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JerryC

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  1. Do you find it helpful (or not) to test the crossovers for match. This would require an oscilloscope and signal generator. Or is choosing your component tolerance enough?
  2. Actually, I have heard (that's a great authority there, right?) that short duration is more damaging to hearing than longer loudness. The ear tries to compensate (hammer, anvil, stapes) to loud noises by turning the volume down. But a sudden gunshot gives no warning. The nerve cells of the inner ear get blasted. I can attest to this. Six years ago my wife was horrified that squirrels were mounting our deck to eat her flowers in pots. She counseled me to fire a warning shot without killing them. I got my shotgun, forgetting to put on my hearing protection, and fired. Immediately I felt deafness in my left ear. My own voice sounded to me like I was talking with a bag of crumbling potato chips in my throat. An audiologist confirmed that I lost all hearing above 8 kHz in my left ear. That's because I held the shotgun to my right cheek she said. My rattling sensation has dissipated but I still have little hearing above 8 kHz or so in the left ear. Yes, I agree. Avoid loud sustained sound pressure levels. But more important: Avoid sudden blasts!
  3. Another thought is that you might research whether most preamp noise comes before or after the volume control. When you have hum and hiss on loud music, who cares? If it's more than 15db below the lowest current level you won't notice it. But if you're trying to catch the breath on a solo flute following a loud passage you want the least possible amp noise. Think about what this means if the noise is pre or post volume control for your typical volume control setting.
  4. I have always envied those who can afford a McIntosh amp of any model. It always seemed like the prices were a marriage breaker. I really do like the speaker protection that McIntosh amps offer. For decades I powered my Klipschorns with an SAE tube/solid-state hybrid preamp and a home brew power amp. The power amp checked out as 55 Watts/channel. The amp alone was very quiet but when I connected the preamp there was always a small but annoying hiss when playing records with quiet passages. I solved this by putting a -9db L-pad between the preamp and power amp. This did nothing to improve fidelity but did drop that hiss to inaudible. My only point is that with efficient speakers, you don't want a lot of power. A 98db S/N ratio might sound like a good number but 98db below 55 watts can be noticeable. A few months before parting with my K-horns I powered the speakers with a (try not to laugh) Trends Audio TA-10 class T amplifier at 15 Watts/channel. The sound quality was amazing though I admit my ears are not as good as they used to be. It seemed like I lost a bit of sound stage and warmth, but a lot of what we call warmth is just distortion muddiness. Nevertheless, I enjoyed surprising detail and dynamic range in a 20' x 37' room with a 22' ceiling. The Trends really filled the room with less distortion than my home brew amp. I am not recommending the Trends but I only wish to illustrate that you don't need a lot of power. Quality in other specs is more important.
  5. I think Peter's advice will help you troubleshoot the source. I once had a home brew amp with four 15,000 microfarad filter capacitors - huge overkill. The amp would deliver music for 10 seconds after I powered the amp down. But during the next hours I occasionally heard similar noises as they discharged in an unbalanced fashion.
  6. I also wanted to say that Technics made the lathes that incribed the master discs.
  7. Why not go for the Technics SL-1200. I'm talking about the new incarnation of this classic turntable with features to reduce acoustic feedback and less motor feedback? And for you older guys (are there any women in this community? not sure) your hearing is not as acute as it was in your 20s when you could not afford this equipment. So stop pretending to be so discriminating.
  8. @Ripidaho, I'm so sorry for this late reply. But no, the gentleman who replied first picked them up and gave me a tip. I replaced (if that's even possible) with Klipsch 8-inch towers from Best Buy. When I close my eyes, I actually get a pretty wide sound stage from the towers. But you have to close your eyes.
  9. If you need to run wires on the floor you can protect them by using wire raceways, sometimes called wire channels. They are available at any home big box store and are inexpensive. They will protect your wire insulation from foot traffic.
  10. The only issue I have with too much power is Signal-to-Noise Ratio on high-efficiency speakers. For years I used a 55 Watt/ch. on Klipschorns. I always heard a hiss at idle in a quiet room. I switched to a Trends 10.1 class T amp at 15 Watts. I could drive them to thunderous levels in a large room on organ and classical music and jazz. If your S/N ratio is -98 db, that's a lot of noise below 55 Watts on sensitive speakers.
  11. To those who asked, yes these Klipschorns were rescued by a gentleman who wants to bring them up to pristine furniture grade. I'm so happy they found a good home. Thanks to all of you for your interest.
  12. And remember that Klipschorns are very efficient so you don't need a big amplifier, especially since you are using them for ambient background music. If you have to choose between a quality amp and high power, go for quality.
  13. My friend was selling a bike on Craig's List and a scammer/buyer sent him a Western Union money order for three times the purchase price with instructions to just refund any excess after he finds out what the shipping cost is. Turns out the MO was fake. Fortunately my friend checked out the MO before he did anything else.
  14. Oh yeah. I have seen donkeys or mules amid a herd of weed-eating goats. So that's why.
  15. @billybob, yes goats are often used for weed control in pastures and in forests. They can eat weeds that are toxic to other animals. Some people rent their goats to farmers and tree farms for this purpose. Put a llama or two among them to fend of predators and you have an organic method of weed control.
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