LonestarBlues

Hey. Does anyone besides me think that Pablum is actually our old MobileHomeless/Kelly Holstein? The personal pet peeve about announcing emails & his writing style lead me to believe Kelly is back incognito. Regards, Mike

Hey Pablum. I take personal exception to your post about Erik. Erik is one of the most genuine helping guys on this forum. I have met Erik in person, he is a very cool guy. He repaired my Welborne Labs Moondog amps & Edster's for free. I tried to pay Erik for his time & trouble of repairing my amps & Erik did not want payment. He has helped out many others on this forum. If you don't like Erik's posts, don't read them. Erik is too classy of a guy to respond to your drivel. If you are going to post critical B.S. about someone you don't know, don't post. Regards, Mike

Hello. I am buying the matching goldplated Dehavilland Aries SET 845 monoblock amps to my new to me goldplated Dehavilland Verve preamp. Each monoblock amp weighs in at 57 lbs. an amp. I don't know yet what the packaged weight will be. I have always used Fedex Express 3 Day Air for shipping & have not had any equipment damaged. I am leary of ground shipping due to possible rough handling. I know Fedex 3 day Air will not be cheap. Would Forward Air be any cheaper in shipping? Ted, the seller lives in El Granada, California-close to San Francisco. We have a Forward Air here in Corpus Christi, Texas. I am getting an excellent deal on 2 year old amps from the original owner-1/3 of the retail price. Ted is moving to solid state gear. Thanks for any help. Regards, Mike

Hello. I have never heard a SACD player. I purchased a refurbished Sony C333ES sacd/cd player-5 disc changer with the Sony ES 5 year warranty off of Ebay for $349. Jay, the guy selling the equipment is affilliated with the Sound Seller of Marinette, Wisconsin-an authorized Sony ES dealer. Fedex 3 day Air will deliver the Sony sacd/cd player Friday. I listen to blues, jazz, classic rock, new wave/punk, classical & real hadrcore honky tonk country- not the current paint by numbers pablum fluff pop crapola that Nashville/Trashville attempts to pass off as country music today. DSD recordings are the preferred recording medium from what little I have read about SACD. Welcome some recomendations that are well recorded with good sonics. I am not sure if any local stores here in Corpus Christi-Best Buy, Circuit City, FYE carry sacd. I will have to check. Thanks. Regards, Mike

Hello Piranha. Thanks for the heads up on the Sony SCD C333ES player. I purchased one. The guy lives in Menominee, Michigan which is right across the state line from Marinette, Wisconsin. He told me his business-the Sound Seller located in Marinette, Wisconsin is the source of his gear. I was looking at & researching the C333ES & C555ES players-I wanted a changer. I was looking at used C333ES players on Audiogon. Can either of you recomend some good SACD recordings. I listen to blues, jazz, classic rock, classical & real honky tonk country-not the current paint by numbers pablum fluff pop that Nashville tries to pass off as country music. Over at the Audio- asylum website-I read about the problems some owners of the C333ES had experienced with a static sound while playing multi channel sacd discs. Have either of y'all ever experienced this problem? How do you like the selectable digital filters for cd play? A 5 disc changer is going to be nice for extended listening. The C333ES is supposed to ship out today via Fedex Express Saver 3 Day Air. Regards, Mike

Hello Mike. Congrats fellow Texan, enjoy those vertical Cornwalls & don't leave the forum. You did absolutely nothing wrong in my opinion. You found a local deal with the ability to inspect the speakers before purchase. I can guarantee you everyone else on this 2 Channel forum would do the same as you if they found verticall Cornwalls local in their neck of the woods. I live in Corpus Christi. I bought my 1977 Cornwalls from a guy in San Antonio & my 1983 pair from a guy in Sugarland-west Houston suburb. I got to inspect & listen to both pair of Cornwalls before purchase. Andy the 1977 Cornwall owner introduced me to tube stereo equipment which blew me away & left a lasting impression. Tube gear & it's sonics impressed the hell out of me & I told myself someday in the future I will get some tube gear. I was running Mcintosh solid state at the time. Two years later & I bought my Welborne Labs Moondog SET amps & other tube gear off of Audiogon. I don't do Ebay anymore since a fellow Texan from Plano burned me on a Mcintosh MR 80 tuner for over $1,000. The tuner was in beautiful cosmetic shape but was in need of repairs-it had intermittent multiple tuning problems. He stated in his ad that he had bought the tuner from Audioclassics-Vestal,New York & that the tuner was in excellent cosmetic & operating condition. The guy wold not respond to emails or phone calls after the sale. I contacted Audioclassics about repair & Audiocalssics agreed to repair the tuner at a reduced rate. Their ex Mcintosh repair tech could not repair the tuner. He worked on the tuner 3 separate times & they had the tuner almost a year between the 3 times I sent the tuner in for repair. They had the tuner longer in their possession than I had it while I was the owner. The Mac MR 80 tuner was dubbed the nickname-the tuner from hell. Audioclassics let me trade the tuner in on a Mcintosh MR 77 tuner which I think is a better looking tuner. It just is not worth as much as an MR 80 tuner. I took it in the shorts & lost money on that Ebay deal. But Audioclassics was a class act business & stepped up to the plate when they did not have to. I have been burned twice on Ebay from guys that had excellent feedback. Never again, Ebay does not give a crap about the buyer of goods. All they are concerned about is collecting their money from the seller. I have had excellent results in purchasing audio gear from Audiogon with people that have morals & quality gear for sale at a great price. Four Audiogon audio deals-2 amps- Welborne Labs Moondog SET tube, Llano Phoenix mosfet/tube hybrid amp & 2 tube preamps-Welborne Labs Reveille & Dehavilland Verve. I love Audiogon. Enjoy your vertical Cornwalls & let us know your impressions of them. Regards, Mike

