CAKE

I borrowed one of those a few weeks back and drove my Cornwalls with it. I was impressed with the sound, even with a mismatched set of tubes that were out of bias. I will say the MC-10L was built like a tank! and the green / gold looked good. It had a good "fit & finish". I will be in tubes soon, but have decided to save $ until I can afford the recomendations of others here on the forum that have much more experience with tube amps, pre amps, etc...

Glad to hear that! I cant wait to start work on them. Just a little more rubbing, dusting, .... and packing.

Hey Mike_ they are looking good ! Drop me an email so we arrange the swap at about 3 on Friday in SanAntonio

Thanks guys, good to hear from the locals I have been letting the oil soak in and dry before another sanding. The wounds are healing and I will be sanding again tonight. My neighbor is a surgical assistant, so she has brought home a suture kit, just in case! [] Blood, sweat, and tears, but the results have been worth it. I have a pair of Corns that will get the spa treatment too.... I think the Corns are worth the effort to look as good as they sound. (Reasonable rates and trades welcome[])

USNRET is trading a pair of LaScala for the veneer work I have done on his Belles, so I will be doing those next. I am going to use some of the ideas that jhoak pictured and some of the ideas from volti... There is a hardwood supplier here in Houston that I would suggest you contact for material. He stocks 4x8 and 2x8 sheets, and is also able to order sequenced sheets. The Rosewood was ordered after the mfg. had sent pictures for approval, and the shipping was only about 15$ Houstonhardwoods.com - Guy Pike -you can only close a deal with them is you speak to them in person, but they are helpful and friendly to deal with Good luck and drop me a line if I can help

Hours and hours and hours. I have only cut myself 9 times, and 1 burn from the iron. 1/2 gallon of Heatlock, 3 or 4 rolls of masking tape, 50 razors, 50 sheets of sandpaper, countless dusty colored buggers.... [+o(]but I'm coming down the home stretch.

Heres a cheap plug for some veneer on Belles I'm doing for USNRET. Trades welcome I will be doing the LaScalas next trail.mail008(at)gmail.com http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/t/148866.aspx

Finger prints, dust and spots on the camera lens not included in the final product

Now I'm set to start the second cabinet.... This is a first coat of Watco and loosely bolted together to make it easier to move around and take a pic for you Mike[]. When I get the second done I will lay them both out to do all the final finishing.

I think you are probably right, Mike. I dont "need" a tube amp, so save a look, and wait. Then I can buy once and be done. If you can only have 2 of the following 3; cheap price quick quality I will wait for a quality tube amp at the right price, heck I may find a Mac at a garage sale for $40

The budget was an ommission... opps[:|] $800 - $1200 Thanks for all the input... Let me digest this a little and get back to you guys!

This is a link to a thread where I am working on a pair of Belles for a forum member. This has been very labor intensive. The "black laquer" finish is usually a black oil base base color and then multiple (4-6-8) coats of sprayed laquer that has been buffed between coats. The more layers = more gloss and a "thicker" looking finish The blue paint can probably be removed and the underlying veneer salvaged, but I suspect that there is quite abit uf underlying bodywork to be done, or they wouldn't have been painted in the first place. You might talk me into taking those ugly things off your hands![] http://community.klipsch.com/forums/t/148866.aspx?PageIndex=1

I borrowed a Chinese amp a few weeks back (Yaqin MC-10L), and liked what I heard. Even with mismatched tubes (had to buy a couple locally to get it running), and out of Bias (checked it with my multimeter) but didn't have the tool to adjust, I thought it sounded pretty good. So, the other day I disconnected my QSC RMX 2450 and drove my Cornwalls straight from the HK AVR7000, but when the wife came in she said "What happened to the stereo, it sounds dull". I explained to her that I had removed the "big amp". Her first reply was "Well I think you should get one of those ugly glass amps" !!!! and then I hear "That one you borrowed looked ugly, but I think it sounded really good" So apparently I have the go ahead. Now what to do In conversations with another forum member the suggestion is Peach preamp, NOS VRD, which is probably best case. But I'm not ready to afford the $ 5,000 for amp and preamp now, so....open to suggestions and considerations Currently using HK AVR 7000 as a pre-pro which I plan to do until I build a separate 2 channel Cornwall I (new caps) LaScala (to arrive soon for future use after refurb) Medium size space (14 x 24) Very soft room (large down sofa, chair, loveseat, ottaman) Moderate listening levels _ ocassionally louder levels during entertainment We listen to good old rock-n-roll, female vocal, some hard rock, some heavy metal, some blues A few of the questions I have: EL 34 based KT 88 based (maybe added low end for the LaScala) SET Push-pull Fixed bias I have looked at some of the Chinese amps, including the Jolida, but I am looking for suggestions, or other questions I should be think about, or if someone has something for sale or trade or barter. Thanks in advance

Unfortunatley big business has learned that they don't have to pay in a timely manner, or at all. What can you really do? Sream from the highest mountain till your blue. Are you really gunna take the to small claims court_ I bet it would take you a week to figure out who, what, where, when, and how to sue Big Brown. DEAL locally when possible, you will meet alot of good people And if this is an account worth millions, maybe I could start a shiping company only for Eminence!

Went ahead and got a coat of Watco on a piece to get my batteries recharged by seeing some results.... Take a look at this baby! This is the inside of the HF tophat _where the Xover & horn belong. This has been block sanded by hand with 240, 320, and 400 grit. Smooth as a babies backside. Mike I will cry when they get a scratch. Tomorrow will be an endless day of sanding & on Sunday I will lay up the second cabinet.

Good luck with the restoration, plan on alot of time if you are doing the veneer work...

The layout was a little wasteful, so I maybe short on material for the base risers, but the local vendor has a couple contacts for me to check with to see if they have a small quanity of "drops" that I can use. There is some really dark "almost black" material left, but it wont look right. I will keep you up to speed on that. I sure wish I could bring them all the way back to CC and give these beauties a listen. Lets plan on July 1.

And the top.

Left side

After about 20 hours, including 12 hrs on Sunday, 1 of the cabinets has a full set of Rosewood veneer, and has been rough sanded to 150 grit. I am going to take a couple days off (hope you dont't mind _I will have them done on schedule)

Another step to the hair and nail makeover being complete. I picked up the Veneer last week and prompyly unrolled it to relax. Then by Saturday evening I had decided on a layout and cut all the veneer pieces. All the body work had been done over the previous week, so on Sunday morning it was GO TIME!

You might be able to find another forum member that can help with the wood refinishing, if were are geographiclly desirable. I have been sanding up to 400 grit and using 0000 steelwool between coats -smooooth as glass

That looks real nice. I have been thonking about buying one of these Jolidas.

On the bright side she didnt call the Child Protective Service. Law enforcement has a talk with you and leaves. CPS conducts a 6 month investigation on you and never goes away!

Welcome. Those are fantastic!!!