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I took my wife to the local HI-FI shop for a demo of several high-end displays. The guy actually said to her that what he was saying was probably being interperted by her as wah, wah, wah (like in Charlie Brown), She has a 150 IQ and is quite capable of understading what he was saying. My wife was totally turned off by this so he lost a sale that day. This guy was a real snob. He had an attitude you could cut with a knife. I brushed it off as his problem but my wife was quite offended. Little did this little man understand that the wife usually has the final say. If the little women is totally opposed to a purchase it's not happening 9 out of 10 times. IMHO

Sorry for your sorrow. Everyone has gone though a terrible breakup. It's never fun and can certainly take all the wind out of one's sails. Time makes it better and so does moving on with your life. Women are like honey and can attract men a lot easier then men can attract women. If I were you I would use the dating services on the Internet to meet new ladies in my area. It's a good way to meet new and exciting women and get back intothe dating scene. Having a few successful dates will get your spirits up and get you excited about life again. The worst thing you can do is wallow in what if's. I hope this helps. And yeah new speakers can't hurt either. I hope you're enjoying them.

From time to time I will buy a tube amp or use a demo and hook it into my front channels. Then I use my premap to reduce the output of my front channels by -9db's. MY ss amp runs my rears and center. This makes for a nice setup and I can still use the tubes for 2 channel audio too. You might want to keep the receiver for HT and buy a tube amp for 2 channel listening. I'm actually selling a Spark amp which is like the Cayin TA-30 but only puts out about 12 watts. It's on Ebay with a Buy it now of 450.00. There are other good used tube gear on Ebay too. I still think that SACD/DVD-A even with your Yamaha receiver will make a huge difference in your listening pleasure. You can even down mix into 2 channel listening if you don't have a 5 speaker setup.

OK. Take back that receiver and buy separates. With all those speakers you should have a 5 channel speaker system. I'd suggest a Sherbourn 5 channel amplifier and a Denon DVD-2200 0r 2900 CD/DVD player and a B&K Ref. 30 preamp. The Denon players have excellent DACS. You'll get 95% of a top end system and save thousands. Stay away from THX certified stuff. THX will restrict how you can setup your system and limits your choices. I have an inexpensive Sherwood Newcastle preamp. This is another good option. You can buy them used for about 400.00. You want a preamp that has a 6 channel analog pass through and bass management for all channels. I conducted critical listening test with my Newcastle and I couldn't tell a difference between my tube amp when played through my preamp or directly into my amplifier. I have a switch on my tube amp that allows me to switch back and forth in real-time. SACD/DVD-A breathed new life into my audio system. Music was fuller, warmer, more dynamic and with great bass extension. These new formats and getting away from the Yamaha receiver will give you the sound you want. I would also think about keeping your Cornwalls and selling everything else to buy a pair of K-horns. A Forte or Heresy would make a good center channel too. I hope you have a sub. When I first hooked up a sub to my Cornwalls I thought I was in heaven.

Dean: Timbley write: I didn't use any crossovers. I just took off the jumper cables and hooked one amp to the tweets and the other to the woofs. I know this isn't the ideal way to do it.

You can get the Pioneer Elite 45a with a 3 year warranty for about 315.00. Another option is to look for a Denon 2200 B stock for around 290.00. I own the 47a and 2200 and they are both equally great players. Pioneer also makes a less expensive univesal player but it's not in the same league as their Elite models.

Hi, You can buy used Klipschorns for around 1500.00 - 2000.00 everyday on Ebay. Because they are such a heavy speaker and usually bought by high-end buyers it's my experience that they tend to stay in better shape then say a Heresy that can be moved rather easily. My K-Horns are from the 50's and they look and play like new. I personally don't like MDF because it is not as strong as ply, is more prone to moisture problems and chips easier. However, if you can get new for around 2-3k then your deciscion is a difficult one. I would love to hear a new K-horn next to my old dogs.

