edwardre

All, thank you very much for your tips. I will use tham as a starting point this weekend. I didn't get the opportunity to 'dink' with it last night as the missus was adamant that we watch the 5th and 6th episode of Sopranos, 3rd season. Ahhh, the obligations one must endure to keep peace in the nest.... To answer a couple of questions that I left out the first go around.....the condition of the unit is fairly clean. To Randy's question(s), the amp sat dormant in the garage at my father's place in northern WA (atmospherically wet) for the past 18 years until last year when he brought it down on the yearly CA visit. At that time, one of the large tubes (EL34) and a 7199 were cracked. The circuitry exhibited signs of corrosion, but not severely. One or two tube sockets were fairly bad, but responded (I thought) well with contact cleaner, as did the rest of the 'semi-fuzzy white' corrosion. The non-critical stainless steel base showed light rust speckling overall, which was easily lifted out with Wrights polish restoring a gorgeous luster. It was at this point (circuit corrosion removed with contact cleaner) last year that I made grievous error number one. Like I stated, there were a couple of busted tubes. Not knowing beans from beef jerky about the ramifications of my actions, I moved all the good tubes to one channel with the idea that I'd see if the thing even worked at all and thus determine if it was worth it to try and aquire additional tubes. So I hooked up one speaker, hooked up the PAS2, hooked up a Sansui tuner, and fired it up. Evidently, as I've come to find out, that was the wrong thing to do. There were a few minor flashes from tubes before the big flash and meltdown because, as I mentioned in a previous post, I also jammed in a 20 or 30A automotive fuse in lieu of the one that was missing. Though the smoke would tend to indicate differently, the damage appeared to be restricted to 2 tubes (another EL34 and 7199), and an almost total meltdown of the primary side of the xformer....fuse holder exploded, AC wires melted to the chassis, power switch just a glob of goo. Upon finding out that you don't just jam tubes and hookup one side of a biased circuit, I then ordered replacement tubes in pairs from Triode Electronics...I believe they were Sloveks, to replace what I now realize were fairly decent tubes, Mullards. I received the new tubes, replaced the fuse holder and power switch as well as the AC wiring. I also installed the correct fuse. With fingers crossed and standing to the left shielding eyes, I hit the power switch. I thought I heard the 'pull' of current through the transformers briefly, then nothing. No lights, no sound, no flashes, nothing. Upon checking, the fuse was good. At this point, dejected, I shelved the ST-70. Fast forward to a week or two ago. Based upon what I perceived as 'renewed' interest in tubes on this very BB, I decided to get in on the action and pulled the ST-70 out for another go around. This time, with the base seperated and the unit propped up like a car hood, I started to try and identify why nothing happened when the power switch was flipped. Taking voltage readings with my Fluke 77, it was a fairly quick path to identification.....the power switch I installed was faulty. So I replaced that and it fired up. For the next week or so, I 'burned in' the unit on my test bench in the garage using a fairly efficient pair of Bozak/JBL 12" 3-ways. The unit performed flawlessly for a week, with the source being the older Sansui tuner through the PAS2. During this week I spent a considerable amount of time recleaning contacts. After being satisfied that the unit was indeed operational, I then took it indoors and hooked it up to the Khorns. This was cumbersome as everytime I wanted to listen, I had to unhook the Khorn leads from the Denon based HT and rehookup to the ST-70. I listened to this for 2 nights, about an hour per night before I discovered the PAS2 problem, then this problem. That's where I am now, hoping to devote a few hours to both the PAS2 and the ST-70 this 3 day weekend. They're now both back in the garage. I do have a LCR meter if things get to the 'cap-checking' stage, and I believe my Fluke meter will pretty much identify the lion's share of my needs. I have the schematic as well as have found what appears to be a very detailed troubleshooting guide on the Triode website, though I had hoped to be able to 'shortcut' based upon experiences that you all have gone through. Final couple of questions: I note with keen interest that Triode offers replacement tube sockets. Have any of you gone this route and what are your opinions on the best 'bang for the buck' replacements? WRT 'cheap tubes'...ie - Sloveks, Svetlanas, Teslas, Yugos....which are your recommendations? I believe that the bias is towards Svetlanas? I have access to lots of the 'orange drop' and Sprague caps. If I ever get both the ST-70 and the PAS2 up and running, would it be a good course of action to replace all the caps with the polys? Or are there some that need to remain whatever their 'stock-type' are? Of course, there is much written on the web about upgrades to this classic amp, but reading through the myriad of verbage to glean 'quick-fix' tips can be daunting. Therefore, I really appreciate all your insight. What about inputs? With a stock preamp, should I be using the 'spare' input jacks for DVD (CD) playback? Thanks again for your assistance. I'll write when/if I find out anything. ------------------ Ed

