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EJC

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Posts posted by EJC

  1. 7 hours ago, dtel said:

    No expert here by far but all the differences in the room is probably helping I would think. Much better than a boxy closed in room with more and worse reflections.

    Sound going off to different areas could help instead of bouncing around in a closed in room.

     

    Just a guess, does this make sense ?

     
     

     

    Now that the Heresys are installed, and the M-Ls balanced I'll agree with you. 

    Initially at low volumes, like I leave it low often, the M-Ls alone weren't bad. But at the listening point when I went to drive them harder they were breaking up. The smaller drivers and short cones couldn't handle it. And for A/V the 3 M-Ls were a disaster.

    Once I put in the Heresys and balanced the bass going to the M-Ls the system changed completely and filled out the room nicely. The M-Ls are no longer bottoming out, the bedroom wall is not vibrating and the room fills with sound nicely. And at this stage, the reflections help.

    When I switch to video the Center channel is no longer over-driven, the Heresys helped here as well. And the other night, we watched "Hacksaw Ridge" and never missed the rear channels. The sound with the front 5.1 was more than adequate to give a great A/V experience.

    So yes, I'll agree, NOW the room reflections help give a good listening experience.

    Lessons learned:

    1- Just because they are pros doesn't mean they know everything, mistakes can still occur

    2- Whether hobbyist or Pro, READ THE MANUALS!!!!!!!!!

    3- Don't expect a speaker to do more than it is built to do

    4- Google can usually get you the answers you need, in all probablity, someone else had the same problem. I solved the lo-pass issue on the Yamaha with google, while I was on hold with Yamaha customer service. How to access the x-over points in the Yamaha menu is a bit tricky (hidden)

    5- And finally, just because something is a modern design doesn't mean that it is better. In this case, a 50yr old design saved the system

     

    Thank you Paul Klipsch!


     Klipsch%20Heresy%20edited_zpsx1xuoi8q.jp

     

  2. 16 hours ago, Quiet_Hollow said:

    Watched the video. Also checked out the rest of your YT channel. Good stuff! :emotion-21:

     

    You say the room has horrible acoustics and reference the 18' ceiling. :mellow2:

     

    That's not the problem here from what I gather. In fact, the 18' ceiling is the best thing going so far for your bass response. :emotion-21:

     

    What's the layout of the rest of the room? Technicalities aside, all I hear is the lack of toe-in required in order to maintain tonality. Unless the front wall is wider than 30 feet, firing any of the Klipsch Heritage product straight into an untreated room is going to end up sounding excessively honky.

     

     

     
     

     

    Thanks for the compliment on the videos. It has been an interesting learning curve and as you can see from the micing best efforts can still get screwed. But I was going out of town and didn't have time to redo the first clip. Then there is the factor on how well the mic and camera will record the full frequency response of the recording. I really am not a fan of doing this kind video, despite having done a few.

     

    The recording itself - Booker T and the MGs were 60s jazz/rock - and as most music from the period, it was not overly focused on bass. Today they seem to have gone too far to the opposite extreme. but, the song does have a nice bass line.

     

    At this point, I am very happy with the sound. Depending on how you're listening to the recording it can sound like there is little bass, but it's there and it's good.

    I didn't go into the details in this post (I did in another post) but I was able to tame things nicely. So, I'll go through it now.

    The room is roughly 30x30 with an 18' ceiling. 

    The Right side is open with a balcony above. 

    The Left side is roughly 20' of windows. There is also ~10' of sloping ceiling on either side of a 10' window section (this section has an 18' ceiling)

    The Rear is about 1/2 open into the kitchen

    Hardwood floors on cement slab. There is a large center area rug and large right angle sectional couch at the listening position. The right angle section of the couch is on the left.

     

    To start out, I had the system (TV and M-L speakers) installed by Magnolia. Part of what I ended up doing was correcting their mistakes.

    It took a bit of playing around but I think I got the system dialed in nicely.

    I had originally wanted to avoid floor standing speakers out of deference to the wife. I thought the M-L would do it but they didn't.

    They sounded great in the showroom but they just didn't fill the room and they were distorting.

    The first thing I discovered setting up the YPAO was one of the M-Ls was out of phase. So much for professional installers.

