M_Klipsches
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Posts posted by M_Klipsches
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On 7/17/2022 at 1:58 PM, LTusler said:
I just used Scott to repair a Carver TFM-6CB and a Carver TFM-35 and a Sunfire 2 Channel for me. He is local to me so its was great to find him. Very reasonable pricing.
Thank you for the recommendation. As my collection of vintage Carver stuff seems to be growing, it’s good to know there are options.
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6 hours ago, jjptkd said:
This guy from the Carversite claims to do Sunfire repairs looks like he specializes in Carver upgrades:
"Due to high volumes of requests, we are currently Scheduling at least 8 weeks out. Turn around is 2 weeks on refurbs, repairs are case by case, but usually a week or two. Thank you so much for visiting!"
"fyi - We fix and restore Sunfire and TGA7400's.
Sunfire's are generally over engineered in many areas, and look to follow a peculiar design philosophy that in many ways, doesn't work. ie - The amp sections should not 'blow up' like they do and the TDC with all it's grand filtering isn't designed to handle a fault either. So even a seasoned tech will not be able to find his way through the woods of Sunfire's madness (and it is truly madness).
Not for novices.
Great amps when they work."
Thank you for this as well. It really looks like I’m likely going to have to find other options. Yes they are great amplifiers (insert Caveat here) I’m kicking myself for selling my other Cinema Grand. At least I know I’m not qualified to work on it. Well I did replace the meter bulb in my old one, but that’s about all I’m qualified to do.
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6 hours ago, jjptkd said:
@M_Klipsches Looks like Flannery's Vintage Audio is officially closed if you haven't sent your amp to him already he is not accepting any new repairs:
http://www.flannerysvintageaudio.com/
To my incredibly supportive customers: Due to recent health issues I feel that it is time for me to retire. I can no longer function for more than 4 hours a day at best before becoming so uncomfortable that I have to stop. Because of this; EFFECTIVE JULY 1st, 2022, I WILL NO LONGER BE ACCEPTING ANY NEW REPAIRS. To those of you who have already sent equipment in for service, rest assured that I will do my best to repair your equipment and provide a one year warranty period as well. The same goes for anyone who has been placed on my waiting list. I will do my best to honor any and all warranty claims in a timely manner. A heartfelt thank you to all my customers who have placed their faith in me over the last 8 years. It has been an honor and a pleasure serving you. All the best, Bill Flannery Flannery's Vintage Audio
Damn it Thank you. I’d not heard this at all. I am on the “wait list” but that doesn’t sound too promising. Well either way I hope he does ok, he sounds like a stand up guy.
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On 7/13/2022 at 6:38 AM, jjptkd said:
Are you running a multi-channel system or just 2-channel? I'd look at the new Carver Black Magic 25 if you just need 2 channels for your La Scala's or even the older original Black Magic VTA-20 both are an improvement over Sunfire IMO but the smaller 20 will run out of gas in larger rooms or at high volumes.
It’s a multi-purpose system, mainly music which is 2.1, La Scalas, with a Table Tuba Subwoofer; Movies, TV & Gaming is 5.1.2 with the La Scalas, three Heresys, the TT Sub, and RB-61iis for presence/height speakers. Currently the Yamaha RXA-1070 is running the Heresys and RB61IIs.
I honestly had no idea that Carver still existed.-
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On 7/13/2022 at 6:29 AM, jjptkd said:
Certainly getting used to it is a thing Sunfire was / is the next level in performance over most of the older Carver line costing nearly twice as much new. I was a huge Carver amp fan until I heard Sunfire then that was pretty much it for me, hard to go back after that. Also the M-1.0t is honestly my least favorite sounding amplifier of that line plenty of power just kind of dry believe I commented it would probably make a great sub amp. The M-1.5t is my personal favorite sounding out of the earlier amps.
That’s basically what I’m experiencing, it’s just not as full sounding. It reminds me of electrostatic speakers, which I’m told are great, but every pair I’ve ever heard was disappointing, to my ears anyway. They just lack presence, this amp strikes me the same way.I really don’t think there’s anything “wrong” with it. Although, it did take fairly solid hit during shipping, which made me wonder if it could be malfunctioning, but don’t think so. I guess the Sunfire, really has me spoiled. I suppose now I know why there is a wait list to have the damn things repaired.