Fini, I express my condolences to you & Matt's family. It is vey heart breaking to loose a friend & at such a young age makes it even worse. Greive but also take joy in the good memories you had with your buddy. I can emphathize with you having lost a best friend since 5th grade in a motorcycle accident at age 32 back in 1992. The accident was not Skip's fault. May the good Lord watch over you & Matt's family in their time of need. They will be in my prayers. Regards, Mike

Hey Erik. As usual you do great work. When does school let out in Katy? Have any summer audio projects planned? Erik the tube Doc is excellent at working on tube gear-building-diagnosing problems & repairing. My sick Moondogs were healed/repaired by Erik. I have a question for you tube gurus. My new to me used 2 year old Dehavilland Verve preamp is very quiet. In fact the Verve is more quiet than the Mcintosh C 38 solid state preamp it replaced which shocked me. There is just a barely audible faint white noise when you place your ear right next to the Cornwall's tweeter. The white noise with the Mcintosh preamp was not bad at all & could only be heard when placing your ear 6-8" from the Cornwall's tweeter. Being a non technical tube amp & preamp owner. What would account for the super quietness of the Verve preamp. Circuit design? I did not know that a tube preamp could be more quiet than a solid state preamp. The Verve uses Auricaps as the coupling caps. I pulled the bottom plate after I first got the preamp to take a gander at the innards. I have only owned 3 preamps-1st-the Mcintosh C 38 preamp which I have used with the Mcintosh amp, Moon- dog amps & Llano Phoenix amp. 2nd- Welborne Labs factory assembled Reveille preamp that I have only used with the Moondogs. 3rd-the Dehavlland Verve preamp with the Llano Phoenix amp. I prefer the Verve over the Mcintosh preamp. It has a better sonic synergy-music sounds more 3 dimensional, relaxed & palpable with great dynamics. It just sounds more musical. The Verve is also tube rectified. It is the 1st tube rectified preamp I have owned. Been listening to music over 11 hours now through the Llano/Verve combo. Regards, Mike

Well the Verve preamp is up & running fully operational. My initial response is a big 2 thumbs up. I like the Verve's sonics mated with my Llano Phoenix mosfet/tube hybrid amp. Fedex Air delivered the Verve preamp Monday of last week with 5 out of 8 tubes destroyed in my opinion due to inadequate crappy packing of the tubes. Ted the seller did a great job of packing the preamp, he just made a mistake in packing the tubes. We had a difference of opinion in his packing of the tubes & he will still not entertain the thought that his packing was the major contributing factor of the tubes being destroyed. He is convinced that it was rough handling or the double boxed preamp took a fall from a great height & that is what destroyed the tubes. Ted is a decent honest guy & stepped up to the plate to rectify the situation. He refunded my $22. We had an agreement for actual shipping charges. Ted's estimate was high & I over paid $22. Ted sent me spare tubes of questionabe life expectancy-his own words in exchange for the $22 without asking me if this was ok. Neither one of us own tube testers & he was aware that I did not own one. I nicely pointed out the error of his ways with the analogy-would you be happy if I was the seller & made that decision for you. I got the Postal Money Order in the mail Saturday afternoon. I told Ted that all I needed was a pair of 6AH4 tubes to get the preamp up & running. Ted had stated in a previous email that he would replace any of the current tubes- free of charge if they broke. The Current tubes were the new set of tubes with low hours that Ted bought in Jan. 2004. The spare tubes he had sent me were 2 year old tubes. Ted ordered a complete new set of tubes for the preamp from ATSI in Florida. I ordered a NOS pair of 6AH4 tubes & a NOS pair of 12SX7 tubes from the Tube Store in Canada. The 12SX7 tubes are for the Llano VA2 voltage box of my Llano Phoenix amp. U.S. Postal service delivered the tubes from ASTI today & UPS Air delivered the tubes from the Tube Store today. From ATSI I got 2-NOS General Electric 6AH4 GT tubes, 1-Sovtek 6SN7 tube & 1-Sovtek 5U3C ST coke bottle shape tube. The 5U3C is the Russian equivalent of the 5U4 tube. I got 2-NOS CBS Hytron 6AH4 GT tubes & 2 NOS RCA 12SX7 tubes from the Tube Store. I am using the new with low hours Tung Sol 6SN7 GT that came with the preamp, new with low hours Sylvania 5U4 GB rectifier tube & the 2 NOS CBS Hytron 6AH4 GT tubes from the Tube Store. I left the pair of Raytheon 6SN7 GT tubes that I have been using for several months in the Llano VA2 voltage box. I am used to their sound with the Mcintosh C 38 solid state preamp. I wanted to get a comparison of sonics with just changing out the preamps. Tomorrow I will roll in the NOS RCA 12SX7 tubes into the Llano VA2 voltage box & see how they sound. I read about the 12SX7 tube over at Audioasylum in the tube section. Some knowedeable tube guys have used & compared the 12SX7 to their expensive 6SN7 tubes. The 12SX7 was equal to or better than the high dollar 6SN7 tubes in their subjective opinion. The 12SX7 tube is a WW II tube used for aircraft purposes. It was a hand selected 12SN7 GT tube that operated at a different voltage than regular 12SN7 tubes if I recall correctly from what I read a while back. The 12SX7 tubes were $29.95 a tube-considerably cheaper than the high prices that some NOS 6SN7 tubes run. I do own a pair of RCA 5692 redbase 6SN7 & Sylvania 5692 chrome domes 6SN7 tubes I can compare the 12SX7 tubes with. Craig-NOSValves used a pair of 12SX7 tubes in his Mapletree preamp. I am a happy camper right now listening to tunes. Regards, Mike Edit-Sorry about the double post. Hit the submit key & got the Klipsch website is too busy to use. I resubmitted & got the double post.

