Cut-Throat

Very nice neat job. I am currently working a on Pair of Type 'A's What did you fasten the coils to the board with?

Yardwork - Schmardwork! - We just got another 5 inches of snow in Minneapolis last night! - I can't even see my yard!

In Case you didn't see these Belles moon You can finish them any way you'd like. I got mine in a Darker Oak with Black Grills and am turning them into light Oak with a Cane Colored Cloth. Still working on the other on - Propbably will be done in a couple weeks. By the way my shipping was around $400 from North Carolina to Minnesota!

artto, These things are not that easy to listen to. I heard a pair of Randy Bey's Klipschorns and bought my Belles (without hearing them) in the following month. Heck I did not even know the tweeter was blown for a couple days. - I just thought they sounded rotten. After a couple weeks, I got the tweeters repaired and they were really sounding fine. There are just too many audiophiles that listen to LaScalas and Belles and they can't be all wrong. I don't think you are taking a Big Chance here. I remember posting on this forum last fall that I was interested in Auditioning a pair of Belles or LaScalas in the Chicago area. The response I got was Sure "Honey there is a guy coming over to listen to our speakers named Cut-Throat" -- - sure come on over! I'm ready to pounce on a pair of Auris 2 from Holland at 6 Grand and the current folks that have heard them all bought them unheard. It is very difficult unless you know someone that owns a pair. Sometimes you just have to trust your references!

artto, You had made a comment regarding the crossover on the Belles vs. The LaScalas - You had said they were modified. I am currently constructing a Type 'A' for my Belles. Would you say that there is any difference in Type 'A's between the Belles and LaScalas? I am planning on using the 13uf and 2uf Cap - T2A Autoformer and 2.4 mhz. coil. Thanks

Well, after a thinking about my need for wanting to mount some binding posts on a crossover board, I have finally come up with a good solution. A trip to Home Depot and I found some angle iron made of aluminum with the same height as my Cardas Binding post. I drilled some holes for the Binding Post and cut the angle iron to the length of the binding post. All I have to do now is drill 3 little holes in the bottom of the Aluminum Frame and use 3 wood screws to mount in the crossover board. Then I will solder a couple wires to the posts and then mount some clips to the standard Klipsch Barrier Strip.

There seems to be a lot of vintage Oil Caps on E-bay. Does anyone have any tips for buying these caps? - What to look for etc. as far as Klipsch crossovers are concerned. Thanks.

Hey very, very, neat job of arranging those crossover components. I am also in the process of Building some Type 'A' networks. How did you attach the inductor to the board? How about the other components? - Did you get some clamps for the caps? Any other tips that you can give me? Thanks,

paulparrot, Well, I just attached my Klipsch Emblem to the front of my Belle. I'll tell you how I did it. When I took it off the Black Grill Cloth, I noticed that it had been glued on. I first used very coarse sandpaper and removed all of the glue from the back of the Faceplate. This also scratched the back and will give the new glue a good grip. I then mixed up a little 5 minute 2 part epoxy (this stuff will fix anything but a broken heart!) . I laid the Belle on it's Back so that the front was now facing the ceiling. I applied a very thin layer of epoxy to the back of the faceplete and placed it squarely in the center of the grill cloth near the bottom as before. I then placed a 1 x 4 on top of the plate to weight it down and stacked a pile of books on top of the plate and let it sit for a half hour. Looking Good!!!

MBM, Tubes are for real. It's all I can stand any more! - But, I'm with you on the CeeDees! - The newly made ones sound terrific With my Tube DAC! - I really did not care for the ritual of cleaning vinyl, not to mention the Clicks. Pops, skips etc. etc. I've listened to plenty of vinyl lately and to me it's not worth the effort - IMHO

Hi, I would look for a SET amp ideally to go with these efficent speakers. I have a pair of 300b Biilies that I built from a kit for around $1K. There are excellent SET amps from Wright also. Here you can choose 2A3 or 300B or even 45. You don't need any more than 2-8 watts per channel. Read some reviews at Audio Asylum and research this subject for a few weeks. You'll have a good idea of what you should look into after that!

Big D, I'd like to see a pic of your Factory White Belle. Can you post one? As far as Refinishing - the best advice is by HDBR - patience. Don't be in a hurry (even though you want to be) Yours will turn out fine. Take your time and ask for advice when you need it!

Really nice work Kevin. Wanna refinish my khorns? _________________________________________________________ Thanks Randy, I certainly would be willing to help if want to undertake this project. (and living without the Khorns for a month or so). It's not difficult - Just patience and elbow grease. - It's a bit messy and time consuming, but if you are willing to do the grunt work, I will give you all the consulting advice that you need. Mostly a lot of sanding (an oribital sander is a real help here).

[Nice, but it does not look a whole lot lighter (shade wise) than the other one. ---------------------------------------------------------------- It is a lot lighter! - Here is another picture that may show it better. I would not want it any lighter than this. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Did you get that grill cloth from Wendell fabrics? Yes ___________________________________________________________-__ It does not look like or very similar to the original Klipsch cane grill cloth. ____________________________________________________________ I prefer this over the cane - The cane is very unruly stuff - Also has a red thread woven into it. ____________________________________________________________ I want to buy some of the cane grill cloth they have to redo my center La Scala but I would need to buy 2 yards minimum which is much more than I need for the small patch on the La Scala. _______________________________________________________________ From what I understand the Original Cane Cloth is no longer available.

