khorn79er

I will definitely consider tung oil, thanks for the suggestion!! Probably will test with Watco's and Tung oil and see what I prefer. Will post to the group the results.

Good idea, the last thing I want is to damage them !!! I will let you know how it goes.

Thx Budman super useful. I'm assuming that all Klipsch speakers have an oil finish, in which case I can just apply the wood bleach directly, right? Either way will be cautious.

Thanks a lot Jim. Applying the Watco rejunvenating oil will do what exactly? Darken the wood and make it a bit shinier? Looking forward to the results and will post to this thread.

Thanks a lot Will. Any recommendations on Watco vs Formby's Lemon Oil vs. Old English or they all satisfy the same purpose? I.e., just pick one and use it?

One more question - how often should we be treating the wood? On the Khorns, some of the wood is black painted - nothing to do there right? Thanks again.

Hi guys, My brother and I are proud owners of a '79 Klipschorn and two Forte 1s in generally excellent condition. Since owning these, we haven't done any wood work and have little experience in doing so. We wanted to ask you two things: 1) What type of wood are these? I've attached pictures of the Khorn and each Forte 1. My guess is Walnut throughout. 2) What is the best way to treat / maintain the wood on these? Both pairs of Fortes have slight water ring damage on the top side - we would like to fix that. We've looked at a few threads such as this one below. Seems like the best process is to sand any water damaged parts and apply Watco Rejuvenating oil. Did we get that right? Thanks a lot! Much appreciation from two hardcore Klipsch fans Alex

Seems like we have pretty similar amps! I do a similar process but usually wait 30 / 40 mins before checking bias (with volume zero) because it is not stable before that. I only check about once a week and there is some drift but not crazy. Have fun too

Thx Derrick. I'm not sure what the bias range is but I'm running 4X EL34s in triode mode (have both triode and pentode, I think triode sounds nicer). The sweet spot for those tubs are 400 and my readings are +/- 10 from that, per advice from Bob Latino. On my first bias adjustment I moved the adjusters too much and it took me a good hour to get the correct readings. I may have slightly burned some tubes in the process but I don't think I damaged the amp. As long as that's the case it's OK . The main guidance on maintenance I received is to just hear the amp and if it sounds bad there is probably a change needed (e.g., tube replacement). So far it sounds excellent. I guess I will get better on the maintenance side of things with time

Hi guys, Just want to share my thoughts two months into the experience with my new setup: - Pair of Klipsch Forte I - Dynaco ST 70 by Bob Latino - Condesa Lucia mixer - 2x Technics 1200 Mk 5 I also have a pair of Klipschorns which I have not yet tested with the ST 70, but the Fortes have slightly lower sensitivity and EASILY drive my system, so it should be no problem for the Khorns. I actually have to significantly decrease my master volume and channel volume from the natural level (I'm forgetting the technical name) in order to play at reasonable volumes per neighbor request . The setup sounds excellent and I have zero complaints. I get the greatest dynamism from the Fortes (perhaps only inferior to the Klipschorns IMO, although I haven't tried every Klipsch speaker). The only downside / challenge I've had is regulating the bias meters, which are very sensitive, however I think I will get used to it! Thanks for all your recommendations - I'd be happy to upload a video if that's possible here otherwise a picture of my setup. Alex

Thanks for the input Derrick - I looked it up and indeed the reviews give this amp a lot of praise. I will keep it in mind. Alex

Hey Jim! So I went with the Bob Latino ST70 fully set up! I'm picking it up in a couple days. I didn't want my first tube amp to be my playground for soldering apprenticeship.... Bob is a great person to work with and I'm confident I'll be very happy with it. Will post my thoughts here in a couple weeks. Alex

Thanks for the input. Could you please elaborate on what a push pull tube amp is? I made the decision to get the reconditioned modernized Dynaco ST70 from Bob Latino fitted with EL34 tubes. I will let you know my impressions once I hook it up. Just to confirm, you're saying KT66 + tubes are less warm sounding, so I should go with lower power tubes to keep the warmth of analog sound right? Cheers, Alex

Hi Maynard, Happy to let you know that I got in touch with Bob Latino and ordered an ST-70 from him with the capacitor upgrades which he recommends. I'm going to pick it up in a few days and will let you know my thoughts. From the customer reviews and Bob's tenure in the business, I feel like I've made the right choice and that this amp will last a long time. Thanks a lot for pointing me towards this. This is why forums like these are so valuable. To get input from people that have much more experience.... I'll be using the ST-70 to drive Forte Is and the Klipschorn. I was initially leaning on the ST-120 but it seems like this is overkill from a wattage perspective since both are highly efficient speakers (96DB+ I believe). Cheers! Alex

