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There are a series of publications called "The Official Guide to Records" by Jerry Osborne published by House of Collectibles, New York that has a pretty thorough listing of recordings & their value.

Isopropyl Alchohol does nothing to improve conductivity between 2 non-hardwired metal surfaces other than helping to remove some surface contamination. IPA is not all that "pure" either. If it were, you could drink it like other "well-known" forms of alcohol . There are still contaminents in there. Thats why its for "external use only". (Its not even good to clean dirty vinyl records with it. Use something like Smirnoff Silver for that & afterwards treat the records with a lubricant such as groove glide because the alcohol will "dry the vinyl" causing it to loose some its natural "slippery" qualities.) Unlike IPA which merely "cleans" the metal connections, a product like ProGold G5 also contains deoxidizers, preservatives, conductivity enhancers, arcing & RFI inhibitors, and anti-tarnishing compounds. It is effective on similar or dissimilar metals. When a treated and untreated connector mate, ProGold migrates to both. When the connectors separate, ProGold recoats both exposed metal surfaces providing continued preservative protection.

Well Radiohead, thats good to hear (pun intended). I bought my K-horns before I had a "proper room" for them too, although never a room that small. I was able to get a good "deal" on them at a time when there were fair trade laws in effect, so I went for it, knowing that they would eventually have a proper room built around them. Would you believe I paid $635 each for them in 1976? Hard to believe, isn't it? By the way....just keep the EICO & put the money towards your new house/room. It will be money much better spent.

Im going to have to take exception with Colins comments regarding tilting the big old horns forward a ¼quarter to one-half inch (sorry Colinbut everything else is cool though). The proximity of the woofer horn to the walls at a corner has a significant effect on the frequency response of the Klipschorn (see Klipsch Dope From Hope publication Vol. 2, No 12, November 1961). If the Klipschorn is not properly seated in a corner there will result a response dip in the region of 250-500 cycles per second in the Klipschorn woofer. A one inch gap on one side can cause a 7 decibel loss at 500 cycles per second. Where a fit cannot be affected, one may apply a flap of flexible but firm sheeting, such as U.S. Rubber Companys one-eight inch gasket. Most important, however, is the fit against the corner. Tilting the K-horns forward will result in an even more irregular frequency response, especially in a room this small (10x12), compounding the acoustical problems, not solving them.

Caig Laboratories (www.caig.com) has electrical contact cleaners, preservatives & conductivity enhancers made specifically audio/video (& other) applications. Their ProGold G5 works great! One step process. And yes......use it on the tube pins & sockets! I use it with some cotton swabs or cotton wrapped around toothpicks to get into the tighter places. (by the way, all you really need to clean automotive battery terminals is some baking soda mixed with a little water)

Before you invest any more money in other equipment, why dont you get those K-horns in a proper room where they belong? K-horns not only need room corners...they need SOME ROOM! 10 X 12 FEET? What is this, an unused bedroom or something? While the Klipschorn may have been intended for both commercial & domestic use, it was also intended to be listened to at ranges greater than 3 meters. A room that small is so prone to multiple room mode resonance problems, especially with a speaker like the K-horn, I have to wonder what it is you like about it. I guarantee you, you have not ever heard what those speakers are capable of in a room of that size & proportions regardless of the associated equipment. It doesnt do the K-horns (& therefore any remaining high quality components) any justice. Seems to me you could achieve far better performance with a different speaker that is more appropriate in a room that small. K-horns may be many things to many people, but near-field monitors they are not! The K-horns need some room to breathe. To put it another way, what youre doing is kind of like trying to put a Ferrari engine & drivetrain in a 1978 Chevette (whats the point?).

