gagelle

We've heard these stories before, but someone I know picked a black pair of Forte IIs for $20 at an estate sale. I don't think he realized the value of the Fortes until a few days later. I've never been so lucky.

I have the KLF-30s which appear to be similar in specs to the 20s. My KLF-30s started to sing when I went to a restored Sansui receiver from 1976. It seems like these speaker were made for vintage equipment. And they're so efficient that you don't have to spend much for high power. I'm using a Sansui 881 rated at 60 watts per channel. (Actually tested at 78 watts) and I can hardly move the volume up before they're blasting. It has a warm tube-like sound with deep bass. It does not compare in sound quality to any new equipment that I have. The KLFs are my favorite speakers. But when I first tried to drive them with new a Dennon multimedia receiver, they sounded feeble. From what I've read, the old Sansui transformers are are huge and built with quality that just isn't available anymore. The one caveat is that vintage equipment must be restored by a tech who specializes in that area. (Unless you can do it yourself.)

I did the same thing last year and the salesman refused to come down on the price. This policy maybe changing bacause I recently noticed that they installed free WIFI. It was always difficult for my 3G to get reception in the store and I thought that they didn't like it when I took out my Iphone for price comparisons. There is now only one electronics store left in my town. I had terrible experiences with rude sales reps at Circuit City before they went out. If these stors offered something the mail order companies didn't, I could see paying a little extra. But I used to thoroughly study what I was interested in buying. Usually, the sales rep knew very little about the unit. In addition, I was ripped off several times by their so called technicians on computer repairs. Check the reviews on the Fresno CA Best Buy site. It's kind of funny, but sounds true, at least from my experience.

I never thought my question would produce a debate like this. Someone on the forum has a unique amp. It's hand made in the US, completely class A, with expensive high voltage transistors and it supposedly sounds very much like a tube amp. I lost the link, but there's a waiting list for their gear. I can't afford those amps but they look very nice. I may be able to dig up the link.

Thanks to everyone for your feedback. I know what you're talking about. I have an old Sansui 881 that needs to be refirbushed. The unit has bass that is overbearing, sloppy and unnatural. I have the same receiver that has been restored and the sound is much more natural. There's bass, but it's clear and defind and doesn't overwhelm the highs. I like the natural sound. My son likes the boomy bass. I took the first 881 out because I was afraid that the old caps would cause a catastrophic failure and blow my expensive Klipsch speakers. There is a record store in town and the owner uses an old Sansui 9090DB with failing bulbs on big KLH speakers. He refuses to restore the receiver. The bass is so powerful that the room shakes. I guess he thinks it helps him sell records but to my hearing, it sounds terrible. I want accurate reproduction.

This might sound like kind of a stupid question but the reason I ask is that a well respected member has something like, "for clarity, tubes, for bass solid state" at the bottom of his posts. I'm just paraphrasing, so I apologize in advance if I didn't get the quote right. I'm still toying with the idea of tubes.

Sorry, just realized how old this post is.

Interesting article, Tube. I was surprised at the price people are bidding on those things.

I was surprised at the price bid on these Jensen field coil speakers on ebay. I know next to nothing about them but I've read that there are people who claim their superiority and are working on new designs. This is supposedly an old technology? http://tinyurl.com/3wravpr [Open in new window]

Glad to hear you found a solution. A similar thing happened to me when I lost all my settings but luckily I remembered some of them.

I don't own the unit but looked through the manual and the only things I could come up with are: 1) Did you assign the audio component inputs for "game?" 2) I saw something about a game unit audio output having to be set to "off" for it to be picked up by the receiver but I don't remember where I saw it. This may be an incorrect interpretation on my part because it doesn't make sense. 3) There are recent updates for your receiver. Sorry I couldn't help more but without it in front of me, it's very difficult. All I can say is that the receiver appears exquisitely complicated and the manual poorly written. But that could be said about most AV receivers. Good Luck.

Yes, I use HDMI but it does upconvert through component connections. It really shines when playing DVDs, whether blu-ray or regular. It all depends on the DVD's quality. I usually look at Amazon ratings. Criterion has some of the best DVD pressings. They specialize in foreign and classic American films. I was looking for a Criterion pressing last week and the Amazon reviews were terrible. It appeared that Amazon was substituting an inferior pressing. I ordered directly from Criterion even though it was a little more money. I've also found some really good DVD sets at Costco--very cheap. Kubrick's 2001 blu-ray was amazing--completely restored.

I have KG-1s that used to fill a huge room with sound and I would get complaints from people upstairs on occasion. I'm not using them now, but I powered them with a Sanyo receiver made in the early 90s. In essence, my ears would hurt before those speakers would sustain any damage. I'm still amazed by the sound quality put out by those small things. The more power I gave them, the better they sounded.

