DTLongo

I want to have the CHOICE of having tone controls or not. Ergo, I am having my just-ordered Jolida JD102B tube amp modded by the factory to allow use of an outboard equalizer. As I understand it, they rewire the aux input to permit this leaving me three rather than four source inputs, which is enough for how I plan to use the amp - straight stereo with Khorns and with tuner and CD/DVD-audio inputs. It could very well be that, as was the case with GaryMD's little Fisher amp that he demo'd here in January, the little Jolida will push so much more rich bass through my Khorns than my present SS amp that bass tone control will be superfluous. But I still want the choice. CD recording quality varies widely, as we all know. There will be times when one wants to back down the treble some. Or to boost bass, especially at lower volumes. Likewise, since I already have it, I plan to continue my Velodyne S1500 subwoofer in the setup. With the new tube amp I might want to use the sub rarely, but there still may be times when I do.

Mine are in a 12' x 15' in the long wall corners. The room is smallish but has good corners, and a cathedral ceiling that lets the speakers open up a bit. Their mid-and treble outputs converge right at the sofa center-seat sweet spot on the opposite wall. The room's bass standing waves seem to reinforce each other also right there, luckily.

JBryan - thank you for the invite. Alas, Baltimore/Towson is a bit of a haul from Ocean Pines. which is on the seacoast ca. five miles inland from Ocean City, MD. But if you or other Klipschters are heading out to a few days at the beach at O.C. anyway, give me some advance notice and stop by. In another week or so I should have my '03 Khorns up and running with the new Jolida tube amp I have just ordered, and (hopefully) the combo should be quite something. Tom

Congrats on being able to fulfill your dream of new Khorns. Do a search back to October under DTLongo + Klipschorns to read considered thoughts on my 2003 Khorns. Also find GaryMD's review of same in January 2004.

Thanks, Johnny Db. I will post a review of the Jolida with my Khorns after I get it and have lived with it a while.

The Jolida JD 102B is a small integrated tube amp using two 12AX7's as preamps and two matched pairs of EL84's for the power amplification. You can see a picture of it on their website, www.jolida.com. It has no tone controls, so I asked them to mod it so I can use a graphic equalizer if desired. The amp cost $580 plus $50 for the mod plus shipping and 5% MD sales tax since both they and I are in MD, all up probably about $675. Just about bottom of the market for a new tube amp. In fact the 102B is the "baby" in Jolida's line. They expect to ship it o/a February 26 after doing the mod and testing it all out.

FYI, I've decided to go with new for a tube amp. I have just ordered a Jolida JD 102B amp from the manufacturer. It has rave reviews here and there on the 'Net, e.g., at audioreview.com. 20 wpc and it should really make my Khorns sing. Tom

FYI, I've decided to go with new for a tube amp. I have just ordered a Jolida JD 102B amp from the manufacturer. It has rave reviews here and there on the 'Net, e.g., at audioreview.com. 20 wpc and it should really make my Khorns sing. Tom

Johnny Db, yes, I would be very interested in your Scott 299A MKII. See your email.

Those interested in a possible Stereophile/Klipschorn review may wish to look at considered thoughts posted here not long ago on my 2003 Klipschorns. Do a search under the two-channel forum for "DTLongo" + "Klipschorns" back to October 1, 2003. You will find two review strings in October initiated by me and one initiated in January 2004 by GaryMD. That "wall of sound" effect that Gary describes is no exaggeration. P.S. I'm still looking for a tube amp. Regards, Tom in Ocean Pines, MD

Yes, I'd be imterested. Couple of questions. Does the amp have a center channel output and/or pre-out, main-in jacks such that it could be used with a powered subwoofer? How long ago did Craig rebuild it? What is the asking price? The Scott vintage website lists the 299A as having 17 watts per channel RMS. What is the difference between a plain Scott 299A and the 299A MkII version you mentioned? More power? Can you possibly send me some pictures of it? Thanks!

The deal I thought was done for a Scott 233 amp fell through due to circumstances beyond the seller's control. So, I am back in the market for a good Scott 299-ish tube amp to go with my 2003 Klipschorns. If any of you know of such, would you please give would-be sellers a steer to me? DTLongo@aol.com. Thanks!

Smilin, are you buying GaryMD's Mac? If so, congrats. If Gary says it's good, Gary has golden ears and you can take that to the bank. Gary, Smilin's having UPS wrap up his Scott 233 amp and shipp it to me this weekend. Nice of him since I still have to send him a balance once he lets me know the anount including shipping. I guess we honest folks have a sense for each other. Craig, when I get Smilin's (my) 233 that you rebuilt, do I need to do anything special re powering it up? Can I just hook up my Khorns and tuner and CD player and turn the amp on? Or would you recommend that I first get some sort of surge-attenuation device to use every time to power the amp up more slowly in order to treat the tubes more gently? Can you identify such a device (Variac or whatever)? Do you know if Radio Shack sells such? Tks., Tom

Think of a really hot, fast ACOUSTIC bass viol in a jazz combo that you're hearing live. That's "fast" bass. Clear attacks, every note audible and precise. Lesser loudspeakers will muddy that up so that you don't hear each note's attack (onset). Interestingly, for loudspeakers that muddying is more a mid-range and treble factor than in the woofer or subwoofer range. The actual attack on a note is pretty well up there in frequency, not down low. If you listen to a good sub subbing in the true sub range (sorry for the repetition), you will not hear "fastness." Rather, you will hear richer full deep bass. The "speed" occurs further up in the audio spectrum.

