Stainz

Canuck, I am glad you are enjoying your new MP-301 with your '77 H1's. As I said earlier, I have the same amp & speakers, along with a JBL SUB 550P sub-woofer set @ 60 Hz. I did swap the 6P3P outputs for the EL34B's that came with the amp, when one channel developed a sporadic static/hiss (Gas?). It still has a pair of NOS RCA 6SJ7's. I elected to get another pair of them from my surplus tube supplier as well as a pair of NOS RCA 6L6Y's (Mil-Spec 6L6's - packed 7/55!), all pretty black metal tubes - ~$39 shipped for the four. I did blow the OEM fuses - 1.6A SB. Garry said they were for 220/240 Vac - get 2A SB - which I did - no more blown fuses! BTW, my simple L+R sub-woofer output and that JBL acoustic suspension sub extend the bass below 55 Hz for the H1's. Of course it's not a VT sub... Heresy approaches a Cornwall!

The Newegg sale is over and the 590's are currently $999/ea from JBL (Not available now from Amazon.). The Klipsch RP-280F are currently $539/ea and available with free s/h from Klipsch, Amazon, etc. With a LF (-3dB) of 32 Hz and an SPL (2.83V/1m) of 98 dB, no need for a sub. 150W RMS max - so they should get LOUD! I like my '77-vintage Heresys - a bargain 9/2016 @$375/pr and now driven by a Musical Paradise MP-301 MK3 (6.5 Wpc class A SEP tube amp - $429 8/2017 inc spare tubes and s/h from PRC. ) and, now, the JBL connection... a JBL SUB 550P 10" sealed 300W sub-woofer ($189 Amazon 9/2017!). Love the Heresys - mostly played without the sub!

When I was fifteen and in the 10th grade, my folks moved closer to the HS I attended (1964). I walked by two TV shops going to/from school. I had built SS radios - and repaired VT & SS table radios and phono's - I was fifteen and needed $ for college. I got a job at the shop a block from my home - I was working for min wage - inside, at least. Birmingham gets hot in the summer - and most folks didn't have a/c then - neither did the shop. I welcomed the opportunity to go on house calls with Mac, their tube changing whiz - I carried the tube caddy and the tool box. I found that RCA and Sylvania tubes seldom needed replacing; GE's were next, with Tung Sol being the worst - but they had the greatest mark-up. I mention this because their power tubes were frequently gassy even then - and they were made in the US. I wonder if the Russians bought up their old tooling? Odd that I saw the blue glow and recalled Tung Sol - had to clean my readers to verify! They are tubes - one day they will fail - meanwhile, enjoy them! John

RJW1678 - your Russian Tung Sol 7581's look gassy! Dennis Had's freshly built 2A3 tube amp is just over $1k now - with nearly 3 days left. There is a PRC-made 2A3 amp @ $1.9k on evil-bay - with a volume control. That's a big bottle for 3 Watts! My Musical Paradise MP-301 MK3 puts out 6.5W in UL (Class A - no fb.) with a 6L6G equivalent. I tried PRC-made EL34B's and OEM 6P3P (~6l6G), settled on the latter, but replaced the input bottles with RCA (metal) NOS 6SJ7's. The amp drives my Heresys nicely (Loud & clear!) - with a resistive summing circuit hooked to the speaker outputs to derive the volume control tracking L+R signal for my JBL SUB 550P 10" sealed baffle subwoofer - matches the Heresy's LF driver and extends it a bit - approaching a Cornwall (Maybe a 'Heresy-corner-wall-subwoofer'??). Whatever - it sounds great.

