Madman1

Kick it

Really sorry that you’re facing that.

I was told the same thing about resistors which is why the stock ones are still there. But I do trust Deans opinion. Mark

So my expert audiophile engineer description is they just sounded better, ha. Smoother and more enjoyable. Those caps have nearly 30 years on them and they were junk to begin with. I was reminded that I did some of Moray’s mods with the dynamat on the baskets and horns, a bit of poly fil and I used new gasket material on all speakers and passive. I had no idea those quicksilvers had that type of power. I actually had an amp with kt88 tubes at 60 watts a channel, crazy thing is I considered it bright with my chorus ii which have the same squakers and tweets as the forte ii. Enjoyed an el34 amp BUT love my el84 amps, low power warm and sweet. Mark

I rebuilt the xover in my forte 2, I spent only a few dollars on caps, EXCEPT! The squaker cap where I think I spent $18 or 20$ Because that is considered the most important. Very happy with the results, although it looks like I need to replace the resistor too after Deans comments. I haven’t tried a ton of ss gear but I just don’t like any that I’ve tried with my Klipsch. I have and eico Hf-81 and a Scott 299b. They just sound good to my ears. I see you have tube options. I haven’t heard quicksilver amps but they get really good reviews. One thing is to make sure those speakers aren’t pointing directly at you. Mine seem better if they are passing slightly to the left and right of my ears. Just my opinion and my experience. Mark

Yea, I’m not going over $200. I don’t need them. I can drag my small advent300 to test them. He said they’ve been in storage, not climate controlled obviously.

Thanks wvu80, almost looks like something got stuck to the woofer and that’s the residue. I’m confused by your price difference in the ver 2. One line says $650 and the other says $500 for both being in good condition. Oh and he did tell me he has grills. Thanks

I contacted the seller yesterday. Very slow to respond, now I haven’t heard back from them since 3pm yesterday after I asked a few more questions. I noticed something going on with one of the woofers. Can anybody tell what that is? Also looks like they’ve been kept in a damp basement, could that cause detriment to the internals?

Both of these tube units are in really nice cosmetic condition. The aa just had a few caps changed as a precaution, also it has a barely burned in set of jj output tubes. The only issue I've seen is a volume tracking difference between the two channels. This happens in many of these vintage units. As far as I know the aj-32 is all original and I would recommend a service on it before daily use. I’m 25 minutes west of Atlanta but, would be willing to drive a short bit to meet someone. Really hesitant to ship these right now. $550—$500 I'll try to get pics up today or pm me and I can email them. Thanks, Mark

I’m 1.5 hours from there. Are they really that good? Man they’re rough. I’ve never heard any before. How do they compare to Forte or forte 2 etc...?

A bulk lot of Eico knobs sold on the bay today. If someone who is a member here got them I’d love to buy a couple from you. Pm me please. Thanks.

http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/klipsch-heritage-s-n-dates-code-decoder.147797/ tubes with 3.2 should be fine. Heresys might be better but, will have less low end.

Denver usually has a pretty decent offering of vintage tube amps. Keep an eye out on Clist. The springs is a good market too because they don’t sell well there for some reason so you tend to get a better deal when they pop up. Integrated el84 Scott, eico are my favorites and can be had for 5-600$ just try to find one that’s been restored or you will have to have that done. Have fun! Mark

That is correct but, if you read the details of his posting he has changed one of the woofers out with an ampeg woofer.

One has the wrong woofer. No good!

There is a pair in Nashville. Not exactly Midwest 😬. 425 a bit overpriced in my opinion. I’ve had a lot of the kgs come thru my hands and I feel they’re a bit on the cheaper end of Klipsch. Cabinets barely glued together and woofers seem to pop and bottom out at high volume. Only one that is well made is the original kg4. I see the .2 & .5 come up pretty often on cL but maybe they’re just in the south. GL!

He is definitely one of the guys that I would want to have work on it. Thanks Bill

I do have one that has had all the caps replaced, power switch moved and transformer replaced. The transformer made incredible noise and took away from any enjoyment in listening. This happens a lot with these units and most say if it hasn’t started to fail it will. I love mine, I love it so much that I bought another. But I also know these can be taken to a higher level than mine. Thanks for your input. No I haven’t been on diy. I have 3-4 guys in mind for doing the restore but, just trying to see if anybody wanted to share their experience. Thanks, Mark

I haven’t heard any new amps that I like the sound of like the hf-81. The power transformers are problematic in these as they weren’t designed to handle today’s higher voltages. There are several guys out there that do this type of restoration and brings these 60+ year old units up to spec. The power switch was mounted to the treble knob which was a bad design and wears the treble pot out. Moving it to the back or to the unused tape switch is done by most guys. I don’t expect anyone who doesn’t have a love for these units to understand but, they’re pretty sweet sounding amps and are worth the investment to me.

Looking for people who have had their hf-81 restored. I’m looking to have mine done and I want a full blown restore. I want new rcas, speaker terminals, tube sockets, minimalist selector switch, power switch moved, power transformer and of course all new caps resistors etc etc. Who did yours and what’s your thoughts? Thanks!

I honestly don’t think you’ll be happy with that low of wattage on kg4 . Keep your eyes open for a el84 pp amp. The kg4 are 94db if I remember correctly. Forte and chorus are in the 96-98db range I own both and I wouldn’t want these running on less than my 14 watt amps. When you get in the 103db area (k-horn Lascala) then those flea watt amps are a great match. I’m definitely not an audiophile just my opinion.

I honestly can’t speak to that unit, I do believe tubes on the front end will sweeten the sound but, I know the midrange that is produced from that el84 tube is sooo sweet and rich. I have my forte 2 running off a partially recapped Scott 299b that is somewhere in the mid 20watt range and is such a pleasure to listen to.

You’ve gotta find someone with a vintage el84 amp. Eico,Scott, Dynaco, even Heathkit that would bring over and demo for you. I’m no audiophile and none of my setups are acoustically ideal but, I know the sweetness I hear when any of these are driving my forte ii or any of my other Klipsch speakers. If you mainly listen to vinyl the Scott would probably be the best fit without mods. The eico and Heathkit are not as good in the phono stage in stock form. .Don’t get me wrong I like marantz and solid state in certain systems but, you owe it to yourself to try a tube amp and i think the el84 amps are a great match and for $5-700 you should find a restored one. Good luck!