emmvette

What range are you considering for a budget? That will help us give ideas.

Just curious, have you switched your Scott and VRDs/BBX around between the Cornwalls and Klipschorns? I'm just curious if there is much difference and how they work together.

Awesome! You will love them. After I put Khorns in my house, I just listened to them for a few weeks and neglected the Cornwalls in my basement system. Then I went downstairs and looked at the Corns. They looked small to me. It was funny; I recall when I brought them home how "big" they seemed. I wonder if my wife is starting to think the Corns aren't so big now? Probably not, it was a nice thought though. All kidding aside, she has been very patient with my passion for cars and audio stuff.

Mine are in bad corners, not even snugged up to the wall. The backs are covered per Klipsch's very old recommendation with slats of rubber. They still sound better than my cornwalls and they aren't set up very well. Buy em!

I've run my Sunfire pre with Carver M-1.0t, which is a solid state, and with a McIntosh MC2205, and now with the NOS VRD45-ST tube amp. It works great with all of them. It is a nice unit, the price was reasonable on the used market and it has a remote. I'm still searching for a tube preamp at the moment to go with the VRDs - nothing wrong with the Sunfire, just thinking it will be a better set-up.

So are you running a Panasonic or Sunfire? Tonight I'm running a Sunfire Symphonic Reference Pre with tubed amp and it sounds great.

If its a small room, the 2220b will even give you plenty of volume to rock out, I have an original that sounds and works great.

Boy did I get a lot of grief about these sitting in the corners of the living room. My wife was gone for the weekend, she had seen them at the shop where I was working on them, but when she came home, they had been finished and moved to the living room. It was kind of a joke, but of course I was hoping they could stay. I told her the Heresy speakers just grew overnite, you know like those dried out sponges when you add water.... Finally after them sitting there a few weeks and me listening to them she turned them on yesterday while I was gone. When I came home she told me that she was really able to notice how nice they sound. OK, they are keepers, but they won't stay in the living room, which is fine with me.

Welcome back!

SpeakerFritz, you make a good point, which I understand and agree with. The point of this thread I guess was to start figuring out what I want and gain from the experience of others to hopefully save myself from a few "learning mistakes". I think there are some amps that simple have good syergy with the Khorns and that is what I'm trying to learn. So far I have already learned from this thread and reading a little elsewhere, for example based on how I listen, I will want something with a little power. As you mention being able to listen before you buy is a great tip, however, I doubt there are many people in Central Iowa that have a nice tube amp they are wanting to part with that I can try out.

OK, The topic is still open; if you haven't posted your thoughts don't hold back! I checked with two previous owners of the Quicksilver Horn Mono's because they sounded interesting, both had the same to say - they sound good for low level music but don't have the ability to rock out, so I'll cross those off my list. Maybe still very good for others, though. The McIntosh is not on my list because I don't feel it is a good value for the dollars spent. I looked around and it would take a lot more money than for some other set ups that I think may be a little better. Others feel different, but that is my opinion. Craig, I'm curious, are you going to give any more hints, do we have to guess, or wait? Never tease a weasel, because teasing isn't nice!

Mike, Com'mon, open it!

Cut-Throat, I read one of your old posts on the Star Chiefs, it sounds like you really like them. I couldn't find much online about them, are they an availble kit or built to order? How loud will these get at 1.8W? A few good points are made above. When listening with my family home, the levels are quiet to mid. When by myself, I occasionally like to turn the volume up and pretend like I'm a teenager. Yes, it probably isn't good for my ears, but that's what I do.

Lech, thanks, I had not heard of the JJ 239 before. What do you use as a preamp with these? Are they expensive, I couldn't find any hints of pricing on-line.

That's an interesting suggestion, sounds like they could be a good match. Russ69, or anybody else, have you heard these paired with Klipschorns?

How did you update the crossovers? Did you get a kit from BCrites, or new crossovers, or something else? And how was the difference in sound - noticeable?

I've tried to search and have read through a lot of posts, but the search function can be difficult. What I would like to learn from others with experience is what preamps and amps have good synergy with the Khorns? I'm really interested in tube equipment suggestions, unless you really have some great experience with SS, then share! The point of this thread is to learn from other's experience and not have to go through the buy / sell process several times to get a good match. Hopefully we will get some good replies, and this can be a nice thread that can be useful to others in the future. If you have been through a few preamps / amps feel free to share your comparisons and let us know what doesn't work so well too. So far I'm gathering anything JM is good, I've read a few with Scott 299s are happy, and NOS VRDs have very some happy listeners. Please share your experiences. I really wasn't planning to put a price range request in here, but lets keep it reasonable. New / old - it doesn't matter. Just great sound and synergy!

I'm glad to hear Marshall is OK, I was really worried. Marshall - thanks for all of your posts, information sharing, and allowing a complete stranger to visit! Stay well!