I tried the EL34B's I ordered with it and ended up putting the OEM 6P3P's, ~6L6G, back in. I also tried the NOS RCA 6SJ7's in and left them as they looked neater and I couldn't tell any difference in sound. My sole source is a CD player - a SS Onkyo C-7030 - so, no, I wouldn't think a SS preamp with a L+R sub output after the volume control, would matter. As far as 'busy' sounds from large bands, I have listened to Loreena McKennitt's "Nights from the Alhambra"; Paul Simon's "Graceland" (First release - before all of the compression!); and Herbert von Karajan conducting Tchaikovsky with the Berliner Philharmoniker. over both my 50 Wpc Emotiva A-100 BasX the finest 'sounding' amplifier I had heard - before getting the tube amp - and the tube amp. Some instruments sound as if hanging in space with the SS amp - even more do with the vacuum tube amp! I still don't understand how they can sound different.

My latest addition to my MP-301 MK3 & Heresy? A JBL SUB 550P sub-woofer! I ran a 10 kilohm resistor from each speaker hot (red) to a junction of a female RCA phono jack center and a 1 kilOhm resistor, the other end of that resistor passing through the female RCA phono jack's ground lug and then to the nearest speaker return (black) terminal. Quarter Watt metal film resistors are fine. Make certain your soldered connections are good, your speaker binding posts are tight, and your speaker leads, now terminated in banana plugs, are inserted all of the way. What you have is an attenuated speaker-level L+R signal. You'll need a sub with line level unfiltered L+R input - like mine. I set my sub's Low Pass Filter to ~60 Hz, level at min, and connected my sub to the female RCA jack hanging off my amp (Yes, in a proper box with proper connectors would be better... this was faster and easier.). The low bass is there now! Careful in adjusting the level, lest you want to sound like a boom box... This was made possible by the $600 list sub being sale priced at $189 earlier this fall from Amazon Prime.

I just added a JBL SUB 550P, set to x-over ~60Hz, to my '77 Heresys - perfection! I had to add a 10 kilOhm resistor to each speaker output, the other ends tied to a 1 kilOhm resistor, across which the sub's L+R input signal is derived, the other end to one speaker ground. The amplifier is my still new M-P MP-301 MK3 SE class A VT amp with it's mighty 6.5 Wpc. It is more than sufficient for my 11' x 12' x 9' BR-turned-office. The sub-woofer is set barely on, yet, yet really adds something missing from the Heresys. It's a 10" driver in a sealed enclosure with a 300 W amp - and was an exceptional bargain. Of course, it hasn't stopped my lusting for Cornwalls... Edited to add: Neither the M-P VT amp, nor my two Emotiva A-100 50 Wpc amps have provision for sub-woofers, thus the added speaker-level L+R circuit to the tube amp. I settled on RCA 6SJ7's and OEM 6P3P (~6L6G equivalent) tubes. My music-only source is an Onkyo C-7030 and the riser-equipped - and resting in the front on 1.5" square by 10" long hardwood turning blocks - Heresys are located in the corners in front of the respective bookcases, canted at 45 degree angles for my listening at my desk and ~4' from my ears. The sub is located midway along the right hand wall ~7' from my head. I know it's common knowledge, but I must restate the obvious. The human ear has a dynamic response, favoring speech/mid-frequencies at low level, following the Fletcher-Munson curve, thus the infamous 'loudness' enhanced response once so common. Now, most folks run their equipment 'flat' and blame the poor low level LF & HF response on the speakers! Myself, I simply turn the level up! My 69 year old ears have a decided dip in frequency response from 3-4 kHz, I really can't hear my wife, which perhaps explains my love of the Heresy's MF horn. The fact that the loaded horns increase efficiency as level increases makes it even sweeter - to me! The Heresys and a sub would seem to be the obvious answer - move/adjust the sub to enhance the low end. Locate/adjust the Heresys for the best overall sound.

Not to belabor the point re the MP-301 being a SET or SEP, but pin 3 (P) and pin 4 (SG) of the 6P3P (~6L6G) have a resistance of 280 Ohm between them. Seems a bit high for an ultra linear tap, but I certainly don't know. Garry, Mr. M-P, has yet to answer either of my e-mails. I do like the amp!