To answer your 4 questions quickly.......IMHO No No No and No As John mentioned above it depends on what you listen to & how loud & under what kind of conditions & 8 watts driving a speaker that has an efficiency rating of 92Db/watt/meter (aprox 1 yard or 3 feet) will produce 101Db at a distance of 1 meter. Every 3Db represents a doubling (or halving as the case may be) of amplifier power. For something to actually sound twice as loud to the ear requires a 10Db increase in sound pressure level. Presumably you have 2 speakers & an amp that is putting out 8 watts per channel. That would give you a total power output of 16 watts into the 2 speakers. Therefore, your total output from the speakers with the available power would be 104Db. Sound typically decays at a rate inversely proportional to the square of the distance, which is another way of saying that every doubling of the distance decreases the sound pressure level by 3Db. In a reverberant sound field, such as a closed room, the fall off (decay) in sound pressure level typically does not decrease as much beyond 12 feet or so. So if your speakers and amplifier can produce 104Db at 1 meter (I'm going to round off 1 meter to 3 feet), at a distance of 6 feet, the sound pressure level would be down about 3Db (yielding total system output of about 101Db) , and down an additional 3Db at 12 feet(yielding total system output of about 98Db). Even in live Classical music, peak sound pressure levels can easily reach 110Db or louder. If you're new to electronics, no, YOU are probably not capable of making changes to the amp to make it produce more power. There is more to it than just the tubes, or the number of tubes. Your subwoofer should be able to take some of the load off the main speakers and amplifiers if it has its own power amplifier.

I don't know if the LaScalas exactly match the K-horns' impedance curve, but their components are all the same (except, obviously, the bass horn). Richard Heyser did a pretty thorough technical review of the Klipschorn in Audio magazine back in fall 1989 (The Best of Audio Volume IV). "The lowest value within the audio range is 4.5 ohms and occurs at 55Hz, while the highest value is almost 10 times that amount, 42.3 ohms, at 2,155Hz. "From the standpoint of amplifier drive requirements, a worst case frequency appears to be around 5,200Hz, where the phase angle lags by 70 degrees, although the magnitude of impedance is 11 ohms." "Fortunately, from the standpoint of amplifier drive requirements, none of these deviations can cause any problems whatsoever, as long as the power amplifier can drive 4 ohms at modest power."

The Architect's and Engineer's Specifications sheets I have from Klipsch say 100 Watts Average (continuous) Sine-Wave (RMS) Maximum. The Cornwall shared the same driver components as the Klipschorn and should be able to easily handle several hundred watts of CLEAN peak power.

I agree with lynnm. You probably got the polarity mixed up somewhere along the line. And the result would be something akin to what lynnm said. Its possible that when the Dynaco died, it sent a voltage or current spike backward into the Crown. Something similar happened to me on my bass rig when the preamp section of the bass amp blew. It took out one effects unit that preceded it & "froze" the harmony machine/effects unit which preceded the other effects unit. I've seen a number of posts in here using Rotel gear. I've never thought much of Rotel. Maybe things have changed over the years as I'm now moving away from playing pro & going back to more "listening" again after many years. I used to have a Crown IC150. I switched over to an Audio Research tube preamp back in the early 80's. The following is from the Crown IC150 manual: "The problem of noise can be compounded by the unfortunate truth that power amplifiers will indiscriminately amplify noise along with everything else. If the final amplifier stage of your audio system adds 30Db of gain to the signal, it also increases the noise in the signal by 30Db, which may bring the noise level up to an annoyingly audible level. To make the best of this situation, it is a good idea to keep your power amp below full gain, and provide as of the level as possible with the preamp. Also in the Trouble Shooting section under High noise or hum: "(1)Power amp turned wide open (2) Poor connection is associated wiring (3) Ground loops between IC-150 & associated equipment (4) Open ended inputs (ie: shorting plugs removed without having put any input from tuner, phono, etc.)" RE: Number 3. Ground your system at only one point. Everything else should be using polarized 2-prong plugs (use adapters if you need to) to float the ground levels. The ground will seek its own level. This will help avoid any ground loops between associated equipment. RE: Number 4. Crown recommended that the IC-150 use shorting plugs on unused inputs to reduce noise. Have the shorting plugs been removed? The Dynacos never bothered me that much although their older tube equipment is probably more desirable & a better match for K-horns. Rotel? Like I said, Ive never been impressed with their offerings & I dont think they mate well with something like a Klipschorn. But, as we all know, everyone hears things differently, so to each his own. And I concede its been many years since Ive listened to any of their equipment. The Crown IC-150 is known to be a somewhat bright, sometimes edgy sounding unit (which is probably why it seemed to mate well with the Dynaco 120 with its "somewhat rolled-off highs & loose bass" that sunnysal mentioned) . Although its a very quiet unit, even by todays standards. And forget the idea about equalizing anything until you get the noise & polarity problems solved. It will just increase distortion as you try to compensate with additional gain to overcome the cancellation of bass frequencies caused by out-of-phase speaker polarity. And rolling off the highs will not accomplish much for getting rid of the recent noise you have encountered without getting rid of some of the music as well.