Let's try uploading that picture again - OK?

I have finally completed the refinishing job on one of my Belles. Basically I tured a dark Oak Belle with Black Grill Cloth into a Light Oak Belle with Cane Colored Grill Cloth. I had to sand the entire finish off. I also re-wired the speaker with 16 gauge OFC Copper. What the hell - Still sounds the same though! I put on 3 coats of Satin Poly for better protection. (normally I would not finish a speaker with Poly, but these are so large that I felt they needed some added protection.) I really prefer the texture of an Oil Finish much better. Special thanks to HDBR Builder and Chris Robinson for advice on Finishing and Grill Cloth! Thanks Guys! Now I have to muster the strength to finish the next one! Should I put the Klipsch emblem on or leave it off? - Whadda think?

Craig, No problem - The only reason that I even brought up the AVA stuff, was that deang said he did not like SET at the top of the post. He had responded the other day that AVA looked Ugly. I was mainly pulling his chain. If you have not noticed deang changes gear more than anyone I have ever seen. Had he not made the 'Ugly' remark, I would not even brought up AVA.

"Its different to give a recomendation when someone asks then to bring your favorite stuff up on every occasion ! " NOS440, Well, I have made a grand total of 3 posts in all of the Klipsch Forums Recommending this Line of gear, since I have been posting. If this is over the top for you, I'd guess you are in the audio business. I am not. I have nothing to gain. Explain to me how 3 posts of recommendation (When no-one asked) is "on every Occasion" - This sounds over the top!

Geez kh, Did anyone count the number of times you recommended the moondogs? Or maybe your friend Jean-Francois, that you're always pimping. So how is my recomendation different than yourself? So my coming out party is spoiling your forum? You get a little touchy when someone recommends a product different than yourself? Does this mean your Stock is going down? I thought you were bigger than this? Or which rule on your forum did I break?

Deang ---------------- SET amps are for people who understand the mysteries of the electrical universe. As for me, I will be content if I can once again move the universe with some air. I simply could not deal with the restricted nature of the dynamics at the levels I prefer to listen too. My musical tastes require unbridled dynamics, and the wondeful transparency of SET would only take me so far. --------------- With as often as you change gear, maybe it's time you slowed down a bit and give Audio by Van Alstine a try. You may think the equipment is ugly, but after you have been in this hobby for a while, you tend to use your ears instead of your eyes. If dynamics are what you strive for, Maybe 250 wpc. with a tube driver stage is what you are craving. I own SS, Push-Pull, SET and Hybrid. - and AVA Hybrid is the Best! I have been an AVA Customer for 17 years. I doubt you have owned an amp for more than 17 days! Do you think?

Randy, I understand the Financial Situation. Recessions don't last forever, even though this has been a tough one! - I have not turned down any part time jobs in the last couple of years, even though I thought I would. More fishing than working! - I'm not complaining, if you get my drift. Heck, I would even loan you a pre-amp, if I had one with a Phono-Stage! - I got rid of my vinyl in the mid 80's and am happy with CeeDee's. In the meantime you can use your Jury rigged Phono Stage to tide you over. Hope the thing with Cary works out for you.

OK Mobile (other side), You are just going to have to use your own ears. You are either interested in hearing it or not. I have also have been an Audiophile for 30 years! Here is another recent convert that discovered a Solid State pre-amp from AVA that posted a week or so ago on AA. BTW - The T7 Fet-Valve Pre-amp is a major step up from the one this poster is mentioning (I know - I used to own it!) http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.pl?forum=amp&n=11062&highlight=merle&r=&session=

Mobile, The "Blanket Statement" was a comparison. That's what we heard. People wonder why AA inmates don't do more reviews. This is a textbook case. There is always something wrong with the cables, the source, the tubes, the power, Not broken in, etc etc etc. If the SLP98 would have blown away my T7, I would own it now! I bought my Klipsch Belles after listening to Randy Bey's Klipschorns. I would have bought the Horns, if I had proper corners. Look, I'm not a cheapskate, I have 2 Lexus in the Garage. In audio - It usually takes a lot of money to learn that you don't have to spend a lot of money to get good sound. This is my take on it. My advice is find a T7 or order one and listen to it.

Mobile, Yes I do own the AE-3, but I have also heard a few other Cary Pre-amps - None of which were as good as my T7. Most recently last fall a friend of mine brought over a demo SLP98 (Neat Looking), but it made my speakers seem like you put over a table cloth over them compared to my T7. I suggest you listen to a T7. Randy Bey has! - He liked it! It's not just pre-amps either. The 'Platinum Crowd' as Sunnysal called them over at AA seem to like the Bel Canto Digital Amps. We had some demo units over at my place (evo 200.2 or something). They were so lifeless and veiled, we wondered how bad the other amps were, that they were comparing them to. Like I said listen to the AVA gear and then tell me what blows it away and I'll buy it!

Sunnysal, Most of the people that PooPoo AVA are ones that have a personal Vendetta against Frank Van Alstine. They have not heard an amp made by him in the last 10 years. I'm sure he made some of these people cry and they never got over it. Also Frank does not buy into Magic Cables and foo foo dust and this pisses off most of the 'Golden Ears'. These electronics are not only good for the money, they are good at any price. Show me better gear and I'll upgrade! I have been an AVA customer for 17 years. I also have Push-Pull amps by Cary and the Billie SET amps. Cary pre-amps also. The AVA gear is in a far superior league!