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In order to not reinvent a thread perhaps I’ll resurrect this one. I’ve recently acquired a Carver M-1.0t. It is pinch hitting for a Sunfire Cinema Grand Signature, which has malfunctioned and is on Flannery’s repair wait list. Safe to say, that I like Carver stuff, at least most of what I’ve heard Does anyone else have an opinion on this amp powering La Scalas? Given it’s legendary status, I’m just not as impressed with it as I’d expected to be. It doesn’t seem to have the full, rich sound that I’ve had with the Sunfire. It seems a bit “thin”, if that’s a real thing. Don’t get me wrong it will get stupid loud with no effort. I don’t think I’ve seen it hit even 30 Watts, and that’s about when I start to run out of room. Plenty of amp & speaker left, but the room itself can’t handle the volume (13’x20’)
I suppose it could be out of spec, but it’s dead quiet with no hums, pops, or clicks.
I’ll also say that it may be sounding better after a few days, maybe I’m just getting used to it?
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I can so relate to this post. My first pair of Heresys, had two coats of white under a coat of black. Mine were not decorators, but were H-BRs (Heresy-Birch Raw. I used an orbital sander on mine as well. Be very careful, as that veneer is really thin. I went a bit too far on the top of one of mine, it still bugs me. I wish I’d gone slower. Mine still work well and look decent. Yours will too. I’d not worry too much about replacing capacitors just yet, lots of folks will tell you yours are bad, I’ll bet they sound fine. Maybe consider matching up the woofers at some point.
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Sorry, I wandered off. My amp is the 19” Signature 400 - Seven. I’ve had it about a year or so. I’m kind of all in with this unit,it wouldn’t make sense to spend nearly what I’ve got in this one for another unit. Might as well get this one refurbed. Obviously when buying vintage electronics, failure is a possibility, so I factored in potential repairs. Figuring on at least being able to have it refurbished if it failed. That being said, repair costs were a bit lower a year or so ago. But c’est La vie.
I’m sure it’ll get sorted, if not I guess I’ll try find something new that I like as much, for something approaching a “reasonable” price. Which might not be easy. For now at least I’ve got adequate sound. I’ll update as things progress. I’ve yet to contact the folks at Atlantic, but there’s a chance I might be in the northeast in the not too distant future. That might make a $ difference, to eliminate at least half the shipping costs.-
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On 4/30/2022 at 8:43 PM, RandyH said:
issue seems to be the PSU
I was hoping for a simple capacitor. No chance? My electrical theory only runs so deep.
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Thanks everyone for the good advice & recommendations. Either of those Cinema Grands mentioned earlier in the thread, should make someone a great Amp, I’m just already into this one about as far as is reasonable, buying another seems like adding layers of complication. I’ll just have this one repaired (hopefully it can be fixed). I really should’ve held onto the other one. Hindsight, eh? If anyone is looking for one, they should take a look at those, they really are excellent pieces of gear. Whether two channels to just the La Scalas or full on HT Surround.
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8 hours ago, Budman said:
you can figure $500 for the rebuild plus $300 roundtrip shipping is what i paid Bill to do mine years ago. ohio to washington
i'm glad i did it because it was a solid 10 in condition when i bought it
It looks a bit closer to $1,000, but everything is pricier now. My concern is, given the changing economy, how much it might cost later this summer. Oh well, so it goes.
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8 hours ago, Audible Nectar said:
If I'm a lifer "Cinema Grand" guy I consider taking it to the specialist who has the most experience and can get the most out of the piece. In five years when you are still listening to that amp (people who own them seem to really like them), you won't think much that it took six months instead of three or four to get that done. I looked into buying a Cinema Grand amp for my home theater (ultimately went with McIntosh) but had I bought the Cinema Grand it was probably going to Flannery's for the fullest updates that guy had available.