     

    There was also a vibration to the bedroom wall behind the living room. I checked the manual and discovered that the installers should have insulated around the speakers. So, at 11pm (OCD is showing) I'm pulling the speakers (not fun) correcting the phase error, pitting dynamat on the plaster board and stealing insulation from the attic (I didn't have any spare insulation). This improved things but it still wasn't right.

     

    This was when I decided to go the Heresy1 project. They made a huge difference, but the M-Ls still sounded like the were distorting with the speaker cones bottoming out. Back to the M-L manual to check the frequency response, again not done by the installers. I adjusted the Yamahas Lo-pass filters, it took some hunting to find them in the menu. the system balanced out nicely.

     

    The system now sounds great, the vibration is gone, the M-L are not bottoming out. The SubW and Heresys provide plenty of bass. 

    All is good

     

     

    • Like 1
  3. I previously posted on the complete rebuild of the heresy 1s. 

    They are being used in a 5.1 system as the Front Mains. I originally was going to use the M-L Edge in-walls as the mains but I didn't like the sound. the small short cone drivers were distorting on bass. The M-Ls are now used as a Front Effects.

    For any interested, here is a sound test of the system, 1st with the Heresy's alone followed by the Heresys with the M-Ls.

    1- I'll warn now, my miking at the start for the intro is louder than the test. I used the on-camera mike and it recorded at a higher level. The music was recorded with a wide angle shotgun mike.

    2- I brought it up through youTube on Amazon Fire and the 5.1 did pass through giving a fuller sound than a laptop. (I would guess Chromecast would do the same)

     

    3- Bob Crites supplied all parts for the Heresy 1 rebuilds except for wire, gaskets and misc. crap

     

    The Room:

    The room is an audio horror story. 18' ceilings. Lots of reflections. Left side windows in center with sloping rise to ceilings on either side. Right side is open. Rear is open.

     

    The System: 

    Speakers:

    5.1 but not as you'd expect. The setup is all front.

    L&R Mains - Klipsch Heresy1 (1979) complete rebuilds

    L&R Effects - Martin-Logan Edge in wall

    Center - Martin-Logan SLM surface mount

    Subwoofer - Parts Express - Dayton Titanic 10"

     

    Receiver: Yamaha RX-A860

     

    Turntable - Fisher Studio Standard MT-273 Direct Drive (1983) - checked out professionally with cartridge prior to being put into service

    Cartridge - Ortofon PM-10

     

    TV - Vizio 70" UHD 

     

    The Song: Booker T and the MG's - "Soul Dressing"

     

    My impressions:

    1- The Heresys (and SW) do a fine job on their own, but add in the M-Ls and set it to 7ch stereo and the room just erupts in a great sound

    2- In this room, the rears were not missed when watching Hacksaw Ridge. The room reflections seem to adequately fill in the void

     

     

     

  4. 13 minutes ago, CECAA850 said:

    Probably the "15's".

     

    Maybe, I guess i accidentally scrolled down the page too far but now I can't find the page again

    Finally, had a brain fart and checked my History, yes it was the 15's. Sorry for the screw up

  5. 8 minutes ago, CECAA850 said:

    Electronics and remote?  The 396's are passive.

     

    I always liked the 3 ways better till I heard the 396's. 

     

     

    Now I'm trying to figure out what the hell i was looking at, I thought it was the 396. LOL

  6. 7 hours ago, dtel said:

    That's true, if I had the money I would get rid of both pair of forte ll's and original fortes and go with either 396's or forte lll. If money was no object it would be 396's but they are a little bigger than the f lll. Either would be an improvement on our Forte ll's, but I'm not complaining, very happy with them for Ht.

     

    At one time I wanted to sell off all the forte's and add some kind of center channel to match the mwm's used for 2 ch, she said she didn't care, but were not selling the fortes either way. So nothing changed, I'm good, to many other priorities anyway. 

     

     

     

     

    Please don't misunderstand my question. I'm the last to question someone since I love gear as well. So please take this as for my informational purposes.

