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I would pack the back of it with Roxul 80 or something similar. Roxul Safe n' Sound is more widely available but not as dense (not as effective for low frequency absorption, but probably adequate to provide some improvement). It will provide some low frequency damping, while the hard frontal surface still retains reflective properties at higher frequencies.

So, how slowly do you guys increase the voltage when reforming caps on a reasonably new tube amp ( <10 years old) that hasn't been turned on for more than a year? AND, how slowly do you guys increase the voltage when reforming caps on a old tube amp ( 30+ years old) that hasn't been turned on for more than a year?

Thanks guys! I was just hoping that having a tube rectifier might alleviate the need to pull out the variac. So variac it is.

I use RF7ii with the Klipsch Dolby Atmos add-ons & RC64ii center. (SVS sub + RC7 rear surround) in the HT. Looking at your room I see a LOT of hard surfaces and not much in the way of any substantial acoustical absorption/diffusion. You might consider that too much treble/treble reflections are the issue verses not enough bass. OTOH, if you're absolutely sure that a bass null is the issue you have three alternatives. Large corner bass traps, move the speakers, or move your listening position. Personally, if it were my room I would experiment with all three. And don't forget - the room has more corners than just the vertical corners. Horizontal corners along the ceiling and floor can utilize bass trapping as well. As far as center speaker choice goes I prefer to stick with the same product/model line. The center speaker is very critical in certain applications (HT). Different speakers, even from the same manufacturer are often "voiced" differently. The difference in voicing can make a center channel speaker stand out like a sore thumb. As an example I used to have a Klipsch RC7i for the center speaker. The RC64ii is a much better match for RF7.

I have several SET amps, all with tube rectifiers. The amps haven't been used in approximately 12+ months. They are all relatively new (< 2yrs old). Do I need to fire up these amps slowly with a variac to reform the caps if they have a tube rectifier?

Yep, I'm going to throw some oil on the fire. I came across a recording the other night, selected for me by Tidal. It's an older recording, 1960. It reminded me of some of the early Miles Davis or Sonny Rollins recordings, in terms of sound quality and "perspective" (soundstage, presence of place and space). I a Shazam on it since I didn't recognize it. Elmer Snowden/Haunted House. Makes sense since it's Halloween time. Looking it up to see when & where it was recorded I noticed that it was done by a recording engineer I'm familiar with, Rudy Van Gelder, who, as you might guess (or know) was recording engineer, and responsible for nearly every Blue Note recording in the late 50's/early 60's. So no surprise that Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins are on his list of clients. Van Gelder kind of got into recording from an interest in audio - audiophile so to speak, like I did. So his comments and experiences are of interest to me. This is what he said and it reflects my experiences. YMMV He was positive about the switch from analog to digital technology. He told Audio magazine in 1995: I couldn't agree more. Do whatever you like to the rest of your system, or especially the analog LP front-end. It doesn't matter. The media (LP) is the limitation. Let the flames begin!!!!!! 😍 Peace Baby............

I still have a few. They're available real cheap if anybody wants them. I gave my Pioneer Laser Disc player away to a Forum member many years ago.

FWIW, a LOT of studies I’ve looked at in recent months, especially those that are stock market sentiment related, show short term volatility (weeks to 2-3 months), but typically very strong returns 6 to 12 months out. These are basically “conditional” historical statistical back tested analysis of similar market conditions that occur each day. More recently there are several historical conditions producing the same dates that coincide with some not so pleasant events, like WWII, the early 70’s oil embargo, Cuban missile crisis, etc. There are just a few of these dates but the possible correlation to current events is obvious. So it’s still buyer beware for now. As for the Fed rate, it's still relatively low historically, on par with the so-called “sluggish 50’s" https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FEDFUNDS As for me personally, I don’t like fixed income. It makes me feel financially trapped. If you have more than enough cash & fixed income assets to generate enough income to cover your desired lifestyle, I get it. That’s the safe and easy way to go. I won’t have the studies on today’s data until tomorrow morning. Should be interesting to see how today’s intraday market action looks going forward based on the sentiment studies. So as far as today's actual rate hike, to me it doesn't really matter either way.

Stormy Daniels and Queen Elizabeth went to the Pearly Gates on the same day. They both met with an angel to find out if they would be admitted to Heaven. The angel said: “Unfortunately, there's only one space available in Heaven today so I must decide which one of you will be admitted.” The angel asked Stormy if there was some particular reason why she should go to Heaven. Stormy took off her top and said: “Look at these, they're the most perfect breasts ever created and I'm sure it will please God to be able to see them every day for eternity.” The angel thanked Stormy, and asked Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the same question. The Queen walked over to a toilet, pulled the lever and flushed it without saying a word. The Angel immediately said: “Okay, your Majesty, you may go into Heaven.” Stormy was outraged and asked, “What was that all about? I showed you two of God's own perfect creations and you turned me down. She simply flushed a commode and she got admitted to Heaven! Would you explain that to me?” “Sorry, Stormy,” said the Angel, “but even in Heaven, a royal flush beats a pair, no matter how big they are.”

