BadChile

A few months ago I picked up an Onkyo TX-2500 on the cheap since it was sold as one channel dead. While that fix is a cool story in and of itself and is worth mentioning that the fault was oxidation on the tape monitor switches and resolved with a spritz of DeOxIt [the signal path after the preamp section goes through the tape monitors before being sent to the amp board, so oxidation on the contacts results in a dead channel - these seems to be a common fault with these units]; what is really cool is the fix for the tuner indicator lamps. The laps for the tuner indicators (Tuned, Locked, Stereo) are housed in a rubberized sheath that holds the lamp in place, secures the assembly to the unit, and prevents light bleed from one indicator into the next. Brilliant design but unfortunately the ravages of time and heat from the lamp took their toll and the rubber became embrittled and instead of sliding out of the retention clip the housing disintegrated in my hands. Neither swearing nor super glue fixed the issue, so I turned to my son (14!) and his 3D printer for help. Took a handful of measurements, opened up Blender, and made me a replacement part that after a few tries fit perfectly. Snug enough opening to hold the lamp, works well, and can be held in place with double sided tape. Looks even better than the original since he went the extra distance and put the Onkyo logo on the part. He was so proud of himself he proceeded to print a copy at four-times scale to show off. Which I'm now sharing with you. What he did was simply awesome and I'm one proud dad of his accomplishment. The refurbished Onkyo TX-2500 currently is driving my Hersey III in the main system - it moved the Harmon Kardon 430 off the "top shelf" and over to the system my wife uses driving a pair of KG1. Replaced a handful of parts, including the original single-turn trimmer resistors for Center Voltage and Idle Current with 25-turn trimmers to allow more accurate setting of these two features. [Quick Note on the Center Voltage and Idle Current Adjustment - there is some confusion online with where to measure as the manual references a "CT", "E" and "ID" terminals and no one seems to have got it right. The three locations are pins (three for each channel) on the amplifier board near R504 and R604, respectively, see chassis layout Figure 19 (TX-2500) or Figure 21 (TX-4500) in the service manual.] Photo Key 1) Foreground left to right shows replacement 3D printed housing with lamp, original housing (broken, back side), original housing (front); background shows replacement housing at four times scale. 2) Installing two of the new housings and new housing at four times scale. 3) All three housings installed (one on left accidentally has Onkyo logo on underside). 4) Action shot. Photo 1 - Left to right: replacement housing (front with lamp), original housing (rear), original housing (front) Photo 2 - Left to right: two housings installed with replacement leads, four times scale model part. Photo 3 - all three housings installed, note the one on the left is upside down. Don't tell my son. Photo 4 - in service, looking awesome!

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!"

Won't make a difference. I find a mini flat blade screwdriver is the way to pop the caps. Sometimes a box cutter blade.

Good news is EHX claims to have resolved the export issue, bad news is there are additional costs on both the export and the import end, as such, expect price increases. https://www.guitarworld.com/news/electro-harmonix-tube-supply-resolved

Just adding fuel to the fire - I placed an order at Eurotubes over the weekend for some JJ tubes, just received an email indicating that while sufficient inventory exists, order volume is such that they're currently running a 3 - 4 week lead time on shipments.

I dug this up from DIYaudio, supposedly from the original ad copy on the Schitt site (original webpage is down). I have no idea if this answers any questions or is marketing with few answers: Okay, fine. We see how it is. What’s inside are two depletion-mode MOSFETs, together with minimal support circuitry to protect them against static, and to set the gain necessary for our products. There’s no “triodization” or other tricks applied to make them act like tubes, or have curves like tubes. They’re just good, linear, solid-state devices…in a can. When used in Mjolnir 2, they provide essentially the same topology as the original Mjolnir’s high-voltage JFETs, now simply at a much higher voltage, for even greater linearity.

Rumor has it that it was bad before Friday's export ban, as the uncertainty behind Shunguang production that started two years ago still exists. Heck, I had a heck of a time just getting some JJ 6922 at the start of 2020. https://guitar.com/news/gear-news/panic-on-availability-of-vacuum-tubes-mike-matthews-future-valve-amps/ JJ might be the only reliable source with appreciable quantity for some time. That being said: “Russian tubes are now a no-go and JJ is probably crapping sideways trying to keep up with orders. That means you’re mega-boned, right?” https://www.head-fi.org/threads/schiit-happened-the-story-of-the-worlds-most-improbable-start-up.701900/page-5951#post-16859594

Thanks, @Mark Z - Have to pass too as I realized my listening room is too small. My enthusiasm got the best of me. I've already contacted the seller but wanted to post this here as well - These are still available. I have the high res photos from the seller as well if anyone need better photos - let's get these to a good home before the weekend.

Posting these on behalf of @Domenic. @Mark Z has called interest in this, and I'll happily buy them if Mark Z turns them down. But we all like gear shots, and like all Belle's, these are beautiful. Again, posted on behalf of the seller.

One common trick to downsample photos is email them to yourself - some email editors will compress the photos to reduce file size. Or if you prefer, feel free to PM me the photos and I'll downsample them on your behalf. I'll also admit that I'm interested in the Belles and using the "PM me the photos" angle to try and get an early look. But I'll give @Mark Z first dibs as he responded with his interest yesterday.

Winning bid was $320 + 20% buyers premium = $384.