Well the Verve preamp is up & running fully operational. My initial response is a big 2 thumbs up. I like the Verve's sonics mated with my Llano Phoenix mosfet/tube hybrid amp. Fedex Air delivered the Verve preamp Monday of last week with 5 out of 8 tubes destroyed in my opinion due to inadequate crappy packing of the tubes. Ted the seller did a great job of packing the preamp, he just made a mistake in packing the tubes. We had a difference of opinion in his packing of the tubes & he will still not entertain the thought that his packing was the major contributing factor of the tubes being destroyed. He is convinced that it was rough handling or the double boxed preamp took a fall from a great height & that is what destroyed the tubes. Ted is a decent honest guy & stepped up to the plate to rectify the situation. He refunded my $22. We had an agreement for actual shipping charges. Ted's estimate was high & I over paid $22. Ted sent me spare tubes of questionabe life expectancy-his own words in exchange for the $22 without asking me if this was ok. Neither one of us own tube testers & he was aware that I did not own one. I nicely pointed out the error of his ways with the analogy-would you be happy if I was the seller & made that decision for you. I got the Postal Money Order in the mail Saturday afternoon. I told Ted that all I needed was a pair of 6AH4 tubes to get the preamp up & running. Ted had stated in a previous email that he would replace any of the current tubes- free of charge if they broke. The Current tubes were the new set of tubes with low hours that Ted bought in Jan. 2004. The spare tubes he had sent me were 2 year old tubes. Ted ordered a complete new set of tubes for the preamp from ATSI in Florida. I ordered a NOS pair of 6AH4 tubes & a NOS pair of 12SX7 tubes from the Tube Store in Canada. The 12SX7 tubes are for the Llano VA2 voltage box of my Llano Phoenix amp. U.S. Postal service delivered the tubes from ASTI today & UPS Air delivered the tubes from the Tube Store today. From ATSI I got 2-NOS General Electric 6AH4 GT tubes, 1-Sovtek 6SN7 tube & 1-Sovtek 5U3C ST coke bottle shape tube. The 5U3C is the Russian equivalent of the 5U4 tube. I got 2-NOS CBS Hytron 6AH4 GT tubes & 2 NOS RCA 12SX7 tubes from the Tube Store. I am using the new with low hours Tung Sol 6SN7 GT that came with the preamp, new with low hours Sylvania 5U4 GB rectifier tube & the 2 NOS CBS Hytron 6AH4 GT tubes from the Tube Store. I left the pair of Raytheon 6SN7 GT tubes that I have been using for several months in the Llano VA2 voltage box. I am used to their sound with the Mcintosh C 38 solid state preamp. I wanted to get a comparison of sonics with just changing out the preamps. Tomorrow I will roll in the 12SX7 tubes into the Llano VA2 voltage box & see how they sound. I read about the 12SX7 tube over at Audioasylum in the tube section. Some knowedeable tube guys have used & compared the 12SX7 to their expensive 6SN7 tubes. The 12SX7 was equal to or better than the high dollar 6SN7 tubes in their subjective opinion. The 12SX7 tube is a WW II tube used for aircraft purposes. It was a hand selected 12SN7 GT tube that operated at a different voltage than regular 12SN7 tubes if I recall correctly from what I read a while back. The 12SX7 tubes were $29.95 a tube-considerably cheaper than the high prices that some NOS 6SN7 tubes run. I do own a pair of RCA 5692 redbase 6SN7 & Sylvania 5692 chrome domes 6SN7 tubes I can compare the 12SX7 tubes with. Craig-NOSValves used a pair of 12SX7 tubes in his Mapletree preamp. I am a happy camper right now listening to tunes. Regards, Mike Edit-Sorry about the double post, hit the submit key & got the Klipsch website is too busy to use. I resubmitted & got the double post.

