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teknoid

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  1. teknoid

    Passwords

    I have a system that has worked for me for a very long time. Pick a significant 4 or 5 digit number. An anniversary or a kid's birthday or any number that easy to remember. Combine it with the initials of whatever site you're working with. Add a punctuation that's appropriate to the site or easy to remember. For example to sign in to Bank of America the password would be BoA12345$ and the password for here would be KCF12345 One of the best things about this system is that it makes a unique password for every site. Should one of them be compromised all of the others are still secure. Too many people use the same password everywhere they visit. That's bad bad bad. Obviously some sites would require a little adjustment based on their password rules using the system outlined above will take care of 95% of the secure sites you visit and also be easy to remember. Edit to add: No I don't have BoA account and no that is NOT my password at this site.
  2. http://spacecoast.craigslist.org/ele/4991430176.html No affiliation whatsoever. I wish I had the extra coin to get them.
  3. One evening this next week my 2 granddaughters ages almost 3 and 16 months are going to be in the same room as my recently rebuilt Heresys. I plan to build grills for them at some point in the future but that isn't going to happen before their visit. I have visions of both woofer dustcaps being pushed in before their visit ends. Any ideas on something quick, easy and cheap that I can do to preserve the currently pristine condition of the dustcaps short of removing the speakers from the room?
  4. Glad you're enjoying them. When I get a new (to me) pair of Klipsch I listen to them a LOT for at least a month before applying any mods or upgrades. That way I know the "sound" of the speakers very well and can easily tell what difference or improvement was made by whatever I've just upgraded. Of all of the Klipsch speakers that have passed through my hands over the many years I've been playing this silly game I've never owned Chorus IIs. They're on my "one of these days" list.
  5. Without having both pairs here to compare it's hard to quantify the differences. I suspect that real difference is in "aiming". The slant stands place the speakers front plane in line with my ears when sitting in my "sweet spot". The 4 legged stands (for lack of a better name) aim the speakers well below ear level. Thanks for the compliment. They did turn out really well. At the time that I built the stands and refurbed the Heresys they were intended to be a "B" system in my guest room. Only after many months of not being played or appreciated did I sell them. Considering what I sold them for I'd LOVE to get them back for the same price. Oh well...
  6. I've been following this thread with great interest. I was anxious to see how the "Rotel vs HK" throw down shook out. Not surprised at the result though. All of the Rotel Kit I ever owned I found to be very dry and clinical for lack of a better term. Not "bad" but just kind of BLAH. The HK kit I've owned in the past had a much warmer sound. My brother described it as "organic". I'm not sure how he arrived at that term but I think he might have nailed it. On an unrelated subject... I get a big kick out of seeing your avatar with 3 La Scalas in your HT. I like to think that it was a visit to my house that sparked your quest the culminated in a La Scala HT. You're welcome! To you're lovely wife... My apologies.
  7. I also did these stands for a pair of Heresys that I refurbed: Sound wise I didn't like these quite as well as the "slant" Rat Shack stands. These Heresys and the stands currently live with a forum member near Orlando. When I sold them to him he was driving them with a really nice vintage Marantz receiver. A 2270 I think. Perhaps he'll chime in on this thread.
  8. I have my Heresys on some stands I bought from Radio Shack many MANY years ago. The stands look like this: Here's the whole setup: I'm very pleased with how they sound sitting on the stands. I tried the OEM slant risers, flat risers, and flat on the floor without a riser. Of all of the options my cheapo Rat Shack stands were the best sounding to my ears.
  9. Pretty close but it's missing the 2uF cap in the negative lead on the tweeter.
  10. Man I wish I had the coin for this. I can't think of a better receiver to drive my recently restored Heresys. Good luck with your sale!
  11. AWWW CRAP!!! I have no idea how this ended up in the wrong area. Admins... PLEASE move this to the appropriate area.
  12. How many besides me have regular "music nights"? A "music night" is defined as an entire evening dedicated to NOTHING other than sitting in the sweet spot, sipping a favorite libation, and listening to music. Absolutely nothing else. I like to have them 2 or 3 times a week when possible. As for me last night was one. The first in a while considering a recent move. I've missed them. But I sincerely enjoyed last night. My neighbors? Well... Not so much. Too bad. Last night was a mix of Dire Straits, Mark Knopfler, Carlos Santana, and Ottmar Liebert. Yes... I like "guitar" music.
  13. Up until recently I had been driving my 84 vintage Heresys with an Onkyo Integra A-9711 integrated amp and the combo sounded good to my ears. At the moment it's in need of a repair so right this minute I've subbed in a Pioneer VSX-521-k. I've been very pleasantly surprised at how good a modern "low budget" AVR can sound with vintage Heresys. IF (and that's a BIG if) I can get the Integra fixed I'm not entirely sure I'll be pulling the Pioneer out of service. I'm really liking the extra connectivity. Especially with regard to my various video sources. I like "vintage" amplification as much as the next the next Heritage Klipsch owner but don't rule out modern gear. Some if not most of it is actually pretty good. That said if I had the extra $$ I'd be on the hunt for a Marantz 22XX receiver. Of the series I've found the 2240 and the 2270 models to be the best of the breed. Over the years I've had several and all have been stellar sounding paired with vintage Klipsch speakers.