So, ironing out the kinks in my first dedicated foray into tube ampsville. Modest setup is a stock ST-70 amp with a stock PAS2 preamp connected to my Khorns. The first indication of problem occured the other night when I thought to discover how 192/24 DVD-A would sound through tubes. That wasn't the problem, the problem was that the wife was sleeping so I had to turn it way down. That's when I noticed that the output level between the right and left were not equal. One was clearly louder than the other. Troubleshot this to the preamp being the culprit and reading the string posted recently, I now suspect a tube is to blame so I wanted to switch tubes around to try and isolate the fault. I came home last evening with this mission in mind. Powered up the amp and went off as, based upon what I've read, you warm it up. I've generally been letting it heat about 1/2 hr+. So I'm out in the living room watching Judge Judy or something like that when I hear this god awful noise that I can only liken to the sound of a radio between channels. Only loud enough to have me hopping over to kill power in an effort to save speaker. I repowered long enough to determine that this issue was generating from the ST-70, but not long enough to determine if it was limited to one or both channels, it was that intimidating. It's now unplugged awaiting tonight's attempt to identify and repair. Any ideas on what happened or how I should proceed? Thanks. ------------------ Ed

Huh??? Great insight John. Fungus, eh? So I wonder how one would tell if their driver was compromised by some sort of fungal invasion. Naturally, here in sunny CA, the dry air is not condusive to fungal cultivation, but you all in FLA...and there are plenty of you out there...better *Tropicalize* your K55's! NOW you're wishing you had SAHF's to combat this insidious menace. Does the treatment affect the sound at all? Or should I simply stop my kids/dogs/wife from sticking the driver in their mouths? ------------------ Ed

Malcolm - While to me they both have areas to improve upon, my preference is the 4401. To me, the T35 (K77) is very harsh and shrill. I like the upper end extension abilities, but oftentimes this sounds like 'scratchiness'. Additionally, there are some CD's that the T35 renders absolutely unlistenable to me. One that sticks out in my mind is "Yes - 90125". This is a good CD (on my system) to ferret out shrieking tweets. Even at moderate levels, something happens during the course of listening where the tweeter achieves this shrill ring that will not stop. When I swapped in the 4401, nothing but clean upper end. The 4401 on the other hand, simply sounds more musical and natural to me. My assessment of it's limitations are primarily that it is has an upper limit of 15K (rating accoring to University). I think that this accounts for some of the negative press on this BB regarding this unit. However, in reality, things like cymbal crashes sound more natural on the 4401 than the 'artificial air' that the T35 produces (to me). I'm not saying that the T35 does not sound good when a cymbal crashes, just not as natural. Lately, I've installed a vintage Jensen RP302 supertweeter in my center Belle, replacing the 4401 that was there previously. Personally, I have not heard a tweeter that blends better than this little guy. It has all the musical qualities of the 4401 and unlimited extension. Basically, the best of both tweeters. It sounds natural all throughout it's range and passes the "Yes" test without breaking stride. Same efficiency with a 'mini salad bowl' horn, it is as striking visually as it is audibly. If you are lucky enough to run across one of these jewels for a decent price (anything under $250 for a single is very decent), I recommend you try it out. Here's what they look like (if the upload worked....) John - Never did I state that the SAHF or the K55x were the best mid-drivers money could buy. Clearly there are high end drivers that would take the sound up another level.....if you want to pay. But these were never 'stock' drivers 'tested and approved by Klipsch and Associates', and the question/thread was regarding these two units. My opinion was not intended to be the 'end all' comparison, but rather my take on the differences between two Klipsch approved mid-drivers. I have to disagree however with your assessment that I wouldn't hear that much difference between the 'two turds'. The 'old turd' has a solid sound whilst the 'recent turd' is....well mushy.....not all phenolic diaphragms sound the same. What is *Tropicalized*? ------------------ Ed

