erik2A3

Soundbound: You do understand they don't have drivers. Common sense Audio carries drivers that would work very well. I'm giving the cabinets away because the new owner will need to be willing to invest in the kind of drivers that will work particularly well with them. If that's understood and you are serious about wanting them, please send me a PM. Pat_in_dfw: I can take pictures. Are you interested?

Interesting audio history http://www.lowthervoigtmuseum.org.uk/index.html

Greetings, Once upon a few years ago, I acquired a pair of rear-loaded horns that were designed after the original Lowther Acousta - but considerably modernized. They were an eBay find, and the seller was doing the same as I -- letting them go for free, the only charge being shipping costs. They are large, heavy, extremely well-built, in outstanding condition with zero dings, missing veneer, etc.. They are finished in varnished but unstained light ply. The cost for shipping and huge double-boxing I paid was $300. I remember when my wife came home from work, and asked, "Ok, what are those? Did we order two new refrigerators!?" As a very proud owner of the Lowther America Medallion II cabinets I use with Lowther PM5A drivers (do a search on Lowther drivers and speakers - very interesting audio history), I bought the horns to use with a pair of Lowther DX4 drivers. The single, nearly full-range drivers are NOT cheap, but are extremely efficient and absolutely stunning with certain genres of source material. I use them along side our Klipsch La Scalas. The front baffle driver cutout and mounting positions will work with any of the Lowther DX or C (ceramic magnet) 8" drivers. An ideal match, which would give exceptional performance (if you are into full-range crossoverless horns -- I definitely am!) would be the Lowther DX3. Audio Nirvana also makes really, really nice full-range drivers (which I also own) that would work perfectly in these cabs. They are finished, except for the small, well-placed counter sink holes on the front which were done to accommodate front grilles. So, unlike a much more simple sealed or bass reflex box, they are a huge amount of work to DIY because of the internal folded horn. I just don't have room for them and have decided to give them away. I'll add pictures later this morning. Right now they are in my workroom to be (we just moved) and inaccessible due to piles of raw drivers, horns, test equipment, etc. If you are somewhere near Phoenix or Tucson AZ and you want them, I'll meet you within a two-hour radius, and they are yours for free. I hate the thought of letting them go. erik

Gentle nudge Ok, I will even include a $10..........no, I'll go as high as a $12.50 gift card to your choice of Home Depot, Target, or Starbucks

I'm waiting to hear back from someone in Texas, trying the best he can to figure out a way to breech the distance....

Ebay?! I haven't/wouldn't list them on eBay. Those don't belong to me. The only place I have mentioned they are for sale is here. erik

AL, "BUT people take it very personal when discussing technical matters, I don't know why." People (may) take it personally when technical matters about their dearly-loved, hard-earned equipment result in what may be perceived as being harsh or unfair commentary and (pre) judgement. Whether or not you or I understand that fact or not is irrelevant. What does matter is that we respect one another's differences, tastes, priorities and values.

Looking up, it seems that storm clouds might be slowly edging into this thread -- I have seen it too many times here -- and so I'm off for some shelter and to listen to music and enjoy a couple of more days with our awesome niece and nephew visiting from Texas!

I would also like to add something else I have learned from a long involvement in this hobby: While I would say my technical experience and understanding is fairly reasonable, what a number of very serious listeners (many of whom were and are professional jazz or classical musicians) have taught me is that technical ability and familiarity DO NOT, by a rather long margin, necessarily equate with one's understanding of - and ability to listen to (as in one's hearing acuity) - music. While I can rattle off technical prose about load-lines (ugh), power supply design, CCS loads, cathode followers, interstage coupling, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseam, that, again, DOES NOT mean I automatically know more about the listening to and appreciation of music than someone who does not. That attitude makes me cringe, quite frankly. Some of the most astute -- just amazingly talented -- listeners I have known were women or gentleman that had very little, if any, understanding of how their equipment worked, and even less about how to go about repairing or fixing them if problems were encountered - and really didn't care. The brand of coupling capacitors used (in that type of interstage coupling), transformers (or not = OTL), brand of resistors and or inductors, hollow or solid state, and so forth, was/were not nearly as important as the components and principals of music, and of course the music itself as a whole. I am not saying the two mind sets can't co-exist, but rather that one is not necessarily the qualifier or prerequisite for the other. I am in great debt to the many non-technical but highly capable listeners and music lovers who have taught me something more about the music I like -- which tends these days to consist mostly of jazz and classical (with a bit of King Crimson, Genesis, Yes, Perfect Circle, Audio Slave, and so forth thrown into the mix )