Good luck with your sale, Gary. I look forward to seeing pics of the amp. How does the sound from your Mac compare to that from the little Fisher you demo'd over here a few weeks ago?

My own experience shows that the amp makes a BIG difference with Khorns. When I fired up my new 2003 horns when they arrived last April, they struck me as thin in the bass. My then SS amplifier, fortunately, chose to die on me a couple of months later, which led me to swap in a Pioneer home theater receiver I had on hand, running it as straight stereo. The Pioneer made a remarkable difference for the better in bass and imaging. I was astonished. Then GaryMD came over a few weeks ago with a little Fisher 9 wpc tube amplifier to see how the horns sounded with that. Well, as I wrote on this forum earlier, I got religion on tubes. What a difference! The Khorns seemed literally to bloom, especially in the bass but with increased overall clarity, shimmer and precise imaging as well. So now I'm buying a tube amp. My Khorns are not tightly sealed against the wall, they're just backed up as far as I can get into their corners. Yet the bass with Gary's tube amp was magnificent. I was, again, astonished. Tom

You betcha, once I get the new amp and start to live with it, I will be in the market for two sets of matched quad or multiple matched pairs of 7591's. One quad set to use with the new amp in place of the original 7591's it comes with (which Craig told me are real original equpment, still truckin' at around 80%, that I will keep in reserve), and the other as an extra spare set. I've been looking around the 'net and vintage small-tube 7591's are around, but expensive. Apparently new Russian (or Chinese?) 7591's in the taller bulb format are readily available, but I wouldn't be able to use the amp enclosure since those tubes are too tall. I am looking forward to having the amp on display as a visual as well as audio work of art. So, it won't bother me to run it "naked" sans enclosure with the taller tubes. But do any of you have an opinion as to how the newer taller 7581's sound compared to the older squat shorties? Tks., Tom

Looks like I'm the lucky one who's buying Smilin's Scott 233 tube amp, recently rebuilt by Craig. Thank you to forum folks who steered me to this amp. You know who you are. Thank you also to Smilin himself, and to Craig who took time to tell me details about the amp. My Khorns are already drooling in anticipation. Tom in Ocean Pines, MD

GaryMD, if you're nearby to those Vitavox/Klipschorns, go over please and take a listen and let us know what you think! Please tell us how they compare to my 2003 Klipschorns that you just heard anew. I trust your ears. Is he selling a pair of 'em or just one? The eBay listing is not clear on that. One recalls that Klipschorns were originally designed in the days of pre-stereo for use as mono speakers. The finish on that Vitavox pictured on eBay is luscious. The overall design is kinda art deco but that finish is sure sweet. Wish I'd sprung for the extra bucks to get my Khorns with something like that.

Recollecting further, the Infinity Reference Standards may have had six, not eight, 12" woofers in each of the two 8' tall columnar woofer cabinets. The total array was really visually impressive.

When I still subscribed to Stereophile a decade or so ago I remember reading about Wilson Audio something-or-others (WAMM's), "Wilson Watt/Audio Puppies" and such. They were enormously expensive back then. I guess the company is still around. Back in the 1970's I attended an audio show in Washington D.C. that included a demo of then Infinity Reference Standard speakers at around $40,000 per pair. They were really beautiful, Stonehenge-like structures, two high woofer column cabinets with eight 12-inchers apiece and two similarly tall and broader midrange- and electrostatic tweeter cabinets. Also had a chance to hear them later at a now long defunct audio dealer called Excalibur in Alexamdria, VA. They were quite something. And quite impractical. As I said in my earlier reviews on this forum of my new Khorns, they, as relatively inexpensive speakers in that league, just sit skootched back and down rather unobtrusively in their corners and put out marvelous sound. Hats off to PWK. Really. At the age of 61 I did buy the Khorns as heirloom-quality speakers, and I don't think they will disappont in that respect, either. Tom

My new 2003 Klipschorns were dealer-contracted for in October 2002 for $6500.00. They have the light oak finish. The price included shipping, delivery and installation with Monster cable-quality wire. They were delivered April 1, 2003. Given that these speakers can run with high end ones ones costing $10,000 on up into the stratosphere, I think I got a good deal.

Gary, when you A/B'd the Fisher with the Scott 299, what differences did you specifically hear? Just curious. Tom

Craig gave me a steer to www.2Baudio.com in Naperville, IL to look at Cayin tube amps, which evidently get rave reviews. The site also shows they sell a rebuilt Fisher 400-X all-tube RECEIVER for $1200 (ouch). It looks like a gorgeous unit in the pics. The tube-tuner is said to be tweaked, as well as the amp. Plus, it would appear to have a full set of controls including tone controls. Does anyone know about and have an opinion about the Fisher 400-X?

I did contact Craig at NOS Valves who informed that he doesn't have amps for sale but would rebuild one that I would find and buy and send to him. I'm sure he'd do a great job. What about a NEW tube amp? I found and looked at the website of a company called Jolida. They offer a 20 wpc model JD102B for about $550 and a 40 wpc model JD 202A for $750. Integrated amps, but no tone controls as far as I can tell. (I would want to have tone controls.) On the plus side, Jolida is located at Annapolis Harbor, MD, not too far from where I live. Does anyone know anything about Jolida and the quality/sound of their amps? Or about any other new tube amp manufacturers to whom you can give me a steer? I would like to pay <$1K, preferably much less. The amp would be used with my 2003 Klipschorns. Thank you.