My '77 vintage Heresys sound awesome driven from an MP-301 MK3 SET Class A amp with it's PRC-made 6L6G equivalents pushing out 6.5 Wpc. My nearly square BR-turned-office of 12 square meters gets plenty loud for me, too. My source is either a CDP (Onkyo C-7030) or the line output from a Lowe HF-225 Communicatons Receiver, using it's 10 kHz BW and DSB AM Synchronous Detection for the lowest distortion on local AM broadcast band and short-wave stations alike. Shortwave propagation makes weird propagation induced sounds whether slowly fading for a nearer station, like WRMI 9,395 kHz Miami, FL, on now, or faster/deeper fades, like RNZI 7,425 kHz Wellington, NZ this morning - half a world away. The DSB synchronous detection wasn't available in the vacuum tube radio era - and the VT amp drives the 12" LF speaker to sane levels while the midrange 'squaucker' horn takes care of the majority of the rest of the sound as the radio is BW limited to demodulated frequencies below ~ 5 kHz. The best of both worlds! Of course, throw the switch to the CDP and Judy Collins, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Dire Straits, James Taylor all sound great, too. So clear - you can even pick out different instruments - as if suspended in air - and my lovely 50 Wpc (Class AB) Emotiva A-100 BasX amp, my previous standard, just won't do it! And... I did it on a budget: Lowe receiver - $525 shipped Ebay; Heresys - $375 C.L. (80 mi round trip); MP-301 amp - $425 inc s/h from PRC and spare EL34B's; Onkyo C-7030 CDP - $150 (Amazon); $375 for RF Pro-1a loop antenna in attic; $125 misc cables. Total: $2,000 - about half that for just the audio gear... more like $2,600 for the amp, CDP, and new Heresy iii's! It's the best sounding stereo I've owned! I recently bought a JBL SUB 550P ($189!!) to use with the Heresys...

I started working on hifi gear after school (HS) '64-'66 , picking it back up part-time while I was in college '66-'68. I joined the Navy as an ET - '69-'72. I recall a lot of VT equipment - and the last color you wanted to see from the tube was blue... It meant gas! And... how can the shape of the glass envelope 'color' the sound? I guess it's like using super-sized Litz wire for speaker runs... if you spend enough, it must be better. Still... $600 for a quad of EL34 bottles... you could get a p-p stereo PRC-made Yaqin amp - with a quad of EL34's (or 6CA7's) - delivered (Amazon) for that! Of course, I am frugal... and when I ordered my MP-301 MK3 in August, I had to think about ordering a spare pair of PRC-made EL34B's at $25/pair! I probably need to check tube prices...

"Non expensive CD player" would seem to exclude most 'universal' players - even used 103's. As to Yamaha shiney disc players, we've had two - a DVD player that would over rev CDs sending them skidding (scuffing) inside and my wife's CD changer, a jam-o-matic. Both are bad memories. My two earlier AVRs were Yamahas - my last one is an Onkyo, which I am totally satisfied with - thus the C-7030 (and TX-8020) purchases, which I am also quite satisfied with, as well. The Onkyo has a serviceable headphone amp, too - and it weighs 4 lb more than the 7.7 lb, and < 1/2" shorter, otherwise similar sized Yamaha CD-S300BL, while costing half as much here in the states Amazon Prime - $145 vs $299. Mine sound great, including playing my thirty year old copies of Dire Straits' "Brothers in Arms", Paul Simon's "Graceland", and Herbie Mann's "Memphis Underground", all easily identified by the inertial rings I adhered to their label-side outer circumference. My later purchase of an eight CD set (DG) of von Karajan conducting The Berliner Philharmoniker in Tchaikovsky - particularly, the 1812 Overture, which I had in vinyl - and played almost four decades ago on my AR turntable and amp driving a pair of Advent Large speakers. It sounded good, despite the dust-static (No, i don't miss vinyl!). Now it sounds great - I can hear tri-angles and bells - and other instruments as if suspended in space! The CD and CDP source are important - but I cannot discount my 6.5 Wpc tube amp (MP-301 MK3) or my Heresys as being at least partially causal. If you want a great CDP - with analog/optical/digital outputs - you can't spend that much money on a better one, although CDN prices seem higher... still a decent bargain, however. Does anyone else recall those rings? They were self-adhesive and came with an alignment jig and were intended to increase the rotational inertia and reduce errors. I wonder what became of them? I wonder how many were installed on the wrong side??

