. I threw out most of my ideas before we arrived at what you see here... a solid cherry cabinet with walnut splines. The splines weren't my idea but add a little strength as well as a nice look. He is also building a matching cabinet for a Technics 1200.

Congrats on your success! So how do the Volti FC260 trachorns and the ALK compare? What drivers are you using with the horns?

This is a GREAT project! [Y] You are right where I was a year and a half ago. Here is the thread from my refurb and upgrade: http://community.klipsch.com/forums/t/148682.aspx You won't necessarily learn anything but you might get a kick out of what I went through. I do add a couple of notes about upgrading these to a HIII. Here is Groomlakearea51's famous thread for his $200 Cornwall saga where there is much you can learn: http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/t/117315.aspx Dig in and Have fun!

The caps wear out over time. The rest is probably fine. I don't know if "blue" caps really help anything. [:|]

For the "do it yourself (sometimes)" crowd: http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=374-100 This soldering station is little wimpy but gets the job done just fine. Do a search for "soldering tutorial."

+1 [Y] This is the route to take prior to the HIII upgrade. Leftovers could be sold or used in some new boxes.

I have the Grant fidelity TubeDAC-09 for a bedroom computer and tv setup. The now have the Dac11 or something like that. Ships from Hong Kong. It has quite a few inputs and features for the $. You can even try a little tube rolling if you like. The Western Electric 396a was my favorite! As far as USB... some of these are better than others. Sometimes I could tell no difference and with others I think the optical had the edge. I believe that these differences can have way more to do with the source I'm plugging in. For example If I have a noisy power from my computer that creates a ground loop hum (even when all is on the same circuit) whenever I plug in the USB, the optical is a nice way to decouple that wire connection with the audio system. If you don't have optical at the computer you could get a quality USB converter like the musical fidelity Vlink or check out bel canto's new converters. USB might work fine for you by itself. You would spend as much or more on the converter as you did the dac so I would try this in stages.

Welcome! Listen, enjoy, slow down... the upgraditis will take over soon enough! You can skip most of the steps mentioned and turn these into Heresy IIIs for something over $625 or so. Can't go wrong with Crites. He has grill material. The new PWK badges can be bought from Klipsch. Part Number: 070249 (Jubilee Pie Logo) $12. /ea. 1-800-KLIPSCH (554-7724) option 6

the bel canto 3.5 mk II is fantastic... really expensive but fantastic! MHDT Havana is my favorite tube DAC. Grant Fidelity and HRT streamer + are great for the money. The Dacmagic was great but a touch on the bright side for me. I'd say the Grant Fidelity is the best deal. EDIT: - for your price range I'd give the Havana a serious look or better yet a used bel canto 1.5. I understand the Benchmark dac1 is pretty nice too.

stupid question... how do you get to the rest of the house from the foyer? [*-)]

Google "mid bass frequency range" and you will see how little agreement as to what mid bass even IS. Unfortunately, I'm not one who can help much to define the terms but that would be helpful in our discussions, I think.

Look for an apartment association in the area. They are often connected to the state and National Apartment Association. The local office and fellow members can be a HUGE help. If I am long distance from a property I would prefer to not be any further than I could drive there and back in a day. You would certainly need to get a property manager IMHO.

I got my 930 for full price from Ebay. It looked OK but lights were out and it sounded BAD. When DeWick sent it back to me I finally got to hear what folks were talking about. Unfortunately, I have well over $400 invested in it now. I don't have a lot of experience but I never had anything from the 70's (in the last few years) that didn't need new caps. Some had obviously leaky caps and all of them sounded much better when I got them back.

Kind of a funny story... I went into a local bolt and screw store to find a replacement screw for the back of one of my Heresys as one was missing when I bought them. I took one with me so it would be a simple "give me a couple of these" kind of deals. The young guy obviously hadn't been working there long and kept trying to get me to accept "close but no cigar" instead of what I had given him. Soon, we were both looking at bin after bin when out of the corner of my eye I saw him toss something in one of the bins. I asked him if it was my screw that he had just thrown in there... he said, "oh... huh huh.. whoops!" Not only did it turn out that they didn't have what I needed but they had lost my screw! I looked and looked in the bins but it blended right in with the others and it was never found (until someone buys it). The manager was apologetic and gave me a pound or so of other sizes I could use. He whispered that they would probably have what I needed down the road at Fastenal. I kind of felt sorry for the kid because besides acting kind of stupid he probably wasn't going to have a job for much longer. Insert joke regarding "looking for a screw" or "having a screw loose" here ___________________________

Here you go...

1 inch #8 A thread That is what was in my 76 Heresys and 68 Cornwalls.

I sent my 930 to Terry DeWick... can't go wrong with him! I sent some Yamaha equipment to Many Moons Audio in Tulsa. He did great work ! There are different levels of restoration you can do. I have gone the route of getting the "usual suspects" and I have gone the route of full-bore-rebuild-it-better-than-it-ever-was. I think I feel better when I do the latter if the cosmetics are really good. Of course, I'll probably never see some of that money again as it can quickly surpass the resale value except to the rare few who might understand its value after such a rebuild. Good luck!

Reminds me of Amazon taking away my ebooks when the Kindle came out. When they removed them from my account they told me they wouldn't be "providing" ebooks anymore. WTH?! I paid for them. At least I didn't have to die for them to take them.

Hmmm... Did I hear something about brown outs in the NE of the US around that time?

That is NOT a number that I want to add up! []

Interesting that MOG kept playing for you... it certainly was quick to tell me that I had run out of songs and it immediately stopped playing. While I was trying it out it worked very well and with no skipping. I've had the paid version of Pandora for a couple of years but lately I have been having trouble with skipping and stopping. Sometimes the time it shows for the song length is some crazy high number and other times it just says 0:00. To see if it was my internet connection speed I tried a netflix movie streaming at the same time... not a blip from the movie but Pandora was still skipping to the next song before finishing. Interesting that Pandora was having trouble at 192k but MOG was fine at 320k!

Awesome! It felt good when I finally hit the single digits for number of years left. I imagine you are ecstatic!

And the three men I admire most... the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, they caught the last train for the coast the day the music died

And as I watched him on the stage My hands were clenched in fists of rage No angel born in Hell Could break that Satan's spell

+1 [Y] I have often thought this exact same thing ! I had a sub with my Heresy IIIs for a few months and went to turn it off only to find I had already turned it off. I listen to just about anything and everything on those and pulled the sub out for lack of use.