    1- I love Klipsch. I've loved Klipsch since I first heard a pair of K-Horns in a showroom in Cleveland in '72, when I was in Dental school, But I didn't have room to park to VW's in my living room (forget the financials for the moment)

     

    2- You already have Forte IIs. Although these are a 30yr old design, they are still a great speaker and can be upgraded thanks to Crites and remain a great speaker for the next 30yrs. I have not seen a spec sheet for the IIIs but can their performance be that much greater than the IIs to warrant the expense of $3600? I see the IIIs can bee bi-wired or bi-amped, Crites did this for me when I upgraded the x-overs on my IIs. The new diaphragm helped the tweeter response. So for A couple hundred $ the performance of the IIs can be upgraded. Is the performance of the IIIs that much better than modified IIs?

    I don't know about your wife, but my apologies for sounding like my wife.

     

    3- The 396's may be a different story. But again is there enough to be gained to warrant the $3800? Personally, I prefer the 3-way design and can live without the electronics and remote.

     

    4- In a Live performance in the 60's on of the Kingston Trio ( I don't recall if it was Nick, Bob or John) commented: "Did you ever want something bad that when you finally got it all you could do was look at it". I just installed a system in a vacation home ( I think you've seen the pics, so I'll spare you). I A/B'd speakers for the room at the dealer, I wanted to try to avoid floor standing speakers for the wife. I decided on a pair of M-L Edge in the walls for my mains. At $3200, they were more than I wanted to spend. They were a disaster for A/V. I went with the Heresy 1 rebuild with all new drivers and x-overs (again I'll spare you the pics) as my mains, adjusted the receiver lo-pass filters and the system took on a new life. The Heresys and M-Ls actually compliment each other very nicely for music in 7ch mode.

    I mention this because had I gone with what I knew would work, Klipsch floor standing speakers, all would have been fine. And I could have saved some green.
     

  7. 4 minutes ago, adam2434 said:

     

    I've been hopefully assuming that the III is a major improvement over the I and II, given that the III's estimated $3,600/pair price is about 50% higher than the I's price adjusted for inflation (which would be around $2,400/pair).

     

    I'll be curious to see photos of the III's drivers and crossover for comparison to the I and II versions.

     

     

    That's why I decided on a rebuild of the 1's. It was more expensive than a used pair but I'd have a pair with all new updated drivers and x-overs from Crites for roughly half the price of a new pair. And Hell, who am i kidding if I had gotten the used pair I would have modified them anyway.

  8. 7 hours ago, racebum said:

     

     

    that said, i don't see any details in any of these posts on what has been done? if you need new crossovers that could be time and money searching ebay. if the diaphrams have been replaced are they with crites or some chineese no name? all aftermarket besides crites as far as i know have had no testing done and won't take the power of OE

     

     

     
     
    7

     

    I don't see a problem with parts, Crites can have x-overs to you real fast. He also has any other part you need.

     

    I needed to make some changes to my home system and debated this question just 2 weeks ago - Should I buy New, Used or Rebuild. The answer came down to more than just the speaker. I did not want to spend for a new pair, I had already spent too much setting up this new system. Used, I know me, I would want to rip into them and start changing out parts and of course, there's the cabinet condition issue. I decided to find a nice pair of Cabinets on E-Bay and do a complete rebuild, This might be a bit more expensive but I'd know what I was getting. I was also looking at the expense of the cabinets from the furniture, and let's keep the wife happy, aspect.

     

    So, I just did the complete Heresy I rebuild. The project was more expensive than buying a used pair but I now have a NEW and UPDATED pair of speakers, that should be able to hold their own against new ones. Drivers and X-Overs came from Crites, all received within a couple days of order. Wire, 5-way binding posts, speaker gaskets were found on Amazon. The Cabinets were immaculate and assembly took an afternoon.
    The only thing missing is the Klipsch logo plaque, not sure what I'll do about this.

     

    Klipsch%20Heresy%20edited_zpsx1xuoi8q.jp

     

    Klipsch%20Heresy%20with%20Grills_zpsajzo

     


     

    • Like 1
  9. On 1/26/2017 at 6:45 PM, oldred said:

    I got a couple of old cartridges sitting around. Just trying to find out which one is better

    Shure M95ED or Signet 5 TKE?      ...both completely original and in great shape

     

    Just had to ask....