Great pictures Kevin. I like to eat fish but have not fished in years. I should take up fishing again. Here in Corpus Christi we have salt water fishing-bays & Gulf of Mexico. And fresh water fishing-several rivers & a lake nearby. I used to own a boat & water ski back in the 80's. We used to ski in the Aransas River-the Welder Ranch & Wildlife Refuge border the river. The river has alligators but they were well fed & never bothered any one. Thank God. We used to see gators all the time & had a running joke among us friends as wiping out & being gator bait. I used to snow ski on a regular basis when I lived in New Mexico & West Texas. I was a decent intermediate skier, could ski easy black runs, stuck mainly to blue runs & easy black runs. I knew my limitations, no double black diamond runs for me. Used to go to Angel Fire, Red River, Santa Fe & Taos. Taos was the the best New Mexico has to offer. Used to go to Colorado also Wolf Creek, Arapahoe Basin, Keystone, Vail/Beaver Creek etc. There are a bunch of ski resorts on the way to Vail/Beaver Creek. I still own my skiis,boots, poles etc. Last went skiing 5 years ago in Colorado. It is a long drive from deep South Texas. I fired up my Welborne Labs gear for the first time in several weeks. The Moondoggies are singing & sound very good to my ears. I picked up some new cd's this evening. Some Texas music-The Essential Jimmie Vaughan-Stevie Ray's older brother is an excellent guitar slinger. Omar & The Howlers-Boogie Man-Omar is a Texas blues/rock institution who has been around for a long time here in the Lonestar state. Kim Wilson-Lookin' For Trouble-lead singer/harmonica player for another Texas blues institution- The Fabulous Thunderbirds. Jimmie Lee Vaughan was the lead guitar player for the T-Birds for many years & quit in the early 90's to pursue a solo gig. Los Lonely Boys are three Mexican brothers in their 20's whose dad was a musician. They were raised on a wide range of music-Tejano, blues, jazz, rock, country. They are very popular here in Texas. They have appeared on the Tonight Show, Conan O'Brian. They are a 3 piece band-guitar,bass & drums. They play rock & roll/Tejano. The brothers harmonize very well together. The vocals are 90% English with a little Spanish thrown into the mix. They are from San Angelo-West Texas. We have an excellent radio station here in Corpus Christi-94.7-Texas Music Radio. They have a Texas music format that plays 80+% of Texas music-rock, blues, country. They mix in other national artist in different genres to round out the mix. I picked up a Doug Sahm-He's About A Groover 2 cd. The 1st cd has a very young Doug Sahm with recordings from his early San Antonio years when he was a young pup just starting out. Recording quality is not top notch but the music gets my toes a tappin'. The 2nd cd is The Best of The Sir Douglas Quintet. Doug Sahm was another Texas Treasure and institution. Dale Watson-Dreamland is the real deal Texas Country Music. Dreamland was produced by Ray Benson/Asleep At The Wheel. His cd was just released this past Monday. Dale's voice reminds me of a young Merle Haggard but Dale has a better voice. Last night I went down to the Executive Surf Club-a bar/restaurant with an outdoor patio for live music. They book a lot of the bands that 94.7 Texs Music Radio plays. I saw Aaron Watson from Amarillo, Texas-The Honky Tonk Kid. I used to spend a lot of time in Amarillo-1985-88. I wore a a cream colored pair of Nocona elephant cowboy boots that I purchased from Boots n' Jeans in Amarillo. I wear size 11-1/2 B-narrow width. Both Amarillo & Lubbock had western wear shops that carried a good selection of boots in my size. If I want boots here in Corpus I have to special order the boots from Tony Llama. Justin, Nocona etc. Aaron Watson is 26 & no relation to Dale Watson. Ray Benson also produced his cd. He has a duet with Willie Nelson & another with Dale Watson on his newest cd-The Honky Tonk Kid. Brad Lomax the owner of The Executive Surf Club is a surfer. He owns a complex downtown that contains 2 Water Street Seafood Restaurants, the Executive Surf Club,Surf Club Records that sells Texas Music, a coffee bar with free internet use & numerous other shops that he leases to other businesses. He also has a Water Street Seafood Restaurant in San Antonio. Used to have one in Houston but he closed it several years ago. I ordered a pair of 6AH4 tubes from the Tube Store to get my used but new to me Dehavilland Verve preamp up & running. Will be delivered Monday. With 5 of the 8 tubes destroyed in shipping, those are the tubes I need. The Tung Sol 6SN7, Tung Sol 5U4GB & Sylvania 5U4GB rectifier tubes survived. Ted the seller ordered me a complete new set of tubes from ATSI in Florida: 1-6Sn7, 2-6AH4 used as a cathode follower & 1-5U4 rectifier Will be a week before they arrive. I also ordered a pair of 12SX7 tubes to use in the VA2 voltage section of my Llano mosfet/tube hybrid amp. The 12SX7 is a WW II military version of the 12SN7 tube & supposedly rivals the sonics of the best 6SN7 tubes. I read this from tube guys much more knowledgeable about tubes than myself over at Audioasylum. The 12SX7 tubes were $29.95 a tube. Since my VA2 voltage section of the Llano uses 6SN7/12SN7/6SL7 tubes I decided to try them out. I have several 6SN7, 1-12SN7 & 1-6SL7 that came with the Llano. I am going to pair the Dehavilland Verve preamp up with my Lubbock, Texas made-(Buddy Holly Country) mosfet/tube hybrid amp. Well that's enough of my rambling for now. Regards, Mike

Ted is interested in Mcintosh solid state gear & is goiing the used equipment route. He was asking me questions about my Mac gear & my Cornwalls. He wanted to see a picture of the Cornwalls. I referred him to the Belgaudio.com/ kcmap.htm website where that European guy did a comprehensive review of his pair of Cornwall II speakers. Ted owns a pair of Tannoy Stirling HE speakers-dual concentric woofer/ tweeter. I also try to think the best of others. But Ted had me worried when he developed an attitude about filing a damage claim with Fedex. He misunderstood the contents of my email. I diffused the situation by remaining calm & civil in my reply to him stating I was not against filing a claim wth Fedex, I just thought that Fedex would ultimately balk & deny the claim. I also nicely pointed out the error of his ways in keeping my $22 shipping over payment & let him know I was not happy with his decision. I used the analogy that if the shoe was on the other foot. And I was the seller & kept his $22 & sent him 4 tubes with questionable life expectancy without allowing him to make the decision. He most likely would not be happy. Neither one of us own tube testers & he was well aware that I do not own one. He still will not admit to the possibilty that it was bad packing that destroyed 5 out of the 8 tubes. I would not mind buying his amps if I could swing the dinero. But it is too much money for me. Plus I now have 3 high end systems & a collection of stereo gear from 1977 to present. I inherited the pack rat syndrom from my dad & his side of the family. We tend to hoard items in what ever hobby we are into. My dad was into photography, woodworking & collecting antique tools-mostly antique wood planes-especially Stanley brand. I live in the 2133 sq. foot house he built back in 1964. He built the house in 6 months after work & on weekends. His older brother Bill owned a lumber yard so he got lumber etc. at costs. My dad worked at Pontiac Refinery-now Citgo as a Computer Systems Analyst. My dad gaduated from Texas A&M with a degree in Industrial Arts in 1947. He taught shop for several years at a Mississippi Junior College before moving to Corpus Christi, Texas in the early 1950's and going to work at Pontiac Renfinery. My dad was was the original Bob Villa. He could build & fix anything. He drew up the plans for the house & then built it. The house has a photography darkroom & a large wood working shop off the double double garage. I inherited cameras & photography equipment up the wazoo. My dad used to be a wedding photographer on the side & was very good. He did lots of weddings just through word of mouth-no advertising. He enjoyed his hobby & was making money. I also inherited a shop full of power wood working tools-table saws, radial arm saw, band saw, planer, jointer, band saw, drill press, industrial metal lathe etc. Plus what is left of his large antique tool collection that his cu$t rhyhmes with hunt of a 3rd wife didn't steal before the Probate Court awarded us the tool collection. Went through a 5 year legal battle with that biatch after my dad died. She sued us and challenged his Last Will & Testament. My siblings & I ultimately prevailed but spent alot of money in legal fees. Very long story-his 3rd wife sued my dad for divorce & wanted spousal support while my dad had terminal pancreatic cancer & only a few months to live. She got ripped off using my dad's credit cards & check book on a 2 week $16,000 spending spree after my dad was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer & was recovering from surgery in the hospital. She was a non signatory, was not allowed to sign on either the credit cards or checks. They had completely separate bank accounts, credit cards etc. & did not comingle any of their money. Upon being ripped off, my dad told his wife he did not want anything to do with her at all. She had gone on other spending sprees throughout their 5 year marriage that we were not aware of. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. She was 10 years younger than my dad & married herself a sugar daddy. Well enough of that bullsh$t, brings back bad memories. Man, I do miss my dad, he was a cool smart guy. Regrds, Mike