Hi Boxx, I found someone who is an expert on Bozaks in a post. (link below) His name is Pat Tobin, email: audio.consultant@verizon.net This post is 5 years old so I don't know if he's still around but the post has some valuable information on the 302As http://tinyurl.com/43b33k7 [Open in new window]

I was looking at the QSC amps. They're inexpensive considering the amount of power they put out. An interesting thing about vintage amps: All the Sansui amps and receivers that I'm familiar with have warnings that 4 ohm speakers may damage the unit. I have no idea why this is.

I have the HK AVR 3600 for about 7 months and I must say that the sound quality has improved dramatically over this period of time. I have a 5.1 system with big speakers. I wanted more power, primarily for music, so I added an Emotiva 3 channel Amp for the front speakers. I use the HK amp to just power my rear speakers I gave up on the auto setup. I just wasn't happy with the results. I experimented until I had the sound I liked. The video is excellent, in my opinion. Upconversion to 1080P is flawless. I had Kubrick's "2001" on a few months ago and my son couldn't believe the video and sound quality. On another note, I just started browsing the "newest" AV receivers and found the number and types of new features to be mind boggling. " Start your car from your receiver" ,,,Just kidding, but I wouldn't want to go through the drugery of learning features on a new receiver that I probably won't even use. It was hard enough to get familiar with the HK, but I'm kind of obtuse.

Kevin, This is the case with my setup. The recommended tracking force is 2 grams but I read several reviews that stated "everyone knows this cartridge sounds better at 2.25. grams," so that's where I set it. I use a carbon fiber brush before I play, even a new record. You wouldn'y believe the dust I get off of some records that were sealed. I have noticed that the higher quality 180 gram records are cleaner. I also keep thinking that everytime I put the record away or take it our, tiny particles may be scratching it. I don't even want to get into the problem of cat hair.

This would bust your budget, but I can't say enough good things about the Sutherland PH3D. http://tinyurl.com/3ztps2a [Open in new window] I made a mistake buying a high output moving coil. (Dynavector 20X2H.) I just wasn't getting the output I wanted. But when I hooked up the Sutherland --Wow! I would even use it for a MM cartridge. I wasted some money going around in circles. But the whole setup still sounds great. In reviews, the Sutherland was compared to $5,000 phono preamps

The new 180 gram release of The Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore East is incredible. If you have a good cartridge, you will hear things you never heard before. If you're a fan, it's worh the money. I've been listening to this album since I've been in high school and still think it's one of the best live albums ever recorded. Note: this is an eviction album: it must be played loud. (I'm lucky. I have a corner apartment with no neighbors near me)

I would write to Emotiva tech support. The tech who answers the emails is very knowledgable and will get back to you within 24 hours. I'm running a 200 watt EPA-3 powering 2 Cornwalls and an Academy. The sound is terrific and gets better the more I play the unit. I'm using my 90 watt HK AVR 3600 to power my rear Fortes. There is so much more power and depth in the front that it took me awhile to balance the speakers for a good sound stage. My Academy's sensitivy is only 96 db and I have more power than my ears, (or speakers) can take. But you have a different setup and I think an Emotiva tech can stear you in the right direction.

I finally was able to get a good sound stage with my Cornwalls in front, Forte's in the rear and an Academy mid. I put in an Emotiva 3 channel to drive the front speakers and let my HK 3600 drive the Fortes in the rear. I began to realize that the new amplifiers needed time to work in. I'm now getting a deeper sound after playing the equipment for awhile. The guy who sold me the restored Sansui g-8000 said that the new electrolytics were partially worked in but need some more playing time to reach their full potential. I started thinking that this logic probably applies to new equipment. The sound quality should get better over time.

Thanks for your story. I'm in an apartment and trying my best to spread things around to different circuits. I can't call in an outside electrician (It's in my lease.) and the electricial setup is a mess. The only thing I could do is buy a good line conditioner, which I did.

That's interesting, Jay. I had a low end Denon multimedia receiver that was fine with my tiny klipsch speakers but as soon as I hooked up my Epic CF-3s, the sound was terrible. A switch to a higher end HK multimedia was a little better but didn't really drive the speakers the way my old HK 2 channel receiver used to. I finally solved the situation by adding a 3 channel Emotiva 200 watt amplifier. I came to the conclusion that most multimedia receivers are not made for big speakers. But I had no idea it was their inability to handle the ohm impediance.

So spraying scratchy controls with Deoxit is masking the real problem. I see many people write that they have to do a complete Deoxit every year or so when the real problem is some leaky capacitors.

Thanks very much for the explanation. It was similar to what I was reading last night but now I understand the whole picture.