I saw a system like that in the mid 80's in a magazine that I believe was called Home Entertainment or something. It was of Barbra Streisand's home in Malibu. I think Ms. Streisand sold that home some years later. This wouldn't happen to be the same place would it? Here's an interesting side note: There were 14 CD's initially released with the introduction of the CD player in the US. One of them was a Barbra Streisand CD. Basically all of the CD's sounded terrible, except for Barbra's. (now that just couldn't have anything to do with the fact that Barbra has Klipsch speakers in her personal home theater/review room now could it? Hmmmm....just wondering)

gary...see my posts in the architectural forum & 2 channel forum under the $25K to spend on listening room thread. Sounds like HT is your priority. You're probably not going to get anywhere near optimum audio performance with either of those rooms. The first is way too long in its proportions relative to its width, & the other one is too square, and will likely yield an abundance of mode problems at that size. The first room will at least allow you to place "theater-like" seating if you use the short side for the room front/back. And its 19' width still provides a "stage" that is 3' (20%)wider .

I use both kinds. For background music, parties/entertaining, practicing/rehearsing songs (for band)/general listening & testing my own recordings, I use solid state. It also has the advantage of not wasting tube-life by the amps remaining on for many hours after I have fallen asleep (LOL). When I really want to do any serious listening or need to impress the hell out of someone, the tubes go on. I liken it to opening a fine bottle of wine that costs $$$$. Also please keep in mind that my amps are prone to going thru tubes faster than most others & are also a pain-in-the-*** to rebias, & they need that done more frequently as well. I still say the most important & neglected component is the room itself. And it does make a difference if the room is "tuned" not just for the speakers, but also for the associated equipment & source material preceeding it. IE: if the room is tuned to sound best for vinyl LP, tube gear & K-horns playing classical music, SS & CD playback of rock is probably going to sound more "hard" & thinner & lacking fullness in the lower regions. If the room were tuned optimally for SS & CD playing rock, playback of classical music on vinyl with tube gear will probably sound bloated & muddy in the bass, even over bearing, somewhat thick & dark in the mids, & noise (from the LP & tube gear) will probably be exaggerated. Me....I've choosen to shoot for something in between, especially since I listen to a vary wide variety of music, using both formats, & both SS & tubes.

IF, I remember correctly, the Signet line was made by Audio Technica. I don't recall if it was sold as a separate brand name, or whether it was just a product line under the Audio Technica brand. It may have been both/either at one time or another. You might want to contact Audio Technica technical support or customer service.

