2much2soon

I remember my main criteria when I was shopping for speakers; they had to be able to play "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" off Led Zeppelin III without distorting, LOL. John Bonham bashes his kick-drum harder than on any other recording, and John Paul Jones bass was starting to breaking up as well. I took the CD to the store and the KLF-20s did the job better than anything else. The good news is they sound wonderful on other types of music, too.

I have been considering a tube pre amp, like an old Quicksilver or Audible Illusions. But I am kind of afraid I might spend a grand on a tube pre amp and find it doesn't sound that much better than the 3800. I had the 3800 and 170DC restored about 4 years ago by a vintage Marantz expert so I should be good to go with them for another 25 years. That combination is very warm sounding, but it still has lots of punch and detail. I did the Crites Ti tweeter diaphragm upgrade last night on my KLF-20s. Gonna do some more mods to them soon.

Agree totally that KLFs love vintage gear. I run a Marantz 3800 pre into a 170DC power amp. Source is a Kenwood KD-750 TT with a Sumiko Pearl cartridge. Good vinyl sounds surreal on my system. I shake my head when I go into the local "HiFi" store. Their $2800 B&W speakers and Rotel gear sounds like a morgue feels; sterile and cold. Of course, they call that "accuracy". Whatever.