DRBILL
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Posts posted by DRBILL
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Two Mark IIIs into Klipschorns. A Williamson P-P 6BG6s for Heresy middle "Phantom". Life is sweet!
drbill
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I thought I'd better check in and give an account of my absence! My new romance is Ham Radio (KF5BXG). It has been all-absorbing for a while, but now I have a pretty good "rig" in place (all vacuum tube, of course) together with an appreciation of the lay of the land. There has been an awful lot to learn. I put it off for 60 years and realized that if I was going to do it, it had better be now! If there are any fellow Hams out there, I work 75M most evenings 1800-2000 CDST on 3880 AM.
I'll be more regular on the Klipsch Forum.
drbill
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I just installed a couple of Zenith boxes from RadioShack for my daughter. Stunning results. Full of features -- maybe too many! You will need a really good UHF antenna, not just a "bow-tie". I used a double colinear. DRBILL
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Check the previous post. I finally got a picture up.
Father Bill
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Well, I can tell that none of you ever lived there!
Father Bill
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It is the floor model, and yes, it is one of the "desirable" models. They are getting awfully hard to find. It is beautiful to behold with its restored finish and replicated grille cloth. It was actually advertised as a "high fidelity" model! And that wasn't hype. How anything this old can perform so well is an inspiration to me.
Father Bill
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At another place on the forum I found a schematic that calls for a 16Ω resistor parallel to the mid when operating the mid from tap 1 to maintain the correct crossover point. This was offered as a correction for excessive brightness.
Nothing is ever a easy as first imagined! Time to get out the alligator clips and grope around.
Thanks, Gill, for the schematic. I should have pulled out my folio of "Dope from Hope."
Father Bill
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I hope I don’t get hooted off the forum for this, or that this isn’t drawing the saw through an old cut. Nevertheless. . .
Having finished the restoration of yet another vintage Zenith radio (10-S-153; 1937; Chassis 1004; ten tubes; 6L6s p-p in the final) but without output transformer or speaker, I decided to be innovative. I will mention that this radio has a wide bandwidth tuner perfectly capable of 30-10,000 Hz audio and the audio section is transformer coupled to the push-pull 6L6s. This is amazing quality for 1937!
So, I found a Type E network, a Heresy mid, and an E-V tweeter for a song from a guy who didn’t know what they were for and didn’t care.
I installed these together with a high quality Hammond output transformer and a 15” Jensen speaker that I had on hand. I replaced the 2.5 mH inductor with a 1955 Klipsch “spool” inductor, also 2.5 mH. The over-all results were amazing when listening to the several music stations here in the metromess that take pride in the quality of their audio. Except for being in mono, it was as good as most FM.
But there was a problem. The bass was altogether too light, not nearly as good as when I was using the 15” woofer by itself.
In the recesses of my corroded synapses, I believe I recall that the woofer output of the Heresy was down 6 db from the mid and tweet, and I believe this is what I am hearing. My instincts tell me to move the mid wire from terminal 2 to terminal 1 on the autoformer and cranking up the volume a bit. But since it is presently useable, I though I would wait until I took the pulse of the forum on this. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
What say ye?
Father Bill
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Get him a REAL radio, something like a Hallicrafters Sx-24 off of ebay, and let him have the joy of restoring it. He'll learn something valuable and wind up with a stunning set. There are plenty of forums out there to help the beginner (Antique Radio Forums, Click Communications Receivers. I can also answer many questions.
drbill
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Dave,
The Skinner strings have a secret that is almost too simple to be believeable. A one-pipe taper! It is almost too small to be detected by the eye unless you are looking for it. Calipers reveal it all. The top of a C will be the same diameter as a C# measured at the languid. Dan is a decent organbuilder. In this part of the country, the layman's yard-stick is still the WurLitzer at the Palace Theatre. The organ man is hobbled before the contract is signed.
I'll check out your suggestions. I remember your praise of 24 bit and wanted to give it a try.