My Philips CD-960 was a good one, albeit a heavy one @ over 20 lb! It's machined Al tray took energy to move - and the wear on the rubber belts took it's toll, eventually rendering it a paperweight.It was originally ~$2k. NAP/Magnavox denied knowledge of it - or my Philips FA-50 integrated amp (All I wanted was a schematic- it had a defective channel.). I left the CDP in the garage - along with my '68-vintage AR, Inc amplifier when I moved here four years ago. I somehow brought the '68 vintage AR turntable with me (and the defunct FA-50 amp!) although my vinyl collection, from ~'62 on was abandoned in a divorce. I started collecting CD's ~'86, so, when I tired of pushing the drawer shut on the CD-960, I repurposed a Yamaha DVD player as a CDP - and a replaced AVR as a 2-channel system. I simply looked over spec's and reviews and elected to try an Onkyo C-7030 3.5 yr ago - and was elated to the point where I bought a 50 Wpc stereo Onkyo receiver - TX-8020. I recycled that upstairs in my bonus room for a workbenchh stereo/2.1 HT. I bought a second C-7030 - it drives my MP-301 MK3 tube amp which drives my Heresys in my office. The 6.5 Watts is enough to drive my Heresys to quite loud levels in my 11' x 12' office. But the C-7030 CDP is the important piece here - VG transport, stable base, and advanced Wolfson D/A chips combine to make a much better CD player than you'd expect for <$150 (Amazon, etc).

I took it upstairs where it had another C-7030 CDP as it's input - same records were played first with the Emotiva a-100 mini-X then the MP-301. The corner located RB-81ii's on HD24 stands were used as loads. That's the best sound that has come from those speakers! The HF was great as was the LF extension - slightly greater than the Heresy's! The MF was 'there' - sort of - nothing like the MF 'squawker' (horn) of the Heresy - but darned good, nonetheless! After cool down it went back downstairs to my office - and the Heresys - the RB-81ii's went back to the Emotiva amp.

Even Bonnie Raitt's album, "Luck of the Draw", sound's better on the little tube amp. Loreena McKennitt's live album, "Nights from the Alhamra", sounds phenomenally different, the individual instruments easily placed in space... if that makes sense to you (I wouldn't have believed it!). It's like... over there is the cello... there is the violin... and... wth - a hurdy gurdy? (The original 'wah - wah' machine!) Oddly, I thought the Emotiva a-100 mini-X, bought two falls back on a fall sale for $150 sounded better than it's predecessor (Onkyo TX-8020.), especially with those Heresys, although not so different with the NHT SuperOne 2.1's (I'm afraid to try them with the 6.5 Wpc tube amp as their SPL is 86 dB, while the Heresys are 96 dB!). The new headphone output on it's replacement, the A-100 BasX, combined with it's fall Sale price of $180 (Both were steals at their regular price of $230 shipped... no brainers at less!) sold me on the second one. I doubt I'll say good-bye to any of the amps! The MP-301 MK3 sounds so much different and better that I haven't been upstairs to listen to ny RB-81ii's this week. Mine has the stock/OEM PRC-made 6L6G equivalents and my pair of new old stock (& tested!) metal RCA 6SJ7's ($3.75/ea at the Huntsville Hamfest 8/19/17.). Yeah, I like the MP-301 MK3! John

