Domenic

A little trepidatious about venturing into this particular pool, but what is the consensus on old, quality tube receivers vs. new tube mono blocks with a preamp? I have a pair of Belles, unmolested, that I know can sound better than they do. Great in some ranges, a touch shrill in others, not as defined a sound stage as I would like. Right now they are powered by an NAD amp from the 80s or 90s (can't remember; those years are a bit foggy). Before I go down the path of re-capping and then changing out drivers, I think I need to power the Belles with quality tube amplification to give them a shot at a fair showing. I've read good things about vintage (hate that word as I am now officially "vintage") receivers like Fisher and some Scotts and a few others. They can still be purchased for about $1,000 whose makes them a bargain over mono blocks and a preamp. The contender for new amplification for me is likely Quicksilver's Horn Amp and preamp. Big difference in fiscal outlay - $1,000 for the vintage stuff, roughly $2,500 for the Quicksilver stuff. I have heard nothing but very complimentary things about Quicksilver and just have a good feeling about the owner and the company. Thoughts?

It's a deal. And sometimes small is just right.

Love stinks! I oiled up the Bells and lint brushed the grill clothes, and stared moon-eyed at them for a few days . . . and now I don't think I want to sell them!!! At the very least, I'm going to hold off posting them for real for a while. Seriously, probably cheaper to own race horses, but there you have it. Thanks everyone for the communication. Very helpful. If I ever find out that these Belles have been cheating on me, they are going right on the damned market!

BadChile, I understand completely. No problem on my end. They ARE largish pieces of furniture, though very pretty. Thanks for your help with this. I'll post them beginning of next week in an official For Sale post. Great meeting you and many thanks again. You and Mark are both a credit to the Forum!

Thanks for the interest, Mark. As we agreed, without an A/B test its a difficult decision. I'll wait a couple of days and post them in a separate post for sale. (You might change your mind yet!) Nice meeting you remotely.

Many thanks, BadChile. Appreciate the help. I think I finally figured it out and like so many other things in life I was making more out of it than I needed. Story of my life! Dom

Hey, Belles 1977, all original, cabinets in very good shape. $2,700

Thanks, That's exactly what I was worried about.

Know the area well. My family lived in Granby for years. Here's a little blurb I wrote up about the speakers before I got side-tracked by the photo issue. Happy to talk and of course share photos. For a fellow Cter, happy to discuss pricing. Near-Excellent condition with the exception of small piece of veneer missing on the front edge of one and a very small piece missing on the rear edge of the other. They could be easily repaired by someone with more carpentry/veneering skills than myself (none whatsoever). Serial numbers are 1R979 and 1R980, which I believe makes them built in 1977. All original including AA crossovers. Sound is big and beautiful. No longer have the room in new place. I am located in mid-coast Maine, but willing to drive them down to Boston, or anywhere else approximately a 4 hour ride from here, for pick-up. Happy to PM more photos. Asking $2,700.

Near-Excellent condition with the exception of small piece of veneer missing on the front edge of one and a very small piece missing on the rear edge of the other. They could be easily repaired by someone with more carpentry/veneering skills than myself (none whatsoever). Serial numbers are 1R979 and 1R980, which I believe makes them built in 1977. All original including AA crossovers. Sound is big and beautiful. No longer have the room in new place. I am located in mid-coast Maine, but willing to drive them down to Boston, or anywhere else approximately a 4 hour ride from here, for pick-up. Happy to PM more photos. Asking $2,700.

Might be time to do some pre-emptive buttering up before the topic is even raised! Small, thoughtful gifts help. About a week before you have the "Say, hon, there's this set of speakers . . . "

It does it to us all!!!! Been there. LOL

Where in CT? I grew up in CT. Hartford then out to Litchfield area.

I'm in mid-coast Maine, about 2 hours north of Portland ME and 4 hours north of Boston. I figured I'd volunteer to drive them to Boston or any other place within about 4 hour drive time for pick-up.

Thanks. They're really nice. All original and in great shape, but for one piece of missing veneer on front strip about 3/4" long. Was going to try to fix it myself, but don't have the skills or the tools, so I'll take a small hit price wise on that point. I get it. Also one small veneer piece missing along back edge of other speaker. Not really very noticeable. Otherwise they look and sound great. They are 1977s with AB crossovers. Grill cloths all excellent. Finish is a mellow oil over walnut. Hate to see them go, but new apartment simply way too small for them. Sound big and beautiful. Thanks.

I'm a little surprised it's as funky to do as it is. That said, I have no idea what size they need to be to display properly on the Forum. Couldn't find any guidance on the Forum at all. Thanks. I'll get it eat some point.