Hi Mike, I had my CW's shipped from Houston Tx area to here, just outside of Sacramento CA. Fed Ex Ground. They just made it under the Fed Ex max size limit. $51 apiece, and they arrived without a scratch. Not that cold sweat wasn't pouring during the 10 or so days they were enroute, but it worked out fine. The guy I purchased them from totally surrounded each CW with 1" styrofoam. Then he boxed this EXTREMELY TIGHT, so there would be zero wobble. He then repeated the process, thus double boxing. The second or 'outer' box he wrapped completely, and very tightly with that shrink wrap plastic. They were like two CW sized rocks when I got them. Won't protect from side forklift impact, but then again, not much will. Good Luck! ------------------ Ed

"I have 5 of these drivers.They are JUNK.They sound like SH*T." Now, there's an interesting perspective. We're all entitled to our opinion, guess that's why we're here in the first place. However, you've peaked my curiousity, John. Can you elaborate on precisely 'how', to you, they sound like SH*T. I have spent many hours swapping SAHF's and K55V's and M's in and out of K500, K400 and 511B horns. I've tried in vain to convince myself that the reason I liked the SAHF better was out of some misguided loyalty towards the really old Klipschorns. But no matter what angle I approach it, the clear winner everytime in every setting is the SAHF. I've even went so far as to stack like horns on a 'mock' Cornwall, one with a SAHF, the other with a K55, and had my 12 year old daughter A/B until she couldn't take it anymore. SAHF all the way. To me, the SAHF is more open sounding and articulate. It seems to handle loud midrange with a 'wink and a nod', practically begging for more all the while imparting serious ribcage vibration. The K55 in comparison sounds 'muffled' and dimure. Just my assessment, was curious about what aspect(s) of the SAHF you were disappointed with. ------------------ Ed

Yup C n B, I guess I have been quite lucky. One thing is I've just scored singles, never a pair at once. Seems to go up logrithmically when you try and 'pair up'. That latest one was freak luck. Seller had just listed it 20 minutes before my random daily perusal. I did not daly. The others did not specify LX2, but both had pics of the badge which clearly depicted....plus they were the 'big reds' in functional condition, but haggard looking by the pics. Those both had small rips and tears in the cones, but clearly stated no rubbing. I silicone sealer the rips and, as god is my witness, cannot tell a ripped and fixed from a non-ripped. Also, one I got because the seller listed it as a 'Stevens', but the 103LX part ferreted him out. BTW - the first one ever that I bought had some small tears. Nothing big, but I had it in my head that I needed to get it 'professionally repaired'. Huge mistake of the largest magnitute. The repair shop....reputable in the Sac CA area, absolutely botched the job. Could not get a like cone so attempted to sub. What a debaucle. Total loss. Never again. So now, I don't give a rats rumpus about looks. For the mostpart sealed up anyway. ------------------ Ed

