henry4841

Over hyped is the term I would use. There are schematics out there of the circuit and believe me nothing special in it. Decent parts and reputable dealer make it desirable for someone wanting to experience the SET sound but do not expect anything earth shaking over the many other SET amplifiers out there. I built the Zen from the available schematic that use to be on their website many years ago. To my ears Maynard's Little Sweetie outshines it. That is not to say anything wrong with Zen, just as good or better out there.

It all depends on how critical the person is. When younger I tried to find faults in program. Now I just try and enjoy the music without digging too deep into quality. Let's just say good enough.

Price is my reason. https://www.mp3million.com/artists May not be the best but at least I get to hear the music.

My go to source for serious listening is my LP collection but I have a lot of MP3's at 320 that I can just enjoy the music without being choosy. I have compared a CD to 320 and there is a difference that is noticeable in an A/B comparison but I can still enjoy my music downloaded at 320. Anything less than 320 does does not cut it for me though. As a good friend of mine with a huge music collection always said to me, musicians listen to music audiophiles listen to equipment. If I really like a 320 download I may buy the CD but for me a 320 MP3 is most of the time acceptable. For serious critical audiophiles I can understand their view of 320 MP3's though. Lacking some detail for sure.

It appears rightly so.

Appears so with 3 notch circuits. IMHO sound can be improved by removing notch filters and leave rest alone. Different autotransfomer in the AL than A or AA.

The price of old Heritage speaker asking prices have sure risen in the last couple of years. The price increase of new ones probably has a lot to do with it as well as fewer being offered on the market. That and the inflation we all are experiencing now. It was not that long ago, for me being 73 years old, that the price of an old pair of LaScala's hovered in the $500 range. Good for owners of old Heritage speakers but limits others from hearing great horn sound.

Just curious if Klipsch ever thought of a rotating top part of the K-horn. From what little I know even the closed back K-horns should be placed in a corner. Just seems to me that having a rotating mid and high section would make good sense for adjusting the sound to ones room making the speaker more versatile. I am sure the engineers have considered this and just wonder what their thoughts were for not doing it. Heavy duty lazy susan and a bottom sheet of MDF for the top section is all that would be required. Aesthetic reasons or technical?

I think like you, not fair comparison. Big difference in sound, for me, between SE and PP. Preference depend on preferred music and environment. I like and enjoy them both but my preference for my music taste leans towards SE. That and the Prima is a much more expensive amp. The little Zen, I assume this is the one being discussed, is what it is. An American built SE tube amplifier built at the cheapest cost using decent parts. For me, not a lot of difference between a PP tube amp and a good SS PP amp.

Guys one thing for sure about those old R-R's. They sure are cool looking. Some people buy old non-working ones just for their look sitting next to their audio gear.

I am staying out of serious capacitor discussion. Any brand of capacitor you change to is going to produce a different sound if you hearing is good enough to notice. Change if one must but doubtful if any of the caps in OP speakers are actually what a technician would call bad.

One of my best friends was a serious reel to reel guy. Bug never bit me. I asked him how some of those old recordings he made 50 years ago still sound and he proclaimed as good as when recorded. Not so sure of that being the earths magnetisms does effect magnetic tape. At least an instructor at an electronic class I occasionally watch says it does. The teacher was a EE on submarines in the navy and he said that submarines have to be demagnetized on a regular basis to prevent detection. A tidbit I did not know. Makes sense when you think about it. As far as reel to reel tape, probably not enough degradation to ever be noticeable in the recorders lifetime.

Then why change anything? The old "if it ain't broke why fix it."

I believe he has solved the problem by tightening all connections from his above post 001.

Looks good. I think having a built in generator is nice. Probably works well.