The short story........If you're a Pink Floyd fan - GET IT. If you're not a Pink Floyd fan, just another audio nut GET IT. Baring the subjective difference preferences between the original 1977 LP and the 2018, I think this is one of the absolutely best remix/remastering of an aging rock album I've ever heard. Personally, I find everything about it better. There's plenty of YouTube reviews out there already, and they all pretty much say the same things as my impressions. The original recording on LP or any of the subsequent reissues on LP, CD or Hi-Res streaming with or without MQA are notably inferior compared to this new release (IMHO). Everything is much better defined, clear, spacious. You will need a truly full range system to hear all the improvements. I always felt like turning the bass up on Animals, regardless of the media. Not here. Rick Wright's synths go DOWN DEEP, WAY DOWN. No need to turn the bass up. I bypassed all EQ/tone controls on my system. Now I wish Floyd would do the same to DSOTM, The Wall, Wish You Were Here, and Meddle.

As good as can be expected at our age Mark (almost 71 here). The usual aging issues. Blood pressure, heart failure, borderline diabetic. BUT, I have lost 60 Lbs and all the numbers are good now, everything currently benign. The music room is undergoing it's fourth acoustical renovation. Still have a lot of my old stuff but have gone completely all-digital thru-put for most listening. Retired from making my semi-annual recordings with the Glen Ellyn - Wheaton Chorale. No more bands either. LOL

And while we're on the subject of trains, and this Forum is associated with music, there's an interesting orchestral piece of music titled Pacific 231 by Arthur Honneger. Also Steve Reich's "Trains" deserves a listen (voice/spoken word and orchestra)

The train ride I'd really like to go on is Copper Canyon, Mexico. Copper Canyon is much larger and longer than our (USA) Grand Canyon. https://www.danleysoundlabs.com/tom-danleys-mic-recordings/

WoW. A lot of train buffs coming out of the closet, lol. But seriously, I guess I've been a train since I was 2 when I got a Lionel train set on a 4'x8' layout for Christmas. Switched over to HO late teens. My current layout is 8'x20' 2-track mainline, about 100' each track. As far as train recordings go, one of the best I have was made by Tom Danley - Full Coal Train with Helper. He has some other recordings of "sounds" too. https://www.danleysoundlabs.com/tom-danleys-mic-recordings/

Well HELLO Mark!!! Good to see you back. 👍 You've always been one of most knowledgeable and straight shootin' people around here. Hard to believe it's been 20 years. Me too.

An older couple who have been dating for a while were out for a nice dinner. Since they have been dating for a while and contemplating marriage, the old guy decides it's time to bring up the subject of sex. He asks her "How often do you like to have sex?" She says "infrequently". He leans over and asks "Is that one word or two?"

A little more in-depth explanation (with Paul Jacobs of Klipsch at the helm) https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/premium-audio-company-llc-comments-on-onkyo-home-entertainment-bankruptcy-filing-301548155.html BTW, bankruptcy doesn't necessarily mean the end of a company or brand. It's usually a form of "reorganization". However, the equity shareholders (stock) typically loose all as part of the reorganization as the company gets re-valued, and new stock issued (none of which goes to the "old" public shareholders)

Jay's facial expression at 1:44 says it all. As much as I don't like to admit it, I agree.

WGN Morning News Chicago showed a old segment with Gottfried. Before Gottfried went on the air he asked news anchor Larry Potash if it was alright to say "penis" on the air. Larry told him "yes" because it was an anatomical word. Then Potash says "what we didn't expect, is for him to say it 26 times" 👍 Gilbert

Yeah, I suspect there's several issues. First of all, I'm not using a traditional, separate "DAC". My endpoint is NAD M32. NAD recently released a new MDC USB module that supports DSD directly. I may have to install that to get better results. Right now, the same DSD recording sounds better when played from the DSF file burned to CD-R and played on my Sony SACD player. To me, it seems like there's too many "conversions" in the signal path. And as Thaddeus mentioned, I don't think my laptop is up to the task. It's a Pentium machine. I've used it for 24/96 multi-track recording. It's been optimized and tested for that. But later, when I experimented with various DSP plug-ins, such as Izotope Ozone on playback with J River, eventually I stopped using it for the same reason. The DSP "effects", while doing what they were supposed to, also seemed to have a negative effect on overall playback quality. My conclusion was that the CPU couldn't keep up with the processing load. I'll post the signal path when I get a chance. Regardless, I think I see an Intel NUC i7 on the horizon.

https://scitechdaily.com/mit-scientists-develop-new-regenerative-drug-that-reverses-hearing-loss/ And, it appears that this drug therapy can also be applied to other disease such as MS.