Trader.... The Stephens Trusonic link is....www.ebay.com Not trying to be a smart ***, but to my knowledge, that's the only game in town. I would estimate that I've seen no less than 10 103LX2's listed in the past year. I have purchased 4 of those, none for more than $70, the average being $50. Now it would appear that more people are clued in to it and I've seen them listed for as much as $200 apiece lately. One must exercise patience. Sooner or later, your deal will be there. Currently, there's a 103LX listed: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1374715261&rd=1 This gives you an idea of how it looks. However, this is the 103LX, not the 103LX2 unless the seller has errored in the listing. He certainly mistakenly listed it as a "105" rather than a "103", which it is. Recall that the LX"2" was the version specifically designed to reside and operate in the Klipsch speaker. It is a 4 ohm, 15 inch driver. Although there could be more, I have seen two distinct versions of this LX2. One, which looks identical to the one in this e-pay listing.....striking blue...the other has a cast basket that is 'brushed' in finish and sports a deep red -almost maroon - magnet. I have seen also that both the "Big Red" and the "Tru-Blue" have VC venting either through the center rear of the magnet assy, or through the dust cap. The one listed has the dust cap venting, the first I've seen on a 'blue'. Prior to knowing the diff between a LX and a LX2, I purchased a LX from e-bay. Being a 'blue' one that looked identical to the 2 blues that came factory stock on my Khorns, I mistakenly thought that this unit was the same. It was a 16 ohm driver just like the seller lists on this e-bay unit. I installed this LX in my center channel Belle in place of the K33 that was there. The sound, like any of the old heavy magnet deep 'golden era' speakers, was glorious. Shortly thereafter, I found out about the LX vs. LX2 thing and checked the DC resistence. It was/is around 5 ohms compared to the 3.6 ohms of all the LX2's I have. The LX remains in the Belle as it sounds great. One day perhaps I will swap it out with a 'proper' LX2 to see if there really is a diff but I think that in the case of the Belle, it is the throat size that compensates for the impedence. The Khorns that had LX2's and EV15WK's were built with 6" throat apertures, while the later models with K33's had 3" throats, I believe to compensate for less efficiency? Fit-wise, the bolt pattern is identical to the K33. Exactly identical. The CW's were naturally the easiest to swap out. Remove the back, remove the leads from the net, remove and replace the woofer via the four screws it attaches with and button 'er up. The last LX2 I 'gathered' from e-bay was just over a month ago. BIN for $69 in pristine condition. It now resides as the lynchpin in my center rear "Belle-traption'. ------------------ Ed

Man oh man, they have really gone skyward lately. I think I paid a combined total of $40 for the last 4 I purchased from e-pay within the last year. Keep your eyes 'peeled'. Oftentimes, they will not be listed as SAHF's, but rather when people have PA horns (M*A*S*H looking things) the driver is sometimes the SAHF. The last two I got were like that, neat thing was that they were mated with the 'flange to threaded' adapters, and the horns themselves, with the middle removed, doubled as a lampshade for the dog to keep it from chewing the stitches in it's *** received by one mean kitty. ------------------ Ed

Yup......no HERITAGE........ Sorry Fini....couldn't resist........ ------------------ Ed

Yeah, you know, add a tally for me as well...to the point that now, I just opt for the cheapest deals because I figure that most places will deliver in their own sweet time. Best deals can be identified by: http://www.dvdpricesearch.com/cgi-bin/dvdhtml2 ------------------ Ed

I haven't seen a tube tester in Safeways for a long time....but, as near as I can tell, the PAS works just fine and dandy. What should I expect to hear/not hear with a tube or two that is on the fritz? Is it a subtle degradation or a hard failure? Thanks ------------------ Ed

It WAS a hard way to learn what your pop's always told you about sticking a penny into the fuseholder. But, live and learn...now I've a 2A fast. So with the ST-70 all fixed up and detailed.....BTW - man oh man does that stainless base take on a shine or what??? The unit was looking rather mottled so I treated it with some sort of brass shine stuff that the missus had up under the sink. Buffed it with the Dremel buffing disk and holy cow! Like a mirror. Looked so good I had to do something about that 60's looking brown screen. After taping the logo, I sprayed it down with a fresh coat of Krylon semi-flat (satin?) black 'rust tough'. It is one cool looking unit. Anyway, my attentions have turned to the PAS. Brass outer front is pretty sad. Gonna have to be replaced unless I can remove and restore. I looked inside and note with keen interest that the original 'Dynaco' tubes are still present. So my question is 'how long do tubes last?' And, is there a recommended 'norm' for routine replacement? What type would you recommend? ------------------ Ed