For an amp like that, I go to 'The Go-To". Especially if you like it and want to keep it another 20 years. What's another few months?? Not to mention that five channel HT amps are a dime a dozen out there and a "spare" can usually be found such that you use it, get your Sunfire back then sell it, or just keep it as a "just in case", especially if you bought it just to be a backup and got a good price on it, etc. People seem to talk about these as one of those amps that's a "cut above" and deserving of the total service/rebuild/etc to keep the operational for another couple decades. If this is you and your "angle" you might think further about who you want to do this for the "long haul". That's the sort of scenario where I ask the repairer/restorer for not just a "fix" but a total inspection/internal parts restoration to make that piece the best it can be, or at least discuss that concept, rather than just "fixing stuff as it fails" which can end up a repetitive process repeating visits to the tech. This is how I approach a lot of vintage gear - I don't just want it "fixed" for what's failing
8 hours ago, Audible Nectar said:That’s really where I started, and is still my mindset. I actually had another Sunfire Cinema Grand albeit a “lesser” model before I got my current “Signature” model, I sold it to justify the cost of the Signature. The thing is, honestly the 400 watt Signature sounds exactly like the 225 Watt unit that it replaced. Oh well, I’ll wait it out a bit longer, if the repair gets me another 20 years or so I’ll call it good.
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18 hours ago, Jedster1 said:
I bring my stuff to these guys http://atlantic-systems.com/about-us/ if you're not opposed to shipping. They're not fast (faster than Bill though) but they're honest and good and easy to talk to. I can never get out of there in less than an hour once Paul and I get talking about "the old days" 🤣 They've worked on my Carver and ADCOM amps and I usually get them back in a month or so. They're local to me, sort of. Only an hour away.
Give them a call. Maybe you can work something out.
That’s a good recommendation, although they don’t list Sunfire as a brand they work on. But I’ll give them a call. Shipping to Massachusetts would be a bit cheaper than Washington, for me. Maybe even a nice drive to pick it up when it’s done.
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My Cinema Grand amp is failing. It’s sending a pop/scrape sound, mostly to the Left Surround channel (but audible on all), even in standby mode. I know Flannery’s Vintage Audio is the go to on repairing these amps, but I’m a couple of months into a 4-5 month waiting list to even send it in. Then a few months after that to actually get it repaired. Does anyone have any suggestions for competent repair shops for these amps? I’ll probably wait, but it’s always good to have options.
Thanks all. -
20 hours ago, Howard Emerson said:
Here you go:
Nice work. Those were in rough shape.
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14 hours ago, Howard Emerson said:
My proof of membership started out as a very, very rough pair of Heresy I that a good friend gave me back in March of 2021. They'd been used as a PA system for a local guitarist/singer we knew, and they had been beat up, but still worked fine. I refurbished them in white oak veneer and Tru-Oil, and along with a Sony STR-7045 & Tascam CD200BT I'm enjoying them a lot! I did post a build thread about them while it was happening if anyone is interested.
Those look very nice. I’ll track down the build thread.
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On 3/22/2022 at 9:37 AM, Tom05 said:
Glad to hear that laying them on there side works for you, I ran a Heresy center on its side with good success a few years back . I think there is a risk of doing such things though, some purist out there might tell you how wrong you are and why it violates all known audio principles , personally though, I trust your experienced ears 🤓
I’ve ran a center Heresy on its side for ages, it sounds fine. It does tend to agitate the purists, dispersion & what-not, but to my aging ears it sounds about the same as vertical. That being said I have wondered if it would be possible build a Horizontal Heresy, oriented like the old horizontal Cornwalls.
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35 minutes ago, wuzzzer said:
My 80 and 81 pairs have the inputs at the bottom from the factory.
I’ve seen a few but, it seems the norm was near the top. Maybe there wasn’t a spec location? My ‘80s are near the top, as are most of the others I’ve seen from around that time. Interesting, ya gotta love handmade things.
