BadChile

I love my 430 and think it is the bees knees. There are a handful of transistors in the amp (and in the preamp) section that are known to go bad. Easy to replace without removing boards, cheap to acquire. Alternately could be the balance pot just needs a little cleaning courtesy of our friend DeOxIt. Not sure you need a backup but I've used that excuse with my wife many times and it never seems to get questioned. Backups of backups of backups. 🙂

I agree with others - it isn't worth doing on newer speakers. Now for 50 year old speakers I've seen widely variable capacitance. I just did a pair of KLH Model 17s that had a date stamp of 1969 on the woofer, and found the 2 uF caps were reading between 3.0 uF and 5.0 uF (two each speaker) and the 8 uF was at 11 uF - 12 uF (one each speaker). I've never opened up new speakers to see if the caps were still within tolerance but I can't imagine any reputable manufacturer using caps which are prone to be out of tolerance from the factory. In terms of upgrading caps in Hersey IV- I can't imagine upgrading new speakers with something of "better" quality. Room acoustics, placement of the speaker, and my own ears are of far more influential than the caps.

Missing risers but sold as "unmolested original condition" and condition "Like new". So....not really unmolested and not really like new, but they are Chorus I and they are Klipsch. https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/ele/d/norwood-klipsch-chorus-speakers/7606306146.html

There is a Miniwatt in the Garage Sale forum that might be right up your alley (not affiliated). I have both a Miniwatt and a Elekit TU-8200 DX that is heavily modified. While I can tell the different in a non-blind comparison, putting the Elekit in single-ended mode to make a Watt-for-Watt comparison in insolation if my wife swapped out amps while I was away I'd bet I couldn't tell the difference. Good little amp to get into tube amps. Is it an end game amp? Nope, but it gets you 80% there for under a C-note. My wife currently is using mine with some RB-51 Series II for her desktop setup and has no complaints (but if she did I'd happily buy her audio gear!)

I use MediaMonkey (free version) for ripping CDs to FLAC, then I use Clementine as the player. My "system" is an old GE console that was gutted, I dropped a 15" touch screen monitor into the hole where the amp / tuner was, with a fanless computer running the software and storing the files on an external SSD. People always think it is cool that I lift the cover of the console, touch the monitor to see Clementine running, then select the album/song and it just plays.

Don't get me started - Another Chi-fi brand is Thieaudio, established in 2019. The dirt hadn't even started to grow weeds on the grave of Thiel Audio at the time it started. Good products or not, that clear rip off annoys me to no end.

I use a H/K 430 on H3s, love it. So much so I 've been the unsuccessful bidder on a handful of other amps in the line (730 or a 330c) along with some of the H/K quads (75+). I've also been exploring some of the Pioneer SX-X50 amps and the Onkyo TX-X500 line as an alternate given their relatively high damping factors but have yet to come across the right one (a combination of non-working features to drive the price down but not so destroyed that they're a boat anchor). I'll admit you might need to turn down the treble, which I had done when running the H/K 430. Lately I've been biamping using the H/K 430 for the woofer and a TU-8200 for the squwaker + tweeter. I find that the combo either tamed the harshness of the amp/tweeter or there was some serious confirmation bias justifying the renewed use of the unused Elekit.

As much as I enjoyed my Schitt Mani (original, not the 2), as soon as I built my Bottlehead Reduction + Integration with a few upgrades the Mani went on the chopping block. But....you have to be willing to DIY, live with tubes, and given the price increases over the past 18 months and lack of sales from Bottlehead I'm not sure the value proposition still exists with the Reduction, particularly if you don't already DIY.

If you check a particular slick deal site you can get a pair of RP-600m for $300shipped. https://slickdeals.net/f/15867283-klipsch-reference-premiere-rp-600m-bookshelf-speakers-pair-300-free-shipping

Highlighting my shame Main two-channel system: Heresy 3 with Martin Logan Dynamo 700 subs being driven by Harman Kardon 430 with a Elekit TU-8200 on standby Office System 1 (the spouse): Design Acoustics PS-6a driven by APPJ Mini 2013 Office System 2 (mine): Martin Logan DM-12 driven by Yamaha A400 Theater System: KG4 + KG1 + KV2 + RW-12 subs driven by Onkyo TX-NR509 Workbench System 1: Klipsch RB-51 II driven by Lepai LP-168HA Speakers on the shelf: Scott 206D Speakers

The Nipper in the original advertisement bears a near perfect resemblance to the Design Toscano resin/stone recreation, available everywhere online including Amazon and Home Depot for $113.90. https://www.amazon.com/Design-Toscano-Nipper-RCA-Statue/dp/B005EIWSYY?ref_=ast_sto_dp

Per the above, I used listening position but did an average of 9 or 10 measurements across the listening area (width, height, front to back).

I used listening position measurements exclusively; but my usage is to develop a response curve for a MiniDSP HD to apply to my subwoofer feed. Helped immensely.

Stealing from something I once read - there is a reason music sounds best with the lights dimmed late at night - without the distraction of sight, our sense of hearing gets to focus on the music, not the inputs in the room. It's the same reason why PowerPoint presentations are horrible ways to convey information - the presence of words on a slide causes the viewer to read the slide (visual) instead of listening to the presenter (audio). Because of this - I agree with others - focus on the music aspect and let the movies fall where they may because when there is a movie on, you're going to be focusing on the visual. When you're just listening to music, you'll truly focus on the audio.

I love that these "found" a good home. Every time I fire up the Heresy system in my smallish room I wonder how the Belles would have performed...but I'm glad you're keeping them! If you're ever driving down 128 to Boston shoot me a message. I'd be happy to meet up, get some BBQ or something and give you a chance to say "yeah, his listening room is too small!"