FrBill
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I was interested in hearing one of the new 24 bit CDs. I selected Bradley Welch Plays at Broadway Baptist (LRCD 1084).
Here we have the largest French-style organ in the world, built by Casavant Freres, Limitee (the firm that I worked for as a youth). It is in a spacious acoustical environment (although it does have a couple of boomy places in midrange). Bradley Welch was the winner of the 2003 Dallas International Organ Competition. And all of this recorded in the new 24bit system. What more could you ask?!
For starters, we might have asked to hear something musical! It was pure mud for 68 minutes and 40 seconds. Layer upon layer of thick contrapuntal putty assaulted the ears as the Klipschorns quaked and groaned in misery.
I’ll be glad to pass this around in case any of you would like to give it a spin. As for me, I would like to hear one of the new 24 bit CDs. Any suggestions?
DRBILL
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As Mark Twain wrote, "The report of my demise has been greatly exaggerated." Actually, I have been completely overtaken with the restoration of vintage radios. I just finished a Hallicrafters SX-24 (1939, just like me!) and had a breather before I start the next radio. I haven't lost interest in quality audio, and some of that spills over to the radio bench. The '38 Zenith that is my personal radio has transformer coupled push-pull 6L6s. Now that just cries out for an update. It consisted of a 15" Jenson in a bass reflex enclosure (bottom of the radio case), a horn mid/tweet, L/C crossover and a Hammond output transformer. It is virtually indistinguishable from FM. The purists would have a black mass over that. But it is my radio and I like to listen to it, and I like for it to be pleasing to the ear. I like to believe that I have done what Zenith would have done if they had had the technology.
I'll try to check in more often.
DRBILL
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Me, too. DRBILL
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All band members plus bearers and beaters have 9-5 positions, "are bald and have mortgages." They practice reliably on the weekends that they have no bookings. The "groupies" show up before the band is in tune. The insurance was the "off premises" kind that was meant to "save Christmas when the gifts were left in the back seat of the car".
My guess would be a competing band and that the gear is dumped in a ravine on the vast prairie west of here. We're talking Texas, you know.
I would wish that the Klipschorn might mysteriously appear in my front yard. It had to be among the first. I know the provenance and it has historical value. Ugly beyond belief!
I have enjoyed reading your comments and I thank you for the quality of thought that went in to all of this.
Is this a great forum, or what?! In the odd turn of events that this should be solved, I'll report back.
DRBILL
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Here is the complete list that they submitted to the insurance company.
1 Mid 80's Marshall JCM800 bass series 100w amp head (Says "Marlin" on front instead of Marshall, one of a kind)
1 Mid 80's Marshall JCM800 Lead series 50w amp head
1 Early 70's Ampeg V4B 100w bass amp head (Haltom City Booze sticker on front)
1 Late 90's Marshall Plexi Superlead 100w amp head
1 Mid 80's Marshall JCM800 Bass Series Speaker Cabinet 2x10 1x15 Wheat Grill ("The Me-Thinks, Haltom City" painted on back of each speaker cabinet)
1 Late 70's Ampeg SVT 8x10 Speaker Cabinet Silver/Blue grill ("The Me-Thinks, Haltom City" painted on back of each speaker cabinet)
1 Late 80's 1962 model straight Marshall 4x12 Speaker cabinet Black Grill ("The Me-Thinks, Haltom City" painted on back of each speaker cabinet)
1 Marshall 1960v vintage slant Speaker cabinet 4x12 Black Grill ("The Me-Thinks, Haltom City" painted on back of each speaker cabinet)