Well apparently Ted is the real deal-a gentleman. He just sent me an email stating that he had ordered from ASTI in Florida a pair of 6AH4 tubes. He also is sending another 6SN7 tube & 5U4GB Russian equivalent rectifier tube from ASTI. He said it would probably take a week before I recieved the tubes. Ted is also mailing my $22 over payment for shipping back to me today. I thanked Ted in my reply email & offered him the option of either him or I filing a damage claim with Fedex. I did again voice my opinion that Fedex would probably balk & deny the claim due to inadequate packing of the tubes. I told Ted if Fedex pays the claim that the money belongs to him. I am waiting for his reply to see what he wants to do with Fedex. My faith in humanity is once again restored as there are still decent old school gentleman out there. I am a happy camper. Ted emailed me again & has filed a damage claim with Fedex. Regards, Mike

Ted-the Verve preamp seller replied to my afternoon email. Ted refuses to entertain the thought that his inadequate packing caused 5 of the 8 tubes to be destroyed. He claims he spent almost 3 hours packing the preamp. He admits the preamp may have shifted during shipping but it has to be rough handling & or a drop from a height that destroyed the tubes, could not have been his packing. I told him the preamp was well packed with the exception of the tubes which I thought were inadequately packed. I told him that we have differing opinions on how the tubes were packed. Accused me of being unreasonable in not wanting to file a damage claim with Fedex. I never stated that I did not want to file a claim. I just inferred that a claim would most likely be denied due to inadequate packing of the tubes. I told Ted that I wanted things to remain amicable & not get into a pissing match. That one of us could file a claim but with no visible damage what so ever to the boxes that I would be shocked if Fedex pays a claim. He says he is ready to fully cooperate and replace free of charge any current tubes I need. I informed Ted that I need a pair of 6AH4 tubes in order to ascertain that the Verve preamp arrived unscathed & is working. I let Ted know that I was not happy that he made the decision of keeping $22 that I overpaid for shipping. And sending me 2 year old tubes with as he stated questionable life expectancy. I told him he should have contacted me and let it be my decision. I stated if the shoe was on the other foot & I was the seller & made that decision for him, he would not be happy. I am reserving judgement for now. I am in my Missouri-Show Me State of mind right now. He has excellent feedback on Audiogon. I will see if he actually buys & sends me a pair of 6AH4 tubes & refunds my $22. Our agreement for shipping was actual costs & his estimate for shipping was high. It is time for Ted to step up to the plate and rectify the problem. I guess I will find out in the near future if Ted is the real deal-a decent guy or just paying me lip service & blowing smoke up my butt. Regards, Mike

I emailed Ted a nice gentlemanly email stating that I wanted to talk to him before filing a claim with Fedex. I stated that in my humble opinion it was a combination of rough handling & inadequate packing that damaged/ destroyed 5 of 8 tubes. I proposed that he replace the 2 current 6AH4 tubes bought in Jan. 2004 that were destroyed. I stated verbatum what he had written in his Friday April 23 email- that he would replace any current tubes free of charge if they break. I have copies of all our emails & my emails to him. I also stated I would mail him the damaged tubes & 1 surving extra tube and would like my $22 refunded. I stated I would like to listen to & enjoy the preamp now & avoid a possible delay if Fedex were to come & pick up the preamp & boxes for inspection. A Fedex claim with no damaged box may pay or not pay a claim. I am giving Ted the opportunity to step up to the plate & do the right thing. I emailed him late this afternoon & so far have not recieved a reply. He lives in El Granada, California so he is on Pacific time-2 hours differenece from Texas Central time. Hopefully the problem will be resolved. Regards, Mike

