Tom Mobley

GLA51, May you're developing an avatude.... Are the people who lined up the night before to see the movie avatards?

laurelhill, you have PM

guess I scared him off....

Cost is my bet. Those autoformers contain a noticeable amount of copper. Resistors are cheap, small and light.

I've built several of these for members here. The ones I've done are made to go between the pre-amp and amp(s). for instance, I have a 2 channel tube pre and a 3 channel digi-amp. I have a Belle between two Khorns. I used plastic cases because they're easy to work with. I use nice pots, gold plated RCA jacks and exact value resistors. No big deal, I do one in an evening or maybe two if time is tight. I've also customized per request. One guy wanted all the connections on one side, another wanted the inputs on one side and output on the the other, sort of an inline config. One guy needed the RCAs spaced further apart because he was using some phatty interconnects. Etc, Etc. Currently $60 plus shipping from 85308. Mine are PTP wired, no circuit board. If you want one of those nice metal cases you could send it to me or adjust the price to include it. Have to be a little more careful with the metal boxes to avoid setting up ground loops. I'd be willing to build a speaker wire level version, but it would be more, larger box and a bunch of decent binding posts. Post here if you want one, the PM and email functions of this board are not reliable IMO.

Hi Mike, Here's a couple to my Belle project thread from a few years ago. The first one is all about dimensions and plans, second one is more oriented to the actual build process. Be a little careful with plans floating around out there. Some of them result in in the floor of the top hat and the flange of the mid horn occupying the same space at the same time which is still unsupported by Mother Nature. Anyway, take some time to look through these threads, it'll take awhile. original Belle plans thread: http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/t/42255.aspx?PageIndex=1 belle build thread http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/t/44479.aspx?PageIndex=1 feel free to ask whatever. I've now done several LaScalas and four Belles so I've run across most of the gotchas.

Craigs (NOSValves) VRD tube monoblocks are well thought of. They make well over 1 watt though. Point is, the first few watts need to be clean. There's lots of choices here including vintage integrateds. My LS sound good with a fixed up and rebuilt EICO HF-81 and a Scott 222-C Craigs stuff is nice. Oops, see www.nosvalves.com

If you're going to spend your money get what you want, not what somebody else thinks you should want. LS are a tad large for a room that size, but maybe there's a larger room later? Be prepared to get an amp that soounds good at 1 or 2 watts output.

Thx guys. I'll keep that address and try that reset procedure.

Wow, that would be very kind of you. Any little tidbit the guy might have would be welcome. I've noticed mine is slow too.

My 333 seems to have had a stroke or something. It will do every thing but actually start playing the music. No history of problems. It's a few years old, limited playing time. Is there a preferred repair facility? Somebody who specializes? Any bright ideas?

Perzackly. those freakazoids have sued everybody they could for years. google monster cable lawsuits and see what you get.

NOS Mullards are my favorite for pre-amps. Don't think you're going to find them at the shop. They're oriented toward guitar amp stuff. The tubes Mark installed originally are high quality, better than anything you're going to find at that place. search ebay for NOS Mullard 12at7 and 12ax7, get an idea what's out there.

What Pete said. I use a similar approach with 3/4 plywood. I use a brad nailer to hold/clamp the pieces while the glue cures. It's really the glue that holds, once it sets up good you really don't need the screws or nails. This assumes clean straight edges though.

I have a lot of buttons, but none are near as cute as her.

Nice work. Even nicer to see some innovation in aesthetics. All the ones I've done and seen done are just plywood boxes.

Having done both I don't mind saying the difficulty is about the same for both. The hard part of an LS is the acute angle cuts oon the front of the doghouse. The Belle doghouse is easier but the whole speaker is harder because of the large number of pieces that need to be finished. For the LS the front pieces of the doghouse are cut by running the plywood through the table saw vertically. I made a little sled to run on the fence.

Whodathunkit? Turns out I like a techno pop band, Chromeo. I'm really enjoying working my way through all those episodes. Easy way to sample a lot of different stuff. Altogether though, Diane Birch is cool. There's a little bit of Janis in there somewhere.

Cool deal. I've listened to several of the episodes now. That Diane gal kicks butt. the little interlude/interviews are cool and fun too.

What they said. Gold leaf pen. A couple pointers: shake well. practice on something else first. sometimes it comes out too fast filling the tiny cavities in the emblem. Alcohol is the thinner/remover for it, but have it handy and work quickly. the stuff dries fast and is hard to get off after dried. I got pretty good at it after a few pair.

Look at Lowes or HD, see if there's a date code on the cans somewhere. Look for one that's no more than 6 months old, newer is better. I've never bought this stuff online because of shipping charges. Is there a Woodworkers Supply near you?

if shellac gets too old it will do the "always tacky" thing. Real shellac purists buy solid sticks of shellac and make up their own liquid with PGA as they need it. PGA = pure grain alcohol, Everclear works in a pinch but a little spendy. There's no end of this stuff, did anybody mention that to you?

Sounds pretty good Michael. BTW, at 25000 some nice men will come pick you up for a fun ride to a new, peaceful home where you'll be comfortable. It's very quiet there because their BOSE system has a blown amp.

BigD, long time no see. Hope you are well.

What Tony said. Read carefully, it's worthwhile.