The RP-160M and The Sixes appear to have the same drivers and size enclosure as well as being both rear ported, if that is important to you. I elected to go with the larger RB-81ii's, as 'bigger is better', or so I thought. It and the RB-61ii seem to differ in 1 Hz for LF extension and 1 dB on SPL from the RB-81ii, both being front ported - which I needed due to my wishing to place them actually on bookshelves. I tried for most of a year to get accustomed to those behemeths on shelves - alone due to their 28lb weight - and after accommodating their height by removing a shelf. A year ago I acquired my '77 vintage pair of Heresys and placed them in front of the bookcases - wow! The RB-81ii's finally got some Monoprice HD24 stands for Christmas and are in the corners of my bonus/hobby room upstairs - where I can properly enjoy them. I still wanted the 61's... but just spent my discretionary funds on a MP-301 MK3 6.5Wpc SET amp, so no 61's for me... now! Great little amp, BTW!! So... I'd likely go with a new pair of RB-61ii's... $340 shipped seems to be a deal. Most dealers - even Amazon - have a good return policy. John PS I gained my two bookshelves back on each side... at the expense of those Heresys, canted as they are, partially blocking the bottom two shelves. I can live with that as those Heresys sound great!

double - sorry!

I have a pair of '77 vintage Heresy's that I recently switched amps from my Emotiva A-100 BasX 50 Wpc (8 Ohms <.05% THD + N) to my new Musical Paradise MP-301 MK3 (6L6 family SET - 6SJ7 pre-amp.). I find that it's 6.5 Wpc is sufficient for my listening in my 11+' x 12' x 9' carpeted BR-turned-office - credit the efficient Heresy's for that. It won't rattle the floor (concrete with carpet & pad) or the rafters, but it will reproduce both a string bass and a kick bass quite well. I will try the amp with my RB-81ii's upstairs this afternoon and report back. The beauty of this amp is that it will self bias just about any variant of a 6L6 - and the amp costs less delivered from China by Air than a pair of 845's alone would cost! It's a sweet little amp. Of course, Heresy iii's are even more efficient. John

As promised... here is the 'more later'! Wow! Did I mention... WOW! I picked up a pair of NOS RCA 6SJ7 (metal) and replaced the OEM glass pre-amp tubes with them. The S/N is unreal - neither hiss nor hum is present at max gain with my ear next to the Heresy and the amp on an unused input. I've listened to everything from Adele to Bonnie Raitt to Loreena McKinnett and some old Sandy Denny as well as my usual jazz and rock - even some classical music - it all sounds great. Oddly, you can hear certain instruments as if suspended in air! I don't recall any faults with my previous amp - an Emotiva A-100 BasX 50 Wpc (8 Ohms .05% THD + N) Class AB SS unit... but it sits next to the MP-301 MK3... disconnected and sad. The 6.5 Wpc seems sufficient with the 1977-vintage Heresys in my 11+' X 12' X 9' carpeted BR-turned-office. I plan on getting my smaller/less efficient RM-15's from the bonus room to compare - but I know they will sound weak. The mid-bass to treble from the Heresy is going to be hard to beat, of course. The LF extension of my RB-81ii's is at least as good as the Heresys - I may carry the amp upstairs and try it on the RB-81ii's, which are presently driven by earlier Emotiva a-100 mini-X (Same 50 Wpc as newer model now sitting idle on my desk.), it being fed by another Onkyo C-7030 CDP. I also like the headphone output, which is the reason I bought the newer Emotiva amp! No hiss or hum there, either - even at maximum volume - and on both 96 Ohm Sony MDR V6's and 260 Ohm Koss Pro-4AA's. I tried the the EL34B's that came with the amp - they sounded as good as the 6L6G-wannabe's that came with the amp - no difference was noted, so I put them up for when the OEM 6L6G-types go soft. I am impressed with this amp! John

My favorite example of a manufacturer covering himself is this warning in a S&W revolver instruction manual: WARNING: THE REVOLVER WILL FIRE IF THE TRIGGER IS PULLED! It makes you wonder... And, licking finishes on a speaker... yuck! - I wonder if Heritage speakers have only plywood - not as much urea resin glue to out-gas formaldehyde - and aren't covered by the CA warning? And - which tastes better... a Heresy or an RP-160M? John