Heath?.....now come on buddy.....give me a break! Maybe YOU need hearing-aids! "the weakest link in the chain determines the strength of the chain"

John, I see you've discovered why amplifier manufacturers tried to dump tube designs 30 years ago. The all sound different to me. And many times in the past, even though you bought an RCA EL34 for instance, didn't necessarily mean that all RCA EL34 came from the same factory. Actually, I don't think any major "tube manufacturer" has actually made tubes in their own plants for decades. They usually sub-contract it to smaller more specialized OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) & label them with their own brand name. Some companies even specialize just in the re-labeling/testing/matching of these delightful glowing objects. As far as biasing goes, that all depends on your amp's design. Some, like many of the Audio Research amps are self-biasing, but then they also require the use of "matched pairs or "quads", etc. Some like the Luxman MB3045 are a total pain-in-the-*** to bias & seem to need biasing more frequently especially if used with speakers that lack efficiency. Some amps also need to be rebiased even if a driver tube is replaced.

Why don't you just go with one of the Parasound amps, like the HCA750 or 1000? John Curl of Mark Levinson fame designed them & they should sound just fine. Either can be had new for under $600 & have plenty of power for your needs now & with the LaScalas & operate in class A/AB. Tubes are great, but from the way the rest of your equipment list looks, I'm not so sure how much would be gained by using something like a class A single ended or push-pull triodes on LaScalas in the future with all that other stuff. Remember, the power amps are going to amplify everything that came before it, including noise. Everything is going to be only as good as the weakest link in the chain. I would also dump those Cerwin Vega speakers & get Klipsch all around. They may similiar to Klipsch in that they tend to be one of the more efficient speakers on the market but they are voiced very differently. Likewise, if you really the Vegas, then go with the Vegas all around. Don't mix & match too much with speakers. The individual voicing of dissimilar speakers (even Klipsch) will just make each individual speaker stand out more instead of creating a coherent sound that seemingly makes the speakers disappear.

LOL. As far as I can tell, the search function on here doesn't work very well. Its never retrieved anything for me. Also, an update on re-forming the power supply caps of vacuum tube amps: I finally got hold of an old friend of mine who is a somewhat gifted electronics engineer. Here's what he told me to do. No need for a variac. Take some regular lamp cord & a regular incandescent light bulb socket & wire the lamp socket in series in the lamp cord. Install a 15-25 watt light bulb in the lamp socket. Remove all the tubes from the amp. The amps do not have to be connected to the speakers. Turn on the power to the amp. The light bulb should be glowing normally. As the power supply caps become formed, the light bulb will grow dimmer, almost to the point of going out. When the dimming stablizes, the power supply caps are formed. You should monitor the bias voltage & make sure it doesn't get too high or low during the re-forming process from where its supposed to be. He also said that some of the custom high-end manufacturers even use this technique to form power supply caps the first time the amp is fired up.

Yes, I saw a lot of Variacs on ebay. Only trouble is I'm not sure what I'm looking at or buying. Big range of prices too. I've checked with a number of local electronics stores/distributers here (Chicago area) & surprisingly, so far, no one has any. I'm thinking that one of the smaller single phase 5 amp self-contained (non-panel mount) ones might be ok. Like a Staco 3PN501.

Some more food for thought that should make all of you even more paranoid . UPS' (uninterruptable power supplys) and other forms of regulated power supplies sometimes provide no protection whatsoever. I'm no electrical engineer (just a lowly architect) but the guy down the hall where my office used to be is. Apparently he discovered that the incoming power to the building had some kind of phasing problems. The phase was so skewed that it basically rendered the UPS/regulated power supplies/surge protectors useless. This was in a commercial building, one of those strip mall store/office/bank things. To make sure these things are actually going to work for you, I would recommend paying a COMPETENT electrician a few bucks to checkout the quality of the power coming into your home/building. If its not "proper", get some documentation from the electrician & then call your power company & make them correct it. Another thing you should do if your going to have dedicated circuts for your audio/video equipment is to use an isolated ground on those circuts.