1 early 80's fender concert combo amp 4x10 Silver Grill Black Face
1 early 70's fender rhodes 73 concert electric piano
1 early 70's fender rhodes concert electric piano speaker cabinet 4x12
2 peavey pa speaker cabinets 1x15 & horn (One missing grill on one cabinet)
1 Early 80's Ampeg b215 speaker cabinet 2x15 Silver/Blue grill (Covered in Britney Spears stickers)
1 Late 70's fender bassman 135 4x12 speaker cabinet Silver grill (Red and gold molding down each side on front)
2 shure column speaker boxes w 2x10 and 4x8
1 ross 12 channel mixer
1 90's crown 600w power amp
1 Tom Sholz Rockman Power Soak
1 90's alesis nanoverb reverb unit
1 1950's Klipsch Klipschhorn stereo speaker (Wood)
1 80's EV 15 & horn stereo speaker (Black)
1 Shure sm58 microphone
1 Korg DTR-2 digital rack tuner
1 Furman M-8 power conditioner
1 Smoke/Fog machine
1 Yamaha pa speaker 1x12 & horn + speaker stand
2 Daleletroc DanEcho Delay pedals
1 Vox distortion pedal
1 Roger Mayer voodoo distortion pedal
1 Electro-Harmonix Green Vintage big muff distortion pedal
1 Electro-Harmonix Black Russian Big muff distortion pedal
1 MXR Blue box octave pedal
1 Electro-Harmonix Small Stone pedal
1 Green Ibanex Tube Screamer pedal
1 Gibson Goldtone Channel Selecting Switch foot pedal
2006 Tama Superstar bronze mist metallic all matching 6pc drum kit w/
10x8" rack tom,
12x9" rack tom, serial#059080
13x10" rack tom, serial#065513
16x16" floor tom, serial#058861
22x20 bass drum, serial#058738
5 1/2 x 14 snare drum serial#065871
Cymbals:
14" Sabian vault hi hats
19" Sabian vault crash
20" Sabian aa medium thin crash
21" Sabian Phils choice hand hammered raw bell dry ride #000150-160 14" (Phil Collins)
Zildjian amir II hi hats
14" Zildjian amir II hi hat-top (worn logo)
16" Zildjian z custom medium crash
19" Zildjian z custom medium crash
20" Zildjian k custom ride
16" Wuhan china
1 Black Canvas Cymbal bag
1 Pacific/PDP 2-leg hi-hat stand
Tama Iron Cobra jr double bass drum pedal
DW 5000a accelerator bass drum pedal - single
Premier xpk red vinyl matching 4pcs drum kit (22", 12", 13", 16") covered in stickers in a matching mars music drum bag set
1 Chrome Premier 6.5x14 snare drum & hardshell case with assorted bells
1 Cosmic Persussion Chime set and case
1 Brown drum throne
1 Pork Pie leopard print drum throne
2 Tama cymbal stands (boom) w/ starcrest mounting
2 Pearl cymbal stands
Roadrunner 5 pc standard drumbags
1 Tama mount arm
1 18" Remo roto-tom
1 Black & red LP cowbell
1 Orange pearl clave block
1 Denon stereo reciever
1 Sony Double tape deck
1 Sony cd player single disc
1 black boom single mic stand
1 mic stand w/ goose neck top
1 short black boom mic stand
1 Latin Percussion steel drum shaker
1 Drumdial drum tuner tension style tympanic
1 Tama drum tuner tension style tympanic
1 Tama snare stand
1 Bach coronet style trumpet & mouthpiece and case
1 broken Daewoo VCR
The caper was in Haltom City, Texas (where else?!). That's a local joke. Area bands loaned them what they needed to fulfill pending gigs.DRBILL
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It's true. And I would have made book on it being impossible. It was taken from an isolated building where a local band practices. It is a mid-50s model, plywood stained medium brown. It has the radial mid with wooden sides and resin top and bottom. Stephens woofer, Retrofitted tweeter. There is no visible S# anywhere. The only place that there is anything that identifies the unit is the crossover on which is written the value of the inductors and 195-something. I just don't remember.
The band lost all their instruments and PA gear. The K-horn was sort of mine. My son used it with a Jenson 15" bass-reflex enclosure with a large A-L cellular mid and an E-V tweeter. The crossover was from a Klipsch Shorthorn. This unit was also sort of mine and also stolen.