Ok, let me get y'alls opinion on this. I overpaid $22 for shipping. Instead of sending me the $22 back Ted sent some 2 year old tubes listed above with questionable life expectancy since neither one of us own a tube tester. I think it was mighty presumptious of him to make that decision without contacting me. His decision rubs me the wrong way perhaps due to my last Audiogon purchase. Seller quoted x$ amount for Fedex Air shipping. When I got the package I had overpaid for shipping. I did not raise a stink & just let it go & did not ask for the money back. I personally would refund money if I over charged for shipping. If the shoe was on the other foot, he probably would not like me keeping his money & sending him questionable tubes. I am going to tactfully talk to him about this. I have kept all our Email correspondance & in 1 dated Friday April 23 where Ted informs me that he shipped out the preamp, sent extra questionable tubes & is keeping the $22 for those extra tubes. He also states that he will replace any current use tubes if they break. Current use tubes are the tubes he bought in Jan. 2004. I guess I will have to remind him of his email or send him a copy of it. A pair of General Electric 6AH4 GT purchased in Jan 2004 were destroyed. I can't use the preamp now due to no 6AH4 tubes. 3 tubes survived-Sylvania 5U4 GB & Tung Sol 6SN7-both bought in Jan. 2004 and a 2 year old Tung Sol 5U4 GB with questionable life. I am a laid back Texan who is an old school straight shooter-non bull ****ter. I am going to tactfully state my opinion that I think his packing of the tubes & perhaps rough handling was the contributing factors of the destroyed tubes. I am going to ask that he replace the destroyed 6AH4 tubes & refund my $22 that I over paid for shipping. I will gladly mail him back the destroyed tubes. Thanks for your replies. Regards, Mike

Hi Mark. Yes the Verve preamp was insured for $1000. I was very nice in my email to Ted last night. I stated that tubes were damaged in shipping & listed which tubes were destroyed. I also stated that I wished he would have packed the tubes in a separate box. In my opinion it was a probably a combination of poor packing & possibly rough handling that destroyed the tubes. Ted stated in his reply email that he thought the tubes were adequately packed. My opinion of the tube packing differs. I have never filed a claim with Fedex Air before. I have used them exclusively many times & have never had any stereo gear damaged by them. UPS on the other hand cracked a faceplate on a Mcintosh MR 80 tuner in Mac factory double boxes & had the unmitigated gall to deny the claim due to inadequate packing. I will not use UPS ever again for anything expensive & fragile. Audioclassics ate the cost of that glass faceplate due to their mistake of sending the tuner out by UPS instead of Fedex Air like they were instructed to. That Mac MR 80 was the tuner from Hell. Their tech-an ex Mcintosh employee could not repair the tuner. After 3 attempts at repair & having the tuner almost a year, they let me trade it in on a Mac MR 77 tuner. It is a long story, bought the MR Mac 80 tuner from a guy in Plano, Texas who had bought the tuner from them. I got it off of Ebay. The guy burned me, selling me a tuner with problems at a premium price. Totally non responsive after the sell. Audioclassics agreed to repair the tuner at a reduced rate and then could not fix it. What a nightmare that purchase was. I do not buy high dollar items from Ebay any more since I was burned. Thanks for your reply. Regards, Mike

Hello. I bought a used dehavilland Verve preamp from Audiogon. I used Fedex Air shipping and got the preamp yesterday. The preamp was well packed except for the tubes. Original box from deHavilland was used-the preamp was sitting on mulitple pieces of really thick foam. 1-1/4" foam was in front of the faceplate & back of the preamp. 1-3/4" foam is used on the sides of the preamp & a 2" piece of foam covering the top. The preamp was encased in foam except on the very top sides. This is where Ted placed the tubes to ship. I think he removed a piece of foam on both top sides. Big mistake in my opinion. I requested to Ted-the seller to double box. He did & used foam peanuts/ghost turds to fill the void between boxes. The Verve uses octal tubes-1 6SN7, 2 6AH4 as a cathode follower & a 5U4 rectifier. Ted did not put the tubes in a separate box. He bubble wrapped 3 tubes, the rest of the tubes were in tube boxes. Ted purchased new tubes for the Verve in Jan. 2004-1 Sylvania 5U4 GB rectifier, 1-Tungsol 6SN7 & 2 General Electric 6AH4 GT. They have very low hours of use on them. Ted estimated Fedex Air shipping would be $70-$85. I sent payment last Wednesday-Fedex Standard overnight & included $85 to cover shipping. Turns out shipping was only $63. Instead of refunding my $22, Ted decided to send me some extra tubes that he has used in the last 2 years with the Verve preamp. The Verve preamp is 2 years old. The lifespan left in the tubes is questionable as Ted does not own a tube tester & he was well aware of the fact that I also do not own a tube tester. The extra tubes were 1 Tung Sol 5U4 GB, 1 Tung Sol 5U4 coke bottle shapped & 2 Philco 6AH4 GT tubes. I was informed of this after he had shipped the preamp out Friday. He did not ask if I wanted my money back that I had overpaid for shipping which in my opinion is not kosher of him. Here is a list of the tubes destroyed in shipping: 1. General Electric 6AH4 GT wrapped in bubble wrap, totally destroyed, glass in tiny pieces. 2. General Electric 6AH4 GT wrapped in bubble wrap, almost half the plastic base is destroyed broken off in pieces-vacuum seal is most likely history. 3. Philco 6AH4 GT in tube box- totally destroyed, glass in tiny pieces. 4. Philco 6AH4 GT in tube box-3 of the pins severely bent, trying to straighten out the pins would be a no go, the pins are f-upped. 5. Tung Sol 5U4 coke bottle shaped wrapped in bubble wrap totally destroyed-glass in tiny pieces. I contacted Ted last night by email & told him of the damaged tubes. Will file a claim with Fedex. I am not sure if they pay or not. I stated that I wished he would have packed the tubes in a separate box. He thinks that he did an adequate job of packing the tubes. I am hyper critical about packing and when I opened the boxes up yesterday. I said to myself-good packing wth the exception of the tubes. Then I discovered the destroyed tubes. Upon further evaulation & inspection this morning, I know how the tubes were broken. The preamp had some side to side movement with the very top side portions of foam removed.The tubes were against the edge of the box with the 2" piece of top foam covering the top of the preamp & tubes. Piss Poor Packing of the tubes in my opinion. Ted also had after market damping feet on the preamp which requires removing the bottom plate to install & remove. He had to remove the feet & reinstall the little bitty factory feet. One of the screws is missing which is very minor. I can go to Home Depot & try to find a small screw with the same thread size. I am not really happy about Ted's decision to keep my $22 that I over paid for shipping. He should of asked me if I wanted my money back instead of sending me extra tubes with a questionalble lifespan. I have not said anything to him yet about the $22. Can any of you Knowledgeable tube guys guestimate whether the extra tubes he sent me would still be good. I talked with Ted on the phone previous to buying the preamp. Seems like a nice guy. He has exellent feedback on Audiogon. The preamp is beautiful. He had oversized knobs machined at a machine shop & then had the knobs & front faceplate gold plated at a plating shop. The ad with a picture is still up at Audiogon. I sure hope that Fedex will pay the claim for the damaged tubes. I appreciate any advice & insight from my fellow Klipsch Forum members. Regards, Mike

