DTLongo

So Amy or whoever, what did the Last Historic Final Production Belle finally go for ($?) if in fact it has been auctioned? Shame there's no picture, I bet that mahogony Belle was a beauty.

I guess I may have one of the last new-production Belles, a medium-oak one purchased September 2004 in Delaware for $2470.00. It is serial # BK3MO1704340001.

Above I wrote about my Onkyo receiver-plus-Khorns setup that "...The combo sounds fine even though, psycholgically, it is frustrating to eye those big beautiful Khorns and know that their bass capabilities are not being used to their full capability." Well, finally that frustration just got to me and I spent a few hours yesterday replacing the Onkyo with the 1990-vintage Pioneer VS-5700S receiver I mentioned. That old pro-logic receiver doesn't even have a subwoofer output. But boy, does it ever make those Klipschorns sing. After hooking and tweaking everything up carefully, I turned it on and the Khorns just seemed to BLOOM. The amplifier difference was noticeable INSTANTLY and was just how I remembered. With that amp and the Khorns you don't need a subwoofer! The synthesized center channel with that old receiver is what it is, not full range. Its quality is rather like old AM radio audio. It is listenable and adequate for the purpose to "anchor" the soundstage center while the Khorns carry the main sonic load. So, the Belle center speaker is in a sense underfulfilled but I can live with that. Plus, for whatever reason the amplifier safety-shutdowns at high volume with the center channel active that I mentioned above do not appear to be happening, amen. The Velodyne S1500R sub is hooked up to the "B" speaker terminals on the amp and so is available when I want it for below 35 hz. stuff. It's Xover is set to 60 Hz and its volume control is up only about one-third, and that is plenty with the Khorns. So I am again a happy boychick. But sad will I be if and when that good ol' Pioneer dies.

An LCD or plasma TV should not be sensitive to magnetic fields so you should be OK. In my former place I had a home theater Khorns + Belle center setup with a 50" Pioneer plasma sitting on top of the Belle and there were no problems at all. Assuming your Khorns are in corners as they should be, how do you plan to mount the TV in a corner? Just curious.

Try it you may like it. Seriously, Khorns are very amplifier-sensitive. Run with a good compatible amplifier they don't need a sub and you will get the advantage of their very tight, fast, full bass. My challenge though has been running them in a three-channel audio setup with a Belle center, ergo with a variety of solid state home theater receivers. With the Khorns, except for one vintage-1990 Pioneer the receivers have all been shy in the bass. And the beautiful-sounding Pioneer is an obsolete Pro-Logic model and its synthesized center channel does not sound great and at loud volumes would cause the amp to safety-shut down. So, I am using a Velodyne S1500R sub with the Khorns and presently an Onklyo TX-DS575 HT receiver. The combo sounds fine even though, psycholgically, it is frustrating to eye those big beautiful Khorns and know that their bass capabilities are not being used to their full capability.

No, they're not siblings, they came in separately to the county animal shelter from where I adopted them in July. The larger, chunkier one (Pookie) is totally black. The smaller, slenderer one (Peppie) has white whiskers and a tuft of white on her chest. Peppie is to the left in the photo, Pookie on the right. They are both purring machines. Peppie is more affectionate, Pookie is more standoffish. Fancy that, an aloof cat. Meow.

Yep, they're front-declawed as of a couple of weeks ago. Peppie and Pookie are just beyond kittenhood and before they WERE declawed things were dicey. Guarded by other pieces of furniture the Khorns and Belle were unscathed and the Velodyne and my HT speakers almost so. Meow.

Working away in silence at my desk this morning I heard a rustling noise and turned to look and here's what I saw.

I suggest you go over to the two-channel forum and look at the several Palladium comments there.

I wanted to pick up on an earlier post where it was suggested ( I don't recall by whom) that after first putting Beethoven's 9th Symphony on his new Palladium 39F's, it wasn't until he moved to more pop-rock-movie music that the Palladiums really came into their own and blew him away. That has been my experience with Klipschorns, too. About four years ago GaryMD came over to hear my then-new 2003 Khorns. He brought a little Fisher 10 wpc tube amp and we spent the first day listening to pop/rock, and the Khorns sounded phenomenal. The next morning I powered them up with the same amp on classical symphonic music, and the impact was not nearly as dramatic. Ergo, I concluded, classical (symphonic) music is in its nature more diffuse, distant from the microphones, and otherwise enough different from rock/pop/country such that the impact of even superb speakers is subjectively less with classical than with the latter. That said, the Khorns still soar with a WELL-recorded classical piece of music as I'm sure the Palladiums do, too. "Horsepower counts" even with seemingly staid classical. I caught a recording of Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto on local public FM radio the other day. That piece's first movement features the solo nine-foot concert grand piano pushed to its fortissimo max against the full forte orchestra. On my Khorn + Belle array one could SENSE that pianist pouring his or her full weight into that keyboard against the orchestra. The very room air was electric. And so I would imagine would be the case with Palladiums. But I would be really interested in an A-B comparison of Khorns with Palladiums someday by some audiophile closely familiar with both classical and pop music.