Boa....for the center rear, I've quite a contraption going on. The short answer is it's a Belle. Here's the long answer.... Up front center, I have a Belle. It's modified in that I've replaced the Klipsch K500 'straighthorn' in favor of an Altec 511B to 'enrichen' the soundstage. The University SAHF is the driver. I've replaced the K33E with a Stephens Trusonic 103LX2 and the K77 with a University 4401 initially, but I've recently replaced that with a very melodic vintage Jensen RP302 to see how I like that sound. The network is the older AA with the oil filled caps and all 'enhancements' are 100% reversible to stock. So for the rear center, I wanted to do pretty much the same thing to keep in line tonally. But this time, I wanted to fabricate the pieces myself as I consider myself to be fairly adept at woodwork and I have all the drivers. The 'challenge' for me is the fact that sitting rear center is my InFocus 350 front projector. My decision was to make a Belle bass bin as the foundation for my rear center 'assemblege'. The Belle bass bin is the perfect height for the projector to project from to avoid 'keystoning'. Previously, the projector was up about a foot higher in order to shoot over the top of the couch. This created a situation where I had to raise the rear of the projector to get the image on the screen properly, which led to keystoning....the trapezoidal effect of a 'non-level' projected image. Keystoning also creates a negative effect in that by nature, the top or bottom of the image is 'closer' by an inch or two to the projector, which means that either the top or bottom will always be slightly out of focus....not cool. My driver of choice for the bass box was yet another Stephens Trusonic. The box itself, while visually looking like a Belle base, is actually 3/4" larger all around as I've actually encased the original Belle bin in another 3/4" outer skin, masked up front with slightly larger grilles to eliminate the 'double wall' look. I also filled the base with cement. The reason for this was to create a rock solid bass unit that during heavy bass passages, will not vibrate perceptably and thus, vibrate the projector sitting atop. Increased bass performance as a result of this heavy gusseting is just 'frosting on the cake'. On top of the Belle style bass bin is the projector housing. This 6" tall 'box' (two sides and a top) serves several purposes. First and foremost, it hides the projector as well as protects it. The projector is recessed almost a full foot back from the front of the cabinetry. The second purpose is to reduce the projector fan noise and heat emmision to almost nil. It is a sealed box, insulated with the type of sound and heat dampening material used in automobile firewalls and floors. Lest heat build up inside and compromise the lamp or electronic circuitry, I've vented this box out, down the back, then out through the exterior wall of the house with a whisper-quiet squirrelcage fan that is physically outside pulling air. The third purpose of the projector housing is for screen masking purposes. The front of the box is tooled to accept one of 3 different 'masks'. Each 'mask' represents one of the three most utilyzed aspect ratios, 1.33, 1.85, or 2.35. The 'masks' are made of 1/8" wood, the type of stuff you'd re-skin a door with, each with a rectangular hole that corresponds precisely with the aspect ratio currently being viewed. The LP350's only drawback is it's excessive 'light splash'. This comes from 2 sources...first, it's a 'full screen' DLP rather than a 16:9 DLP so anytime you're watching widescreen, the top and bottom are 'light gray'. This over/under the picture brightness reduces contrast as it has the same effect as shining a flashlight at the edge of the image. Second, the front of the projector has vent slats that emit considerable light which increase ambient room light and further reduce picture contrast. Both these issues are resolved effectively with the masks. The whole projector box itself is attached to the Belle style bass bin via a piano hinge that is hidden visually. This 'fliptop' allows me to make fine manual adjustments to the projector easily. The 'third floor' of the center rear is the rest of the speaker. Housed in an upper cavity that is identical to the upper cavity of a factory made Belle in appearence, it actually houses the same '50's vintage components as does my front center....511b with SAHF driver and a Jensen RP302. The network is likewise the older AA. So there you have it. Really, it looks like a traditional Belle with a 6" addition seperating the top and bottom rather than the 1" collar seperation. I'm still evaluating the RP302. It is very sweet sounding....all the musical qualities of the 4401, but extends considerably farther than the 15K or so that the 4401 starts to attenuate at without taking on the strident 'scratchiness' sound of the K77. It is a sweet-tweet. Same impedence. Same efficiency. Round 'mini salad bowl' horn. I would suspect that it is very similar to the high-end University offering of that era...the HF-206. You're probably sorry you asked, eh? ------------------ Ed

Thanks mdeneen for the assurance. As far as 'proper' fuse......here's where I expose my stupidity or ignorance.....nope, it was stupidity, I should have known better.....there was no fuse at that time so in my zest to 'see if it was functioning', rather than get the proper fuse, I stuck a 30 amp like automotive headlight fuse in there......I think there's a 2A fuse in there now and I believe that's what the original fuseholder required before it obliterated into a million pieces.....can someone verify? ------------------ Ed

