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I'm getting very close to having the funds to get my long lusted after Turntable. Vinyl here I come.... Now on to my question... Initially I will be using my Eico phono section for LP listening, until I find a decent phono pre-amp to marry with my AES/Wrights. Right now my Eico has Eletroharmonics 12AX7s, which I've left alone since I have no turntable now. I'm thinking a decent pair of Mullard long plate 12Ax7s would get me by until I can find a pre-anp with the AES/Wrights? I also have a few decent 5751's laying around... Opinions and suggestions please.

Jim, Interesting. Did you remove the top on that K-Horn or did It come like that? - tb

I don't know about the rest of you, buy I use internet Explorer and I can expand the font size to whatever I feel is confortable with Command Plus or Minus key press. That key sequence is on a Macintosh so I'm not sure what the PC equilivant would be... Perhaps this might help some of you sight challanged folks... Good Luck.. p.s. I miss not knowing who was the last poster to a topic is...

Congrats Jim! Well I hope your going to be posting Pics of your new K-horns? I do miss my K-Horns, perhaps someday I will move into a bigger place and have room for them. I am really enjoying my Cornwalls though. Still going to have to find a pair with Alnico drivers though... - tb

I took this offline with Craig, but thought I would share this test with the general populus. Playing Dire Straits - Money for Nothing and used the SPL Meter to make sure it was loud. Both the Eico and AES/Wrights had no trouble keeping the meter pegged at about 100 - 104 db as measured from about 1 meter. That was about as loud as I could take it. The volume on the AES was about 3/4 way and about same on Eico. I didn't feel as those either of them were running out of headroom. IHMO - At that party volume level that a SET amp is not really needed at all. A Scott or an EICO would do just as well if not better for that type of listening. -tb

jazman - Thanks. The next additions to my system will be quality interconnects and speaker cable. Please feel free to make some suggestions as well as what to stay away from. Also planning to add a turntable by end of the year, which depending on funds will probably be a Music Hall MM-7 or perhaps even a VPI Aries Scout. - tb

deang - That didn't make any sense to me either. Hopefully Kelly will clarify that... Mike - So what did the bootleg rectifiers do or not do? The one in mine seems to work ok, I'll go ahead and get some mullards anyway. Ed - I got the Nikon 5700, real nice digital camera IMHO. Mobile was right on the money with his description of the sound as compared to the EICO. I did several switches back and forth yesterday using the Patricia Barber - Companion "Use Me" track to compare, It was evident after the switch. Vocals were more detailed, relaxed, more air between instruments. The instruments seemed also further back and not as forward. The Eico is surprisingly very good, but it's evident that this is a whole new level of sound. Craig asked if the sound improvement over the EICO is worth the money... As with all audiophile upgrades the return on your money can diminish. I can tell that some CDs I have do not show the difference as much as some better recorded stuff. If the source is good, the Wright / AES combo will reveal much more of the music than the EICO will. If the source is crappy, then it won't matter at all. Generally speaking, if the music is not well recorded, I tend to not listen to it very often. So for me, the money is worth it ... I'm never going to sell the EICO though. - tb

Mobile, Edster told me there was a problem with balance with his AE-1 and he didn't want to sell it to me that way. Lucky for me I found the AES AE-3 on ebay. Here are the pics you requested taken with my new Nikon Digital Camera... Writing on the Rectifier lists National - Made In Holland.

Mike / Mobile - Now that you mention it, the 2A3s did feel different going in, sometimes more difficult, other times nice and easy. Thanks for the clarification on the pinouts. I'm glad I didn't damage the Wrights. I was hoping you would suggest some speaker placement ideas. I'll give those a try and see how it sounds. Back to listening.... - tb

NOS - Thats a good question. I took the Eico out of there for the picture, but will be doing more comparision testing to determine the sonic benifits. BTW: I don't use that fireplace, it's one of two in the house. The benifits of course are only there if you can hear them. Thats why I'm going to need to sit down and have a good set of listening sessions with this setup. Your right, I have not had the Cornwalls long enough to make good enough a distinction, so I'll have to move back to the kg4s and make some comparisons there too. Mobile - Now you tell me! Maybe I'm dim, but I didn't see any way to determine which is the correct way to insert the 2A3s Other than trial an error. Educate me please. - tb