I thought that was the solution, and I'll give it a try. Didn't seem as easy to do on a Mac (!) as it should be. I'll try it all again. Thanks. Appreciate it.

Having trouble posting photos of my Belles that I'm selling. One photo alone slightly exceeds the 2MB total limit on photos. Would like to post 4 photos. Am I doing something wrong? What is the secret? Many thanks.

This is just the question I've been grappling with and trying to get educated about. Thanks very much for your thoughts and the diagram. One hears so many different opinions on so many different aspects of setting up a system that your head starts to spin. I'm old enough to know that just paying big money for things doesn't necessarily, or even perhaps typically, make for "better" sound. Have a pair of stock Belles that I know can sound more to my liking - not sure how I know that, but I do - and am trying to lay out a path to improve the system and give the Belles the best supporting cast that I can afford on a tight budget. My biggest complaint is and has always been the "horniness" of the sound (sorry, I just couldn't resist once it popped into my head). I love the clarity - once heard Frank Sinatra ALMOST go off key! - but want to soften the edges, improve the soundstage and avoid fatigue. This forum, despite or because of, the multitude of opinions is a great, great resource for folks in my position on this little journey. Thanks to all for the continuing education.

LOL! Pretty interesting (looking) though.

I've been looking at your rig earlier. I was kind of fascinated by it. Looks great, by the way. That's interesting about the three-way to two-way change. This is all deep end of the pool stuff for me, but I'm learning. Slowly. I'll do more reading on active/passive. When you say "biamp" does that mean separate amplification - mono blocks - for each speaker or separate amps for the high and lows in each speaker? Thanks for the kind listening offer. I'm in Maine and don't get down south very often. But appreciate the offer. There is a very nice community on this forum.

Big thanks to everybody who contributed. I learned a lot. Much appreciated. My goal is to sweeten the sound of these stock Belles and generally improve the way the music presents itself. I'm looking for clear, clean, well-defined, warmer sound on a big and detailed soundstage that isn't fatiguing to listen to for longer periods. I want more liquid-y sound. Let me know if this order of upgrade/improvement progression makes sense: 1. Upgrade amplification from ss to tubes; 2. Puzzle through integrated amp vs. separates (that I can't really afford). Looking at Quicksilver Integrated Amp, although Quicksilver also makes mono blocks specifically designed for horn-loaded speakers. Prices for all the Quicksilver gear seem more than reasonable to me given the quality and I just like the feel of that company and its founder, they ring true somehow; 3. Replace the caps on the AA crossover or replace the crossovers entirely with AIK Universals, encourage to know that changing out caps doesn't require and EE degree; 3. Upgrade drivers for mid and highs. I may be dead wrong, but I can't help to think that if you are experiencing the infamous harshness of horn - which I do hear and do not like at all - at least part of the problem may be in the components that are responsible for producing mid-range and high-end sounds. All advice and thoughts gratefully accepted.

Thanks for the welcome, jcn3. Been stopping in for a while, thought I might as well join. Seems like a good and knowledgeable group. Really, just the capacitors are going to be questionable? That's great news. I'm pretty illiterate with electronics so when I look at the crossovers (AAs) they look prehistoric. But I'll certainly take your word for it. Would changing out the capacitors be something a careful novice could do? And how would I go about figuring out what capacitor to replace them with. Also, I presume that I can take the crossovers to a tech and have him/her test the whole thing. Does that make sense? Thanks.

I, too, own a pair Belles. All stock. My satisfaction with the sound is at about a B-. Some things they do very nicely, somethings not so much. My question is how much the electronic components - amps, preamps, crossovers - effect the sound quality as opposed to the mechanical components of the speakers themselves - drivers, horns, etc. I ask this because I am running the Belles on some fairly mid-range, simple electronics (really, electronic singular). I power the speakers with an older NAD integrated amp and run an NAD CD player through them. The former is probably 25 years old and he latter about 6. I have no illusions that NAD is not top of top of the line gear, but it's specs at the time I got them were more than acceptable. However, I'm not sure that I'm giving the Belles a fair shot by running them with this gear as I know they really like tube amplification. And I am suspicious of the 40 year old crossovers that look like they came out of a WWII submarine. The problem with my Klipschs is that you get the feeling that the sound could be so much better than what is coming out them. I'm just not sure what to do to help them. My secret guess is that the only thing worth not replacing is the woofers. High end and mid-rang can sound harsh with stock components on older stock Klipschs have always sounded a bit that way to me. Have no idea what, if anything, the stock crossovers contribute to the harshness. Thanks. All that said, when they're good, they are very good.