Can Amy at Klipsch or anyone say whether these Palladiums are the first ones to reach an actual U.S. consumer user?

Good luck, I hope your event comes off this time. I wish I were closer and could come. But PLEASE, if the event does occur, afterward post in detail your and others' impressions of the Palladiums. As an owner of 2003 Khorns, I'd be particularly interested in what persons with Khorn experience think about how the new Big Guys compare. For example, Khorns are amplifier sensitive and can be bass-shy until you find the right amp + Khorn matchup. I wonder how amplifier-sensitive the Palladiums will be. Even the mighty Khorn can benefit from subwoofer support way down low. How about the Palladiums?

"Sorry if some of these questions are stupid I'm just really new at this lol." Ain't no such thing as stupid questions here, we all have to start somewhere . To the advice others have provided I would add, " trust your own ears." Autocalibtration, subwoofer placement and all that esoterica are well and good, but at the end YOU have to be happy with what you're hearing from your sweet seat. So, don't be afraid to, say, crank up those side and rear speakers relative to the fronts so you have the sense of really being "surrounded" by the audio. Don't overdo it but don't be hesitant to try, either. Also (important) be very careful about speaker phase. You must be sure that all your speakers are hooked up "in phase," that is to say, red (or positive) from the amp terminal to the red terminal on each speaker and black (negative) to black terminals. Otherwise one speaker cone will be moving in while the other is moving out and you will get a thin, jumbled unfocused sound. Phasing is critically important.

"To heck with it, get'em. You may have another room someday, but this might be your best deal on 'horns. Rooms come and go, but K'horns LAST. Dave " Amen. Get 'em, have fun and work your Khornitis out of your system. Khorns do last forever, they are collectors' pieces, and someday you may have the opportunity to move to a place with good corners where you'll be able to really open them up. But trust me, been there done that - finding a house with good Khorn corners is a bit of a challenge. I lucked out with my present place in '06. In your small room the bass probably WILL suffer though you still will benefit from tjhe Khorns' efficiency and clarity. They will take anything you throw at them, even the Telarc '"1812" cannon shots played very loud, and they will not break up or fall apart on demanding, high-volume stuff. To offset the bass deficiency in that small room, think of getting a high-quality subwoofer, Velodyne or such. Even a (good) ten-incher will fill in the low bass beautifully in that small room. Once you get everything all dialed in you will be in ecstasy.

I've held back from this string because Bose-bashing (with some justification) is de rigeur for many folks here. But what the heck. As perhaps one of the very few if not the only one using BOTH Klipschorns (2003 models) and Bose 901 Series VI's, I think I know whereof I speak. No, I haven'r A/B'd them directly with each other in the same room. And yes, the Klipschorns at high volume will blow away the 901's with the Khorns' effortless high clarity. BUT, at anywhere up to moderately high volumes the 901's hold their own. They are quite easily listenable, with an honest bass down to around 40hz or so. They are light years beyond (better) than the micro-cube plus (non)-subwoofer Acoustimass-type modules Bose overprices yet hypermarkets so successfully. The 901 VI's are, indeed, a good stereo pair of speakers, and are still in production at some $1400 per pair. Plus, I have had my pair of 901's since 1988, and they look and sound as good as new. No cone rot, etc. They are durable beasts, as compared to a pair of classic Large Advents I hAve whose woofer surrounds totally rotted and the woofers had to be replaced. The 901's are in a back-up computer bedroom office I use when my main computer in the larger Klipschorn living room goes down or I am backing up files on the other machine. So, I don't listen now to the 901's terribly often, but when I do, I still smile.

Purists will go tsk at your using tone controls at all. So doing, in their view, degrades the signal and introduces distortion. But people hear differently. If it sounds good to you, go for it. Just be sure to listen for any distortion or "forced" quality at higher volumes and if that occurs, back off the volume and/or the tone controls. 10db bass boost is quite a lot. It may be that your speakers are bass-shy below around 50hz. If you have a chance to borrow someone's powered subwoofer, hook it up, set your amp tone controls to flat, turn up the subwoofer volume by itself to your liking, and see if you like what you hear.

That letter. and especially the following extract, is legal poetry repeat poetry ! Once I have received the above materials and explanations from you, I will undertake to analyze this information and let you know whether we are willing to accede to any of the demands made in your letter. If my analysis shows that there is any reasonable likelihood that we have infringed in any way any of Monster Cable's intellectual property rights, we will of course take any and all action necessary to resolve the situation. If I do not hear from you within the next fourteen days, or if I do hear from you but do not receive all of the information requested above, I will assume that you have abandoned these claims and closed your file. The writer is keeping control over what would appear to be legal bullying by Monster. He/she is being responsive and not ignoring the matter, is calling their bluff, stipulates a date certain for them to get back to him, and puts the ball right back in their court. Beautiful! I seem to recall from reading around that the Bose Corp. is also one legally zealous outfit. So is the Disney Co. Be that what it may, you have to give this writer credit for standing up. If Monster does have a case, the door is still open for them to try to make it. If not, so be that, too. (I have always been skeptical of exotic cable claims. My Klipschorns do fine on quality, but not Monster, 12- or 14 guage.)