We had discussed in another thread here that, according to a couple of its more illustrious contributors, nothing but distortion, excessive noise, and other deleterious by-products are associated with active line stages vs the dead silent background and accuracy (what's that?) of a simple passive, in-line attenuator. Has that opinion changed now that we have a case with the amp under consideration and its uncommonly high input sensitivity? First it was 'good design' and now it's not, and a preamp will be needed in order to achieve satisfactory performance? I'm confused and somewhat bothered by the equipment bashing from others. It seems to me that as adults we can join in a forum like this to discuss ideas and concepts, including circuit design, without having to resort to school-yard-like (sorry, I've been a public school teacher for almost 30 years -- I know) bashing of the equipment of our fellow forum members. I joined this forum in 2002 under a different handle, and at that time it was fraught with insults, degradation, personal attacks. I was up to something like 15,000 posts (not something about which I'm necessarily proud, and didn't wear like some sort of laurel wreath) when I decided to drift away and spend my time instead with my family and my own amp and preamp building projects. We can offer ideas and opinions about all topics, but, as a contributing forum member, I want to present the possibility that all of those things can be accomplished in an atmosphere of mutual respect and appreciation, even if we may personally not agree with the ideas and, in particular, the equipment choices of another forum member. We all spend serious money on this hobby, and it can be decidedly disheartening for someone to have his or her amp, preamp, or speakers simply flung into the pile of mis-fit audio equipment by someone else, irrespective of that person's technical understanding and prowess. deadlift: Thanks for your astute reminder. It IS about the music, and if you, I, or anyone else is enjoying and happy with the choices we have made as far as our music-making machinery, what others may (rather unkindly, in my view) say to the contrary - and in the words of the founding father of this great company, is, quite simply, BS.

Bruce Rozenblit also designs preamplifiers and a phono stage with virtually zero residual noise artifacts. I think you observed much the same with respect to the Grounded Grid, Maynard. I built his first published preamp from scratch via his article and accompnying schematic in Glass Audio in '93, I think it was (?). Somwhere around that time anyway. Also very good, but both the GG (of which I have built several) and the 300B masterpiece (yes, Al, I know am kidding myself again) are in a different league.

Backside of input/output terminals

Left channel Type A crossover in situ. So, simple pine, autoformer update from Bob C., factory woofer inductor.

Note on crossovers As someone far more interested in tube amp building and circuit design, I don't build crossovers with expensive hardwoods, nor do I try to make them look like something to be hung on a wall. As I remember, parts are mounted on a piece of pine or ply, well soldered, and built according to schematic diagram. Thy will do their job as well as if the same parts were mounted on polished ebony, bird's eye maple, or mahogany. spending time with teenage niece and nephew visiting from Houston; I'll get a pic in of crossovers later.

Left side is identical with the exception of very shallow chips in area close to metal trim.

R channel input terminals, lower pair are outputs to woofer bin.

General Pictures Begging patience - it's been some time since I've uploaded pictures here...have been working on it for a bit! Ok, there. Overall right channel

Thanks, both. Deep3shot - totally agree. Of all the loudspeaker systems I've built myself or owned, the LSIs are the first I never had to worry about in terms of corners getting bashed, veneer getting damaged, etc. They have been a pleasure to live with and use in that respect. Thanks for your endorsement, as well. Minermark: Taking clear pictures of networks in split LSIs is a bit of a chore. The midrange/tweeter cab has to be partially taken apart in order to get at them, but I am of course willing to get the best image I can short of taking them out. I used new high tolerance Dayton caps, but can't remember if the choke on the woofer and autoformer are also new or parts bin pulls from bunches of other networks that have been taken apart and/or rebuilt over the years. Inductors and autoformers have a much longer life-span compared to capacitors (referring to the old "bathtub condensers" (as my ham radio building pop calls them) so for me have been less of a concern. Still, if they are factory original chokes, one could always update with new iron or air-core without too much trouble.

...interesting discussion.