My father in-law has a newer BOSE system and yes it sucks. I remember hearing the older 901's with a Scott tube amp and thinking they sounded awesome. Maybe I was just young. It was many, many years ago. But they were my first taste of what could be.....Jump years ahead and my setup inludes, Cornwalls, Klipschorns, Forte's, and Heresy's. I've listened to many different sepakers and the only speakers that I thought sounded good were magneplans and the top of the line B&W speakers. I'm sure there are many other but I obviously love my Klipsch speakers.

I would suggest a driver with 88-90db efficiency and a low q. 84db is too low and you'll end up spending lots of loot on an amp. Also, look for a driver that can be used in a sealed enclosure. It'll sound more musical then a vented design (my opinion here)and will be less costly to build and easier to get right. Tuning a vented sub can get tricky. I would also discourage the use of a sub amp and buy a used bridgeable stereo amp off ebay. If you need a croosover you can use FMODS.

Timbley, Try using FMODS for your crossover. The are inexpensive and work like a charm. They are also plug and play. You'll need to buy several cables but it really is an easy endeavor and you remove the risks of blowing a driver.

Lets see. If you had an amp that was putting out 1 watt and wanted to double the SPL you would need 10 watts and 100 watts to double the SPL again.

Keep in mind that a driver with an 87db efficiency will take twice the power to get the same SPL of a driver with 90db's of efficiency. Also, keep in mind that your sub box needs to be rock solid. 1" Baltic Birch is probably the best material or you can use 3/4" ply with 3/4" MDF and glue the board together. Make sure you do lots of reading because making a sub is not just taking a driver and plopping it inside a box. If you have no carpenty skills then you are probably better off buying used on Ebay.

I've listened to several 2A3 amplifiers that are wonderful with Klipsch speakers. I just finished a custom 2A3 amp for a customer and we tested it against his Dyncao 70 and it blew the Dynaco away. For Klipsch speakers I love the sound of a well designed SE amp. My tech is currently building me a 5 channel SE amp for SACD/DVD-A listening. It's going to be one big mother! We may even sell it on our website but I haven't decided this yet.

I would return the unit if you can. You checked the fuses too? A speaker lead may have jostled loose on the driver. Can you easily pull the driver to check this? Try hooking up the sub driver to your receiver. YOU probalby wouldn't hear any bass but you should feel the driver stiffen up and move a little with some sound. After all this you best best is to return the unit.

True but the EL34 is a true Pentode tube which can also run in Triode.

Cayin sells SET amps but the TA-30 is a PP amplifier. I've listened to a lot of amps both tube and SS. I always seem to like the sound of the lower powered SET amp with no negative feedback. But there are many variables. Circuit design, OPT's used, tubes, etc. What is it that you don't like about the TA-30?

They Cayin Amp you have is plenty good stock. If you want a better soundstage and sweeeter sound I would suggest that you let us re-wire it so that the EL34 tubes runs in triode mode instead of Pentode mode. The EL34 is not a true triode but can be wired in that configuraton. You'll give up some power for sonics. Triode mode uses less voltage and we can remove all the negative feedback taht maes a tube amp sound sterile. There is plenty of NFB used in the Cayin amp. We'd install a knob that would allow you to add or remove the amount of negative feedback and then you could tailor the amp's sonic signature to the type of music you're listening too and your own preferences. I would also remove a few questionable caps in that amp. If you wanted we could also install a toggle to allow you to switch from triode to pentode mode. Let me know if you're interested. When we were done with your amp it would sound more like a SE amp and less like a SS amp.

Born2Rock, I use Heresy's in my two listening rooms for rear channels and I recently replaced then as center speakers with Forte's. The Heresy is an awesome speaker IMHO. They never sound flat or lack dynamics. I really think your problem is the receiver. To get good sound you need good separates. I would suggest used equipment. I also would suggest selling your receiver and twp speakers. Unless your room is the size of a gym 5 speakers is all you really need. Also, your choices in amplifiers and preamplifiers increase dramatically. 7 channel amps are the newest, greatest thing and they carry a premium price. You can pickup a used AV6000 B&K, Sherbourn, Outlaw, ATI, or you can buy a good 3 channel amp and use tubes for your main speakers. That is the setup I have. Well really I have a 5 channel Sherbourn and bridge two channels for my passive sub. Anyway, there are also some good buys on preamps, B&K ref 30, Sherwood 9080, Rotel makes a descent pramp too.