The top hat I redid in the photos above is the speaker on the left in the first picture. You can see my job is not perfect, but I am very pleased with it. The biggest issue is that I choose to ignore the slight blemish in the top left corner - right above the edgebanding. This small chip is not very noticeable now and I don't think would have been worth the effort to try to fix it because the top would have had to be redone. At this point I have about $25 in veneer, an edgeband trimmer, and stain, and I'll have enough left over for several other jobs. Not bad. I would like to thank previous posters as most of this I learned from reading those before me. Also joewoodworker is a helpful site. I have not done the veneer work before - the job mostly takes patience, so don't be afraid to try if you have some speakers that need a little TLC. BTW, I'm hoping these can stay in my house, I really like them. Wifey, if you read this, pretty please.

OK, I had a little time to work on the first top hat. It wasn't too hard. I used an iron to heat the existing veneer edgebanding then a chisel to scrape it off. It easily pulled off. Here it is after scraping and before cleaning. Next I used the chisel to scrape off as much of the glue as I could. Then I lightly sanded it to clean it up. I used 150 grit paper. I wiped it down with mineral spirits to get as much of the remaining old glue off as possible, and to clean it up. It was nice and smooth at this point. So I left it sit for a couple hours then ironed on a new piece of walnut edgebanding, starting in the middle by tacking it in place with the iron. I held the iron in place for about 10-12 seconds then moved over and used a roller to push on it and make sure it was hard against the wood. On the first try I acidently left the steam of the iron on and ruined that piece of veneer as I tacked it in place. I removed it, cleaned up the glue and started over with a fresh piece. After a few hours I trimmed the excess banding off with a razor blade. I bought a trimmer for this purpose, but it didnt' trim close enough, so I did the final trimming by hand with a razor blade. Then I went over the edges, very carefully, with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a small piece of wood, to blend the new veneer in with the old. This worked well and I was able to round the corners a little so they matched the other parts of the speaker. I used the ruined piece to test the stain and match it up. I ended up using 4.5 teaspoons of the Miniwax "Gunstock" and 2 teaspoons of the "Special Walnut" mixed together, then coating it twice about 5 - 10 minutes apart. I let it dry overnight and oiled it with BLO. Here is the fixed part. It looks much better and the match is good enough that it wouldn't be noticed unless it was pointed out. And I'm guessing that with a little time and a little more boiled linseed oil, the match will get better. One more pic:

I bought some edgebanding at my local store yesterday, so I'll get the edgebanding off one top hat and then clean the glue off and put on the new one and trim. I won't have much time, but will hopefully be able to post some pics by next weekend. The trick will be figuring out how to match the stain. I'll play around with the special walnut and gunstock that Marshall recommends.

http://grantfidelity.com/site/CD327a-Tube-CD-Player Here's a tube output CD player to check out. Currently on back order, but not for long. There customer service is very good as well.

I bought these from the original owner, who I am glad to have met, a very nice gentleman. They are a pair of consecutive walnut '78s. He bought them new in Atlanta along with a McIntosh C-32 and MC2205. The components are all original including the AA crossovers. They had not been used in a while and had been moved several times, and not too carefully. You can see by the following pics they need some TLC, which I am planning to give them. " " I hooked them up yesterday to listen to them while I started cleaning them up. Everything works, and they sound great hooked up to my $7 Goodwill Marantz 2220b. At 20 watts per channel, they will run you out of the room. When I have more time, I'd like to hook them up to my Carver M-1.0t and see how they sound. I'm listening to them on the pallets, right next to each other; I can only imagine how they will sound properly placed in the corners of a nice room. So far yesterday I took the side grills off, wiped them down, vacuumed the grills and backs, and oiled them with a mix of 30% BLO and mineral spirits. I rubbed this in with 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper. Then today I oiled them with 80% BLO and mineral spirits. They are much improved, and it is amazing how many of the scuffs and scratches disappeared. The grain is beautiful! " Now I need to decide how to approach the missing veneer. I don't have experience veneering, but I'm not afraid to try. I only want to replace the thin horizontal strips that have the missing patches. I'm concerned that if I get new walnut veneer it won't match. Maybe I can get some and test oiling it vs staining it first, then oiling. Any suggestions? I've also considered making a slice just to the right of the missing area and just replacing the 3" - 5" strip that is missing. My gut is that this can't be done well enough to look good.

Very nice! Thanks for the update. Any pics you want to share would be great. As I read this, I also am wondering what amp you are using.

$300 for an original unit (has not be upgraded or recapped), in good shape, both cosmetically and functionally. I also have a recapped and upgraded amp for $550. It is the Opt. 2 upgrade putting out 460 watts / ch at 8 ohms. These go for $650 at http://carvermk2.com/pricing/pricing.htm Also have a recapped and upgraded M1.0t mk II for $500, they sell for $600 and put out 400 watts / ch @ 8 ohms. I'm starting to feel like I'm hoarding these amps! They are good, the two recapped have a warranty. I just have too many amps, and had one done for my bro, who doesn't want it now. Each of them look nice and have been used to drive Klipsch Cornwalls or Heresy speakers. The M1.0t Opt 2 was used to drive a pair of Bose 901s for a month until I found the Cornwalls. They will sound very similar to the 7270 (please no flames) - I can't tell the difference between my 2205 and the Carver M1.0t amps - both are awesome. Let me know if you have interest. My wife would be very happy!