Keep your eyes peeled. It'll be hard to fence. I'm sure the crooks wouldn't have known what they had. It is probably in a gully, floating slowly to the Gulf of Mexico thanks to our unusual rains.
DRBILL
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Better. (obviously, or I would have changed it!). It produces a fuller sound, probably because of two woofers.
DRBILL
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I always appreciate kind words from D-D.
Yes. I use two Heresys side by side, parallel wired, fed at 4O by a Williamson amplifier with 6BG6s in the final, additive L-R input using the Klipsch designed magic box. Klipschorns flanking.
It gives a seamless soundstage that makes the wall disappear. Every night I am amazed all over again.
DRBILL
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Maron-- We are terribly fortunate here in the Fort Worth/Dallas "metroplex" as far as AM stations are concerned. There is one in particular KAAM 770, that has a very clean signal and a commendable bandwidth. It plays music from the '30's-'50's. It creeps some people out to hear 30's music coming from a 30's radio. Try www.KAAMradio.com for a sample.
DRBILL
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Here are a couple of tips that may be of use. Vintage radios are wide open to noise. Dimmers, fluorescent lights, etc. can spoil a good listening session. The cures for this are fairly easy. You can bypass both sides of the power line to the chassis with .001 capacitors. Also, try reversing the plug in the outlet. I use a "powerline scrubber" (Furman?) which does the above bypass but also has a torroid choke and a spike clamp all mounted on a small PCB.
Vintage power transformers tend to fail upon turn-on with our modern power-line voltages. A simple inrush thermister is well worth the 15¢! And nobody was ever sorry they placed a fuse inline. All of this could be mounted outboard in a little aluminum project box if you didn't want to find space on/under your chassis.
Finally, I get excellent reception with a home-made electrostatically shielded loop antenna. They are easilly made out of 20' of old two wire mike cable. If there is interest, I'll try to post the instructions.
Not only have I hogged this thread, this has nothing to do with the objectives of this forum. My bad.
DRBILL
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Take a look at www.antiqueradios.com for a wealth of information. I found the forum to be particularly helpful. I just finished my fourth major restoration. I have done two table models and two floor models, all Zeniths. The large ones have been particularly satisfying. Zenith used a major furniture building concern for their cabinets. They are solidly constructed, made of excellent woods carefully matched to grain. I tend toward a true restoration as opposed to refinishing. I cut myself more slack on the electronics using modern electrolytics and "orange drops". I slip into apostasy when it comes to the sound reproduction gear. Loud speakers and output transformers were in their infancy in the '30's. My last job had 6L6s in P-P with about 12W of clean output. So I went with a Hammond output transformer. Since the motorboard was already cut for 15" (although they used a 10" dynamic speaker with an adaptor ring) I used a 15" Jensen and a horn tweet/squawk properly crossed over. Wow. Nobody believes it is AM. Stunning. I keep my conscience clear by convincing myself that this is what Zenith would have done if they had had the parts! As a footnote. This is a 1937 model and has the words HIGH FIDELITY on one position of the "tone" switch. Has anybody seen an earlier use of Hi-fi? (This one is my "keeper.")
This is a very addictive hobby. My wife has the solution. As one comes in the garage door another goes out the front door. Harmony preserved.
DRBILL
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Hard to say. But I don't buy green bananas and I only buy toilet paper a roll at a time.
DRBILL
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Blame it on gas.
DRBILL
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I'm sorry about the picture I posted. It was too large and oriented sideways. This is the first attempt to send a picture since the forum software was upgraded. I'm sure that I needed to go through a picture editor instead of right out of the camera. I'll do beter with practice.
DRBILL
DIZ ROTUS QUESTION
in 2-Channel Home Audio
Posted
I thought I'd check in and let the gang know that I am still alive and in posession of my faculties! 72½.
DR BILL