  14. My favorite of the Dire Straits / Mark Knopfler collection and is my #1 test song is off of the album "Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations" Disc 2 - track 4 - The Long Road. Willand, You and I played with this track on CD and SACD at your house one afternoon. Specifically listening for glass breaking towards the end of the song. As I recall the SACD has it and the CD does not.
  15. I guess rural Central Florida is a little different Craig's List wise. I've had quite a few CL buying and selling. Ranging from tools to cars. Most were at my home or the home of the seller. A couple transactions were at some neutral site. All have been perfect. No fears, no problems, no issues. I guess I should mention that I do hold a Florida concealed carry permit and was packing at every transaction. I may be old but I'm not stupid.
  16. You don't need to do anything. Part of the risk of buying used stereo hardware is that it may fail at some point. I'm OK with that. Besides... I haven't torn in to it yet. It may be an easy fix. I'm on the hunt for a schematic. Once I have that I'll be able to do some testing to determine exactly what the problem is. In the mean time the mentioned Pioneer AVR is on it's way to me. I suspect I won't like the sound but at least I'll have tunes to dance to in the shower tomorrow morning. Now THERE'S an image you'll have trouble getting out of your head. You're welcome
  17. Well it was fun while it while it lasted. During a particularly spirited listening session last night the amp dropped the left channel. CRUD! I knew it was coming. The left channel has been kind of twitchy for a while. I thought it was a dirty source switch so I gave it a bath in Deoxit a couple of months ago. It didn't help any. A bit of research about this particular amp series shows this to be a common problem. Turns out that the switch is built out of unobtainum. My boss recently upgraded his AVR and has offered me his Pioneer VSX-521-K for $100. I may pull the trigger on it just to have tunes in the living room.
  18. All things considered it's a pretty cool little audio system. The Qinpu amp has a tubed front end with some nice Russian built tubes and the amp end is a well respected SS amp module. As for the speakers Mr. Jones designs for Pioneer have been the stuff of legends, Truth be told I don't care about all of the myths or legends. All I care about is how it sounds. What I can tell you is that it sounds a whole lot better than a under $100 PC sound system should.
  19. I suspect that regular usage is part of the problem. Where I was it didn't get used a whole lot. I've moved out of my house (long story with an unhappy ending) and in to half of a duplex about 7 miles away. As such this kit is now my main audio system. This should mean something like daily use. Especially since it's a pair of pseudo-Heresys making the sound. I've been in here less than a week so I'm still in "where the heck did I pack ???" mode in order to do things as simply as eating. What I do find kind of funny is that my Sister who lives a couple of doors down dinged me for prioritizing my stereo over pretty much every thing else. All I could respond with was "So?'
  20. For a long time now my PC audio has been a fairly nice 2.1 channel system built by Altec Lansing. It was decent but certainly not real good. Adequate is the best way to describe it. A while back a forum friend offered me a a second hand Qinpu tube/ss hybrid amp at a price I couldn't refuse. I paired it with a pair of Polk R20 speakers. Better than the Altecs but still not much more than adequate. A few weeks ago Newegg offered up the Andrew Jones designed bookshelf speakers at under 50 bones delivered so I sprang for a pair. Only in the last few hours have I had a chance to unbox them and hook them up. I have to say that they're a HUGE step up from the old Polk's that I was listeneng to. Considering the $$ this kit is the best under $100 PC audio setup I've ever heard. And this is what it looks like:
  21. The input selector has gone wonky. An easy fix with a can of compressed air and perhaps some DeOxIt but I haven't taken the time to tear in to it. For now just spinning the knob rapidly a few times is all it takes to make things right.
  22. After a more than 3 year absence of Klipsch speakers in my house I'm very pleased to say that the drought has ended. Last night I gave the finishing touches to a Heresy project that I've been working on for more than a year. I had a pair of cabinets that I don't recall where I got them from. Gradually as budget allowed I picked up the various bits and pieces and last weekend the final parts arrived. Then came the required crossover updates and mods. As I wasn't able to afford the Atlas squawker drivers I opted for the Selenium drivers mated to the K700 horns. This required the use of Mr. Crites tweeters and the -4500 mod to the crossovers. As they are right now they have K22EF woofers, K700 squawker hours with Selenium D250-X drivers, (borrowed) CT125 tweeters, and E2-4500 dividing networks updated with Solen capacitors. So the obvious question is "how do they sound?". Well... They sound a heck of lot how I remember Heresys sounding. That's a good thing. They could stand a bit more bass but that's nothing a decent subwoofer can't fix. As time passes and "extra" $$ dribble in the plan is to change out the woofers to a pair from Mr. Crites and purchase my own pair of of CT125 tweeters. This is what it all currently looks like: Forgive the dust. I'm a single guy and housekeeping is not my thing.
  23. Can I play? How about you're basic loaded bacon cheeseburger?
  24. I'm in the process of rebuilding a pair of 80's vintage Heresys a little bit at a time as I can afford the parts. I have the cabinets, K-700 horns, crossovers, and 1 K-22EF. If you have a spare K-22EF sitting around please drop me a line. Edit to add... I don't drop in here all that often so the best way to contact me is by email at: teknoid56 AT comcast DOT com
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