Harleywood

... my tonearm must be bent. Backstory, Bought a new Project Carbon from Needledoctor four years ago to take advantage of my record collection. Had my Epic 2s refurbished by Bob and found a replacement tweeter from a user here, thank you again! Bought a new Rotel Amp since my vintage Kenwood fried my XOs last power up in 2008. It all came together and I was reluctantly happy. It sounded hollow. Detail was outstanding but horn was harsh and it lacked warmth and richness in mids and very light on bass. Not how the epics should sound at all. Is it the new XOs from Bob? New Amp not paired right? New TT or cartridge issues? So many variables with all new gear to check. So eventually I got around to messing with tracking force without help from a scale, tried new platter mats, bought a sub and finally got it sounding somewhat good. Still not overwhelmed though. Fast forward four years, bought a digital scale and checked tracking force. Should be 1.8. It was 1.64. Dial on arm says 1.8. Balanced arm again and set dial to 1.8 again. Scale read 1.64 again. Set dial on arm to 2.0. Scale read 1.65. Moved dial to 2.2. Scale read 1.58. Dial 2.6, scale 1.4. The most tracking force I can get is 1.74 and dial is set on 1.6. When I screw the weight up the arm to add weight to stylus it actually lightens the tracking force. Something is not right but I can say gaining that 1/10 of a gram made a world of difference in sound. Mids are there and bass is deep and resonating and the harshness of the horns subdued. I can finally dial the tone controls up and give it some space between them. Since new I've never been able to set bass to 0 and treble to 3 or 4. To harsh. Now it sounds so much better. I've tried numerous times to get VTF correct and same story as above each try. Visually the arm where the weight attaches inclines slightly past the gimbal. That doesn't seem right and you can barely see it unless your looking for a reason. Needless to say I'm slightly overwhelmed now by sound quality but I know it can be better. Having the ability to change cartridges and set everything right is a necessity so the new 1200gr is ordered and should be here between tomorrow and 2024. Haha Lesson learned though,, never trust the dial on arm to set VTF. Invest in a digital scale. They are cheap and could have prevented me from keeping a TT that arrived defective not to mention the years of not quite right fidelity.

I did check the cables. They look good. I noticed the the metal ferrules are a bit large so I plugged them in again and they do touch ever so lightly. Don’t notice when you look or feel but I couldn’t shove a piece of paper between them.

Plenty of power. Ran them on a 80s Kenwood amp/pre and didn’t need the sub until the Rotel. Kind of a strange scenario with the CF2s and the Rotel. It’s not that the Rotel doesn’t provide enough bass through the tone controls it’s that the CF2s horns are so bright that I have to run treble control at zero to negative one. The Rotel might also be a tad bright which doesn’t help. Relative to that the bass control now has to go down to negative four to six or else it sounds exactly like what your thinking it would. Dark and muddy. Added the sub and dialed it in and couldn’t be more pleased with soundstage.

First off, thanks for this thread! System as follows, Amp: Rotel RA-1570 integrated Mains: Epic CF-2s Crites XOs Sub: R-110SWi Connected with RCA. Amp preouts are RCA so not using wireless Turntable: ProJect Carbon Esprit CD player: Kenwood Developed an intense hum only through the mains last weekend. Disconnected all inputs and sub preouts and hum disappeared. Found it was the sub causing the hum but only in the mains. The sub was dead quiet. Scratched my head for awhile, looked for sub receipt (lol) scratched my head again for awhile. Decided while I'm back here I'd finally clean up my wires and separate everything into power and signal runs. Should have done that from the get go but we all know when you get a new system the fastest way to get it up and running is usually not the best way. So cables are separated now and nowhere near each other anymore. Still hums through mains when sub is connected but it sure looks better. At the end of my rope so just for gits and shiggles I went and grabbed an old Monster RCA cable from the parts closet and swapped it with the KnuKoncepts Triple shielded dedicated subwoofer cable (lol) that has been in the system since new. Dead freakin quiet. So my question is, how does an RCA cable develop a hum after a couple of years of use? Scratching my head yet again only now to crystal clear audio.

Not sure if posting in right section but what is the general consensus for plugging a USB LED light into the PC-USB on the back of an integrated amp? I have an acrylic TT platter and just got a single color changing lLED light to light it with but the cord is only 10” in length and USB.