Hey Erik. The Moondogs are still barking in excellent harmony. They prefer playing at night so they can howl at the moon. Thanks again for working your magic on them. I picked up a matched pair of 1947 RCA Blackplates from Tubeworld several months ago. I like their sonics. I was up in your part of the country & in East Texas from March 3-19. My brother, sister & I own 21.6 acres of timber land & my mom's sister Aunt Reba owns 21.6 acres. The land is my grandparents old farm. The land is located between Rusk & Jacksonville or around 45 miles south of Tyler. I got bids from 3 timber companies to harvest the pine-14" & larger at the stump & hardwood 16" & larger at the stump. Went with the high bid- Renfro Land & Timber Co. out of Zavala, Texas. I drove up to Katy on Wed. night March 3 and spent the night with my brother & sister in law. Drove up to East Texas on Thursday-3hour & 45 minute drive from Katy. I met the Forester for Renfro-Tim Haney Friday morning at our land. He walked me around the property boundaries that he had marked with red tape. My siblings & I had no idea what the property lines were. Aunt Reba is 81 and was not totally sure if she remembered the property lines. I stayed up there while they were cutting timber during the week & went back to Katy on the weekends. I stayed in Tyler. I worked my butt off marking the property lines. I bought 45-6 foot t-posts, they weigh 1.25 lbs a post. A 16 lb t-post driver, an 18" machete & a bunch of cans of fluorescent pink & orange spray paint. T-posts are used for stringing a barbed wire fence. I had a head & chest cold before I went up there. Alot of the land is hilly with multiple streams & snakes-copperheads, rattlesnakes & water mocasins. And briar vine-thorny vine that will eat your lunch if you walk into it. The machete was for obliterating the fricking briar vine whenever I ran across it. I had to pack mule the t-posts, 16 lb driver, machete, spray paint. The manual labor would normally have kicked my butt & it did. With a head & chest cold, it double kicked my butt. I spray painted the t-posts a pink/orange combo so it would stand out. It was a labor of love. I now know the property lines. And if my brother, sister or Aunt Reba go up to East Texas, they will be able to visually see the property lines. I met the Head Football Coach for Cinco Ranch High School at my brother's shop. He was getting some Cinco Ranch caps done. My brother had done 2 prototypes of caps with different colors of maroon embroidery. One cap was Aggie maroon with silver/ gray trim & the other cap was a different color maroon with black trim. He went with the Aggie maroon & silver cap. I can't remember the coach's name. I asked if he knew you and told him how we were Klipsch speaker owners and participated at a Klipsch 2 channel Forum website. I told him how you had helped me & others out. That you had repaired my Moondog amps. He said you were a good guy & I totally agreed. I proceeded to bore him talking about tube stereo equipment & Klipsch speakers. The Dehavilland Verve preamp that I am getting is an all octal tube compliment, tube rectified, class A-zero negative feedback. It uses 1 6SN7 tube, 2 6AH4 tubes-cathode follower & a 5U4G rectifier tube. I am getting a Tungsol 6SN7, 2 General Electric 6AH4 GT's & 1 Sylvania 5U4 GB rectifier. These tubes were bought in Jan. 2004 & have very low hours on them. The Verve preamp is sitting in San Antonio Fedex facility right now. I am anxiously waiting for my new toy. I know you are enjoying your Klipschhorns. I would like to own a pair of Khorns but do not have the proper prerequisite corners. False corners would be a no go due to the room layout. Well I need to crash & go to bed. Talk to ya' later. Regards, Mike

