JohnA

Doug, It is my understanding that teenagers are High impedance, High inertia devices. For this reason, your need a seperate and powerful motivator to get them working! John

Does your Onkyo have "A" and "B" speaker outs for the speakers you want to bi-wire? If so, put one wire in each and set the selector to "A+B" John

Gil and Ray did a great job! I'd like to add that the 2.83 volts is a further standardization, because no speaker is a uniform 8 ohm load. Using 2.83V RMS is an easily measured, precise calibration point. The common statement is "104 dB @ 1 watt @ 1 meter". However, the Heritabe Klipsch typically vary from 4 ohms in the bass to 32 ohms in the midrange. Since power is volts x volts/resistance, if the resistance changes, the power input changes. Measuring only voltage (rather than power that really has 2 components, volts & resistance) is a simple, reliable calibration standard. John

I'd tried something like that on Yahoo!, but didn't find what i needed. I am pretty ignorant of musical scales and need more obvious information. I tried your google search and MAY have seen what I was looking for if I understood the meaning of the scale/octave numbers. Apparently, a piano can hit 25 Hz. Thanks! John

That would make the bass tuned three octaves lower than a guitar. Does that sound right? John

Shock-Late, You seem to be rapidly heading for McIntosh (used?). In the meanwhile I'd try some MOSFET amps like the Parasound HCA-1500 (and higher model numbers), or B&K. Next would be Aragon, even their old 4004. Are these available in Belgium? John

I'd like to be able to afford fair! Have you considered false corners? They worked very well in Mr. Paul's house. John

Hi Doug, I saw that! It's sort of demented isn't it? John

Klipsch uses autoformers to (generally) lower the output of the squawker to match the rest of the system. The higher impedance caused by this is an undesireable side-effect that usually has no effect on system performance with SS amps, but MAY cause amplitude response errors with some types of tube gear. Al Klappenberger has "discovered" a somewhat better performing autoformer than Klipsch uses, for a nominal price. Exotic autoformers could always be used, but I have no idea if the results would be audible. Al's replacement networks are quite good. John

I know the standard guitar tuning (E A D G B E) is tuned to A = 440 Hz. What is the fundamental of the others? What about an electric bass (E A D G)? Is there a good source of this information? Online? John

Well, Jo-Jo, You need to be a little more specific about your interests. There are a bunch of engineers here that will tell you how a clock is made before telling you the time. John This message has been edited by John Albright on 06-25-2001 at 11:51 AM

I like it. Very clean and neat! John

Hi Doug, The things that have been audible to me in SS amps have seem to be affected by damping factor, headroom and recovery from clipping. I had one amp that was slightly brittle, but ususlly when loud (slight clipping?). Of those, factors the power supply affects recovery time and maybe headroom with some speakers. It's one of the primary design parameters in a high current design (as is extra or high current transistors in the output stage). With Klipsch speakers, loud is 1 amp or so and 100 watts is 3.5 amps/channel, so, even is your Klipsch had weird low impedance or phase shift between the voltage and current curves, a so-called low current amp would rarely be taxed. Damping factor is often audible. Going from 60 to 800 was readily detectible. The amps ability to recover from clipping is usually audible, too. Clipping usually occurs when the power supply is exhausted (rail voltage exceeded by output waveform, I think). If it is slow to recover the amp will continue to distort after the cresendo. I have a cheap receiver that does that. My Parasound amps carry very high current ratings, but have no information about the conditions under which the amp will flow that amount of current (1 ohm for 1/2 second and 1000 Hz?). I think a "high-current" amp out to put out at least 1.75 times the 8 ohm clipping power at 4 ohms (if not 2x like Ohm's Law predicts). Mine don't, they run about 1.5 like the H-K you're looking at. You won't know if it sounds better untill you try it, but I doubt the high-current part of the design will sound different in your case. I'll bet you'll hear the damping factor first. John

Sometimes tape can also be used to pull out a dustcap, too. However, unless it just killing you, I'd leave it alone; it doesn't bother the sound of a passive radiator. John

Klipsch speakers don't need a break-in any more or any less than other speakers. I believe most of the break-in occurs within a new owner's ears. However, I have read a measurable break-in happens with subwoofers and I suppose that extends to woofers as well. The audible effect should be small at best. John

The pro subs usually don't go as deep as home subs do, but they will work and will likely get louder. John

Klipsch uses autoformers to lower (or raise, as the patent goes) the output of a driver, or drivers to match the output of the other drivers in a system. The manipulation changes to apparent impedance of the driver affecting the other components in the network. John

DWK, The 275 watts is the unit's power consumption, not output. I had a '75 CA-800 integrated amp until 2 years ago, it was rated at 45 wpc in Class AB and 8 watts in Class A. It met distortion specs at 60 wpc. If your A-500 (CA-500?) is from the same series, I'd bet on a 30 wpc rating. John

The K-33-E is the best woofer for the La Scala basshorn. The K-43 pro woofer is said to have higher output and will therefore sound warmer. Nothing can be done to make the bass go deeper, the basshorn size controls that. You'll need a killer sub, or two (I use 2), to match output and distortion of the La Scala basshorn. Check your woofers to see if they are K-33-Es and if not, upgrade. John

Al, I've always thought the Belle's Basshorn was different from the La Scala's to get the upper frequency response higher. You seem to have confirmed it. I've seen your pictures of the modified Belle. It looks like you are on the road to a great mod. 511Bs have a good reputation for a reason. I wish I could hear them. John

Klewless pointed out a notable problem with big amps. I have fried 4 subwoofer drivers (at one time) with an amp that was capable of power output about 100 wpc greater than my subs were rated for. I was listening to heavy metal with a STRONG bass line. So, you CAN have too much power, but it's normally less of a problem than too little being pushed into clipping. John

Monster Cable in the innards can't hurt, adds marketing cache and looks spiffy, so why not. It IS a perceived value-add by most consumers so the speaker price can be higher for just a little more cost. My experience has bee like Gil's; wire above a certain size for a certain run, even hand braided CAT-5, makes no difference. BTW, hand braided CAT-5 looks so cool I just couldn't take it out. It comes in colors, too, so braiding 3 pair of different colored sleeving would look tremendous and be equal to about 10 ga. I didn't hear any diference with it on my La Scalas. John

Cool! Except for the giant suckout between 400 and 800 Hz because the basshorn can't reach 800 Hz and the mismatch between the basshorn and the Altec driver. I would like a 2-wat La Scala, though. John

Who IS John Galt?! I need to re-read that novel. John

The rich pay the taxes! The rich deserve the most money back and the most decrease in the tax rates. A couple of years ago a survey showed the a large part of the population thought the government had its own money! That's because the lowest 50% of wage earners pay only 5% of all federal taxes paid. I paid less than half of what cybergeek did and I feel sorry he got clipped so hard. We should ALL pay a flat 10% of whatever we make and there should be no deductions. If the federal government can't survive on that it ought to go bankrupt (or quit doling out my money, really). At least that way everybody feels uncle sam's blight, equally. This country used to stand for fair and equal treatment. John