Welcome. I have a pair of CF2s that I've owned for 23 years. Bought them new. New Xovers last year by Bob Crites a fellow forum member and replaced a horn that I bought from another forum member at the same time. My control amp went out and damaged those components and if it hadn't been for the help from members of this forum they'd be sitting collecting dust. Be happy to answer any questions you have about them if I can. Heres a link to the specs. The picture is wrong but the specs are right. https://web.archive.org/web/20130205065520/http://www.klipsch.com/cf-2

Those sound horrible especially after they fail and take out both sets of Xovers and a horn that's not in production any longer. A big shout out to Bob Crites for the new XOs, a fellow forum member who's name is evading me right now for the flawless replacement horn, and to Rotel and Audiogone for the brand new amp at half price. Lol

Or if the plastic threads strip out. Lol

During a night of drinks and music by the pool my Groove speaker got knocked off the coping and fell into the water and made its way to the bottom of the hot tub. I thought for sure it was toast. It was completely submerged for at least ten seconds. Out of desperation I placed it in a container of rice immediately and left it for three days. Much to my surprise after the time in the desiccant it powered on and works flawlessly without any noticeable change in soundstage. I think Klipsch can up that rating from water resistant to water proof. I'll vouch for y'all.

Love my Epics and after 22 years with them I have zero desire to search for anything else. I had my Xovers repaired by Bob Crites who is a member here a couple years ago. Believe it or not they can sound better and Bob can make it happen. Congrats on your purchase!

I bet that electron microscope is a chick magnet filled with positive electrons.

My previous home took on water during tropical storm Allison. I lost all of my furnishings and had 51k in flood damage repairs to the structure and replacing appliances and furnishings. I hauled my Epics up into the attic to save them. Even though the insurance would have covered the cost for them they couldn't have replaced them. That may be the reason I have a bad back some 18 years later. Those things weigh a ton. I still have them and Crites repaired the Xovers about a year ago. Was it worth it, you betcha!

I have a R10SW sitting right beside my rack. My table is on a Pangea Vulcan rack with spiked feet setting on half inch saucers on a wood floor. No issues with feedback or tracking at high volume 120wpc. The rack also comes with polyurethane gaskets that are placed between the shelves for isolation. It's a great rack for the money. You can pick one up online at Audio Advisor for $100.

I watched an interview with John Lennon and Paul McCartney on AXS tv a few years back. Both of them said they prefer the mono releases of their work because of its similarity to a live performance. The white album in mono sounds fantastic. Better to my ears than the stereo version so I went out and bought The Doors self titled first LP in mono. It sounded like crap. There's obviously a lot of variation in recording studios and mastering but if done right mono can't be beat.

I mounted an led light bar under the middle shelf to make cueing up easier when playing LPs

It's a Pangea Vulcan Rack. I bought it online at Audio Advisor. They sell the saucers for the spiked feet as well.

Not at all. It's a solid cherrywood hutch. Very sturdy and the 120wpc amp has seen 80 percent on the volume scale more than once. I have the sub set to front fire so the rack gets very little feedback as well.

The 10" sub is perfect for the CF 2s. Took some fiddling to get the gain and frequency adjusted just right.

Thanks! I couldn't see just throwing it out after the rear projection tv went out. We upgraded to a 60" led tv in the den and moved the hutch into the formal living area and turned it into a music room. Very happy with the way it turned out.

Thanks. The 2s need the sub since I changed amps. The Rotel is much brighter than the old Kenwood separates I had that used to drive them.

Rotel RA-1570 integrated amp Project Debut Carbon Esprit TT Ortofon Blue Cart Very old Kenwood CD Player Klipsch Epic CF-2s Crites Xovers Klipsch R10SWi Subwoofer Repurposed 55" Entertainment center Not top of line by any means but sure gets the job done.

Thanks! The backwards year threw me off. Might have some CF-4s by this weekend if can get price right. He's asking $700. The cabinets are a little rough on top. Mostly gless rings. The feet are missing also but he says they function properly and all original. The question will be what to do with my CF-2s that I've had since new. Just had XOs done on them by Bob about a year ago. Guess I could stack the twos on top of the fours. Lol

Ran across a pair of Epic CF-4 for sale. Seller says version one and pics indicate the long tubes. I forgot how the date codes work on serial numbers. Can someone help me out? Thanks!

Thought about that but have since ordered the Kord cable in 12 gauge. Have that installed now and sounds just as good as the 8 gauge stuff and much easier to work with. At least now I know that a larger cable size is not always better unless it's needed to combat signal loss over long runs.

Well I'll be ordering some of the Kord wire today in either 10 or 12 gauge. The bananas I have accept up to 8 gauge but you can't screw the set screws in far enough to get the barrel back on. I went ahead and installed them anyway and just wrapped the connection with electrical tape so I could give them a listen. They sound great but any sonic improvement is minimal at best compared to what I was using. I have to change them out though. I don't particularly like the idea of having them wrapped in tape. The RCA cable is great. No difference in soundstage compared to the Big Sur and dead quite as well.