     

    Thanks,

     

    George

     

     

    The Shure M95ED has an elliptical stylus (The E in the model), here's the pdf for the cartridge.

    http://cdn.shure.com/user_guide/upload/1056/us_pro_m95ed_ug.pdf  

     

    The Signet also appears to be Elliptical

     

    Sorry I could not find a pdf data sheet for it

  10. 41 minutes ago, dtel said:

    If it's her place I understand, if it's both of yours, it's time to talk, both of you should be happy, thought that's how it worked anyway. Just tell her you need to talk about unreasonable amounts of shoes and clothes. :o

     

    Good luck, your are not the first one in this predicament by far, someone long ago misled women into thinking they always make the only rules, fair or not.

     

    I was just kind of kidding, do what you need to do to be happy, but don't take any :pwk_bs:, remember your in training, it's just the way it is. :biggrin: Ask any old dude 

     

     

     

     

    That's why the title is: "She who must be obeyed"

  11. 3 hours ago, Freewaymg said:

    what would you change ? how would you replace the 150s ?

     

    Our living room was also a horror story for audio. 
    I would consider in or on the wall speakers for the front effects to give a better sound field.
    I had the opposite occur, I thought the M-L in walls would be my mains but I wasn't happy with the sound. 

    I added a pair of Heresy's as the Main R&L and the M-Ls are now the Front Effects. The spatial presentation is much improved and setting the Receiver x-over points eliminated distortion I was getting from the M-Ls.

    There is a SubW behind the left Heresy in the picture

     I'm still trying to figure out how to add rears

     

    AV%20with%20Heresys%203_zps2erba3ct.jpg

    • Like 1
  12. 1 minute ago, dirtmudd said:

    nice table

    Thanks, this one is my kids. He's using it with a MaC C-26 preamp (he found on E-Bay), A Dyna ST-70 updated with new boards/PS etc (a holiday gift this past season), and a pair of B&W Floor Standing speakers (found used for a good price) 

    • Like 1
  13. On 6/25/2016 at 3:00 PM, dirtmudd said:

    Any one using vintage thorens turntable' and with ones?

    I still use a TD-160-C with a Shure V15III cartridge. I am the original owner and still have the original receipt for $274. I've made minor mods to it - Dynamat around the inside of the base, new power cord and RCA cables and new bottom of 3/4" plywood. 

     

    8 yrs ago when my kid was 16 he wanted a turntable and we got him a Thorens TD-165 on E-Bay. We did the same mods as above and then the tone arm wiring went. I didn't like the price of Cardas wires so I picked up a TP-16 tonearm on E-Bay which updated the TT to a 160-C. The Tonearm was a direct drop-in replacement on the 165. Then it got freaky, I parted out the old arm and when all was said and done I made $25 on the swap.

     

    ThorensNewTP11Arm.jpg

    • Like 1
  14. Timing was off.

    I just spotted these today. Unfortunately, 2 weeks ago I decided on a complete rebuild on a pair of Heresy 1s, for the difference in price I would have considered these for our Summerville, SC place (where the project is installed). Timing is everything, and this time I missed a decent deal.

    But I am happy with the way my project went.

    If I come across anyone up here looking, I'll pass the information along

     

    Klipsch%20Heresy%20edited_zpsx1xuoi8q.jp

     

    Av%20with%20Heresys_zps6wsasz1h.jpg

  15. In Oct 2015 I picked up an HK-A500 on E-bay. It appears yours has the amp of A-300. These were sweet sounding amps and I just love mine. Enjoy it!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnKIweqqSOI

    <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mnKIweqqSOI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


    I found this on E-Bay for you:


    FA3000X Level 1 restoration 11-2016.

    This is a  Harman Kardon FA3000X  tube receiver. The FA3000X is essentially the Award Series A300 amplifier combined with FM tuner on one chassis. 

     

    During the heyday of these tube amps, HK offered receivers that had the amplifier section lifted from their tube amps. The amplifier section of the FA3000X receiver is essentially the very desirable A300 15 watt/channel integrated amp.

    Normally, I restore these receivers to their initial factory condition, replacing all the power supply electrolytic and paper/oil coupling capacitors with new capacitors and other components as necessary.  I've discovered that I have too many projects and have decided to sell off some of my 'raw stock' to make my workshop more manageable.  I did perform what I'll call a 'Level 1' restoration on this unit, consisting of a slow power up with a Variac, testing and replacing pre-amp and amplifier tubes as necessary, (nice set of 6V6 outputs), DeOxiting the controls and amplifier tube sockets, and ran the unit without issues for about 8 hours. In it's current condition, all the functions work as designed however the FM tuner is not working. If you are a radio listener, this receiver (and any 40 year old tube tuner) would probably be made well with an alignment.  If you are a serious FM listener, I’d suggest an external FM tuner. Now, if you purchase this receiver, I strongly recommend that you replace the rest of the power supply and paper/oil coupling capacitors as indicated above--they currently are OK, but they do need to be replaced for safety and reliability.