I went to the Huntsville Hamfest Saturday and secured a pair of NOS RCA 6SJ7 pre-amp tubes for $3.75/ea. They seem to sound more spacious, if that seems possible. I just swapped the PRC-made 6L6G replacements with the extra EL-34B's that came with the amp - I cannot tell the difference! It really is plenty loud - and uncannily clear - hard to believe it's just 6.5 Watts - of course, running Class A SET, I assume, it's a warm running amp - I measured the temp with my reflected ir thermometer: (in degrees Fahrenheit) Ambient 77 F Transformer 111-121 F Front panel 100 F 6SJ7 top (metal) 147 F EL-34B top (getter) 280 F Electrolytic cap top 130 F The amp really does sound good with my vintage Heresys... and I don't need more power... yet! John

What became of your H2's? Did they really state on the back that they were 4 Ohms? My only H2 advertisement from Klipsch doesn't indicate the impedance of that variant, while my sheets on the original Heresys and H3 alike state "Nominal 8 Ohms". Interesting. Last September found me buying an exc condition pair of 1977 vintage Heresys. I used them in my office/music room, a carpeted 11+' x 12' x 9' converted BR, fed from just a CDP through several 50 Wpc amps, an Onkyo TX-8020 and Emotiva a-100 mini-X and A-100 BasX, before getting my first tube amp in nearly half a century a week ago. I got a Musical Paradise MP-301 mk3 amp, a 6.5 Wpc Class A amp. It is uncannily clear sounding, to the point where you can pick out the spatial placement of the individual instruments. The Emo amps sounded great, too - a slight improvement over the Onkyo, which is the only one of my amps with a sub-woofer output. Believe me, that 6.5 Watts is plenty for sane listening levels, especially since the Heresys are not a 'rafter shaker', anyway. I just wonder what happened...

Yesterday saw me take delivery of my new Musical Paradise MP-301 MK3 Deluxe, a 6.5 Wpc fixed bias amp with 6L6G/EL34 family output and 6J8P (6HS7/6JS7) preamp tubes. First class components are used and it looks like a quality product. I replaced my office SS amp yesterday - an Emotiva A-100 BasX 50Wpc (8 Ohm < .05% THD & 110 dB SNR - decent amp!)- which drove my '77 vintage Heresys, being fed by an Onkyo C-7030 CDP. The A-100 has a volume control and it runs about the same setting as the MP amp (~9-10 o'clock for as loud as I like it!). I loved that SS amp - it is extremely quiet and makes a great headphone amp - but so is/does the new tube amp. In fact, I bought it with the standard tubes - and there is no noise or hum with the volume at max from the Heresys or my Koss Pro-4AA 'phones - unreal! The K'horns are considerably more efficient than my Heresys, permitting those 6.5W's to easily fill a room twice the size of my office, which is 11.5' x 12' x 9'. The beauty is the price - $339 + $60 airmail from the PRC. I added $30 for a spare matched pair of EL34's and got my shipment in 9 days. That amp has a following, too - apparently a "tube-rollers delight". It might be a way to frugally try a tube amp with your K'horns. Compared with the USA-made Decware Zen Triode amp it's a bargain.

My amplifier arrived yesterday and was promptly put in place of my Emotiva A-100 BasX on my desk, connected to my Onkyo C-7030 CDP and Heresys. My first CD was Paul Simon's "Graceland" followed by Getz/Byrd "Jazz Samba" and ending in my Deutsche Grammophon set of Karajan conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker in Tchaikovsky - yes, I played the 1812 Overture on my new amplifier. My initial reaction was ho-hum... it didn't sound different from my SS amp. Sadly, my tinnitus is acting up, but I did notice no hum or noise at max volume over my old Koss Pro-4AA 'phones or the Heresys. I noticed some instruments seem to be singled out more easily - as if separated from the main musical body - cymbals being an example. Weird - but more listening is required. I have the stock tubes in place. John

It arrived after lunch. Everything had been gone thru and sloppily reboxed and taped (customs?) - with one pre-amp tube MIA. It was found between the styrofoam protected amp and outer box - bearing the amp's 20+ lb weight - and in fine shape, as were the rest of the tubes. It works great - more later. John