The Klipschorns are 2003's. The Klipsch nameplate was the then-factory logo on them. I spotted the PWK ones at the Klipsch Pilgrimmage ca. 2004 and ordered a pair from Klipsch later at $12 apiece, as I recall. Neat, huh? (My 2004 Belle came with only the PWK logo.)

Yep, it is kinda nice to have that big relic up and running again. By "woofer cover" I gather you mean the two grille cloths. The color in the photos is their actual color and if that's Dusty Rose, so be it. The grille cloths are fortunately in like-new shape. The box too is almost pristine except for a few small nicks and scratches visible if one looks for them. Its walnut finish is a little lighter than it appears in the photo, so the box looks better next to that Klipschorn than it may seem in the picture.

The "new" B380 is up and running! See pictures (three) and update over on Two-Channel.

Third pic of three - up and running. The woofer unit is a Memphis Audio 15", dual 4-ohm voice coil auto subwoofer spec'd at an Fs of 27 that fit perfectly in the B380 box. The "new" B380 anchors a three-channel Klipschorn + Belle system fed by a Sony STR-DE698 home theater discrete digital receiver. Its subwoofer output feeds my beloved old vintage 1990 Pioneer VSX-5700S Pro-Logic receiver run in straight stereo mode, which comfortably handles the 4-ohm load as long as no other speakers are connected to it. Which gets me finally over a a tale of frustration. I have three newer Dolby Digital HT receivers here, the Sony, an Onkyo and a Harmon-Kardon, but ONLY the old Pioneer has the bass-oomph to make my Klipschorns really sing. And, run in straight stereo from the Pioneer, boy, do they sing. But with any of the other receivers they are bass shy. But alas, the old Pioneer with its middling derived Pro-Logic center channel signal would not do justice to my center channel Belle. Frustration! But now that's solved. The Pioneer and the "new" B380 do the bass heavy lifting and sound magnificent, as good as the Khorns themselves did when run with the Pioneer. By "magnificent" I mean MUSICAL as well as in terms of deep full bass. My Velodyne S1500R sub sounds sterile by contrast. That B380 box really sings. Plus it looks good, too. I'm happy.

Second pic of 3 - woofer installed

The "new" B380 is up and running. See pictures (three). .

(Posted toTwo-Channel and also to Home Theater) I'm contemplating some fun over the next few weeks. Years ago around 1980 I purchased for around $800 something called a JBL380 subwoofer. It came in a massive handsome box about the size of a Klipsch Belle turned on its side, one humongous 15" woofer with an outboard electronic crossover through which xover the woofer was intended to be bi-amped. Well, to make a long story short, I've been helping my now ex-wife set up a new house, the enclosure and xover were there (the actual speaker long ago purloined by one of my sons), and I am going to take the box + xover back home and buy a new 15-incher and set it up with an extra amp I have and try it out with my Klipschorn + Belle array, or alternatively with my home theater in another room Hey, who said we ever grow up with this stuff <g>. Actually, the JBL380 box was incredibly impressive in its time, and it's going to be fun to play around with a "neoclassic" version of it again. Are any of you aficionados familiar with the JBL380 and would anyone have a recommendation on a replacement woofer driver for it? P.S. I think these Klipsch forums are the best things of their kind on the Internet and once again I thank Klipsch for hosting them as you do. Doing so may not show up directly in your bottom line as $ but they sure do in fandom. Thank you Amy and everyone else at Klipsch.

(Posted to Home Theater and also to Two-Channel) I'm contemplating some fun over the next few weeks. Years ago around 1980 I purchased for around $800 something called a JBL380 subwoofer. It came in a massive handsome box about the size of a Klipsch Belle turned on its side, one humongous 15" woofer with an outboard electronic crossover through which xover the woofer was intended to be bi-amped. Well, to make a long story short, I've been helping my now ex-wife set up a new house, the enclosure and xover were there (the actual speaker long ago purloined by one of my sons), and I am going to take the box + xover back home and buy a new 15-incher and set it up with an extra amp I have and try it out with my Klipschorn + Belle array, or alternatively with my home theater in another room Hey, who said we ever grow up with this stuff <g>. Actually, the JBL380 box was incredibly impressive in its time, and it's going to be fun to play around with a "neoclassic" version of it again. Are any of you aficionados familiar with the JBL380 and would anyone have a recommendation on a replacement woofer driver for it? P.S. I think these Klipsch forums are the best things of their kind on the Internet and once again I thank Klipsch for hosting them as you do. Doing so may not show up directly in your bottom line as $ but they sure do in fandom. Thank you Amy and everyone else at Klipsch.