Solid state Mcintosh & Cornwalls are an excellent combo in my humble opinion. Goes together like peanut butter & jelly. I ran a Mac MC 7150 autoformer amp-1991-94 vintage & Mac C 38 preamp-1999 vintage, Mac MCD 7009 cd player, Pioneer Elite PD 65 cd player, Mac MR 77 tuner & 1977 Cornwalls. I bought the 1977 Cornwalls from a gentleman in San Antonio-Andrew Weiss, got them off of Ebay in 2000. I live 2-1/2 hours south in Corpus Christi. Picking the speakers up at Andy's house was an epiphany & revelation. Andy was a tube man & a super guy, very friendly to a total stranger he was letting into his house. I had never heard a tube amp before. The Cornwalls were in his 2nd system- EAR 859 integrated SET amp-13 watts x 2, EAD transport & DAC & 1977 birch Cornwalls stained in a light cherry in very good condition. I was blown away by the sonics of tubes. Andy's main system at the time was a Audio Research VT 100 mk II amp-100 watts x 2, no preamp, Wadia 861 cd player direct in to the AR amp & a pair of very expensive Proac tower speakers-don't remember the model right now. Andy also had expensive power cords, rca interconnects & speaker wire in both systems. I was like a kid in a candy store asking Andy questions about his both his systems. I told Andy I had only read about the caliber of equipment he owned. Andy fired up his main system for me to listen to after we had listened to his 2nd system with the Cornwalls. I was impressed with both systems. I ran the Mac/Cornwall combo for 2 years and picked up a 2nd pair of 1983 walnut Cornwalls from a guy in Sugarland-Houston suburb in 2001. I ran the Mac/double Cornwall combo until I bought Welborne Labs SET 2A3 Moondogs in July 2002. I then had a tube system with the 1977 Cornwalls & Mac ss system with the 1983 Cornwalls. I bought a Llano Phoenix CAS 300/VA2 mosfet/tube hybrid amp in May 2003 (amp is built in Lubbock, Texas-I lived in Lubbock-Buddy Holly country from 1988-1994 while working for Amoco. Production Co. in the oil & gas industry). Owning a Texas made amp appealed to me & I got a very good deal on a used 2 month old LLano Phoenix off of Audiogon. Turns out that the seller (Mark) & I had lived in Lubbock during the same time period. Mark was a psychologist at Texas Tech University. Mark had met Randy White-owner & designer of Llano Design Group while living in Lubbock. Mark had owned a Llano mosfet, then a Llano Trinity- mosfet/tube hybrid & then Llano Phoenix mosfet/tube hybrid amp. The LLano Phoenix is a class A-2 gain stage-separate enclosures for the CAS 300 current section-mosfet output & VA2 voltage section-uses 6SN7/12SN7/6SL7 tubes. 300 watts x 2 @8 ohms & 600 watts x 2 @4 ohms. The LLano Phoenix has the same sonic attributes as the Mcintosh but better in my opinion. The Mcintosh is very smooth & musical. The Llano Phoenix is also very smooth & musical but better in my opinion. It has deeper, stronger bass, excellent midrange & more treble extension. It has more detail. The Mcintosh sonics sounds slightly veiled or homogenized in comparison with the Llano Phoenix. They are both very good amps & I like both. I hooked the Mac back up 2 weeks ago and have enjoyed listening to it. I love & missed the Mac's big blue power meters. I just bought a used Dehavilland Verve 6SN7 preamp off of Audiogon from a guy in the San Francisco area. Ted-the original owner customized the preamp. He had larger knobs machined at a machine shop for the Verve preamp & then had the knobs & front plate goldplated at a plating shop. The Verve preamp is very purty in my opinion-picture is up on his ad at Audiogon. It will ship out today via Fedex 3 day Express air & arrive early next week. I am going to use the Verve with the Llano Phoenix amp & 1983 Cornwalls. Will use the Mcintosh in a 3rd system with spare gear & my venerable double New Advents from the late 70's-early 80's. Cornwalls sound excellent with Mcintosh, Welborne Labs 2A3 SET Moondogs & Llano Phoenix mosfet/tube hybrid amp in my humble opinion. Your mileage may vary. Ramblings & opinion from an opinionated Texan. Regards, Mike

Smilin, my prayers go out to you and your family. Remain strong and be there for your mom and family through this trying time. Respect your mom's wishes if she chooses not to go through chemo, radiation etc. Get yourself down to Florida muey pronto and tell your mom that you love her. Alot of us men are reluctant to express our feelings verbally with our family and loved ones. I empathize with what you are feeling and going through right now. I lost both of my parents to cancer-my mom in 1985 to terminal stomach cancer. And my dad in 1995 to terminal pancreatic cancer.

Yes, my Moondogs have the Yamamoto sockets. I have not experienced any more problems so far since I switched the tubes around. I will have to look at the tube sockets this weekend and tighten the pins. Hopefully that is my problem. The ceramic sockets on my Llano amp have the G.I. Joe kung fu death grip on the tubes. It takes some effort to change the tubes out unlike the Moondogs. Thanks for the help. Regards, Mike

I need some diagnostic help. Fedex delivered the 1947 pair of RCA blackplates from Tube World this afternoon. Used Fedex Air. I pulled the Sovteks and put the RCA's in the Moondogs. Turned on the system and let it warm up 15 minutes. I was playing the tuner and the right channel started making some popping noise and the music cut out for several seconds and then came back. I continued to let it play for a while and the right channel made a few more intermittent popping noises but the music did not cut out like before. I shut the system down, let it cool down and switched the RCA tubes around to see if the tube was the culprit & would do the same thing in the left channel. It has been playing for over an hour and so far it is ok. I don't know what to think. I have not experienced this problem with the Sovteks. Do I have a bad or possibly damaged RCA tube? The packing was not that good in my opinion. A large Fedex box 18-1/2" long x 12-1/2" wide x 3-1/4" tall. The tube boxes were wrapped up in newspaper & were in the center of the box with crumpled up newspaper on both sides. When I bought a pair of RCA 5692 tubes from Welborne, the tube boxes were wrapped in bubblewrap and placed in a box full with foam peanuts. The box had multiple fragile stickers on it. Thanks for any help. Regards, Mike

Individuals that abuse animals are sick and need a serious *** whooping inflicted upon them. I own 4 cats, 3 are strays I adopted. My male Siamese-Stevie Ray got out late Saturday night & was missing for 2-1/2 days. He goes out during the day but has never wandered off before. I was worried like a big dog. He showed up Tuesday morning hungry and wanting inside. My little buddy is in my lap right now. We are listening to the best of Sheryl Crow. Hope your cat has a speedy recovery. Regards, Mike

I called TubeWorld and talked to Brendan. He recommended a pair of 1947 RCA blackplates-$225 pair over the more expensive JAN CRC tubes he has in stock. He said they have the same internal structure as the JAN CRC tubes. The JAN CRC pairs of tubes he has are different year vintages. He also had some JAN CRC tube pairs of different years at $225 pair. I bought a pair of the 1947 RCA blackplates. He has a picture of a 1943 & 1947 RCA blackplate you can pull up. Regards, Mike