Thanks to Edster, Mobile and others for the pre-amp suggestions. Amazing that it all came together in one week. New in the house: - Wright 2A3 Monoblocks (NOS RCA blackplate 2A3) - AES AE-3 DJH NOS RCA 5692 - '85 Klipsch Cornwalls - Walnut First test of the Wright AMPs showed that the 2A3 tubes were not working correctly, after some trial and error determined the tubes like being inserted a certain way even though the four pins are indentical. Initial impressions are a larger and deeper soundstage over the Eico. More pics and impressions to follow. - tb ------------------ tb ------------------ Two Channel Phono Future - Music Hall MMF-7 or Aries Scout CD Player Rega Planet Preamp Cary / AES AE-3 DJH Amplifier Wright Audio 2A3 Monoblocks Alternate Vintage EICO HF-81 Speakers Klipsch '85 Cornwall Links home.attbi.com/~tbabb/eico.html

Mike - What are the Cornwalls waiting for? i.e. Why are they in his garage? - tb

Craig - Good luck with that Eico. Glad you got another one and are going to give it another try. I'm crossing my fingers for you this time. FYI - Pland should be able to you give you some ideas of tube choices. I believe he favored the Telefunkens and Mullards. I am currently running NOS Amerex BBs on the pre and JJ Tesla for the 6BQ5. I'm very happy with that setup. - tb

Ed, Wow great looking K-Horns and room! Interesting corner wall setup for the K-Horns. Are those adjustable or fixed? Where did you get the idea for those corner wall setups? - tb

Mobile, Great pics of the crossovers. I believe I seen the B3 in mine, but am not sure. I'll recheck this weekend before I give the Cornwalls a treatment of Watco. Craig - What, you just got a set of La Scalas and your ready for more? Mike - Waiting for what? P.S. Got the Wrights and AES DJH today, amazing that they arrived on the same day. I'm too tired to even open the boxes ...how sad. At least UPS delivered them to the correct address and I didn't have to chase them down, I'm thankful for that. - tb

Doug, Thanks man. You just saved me about $2000 in carpeting expense. Now I can afford go out and buy more equipment. Mobile makes a living as a web designer /photographer, it's his job to make things look the best they can. One of the many tricks of the trade. - tb

Just ribbing you Mobile. Ok, we both have some redecorating to do... Back to the topic at hand... I had a peek inside one of the Cornwalls at the store, but didn't note the horn types. I noted the expected type B crossover and that the magnets on the woofer and mid horn config looked nothing like Alnicos. When I have some time this weekend, I'll open them up and take some photos and take some notes of what's in there. You suggested that I could consider the ALKs if the dirvers are switched with older drivers? The drivers are not a requirement for the ALKs from what I read? Do you feel that the ALKs are not worth going to unless the drivers are replaced first? Perhaps older drivers (Alnicos?) would make a more significant upgrade than the ALKs? - tb

Dan, Yes. Actually they never made it to Evanston. They actually were in Hinsdale location but hadn't moved them yet. - tb

Not so fast fini, this is the cats meow... Identity hidden to protect the hypocritical... ;-) - tb

fini The carpet helps hide those nasty cabernet spills. Mobile - Ahem... Care to share with the other BB members your choice of carpeting color? All jabbing aside, the ALK crossover review sounds interesting. I recall Mike just upgraded his La Scalas with ALKs and the results were very positive. Whats the link for ordering the ALK upgrades? - tb

I believe that is "Plum" carpet Mike... Yes, your right it's always something. Didn't Rosanne Rosanna Danna once say that? ;-) I expect by weeks end to have a Wright 2A3 amp and AES DJH preamp to use with the Cornwalls. Things are coming together. - tb

I got lucky today and found a very clean pair of '85 Walnut Cornwalls at my local audio store for $800. Not a scratch on them. They are not my favorite veneer, but since they were so clean I couldn't say no for that price. Got a 90 day warranty as well. Now to figure out room placement.. - tb

1. A pair of them will just barely fit in my Volkswagen GTI 2. The wife didn't mind as much as I though helping me carry the beasts down the stairs into my listening room 3. I love them more than I knew I would - tb This message has been edited by tbabb on 09-17-2002 at 10:30 PM

OMG - Well one thing is for sure, Craig can't make that unit any worse... it's all uphill from there.. Craig said, I'm sure I can fix this one... - tb

powdermnky007, I've collected some lists from others sources looking for good material. I can pass along to you. Send me an email if your interested. One list was put together by the folks at Avant Garde for use with demoing their equipment. I can't speak for the entire list, but most of the titles I've picked up are decent. The the other list I believe was assembled by someone over at Enjoy the Music. Here are a few that I like to use when evaluating equipment changes. I believe they are well recorded, and there is most likely something you might like. - Doug McLeod "Come To Find" - John Lee Hooker "The Healer" - Holly Cole "Don't Smoke in Bed" - Catie Curtis "Truth From Lies" - The Chieftains "Tears of Stone" - Jimmy Rodgers "Blue Bird" - Sara K "Play on Words" - Poncho Sanchez "Conga Blue" - Ricky Lee Jones "Pop Pop" - tb