Hey Dave, Excuse my ignorance over the tube fine points, but aren't you suppose to have the amp outputs loaded when you turn it on? So...with the DPS-1, when switched to the other amp, if the ST-70 is powered on mistakenly, will it be adversely affected? Or is it that you can't have just one output of the amp hooked up and the other 'floating'? Or is it that you have to have TUBES in both L & R circuits? I recall a year or so ago when I wanted to get the old ST going the first time, there were only enough good tubes to populate one of the two channels. Thinking hmmm....I'll just put all the good ones on one circuit, hook up one speaker, and then see if the unit works in general prior to going through the ordeal of getting tubes. So that's what I did. The ensuing smokefest still has me turning on the ST with a long wooden dowel. Evidently, that was the wrong thing to do. Just don't want to make the same type of mistake again. Figured no matter how stupid the question, can't be as stupid as leaping first then having to ask 'how to fix'? ------------------ Ed

Thanks Boa... Moon...I setup my rear center yesterday. As usual, you may take Boa at his word.....even if the mix is not of the 6.1 variety, the center channel solidifies the whole of the rear sound field. It's great! Don't know how I got by so far without it. Would probably have gone for 2 back speakers rather than one center, but with Cornwalls I simply don't have the room. ------------------ Ed

C&S...about two weeks ago, for an experiment, I replaced the K33's in my rear surround CW's with Stephens Trusonic 103LX2's.....just to see (or hear) mind you....I will NEVER take them out, except if I get another set of Khorns for the rears to replace the CW's, then I'll return the CW's to original and sell! OMG!!!! Talk about an improvement.... The curious thing is that although I replaced the rears only (the rest of the setup already have these vintage woofers), the effect is 'felt' roomwide and audibly, it sounds like I increased low bass up front, not behind. To where I had to turn down the sub to almost inaudible levels in order to maintain vision, as the bass was exciting my eyeballs to vibrate. The only reason I am leaving the sub on at all is for the ".1" of the 5.1 discrete, for sounds that are recorded only on that LFE channel. ------------------ Ed

"Sell your HT stuff and go buy movies"....Ooooh....I don't know about that one, Randy! Not unless the movie was 'Death Wish". I would be shot upon sight....or in the very least, never, ever allowed to purchase another audio device in this lifetime.... And really, although I enjoy 'getting back to basics' with the (admittedly startup quality) tube gear, I have to say that I derive far greater listening pleasure from the all large format "retro'd to the '50's and slightly modded" surround sound experience. I have found nothing that can erase the world like 6 Trusonics going off in harmony to a well engineered DVD-Audio disk. And I'm not speaking of loud, ear-splitting/wax melting levels. At good solid listening levels, you almost physically cannot 'think' of anything during 'play'. Totally immersive. Call it blasphemy if you must, but I spent the better part of yesterday switching K-horns - and 1954 K-horns at that - made in the tube era for tubes....back and forth from tube setup to Hi-res surround and the even higher res (192/24) 2-channel DVD-A format. For my money, hands down the comparison is just not fair. I will state now, leaving myself wide open for rebuttal, that you cannot come close to the effect of total QUALITY sound immersion with 2 channels. The most glaring issue I can see with 2 channels is that the various instruments, vocals and other sounds do not have their own 'space' to bloom but rather 'stack-up' vying for their places atop one another. However, that being said, the downside is of course that there are precious few titles out and only a percentage of the ones out there are mixed properly. Hence the desire to 'fill the void' with a 2-channel tube setup through stereo Khorns....so I'm not destined to listen to 3 or 4 titles that are truly magical. I think today's experiment will be to run the hi-res 2 channel output - the 192/24 - of the DVD-A player through the tube setup to see (or hear) what that sounds like. Anyone else currently doing this? What is your experience like? ------------------ Ed

Thanks. Yup....the wife AND kids are definately something to consider. I'll look into the Niles thing. Another question. In dinking around, I've found that the '70's tuner (it's a Sansui) sounds better than any CD player I hook up. Is that because of the digital aspect....the D/A converters? And the tuner sounds so good in comparison because it's primarily all analog? ------------------ Ed