While I understand pictures will be worth far more than these introductory words (and pictures WILL follow later this morning), I have decided to sell our trapezoid/fiberglass/aluminum La Scalas in order to replace them with a more main-living-room-friendly-pair in birch ply. We just moved to the Tucson area from Houston, where I had been using them in a dedicated listening room. I don't have the luxury of such a listening space here, and the juxtaposition and contrast with our room decor and furniture is too strong. My dear wife has tolerated my audio passion (insanity) for thirty years, and she gently admitted to me that she wouldn't mind another pair that was a bit more in keeping with the other furniture in the room. I am the second owner, having purchased them a few years ago from a former disc jockey. They are in quite good shape, with the usual tell-tale signs on the protective aluminum trim that reveal their life was one of active but cared-for use on the road. They are in perfect working condition and very presentable if you don't mind their otherwise battle armor utliitarian appearance. Their factory networks were the AL, which I still have, but were replaced with the new pair of type A networks that are better suited to my very low power amplifiers. The AL crossovers have unfortunately not enjoyed the best reputation, at least on this forum, but I will say, based on many years of experience with various Heritage series networks and speakers, the AL can, in my view and experience, be very satisfactory with a decent amount of horse power in front of it. The amplifiers I have built are in the 1.5W to several watt range, and the AL, being a higher order (and thus somewhat more lossy) crossover, just wasn't happy being driven by such small amps (some of which are REALLY heavy!). They have new cabling between the crossovers and input terminals, and I have by-passed the fuses and diodes in favor of a more straightforward and simple signal path between speaker and amps. Diodes and fuses have been removed, with the fuse holder holes finished instead with black nylon hole plugs. Vitals: I bought them for $1,000, which was very fair for their condition, and told the seller that I would offer them for the same price (hopefully to another Klipsch devotee, who I know will take care of them. I have never liked the idea of trying to make a profit from a sale where the former owner had been good enough to let them go to me for perhaps less than he or she might/could have gotten. Subsequently, $1K will be the firm price for this sale if you would like them with their original AL networks (we left Houston with both AL networks packed in different boxes for some reason, and I have found one but not the other. There are a couple of boxes still unpacked, so the second should be here someplace. My price (which, please, is not negotiable) $1,000 (for speakers and original AL crossover networks) $1,200 (for speakers and my type A crossover installed, with the AL networks also included but separate and removed from cabs. I will not ship them anywhere. They are for local purchase in the greater Tucson, Phoenix, or other surrounding areas. I am willing to drive an hour or two in any direction from Tucson to meet a strongly interested buyer who may be coming from a further distance. As stated above, pictures will follow later this morning or afternoon. Thanks, erik Followup: In the event that the second AL network (see above) can't be found, I will sell the speakers with the now-installed type A networks for the same price I would have sold them with the Al networks: $1,000

Tube fanatic Whether the reasons one designer chooses a valve rectifier over SS diode is surely, arguably, a matter of personal preference, and what he or she believes to be the advantage of one over the other in his or her specific circuit. We can't, or rather, should probably not, speak in terms of absolutes, because what either of us is expressing is our own personal bias. There are a number of very highly regarded tube preamplifiers that in fact favor valve rectification, at least for plate voltages, over a couple IN40007s, for example. Prima Luna designs and builds very good tube equipment, and their preamps, with which I have long-term personal experience, are really superb performers -- in my opinion. They not only use tube rectifiers, but one per channel in dual mono power supplies. Mine is also, for all intents and purposes, essentially dead-quiet in terms of residual noise. From many years of experience, I whole-heartedly disagree with the idea that active preamps are nothing more than noise and distortion boxes. But that doesn't make me correct in a global sense. It makes me correct in terms of my own experience, as well as what I know others have expressed in terms of what they perceived as improved performance. But sure, one could argue that a couple of tremendously less expensive SS diodes would do just fine (and I have taken that route myself in the past) -- and someone else might feel very strongly about his or her reasons for using, for example, a 5AR4 into a choke input to filter vs a simple resistor (also MUCH less expensive) over a heavy chunk of iron. And you're also correct that the valve rectifier will also need a dedicated filament supply, which means that a designer must account (as most designers do) for the extra current draw when choosing power transformers, or even a separate, dedicated filament transformer with a single, 5 volt secondary (in the case of a 5 volt rectifier). But that fact alone, in my opinion, does not by itself suggest faulty power supply design. If it happens to be a less than desirable option for someone, that person has every right to take a different course. IMHO.

FWIW: A valve rectifier is also a diode.

Neat!

You are obviously very pleased -- good! I'm encouraged that you went with your own instinct on this, and your description is not unlike others I have read on this and other forums. There is no universal right or wrong choice....

The rectifier issue aside -- though I'll mention that in addition to varying increases or decreases in what they can offer to the high voltage rail (aka B+) of a given circuit, one MUST give consideration if, for example, one starts experimenting with some of the different 5V rectifiers available. Swapping one brand of 5Y3 for another, if that's what the circuit was designed around, is fine because one is not changing such things as filament current draw (which is an important consideration) and capacitor input to filter values (which is not the same for all rectifiers; and, if not considered, can greatly reduce valve rectifier life. That said, there are quite a few people, myself included, that, as Bruce mentioned above, DO in fact detect sonic differences by intentionally using a rectifier that offers a bit of 'sag', or the opposite of that, greater 'stiffness' with regard to plate voltages supplied to input/driver, and output stages. Moreover, I'm glad to see reports from those happily using and enjoying active preampfification. We all choose personal paths to music enjoyment, and, without exception, that's a good thing -- as is respecting different tastes, options, personal choices....