    The faceplate and knobs are nice for their age, with some minor scuffs and marks, see pics. The lettering is sharp, legible and complete on both the faceplate and chassis.  The chassis top is also decent, see pictures.  The entire unit would benefit from a general cleanup.  The power cord has been shortened, it was done safely.

    If you are reading this, you probably are familiar with the ‘tube sound’. It’s just mellow, and clear and wonderful (my opinion).

    The HK Award Series amps and receivers were (and are) highly respected units from the 'golden age' of tube systems.  Probably says something for HK in that they are one of the very few hi-fi manufacturers from the 60's that are still in business. 

      

    The main specs of the FA3000X are:

     IHFM music output power—15 watts per channel. Works best with hi efficiency speakers, suggest 90-92 db or greater, I like Electrovoice 12TRXB's, also I've had good reports on the old Klipsch's.

    Frequency response--+/- 1 db 15-70,000 cps at normal listening levels.

    Output impedance—8 and 16 ohm

    Stereo inputs—low level—2-3 mv--for magnetic phono cartridges and tape heads (from tape recorders).

    Stereo aux.input—high level –125 mv—this is suitable input for tuners, CD decks, tablets and some mp3 players (need decent output from the mp3 player). Also has a phono-hi input, which can serve as an additional stereo aux. input. 

    Stereo tape outputs—to feed a tape recorder.

    Now—my lecture. This is not your son’s receiver. This is a tube unit, and as such, has voltages inside the chassis that can be lethal—350+ volts. Tubes and transformers get hot and the unit should be turned off when not in use.

     

  16. And here they are in the system:

    Yamaha RX-A 860

    Fisher Studio Standard TT  - MT-273 w/ Ortofon OM-10 cartridge

    TV -70" Vizio

    Speakers - Main - Klipsch Heresy 1 

                      Front Surround - Martin Logan edge - in-wall

                      Center - Martin-Logan SLM - surface mount

                      Sub W - Parts Express Titanic

                      Rear - none

     

    The room is a problem for audio. 18' ceilings, open area on the right. May have to go wireless for rear speakers, running wires would be a horror story.

    Av%20with%20Heresys_zps6wsasz1h.jpg

     

    AV%20with%20Heresys%203_zps2erba3ct.jpg

     

    AV%20with%20M-L%20speakers%202_zps5d8yyb

    • Like 1
  17. The last of the parts arrived today and everything went together smoothly.

    The cabinets were in great shape. they had been stained nicely, looked great and no blemishes.

    All parts were supplied by Bob Crites. All of the parts were the upgraded parts.

    E X-over

    Woofer - CW-1228

    Sqwaker - A-55G with original K-700 horn

    Tweeter - CT-120

    5 way binding posts replaced the original barrier strips.

    Gasket material added to the rear panel for a better seal.

    I added damping material to the driver frames. 

    I did not damp the cabinet walls and I decided not to add bracing to the cabinet

    The project came in on budget at just under $1500 for the pair. Some felt this was high, but since I wanted to do a complete rebuild i felt it was quite a bit cheaper than new.

    I could have bought complete speakers for less, but knowing me I would have ripped into them and replaced parts anyway. And would the cabinets have been as nice?

    Finally, the sound is great. Didn't listen for too long but so far, loving them


    Klipsch%20Heresy%20edited_zpsx1xuoi8q.jp

    • Like 3
  18. I don't think I've ever come across anyone worried about to much power. The idea being to have enough power for short bursts when needed, in most situations you will probably find that you are not running the amp at more than 5W.

    A high power amp (with the requisite power supply) will give you more headroom to avoid clipping and please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you'll find more speakers blown from clipping than too much power.
    I also believe that most will advise that if you bi-amp that you use 4 amps (or 2 stereo) that are identical to achieve the best audio performance characteristics.

    So if you're choice is a 100w amp, you would pick the same for all 4.

    • Like 1
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