OK guys. Is this a "first" or what? I'm going to reply to my own post! I have found the answer. Twice. Both from reliable sources. And they both told me basically the same thing. If tube amps have not been for a considerable length of time (1 year?....definetly 2-3 years or more) The power supply caps need to be "re-formed". If they are not, they may draw excessive current & then POOF! There goes your power tubes. You need to use a Variac to slowly bring up the voltage from the power outlet. By slowly, they said maybe 30 minutes. One guy recommended removing the tubes & monitoring the current/voltage at the biasing point to make sure its not "running away" towards a meltdown (my term not his). When you are up to about 75% of the normal line voltage of 110-120 volts, turn the amps off, re-install the tubes, & continue until you reach 100% line voltage. The other guy also said to keep the speaker connected. (I sure hope this doesn't take out my speakers if one of the caps blows). Both said to use the Variac to slowly bring up the line voltage going into the amp. Now I'm having trouble finding a Variac. GRRRRRRRR

Thanks Jim. A lot of the info I used was published by Klipsch in their "Dope from Hope" newsletters & "Audio Papers" also from Klipsch. I have no idea if these are still available. I'm also probably somewhat at advantage because I have a background in architecture & have studied both interior & landscape acoustics. Consequently, I also use my professional reference books on the subject which covers various construction methods & has all the sound absorption coefficients for various materials & types of construction. If you're near a University with an architecture department you can probably buy these books at the University book store. Their library should have them too. One I refer to frequently is "Construction. Pricipals, Materials & Methods" Schmidt Olin & Lewis. Published by the United States Saving & Loan League. I doubt it is still being published either. But there should be something similar available. And then of course, there's your own ears. I must admit, that the way the room was orginally setup equipment wise & acoustical treatment, did not produce the best results. And in some ways, certain things are now completely the opposite. So experimentation is key.

I have to agree with some of the previous posts that cleaning may not be the answer. On the other hand, if it is, you will want to try Caig Laboratories "ProGold G5". This stuff works great. Use it on ALL connections/connectors! Big improvement in the sound. Almost like hard wiring everything. http://www.caig.com/ Side Note: I had been in the early stages of renovating my listening room & giving everything a "tune-up". A new audiophile friend was over for a first time listening session. Hardly any of the connections anywhere in the system had been disconnected & cleaned in many years. After about a half hour of listening he mentions that sound from the right side of the system (K-horn L&R, Belle center) sounded "smoother, more open & detailed for some reason". Guess what!? The right side speaker was the only component in the system that had every one of its non-soldered connections cleaned with this stuff. This was a truely blind test, so this stuff obviously works.

A number of years ago I had my Luxman MB3045's in storage for a couple of years. Upon firing them up, one by one, the power tubes (Luxman 8045G) began to fail. One went out very quicker. Others took up to several hours. A recording engineer at a mastering studio told me (also years ago) that tube (power) amps needed to "re-form" the power supply/caps after not being used for a long time. Any truth to this? & if so, whats the safest way to fire them up & not blow a s***load of tubes again? These amps have been in storage again. They are currently tubed with Gold Aero 8045G. One thought I had was to prepare the amps as if I had just put in new tubes. IE: Perform the re-biasing/DC balance procedure from scratch (set the bias pot at the extreme counter clockwise position & set the DC balance pot at center of rotation) & just let them idle for 24 hours with a power resistor for the load before continuing the rest of the biasing procedure.

John, you are the first person I've run across to do the caulk rope thing to the horns. I did that to mine years ago. If you haven't already done so, you might want to take a look at some of my other posts in the architectural section as well as the $25K room thing. I too have my K-horns sealed air tight into VERY REINFORCED corners as well as being secured, literally, to the foundation of the house. The fascinating thing is this yielded something I didn't expect. I expected the bass to be tigher, deeper, more defined, etc. But the biggest improvement came in the midrange & upper frequencies. The only thing I can figure is that the minute vibrations of the (speaker cabinet) structure must be "smearing" the higher frequencies because movement of the driver/horn elements as a percentage of the wavelengths being produced are a larger. Just a theory. But the observation is true.