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These are my second pair of H1s. I bought them to put together a 5.1 set up in my “Music Room” for movie & gaming duty. They are HBRs from 1983. One thing that has always struck me as odd about these, and many other ‘83 Heresys (maybe all?) is the location of the connection posts. You’ll notice they are near the bottom, on previous models they are located near the top. I’m sure there have been more than a few H1s who’ve simply had the back panel removed, and re-installed upside down, obviously the label indicates these & other ‘83s came this way. Possibly this was just Klipsch switching to the modern approach of attaching cables near the bottom? When I bought them the cabinets were in decent shape, with only a couple of veneer chips. A little veneer patchwork, a light cleaning with mineral spirits & 000 steel wool; then a few coats of tung oil varnish’s had them looking nice. The grill covers were (are) warped, cracked, & missing the original cloth and badges. I replaced the cloth with the cheap stuff from P. Exp. I still need to locate used. original grills, or make some, and use nicer cloth. From the first time I hooked them up I thought they sounded better than my 1980 H1s. More bass, just an all around smoother, balanced sound. As such, I never bothered opening them up. After a couple of years I finally decided to open them up, to clean and tighten the connections, and install gasket material around the rear panel. That’s when I saw the squawker & woofer were different than my other H1s. the print on the drivers is faint and at first I thought they’d been replaced with aftermarket parts. Then I saw the E2 network and realized these were the H1.5s, and they really are different.
I reconfigured things a bit during 2020, and they now serve as 2ch speakers, powered by an Onix SP3 tube amp. Mostly a vinyl system, just to recall the old days. Although my old Kenwood receiver & turntable were not this good.
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On 12/22/2021 at 11:17 PM, DJEditor said:
I’m sticking with a 2.1 stereo receiver for music only. TV is my business and a sound bar , no snickering now, gives me all I need from broadcast and cable channels.
The Yamaha Aventage Receivers will do exactly what you want. Sure they may have more channels than you want, but just don’t use them if you only want 2.1.
I do use an external amp with mine, but probably 85% of listening is 2.1. But if I want to do more, it’s 5.1.2 with a button push on the remote, or my phone.-
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7 hours ago, wuzzzer said:7 hours ago, wuzzzer said:
I wanted to see how they sounded with all three Heresys up front being essentially the same height as each other. Sounds better now as sounds pan across the front stage. Midrange and treble are smoother now.
I wanted to see how they sounded with all three Heresys up front being essentially the same height as each other. Sounds better now as sounds pan across the front stage. Midrange and treble are smoother now.
Gotcha. That makes sense.
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1 hour ago, wuzzzer said:
Made some slight adjustments to my setup. I took my L&R Heresys off the 30" stands I had them on and placed them on the floor. Found a couple door wedges to angle them up in a similar fashion as the factory risers.
What was the reason for the change? Were you trying to correct an issue, or just wanted to see what would happen? I guess the bass response is likely to be better on the floor. But given your subwoofer situation, I doubt that’s an issue. I ran mine at about that same height, a few room configurations ago. I thought they sounded good, maybe even better than on the floor. I didn’t even have a subwoofer back then. -
I’m glad to see they are turning out nicely. Also that glad that you saved them from the elements.
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Good thread idea, Wuzzer. I’ll add a couple of my Heresys to the mix. My 1980s were my first pair of Heritage speakers, I got them back around ‘02. After twenty years of lusting for La Scalas, I finally “settled” for a rough pair of HBRs. They’d apparently hung on the wall of a school music room, for most of their existence. They’d been painted white and had been hanging by aluminum French cleats, (they still have half attached to the backs). The guy I got them from intended to strip them, but gave up & painted them black. I decided I couldn’t make them look any worse so I started sanding through three laters of paint, (& a bit of veneer as well). I stained & polyurethaned them, if had had it to do over, I’d do things differently. They turned out ok though. They were built by @HDBRbuilder, my apologies for the refinish, but they look better than they did. I know that. I said, “settled” for Heresys but I realized, after finally getting La Scalas (coincidentally also 1980s), that Heresys are damn fine speakers on their own, just a bit smaller.
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Carver Amps on Klipschs
in 2-Channel Home Audio
Posted
Most of the Carver stuff I’ve heard sound damn good to my aging ears. The Sunfire certainly does. I’m sure there is better gear out there, but you said it yourself “price point”. The very same reason I drive a five year old Volvo wagon, and not a Porsche Panamera Sport GTS, a better car by most any measure.
I’ve little doubt that a rack of McIntosh amps, would sound great, but that pesky, “price point”. So there’s the “Why”.