Hunkered down in my garage trying to beat the heat and looking for any excuse not to go out and work the yard, I dragged my old no-op ST-70 into the light and commenced to repair. Other than a brief 30 minute period last year when I dragged it out for the first time ever, I have not really given tubes opportunity to win me over. With all the tasty new toys to play with....DTS...DVD-Audio...I simply felt that the whole tube scene was frankly, overblown. I have now heard the error of my ways and throw myself upon the mercy of the board as to whether I am worthy of assistance or just another lost cause. Now I find myself in a quandry....having justifyied to the missus extensive HT equipment purchases under the guise of 'we'll all enjoy the movie theater thrill in our own HT room', I now find that I want to utilyze the Khorns for the purpose for which they were created.....2 channel tubeing. In short I want the best of both worlds. So the question is how do I facilitate this need? Do I setup the ST-70/DYNA PAS2 setup alongside the formidable HT equipment 'team' and switch the Khorn's duties via a switchbox of sorts? Does anybody have a recommendation as to a decent speaker switchbox...2 in, 1 out....that will not degrade the signal? Or should I forsake the PAS2, which I believe is a 'tube preamp' and lends to the overall sensation, for the pre-outs on the Denon 3802 to the ST-70? ------------------ Ed

Welcome aboard! You will find opinions on the questions you've asked throughout this forum. There are advocates for both Heritage and newer, and passions often run high. Clearly, it is a matter of personal taste. I'm all heritage in my HT so I'll cast my vote there. IMHO, you cannot beat the 'grandeur'. Good luck! ------------------ Ed

Now you all are seriously on to something. I thought it was just a thing between my wife and myself. K-horns, Belle and CW's all in one room and she thumbs nose......'ah...I guess it sounds alright....whatever makes you happy...' Then I get a pair of Forte II's on the cheap for the front room and she goes bananas. Loves them. "THESE really sound great. Waaaaay better than those big 'things'" "Why don't we just get a bunch of THESE for the HT?" Sheeeeesh. ------------------ Ed

Parkland Plastic is a manufacturer of vinyl-like plastics typically, but not limited to, use in RV's and the like to 'skin' wooded or I would guess even interior drywall for the purpose of sealing against water. Like when you're going to make a closet in your olden day RV into a shower stall, you'd get a sheet of PP and some adhesive and seal the walls, ceiling and floor. Anyway, somebody somewhere tossed a picture at it and it looked good. So good in fact that now there have been several 'tests' run and published (accessible on the AVS Forum site) that state that Parkland Plastic has the same or better qualities for DLP/LCD projected images as a several thousand dollar Dalite. Evidently, reflective quality of 1.5 is most desired and the Parkland product nails it. Moon....how do you have your Parkland put up? I have currently just a 5'x10' framework made of 2"x2"s with canvas stretched over it like a picture, painted 'absolute white'. I have received my 5'x10' roll of Parkland but have not put it up yet. As it is thick but pliable, I was thinking of removing the canvas from my existing framework then 'skinning' the frame with a special order 5'x10' sheet of 1/4" plywood. Then, adhering the parkland to it ensuring flatness and hoping for no bubbles. Sound doable? ------------------ Ed

Jim....I too heard this (DTS) for the first time the other night while the family was away so I could 'do it justice' with my Khorn fronts, Belle center and Cornwall rears. I can only imagine what La Scala's would sound like back there! I found the DTS quality to be excellent. Lots of detail. However, I found the concert material itself to be a wee bit 'tame' for my taste. The 'unplugged' ballad-type repertoire is ok, but I would have preferred for equal time for the old 'plug it in and let'er rip' tunes. But then, at the risk of incurring the wrath of other members.....perhaps the 'paced' approach IS a function of 'too many years of s/d & r&r'. Now if you really want to see how melted too many years of non-stop partying will produce...look no further than Ozzie. As a diehard Sabbath fan, it is painful for me. BTW - I have to say that although the DTS HFO DVD is steller, the Hotel CA DVD-Audio blows it away in qualifying as reference material. IMHO. ------------------ Ed