Hey Jim, From noob to noob, I salute you! Good to hear you had a positive experience with Bob Latino. What's the warranty you got with the M-125s? Any recommendations on tubes (EL34, 6550) - have you tried different ones? I've never made a solder joint before but will look into it more and make the call regarding kit vs. fully set up. The savings are pretty substantial with the former.. How happy are you with the tube generally? Was this your first tube amp? Thanks, Alex

Hi Maynard, Thanks a lot for the advice. I think i'm going to go the Dynaco route. I checked out Bob Latino's website and his modernized ST70 looks rock solid. My only hesitation going this route is with warranty and things like that... how will I know if the tubes go bad or if some areas need repairing? Then if something does go bad, where could I get it repaired if it is out of warranty? If I would bring this to any specialty audio shop would they be able to service it and repair adequately? Long story short - I would ideally like to buy a tube amp that: - has proved it's performance and is an icon (such as the Dynaco ST70) and therefore has a quite a bit of units in circulation and associated knowledge / repair expertise - moves away from the standardized product and instead includes expert tweaking from audiophiles (Bob Latino is the perfect example) ... a balance between icon and niche... Besides Dynaco ST 70, are there other models that would fit these criteria? Finally, are DIY tube kits such as these or generally customized tubes a fire/safety hazard? I know these beauties get hot so just want to be cautious... any safety pointers? Really appreciate the input. Alex

Beautiful Khorn - do you know what year yours were produced? The wood looks very similar to mine which were built in 79 with AA crossovers.

Thanks a lot for the pointers. I'm going to try and find a Dynaco here to test out. I'm located in New York so hopefully that won't be too hard. Besides Dynaco, any other brands/models I should look into? Thoughts on McIntosh? I've heard mixed things. I realize that I posted this in the wrong section so apologies for that - didn't see a dedicated tube section until after. Awesome surprise haha.

Yup - sorry about that. I only saw the tube-related section after I posted in the other. I'm going to try to delete my other thread - couldn't find how to.. any pointers?

I'm located in New York and just found a store that sells tube amps which is a good start I guess (Bright Audio). They specialize more in home theater setups but have quite a few tube amplifiers for sale. In terms of my setup, my Khorns are in a small rectangular room wooden floors and I listen about from 7 - 15 feet away, so very close proximity in current setup. However this is temporary and I want to get tubes that will also be able to easily drive the Khorns in larger rooms without too much effort. I listen to soul / disco / funk / reggae mostly through vinyl at soft to loud volumes, really depends. My friend just bought Prema Lunas Prologue Classic (2x 35 watts I think) and we hooked them up - they sound amazing and definitely a quality piece of kit. However $1800 is very expensive and I'm looking to spend less than that if possible while still getting something of similar build quality and performance. My current setup sounds good now because of the speakers and mixer (I don't need a pre-amp because of this). I think the Yamaha SS is definitely the weakest link in the chain and is more of a degrader than an improver the brightness you mention is definitely there.. especially after I head my friend's tubes and the warmth / dynamism they bring to the sound. Seems like the Dynaco ST70s are icons that I should check out - any other recommendations? Also, are any of you more inclined towards vintage tubes vs. modern ones? Is the consensus to buy new? Thanks!

Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum but a passionate Klipsch fan. So glad that this is forum is active and alive! Glad to be among you. I'm the proud owner of a pair of '79 Khorns in all stock condition which I now can't live without. I'm thinking about modifications but the sound just blows me away every time. I don't think it's even necessary and probably will keep them stock. I'm currently running them with a Yamaha SS receiver (approx $150 on Amazon) which already sounds great but I know the ideal is to power them with tubes.. What are your recommendations with tube amplifiers for Khorns? I play mostly on vinyl and want to keep that "warmth" and "dynamism" as much as possible.. Any input is appreciated. Thanks!

Thanks! Seems like Dynaco is a tube icon.. I will look into them more... Do you think 35 watts per channel is enough for the Khorns? I noticed there is a dedicated tube section so will be posting there as well.

Hi everyone! I'm new to this forum but a passionate Klipsch fan. So glad that this is forum is active and alive! Glad to be among you. I'm the proud owner of a pair of '79 Khorns in all stock condition which I now can't live without. I'm thinking about modifications but the sound just blows me away every time. I don't think it's even necessary and probably will keep them stock. I'm currently running them with a Yamaha SS receiver (approx $150 on Amazon) which already sounds great but I know the ideal is to power them with tubes.. What are your recommendations with tube amplifiers for Khorns? I play mostly on vinyl and want to keep that "warmth" and "dynamism" as much as possible.. Any input is appreciated. Thanks!