Hi, I just wanted to add that if you've never used veneer before you might want to consider PSA veneer. With this type of veneer the glue is already applied evenly and you would only need to peel off the backing and stick it on. Then you can easily shave off the excess with a razor blade. Traditional paper backed veneer is not easy to work with and very easy to get lots of bubbles. Another alternative is to buy 1/4" veneer plywood and then use solids to hide the edges. You would need a table saw and a good fence for this. PSA would definitely be easier and it wouldn't add much weight.

You wrote: El-34s sound bigger and sweeter than El-84s with the highs remaining. I can't compare them to the 88's though. One thing for sure they beat the pants off 7591s in a Scott 299c in sweetness. The circuit design, iron and overall quality of the components have more to do with sound quality then the tubes. You can run many Pentode tubes in triode mode and they will sound wonderful. You really can't generalize about tubes. I've head great and not so great amps with many different tube configurations. The EL34 can handle more power then an EL84 and I like the sound of both in well designed amps. It's all in the ear of the beholder.

The Cayin is a great little tube amp. Why not just MOD out what you have. You can run the EL34 in Triode mode, lower the plate voltage and add a pot for adding and subtracting negative feedback. I've done a few or these with great results. There is no need to spend money on new caps and resistors. For 300.00 that little Cayin can sound as good as any amp under 2k. With your Klipsch speakers you only need a few watts to run them at ear bleeding levels.

Hi, I own a ST-140 and M200 monoblocks in various systems. I still like my Cayin M-12 amp the best of the lot but the B&K amps are also wonderful. Anyway, I also have a Sherbourn amp too so I'll give you the results of my listening test for what it's worth. The B&K amp utilizes MOSFETS in its output stage and has a warmer sound then my Sherbourn which has Bipolar transistors. Most SS amps use Bipolar transistors and amps using MOSFETS are usually more costly. The Sherborn has tighter bass and more clarity in the treble region. The B&K had a sweeter mid with rolled off highs. My tube amp sounded more musical the either and was my favorite amp. I've listed to ADCOM at a dealer's studio and liked the amp (I forget the model). I thought it sounded nice but the speakers were not Klipsch so it's hard to say how it really stacked up with my other amps. You really need to listen to each amp. B&K stuff is built like a tank, has excellent warranty service and they are right in Buffalo NY. I don't know about ADCOM but service after the sale is very important. Good luck.

Hi,<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> I love my Cornwalls but the K-Horns are in a different league. I have a pair of K-horns from the 50's with a fiberglass horn section. I think you will love them too. Ok now my advice for what it's worth: I would not consider a Sony SACD player. You can buy a Denon 2200 or a Pioneer Elite 45a and it will sound as good as the Sony (IMHO) and also give you access to DVD-A discs. Why limit yourself only half of the high-rez formats. I would sell my gift certificate on Ebay (you'll get about 90% of its value) and buy a used tube amp (Jolida 102b or a Cayin M-12) and then spend the rest of my money on a Denon 2200 (you can get a refurb for about 298.00) The Sony ES line is awesome but very expensive and it still will not do your K-Horns justice. You only need a few watts to drive them. A little SE or PP amp will do wonders. See if you can audition some tube amps and SS amps just to see what is out there. Not everyone likes the tube sound but K-Horns were designed to take advantage of tubes. Some of the old tube amps sound dark and muddy but a well designed tube amp with well matched speakers are wonderful. The older Eicos and Scotts are great values.

Hi, Sounds like you may have a bad sub amp. They are notorious for malfunctioning. Please describe in detail how you installed your sub? Also, put your hand on the amp's plate and see if it's getting warm. If the amp is getting warm then maybe a speaker lead broke loose in shipping.

Hi, My tube amp runs hot. There's not way I can keep it in my stereo rack. I was wondering where you guys keep your tube amp? Right now I have it on top of my subwoofer by itself.