I assume you're referring to Elon MUSK. As I said above... Why? First of all, Klipsch is owned by Voxx International. So Voxx would have to be open to selling Klipsch in the first place. Second, Klipsch is one of Voxx best, if not their best performing asset. Therefore they would want a premium for it. And Musk of course would have to decide how long it take for him to get back that premium price paid. Regardless, what's the point? What Klipsch makes has nothing to do with what Musk, or any of his companies, his vision, is about. No Fit. I'm sure you audio veterans (old timers) remember Audiovox. Well, that's what is now Voxx International. YMMV, but I never associated Audiovox with "finer" audio. They were the cheap go to alternative.

W H Y?

I have three Favorite Klipsch Speaker Experiences. 1. Back in college (70’s) I was at the Klipsch dealer in Urbana, Good Vibes. A Phase Linear sales rep was there to demonstrate their new “low powered” amp. I think it was 100w/ch. He played it through a pair of LaScala. It was ear splitting LOUD. The output power indicators barely lit up. Then he flips the mute switch on the preamp. I literally felt like I had been lifted several feet into the air. The immediate contrast to silence was absolutely deafening. Everyone in the room looked at each other, stunned. Then the sales rep says, “I guess these were the wrong speakers to demonstrate this.” LMAO 2. Some years later at a Chicago area Klipsch dealer (Hi-Fi Hutch), the sales guy is doing his thing for a young couple looking for speakers. He puts Supertramp/Crime of the Century, a popular demo record back then, on the turntable and cranks it up. The looks on that couple’s face was precious. The sales guy turns it off and asks “What do you think?”. They respond “OH NO!, we can’t afford anything like that!!!” He says “Sure you can, they’re well within your budget.” They say “Really?!! Those BIG speakers?”. Sales guys says No! You were listening to the little ones on top”. (Klipsch Heresy, sitting on top of the Khorns). The old jaw drop thing. They couldn’t believe it. So he did it again, even louder. One guess what they walked out of the store with. 3 This took place at my home in the listening room. Some of you long time members have heard this one before. My system was going to be published in Stereo Review’s “System of the Month”. So I got the bright idea to contact Sony and see if I could buy the soon to be released CDP-101, their first consumer CD player, at a discount of course, so it would be included in the photo shoot giving Sony a lot of cheap promo. They wouldn’t have any of that discount stuff, and there were only two units in the U.S at the time, on dealer tour. As an alternative, they guaranteed me first purchase off the initial shipment, and would send a Sony rep over to my place for the photo shoot and a listening demo. The Sony rep comes over. We set the CD player up and played a few CD. Sony rep goes to the bathroom. One of the guests present, Marmie (photographer’s girlfriend) (also a groupie and best friend with Survivor/Jim Peterik’s wife) turns around says “That Sucked!!!” (and it did, LOL). Sony rep comes back into the room and says “You know, I haven’t heard a really good system like this in a long time. I would really love to hear it ‘stretch its legs’. Would you happen to have that Tower of Power direct-to disk recording with Squibcakes on it?” Of course I do. I put that on the Linn and crank up the ARC SP-6 and Luxman triodes driving Klipschorns and Belle center. You should have seen the look on his face. I swear, his jaw must have dropped down to his knees. His head keeps turning as instruments, voices keep popping up across the 28 foot wide “sound stage”. And then around the 5 minute mark, Rocco Prestia’s bass expander kicks in and it was like the walls of the room blew out. The Sony rep was clearly stunned, even embarrassed and sheepishly left with his tail between his legs.

While listening to some “violin” music last night I remembered another aspect to this subject. (Anne-Sophie Mutter, London Symphony Orchestra, Valery Gergiev conducting Bach, Violin Concertos & Gubaidulina, In tempus praesens /Deutsch Gramophone) A while back Chris A. mentioned something about all recordings seem to have their own “natural” playback level where it sounds best. I couldn’t agree more with Chris on this one. Personally, I’ve found a very wide range in recording reference level in commercial recordings. This difference can easily be as much as 20dB, or more. If the violins sound strident, try turning it down to a level where the violins (or the offending sound) no longer sound strident. Remember also, the more you turn up the volume, the more the room gets involved. The room’s acoustic properties can contribute to certain instruments/voices sounding strident. The main problem for most people when turning the volume down is that the nuances or fullness of quieter passages can get lost, because they are near or below the ambient noise level of the room. Turn it up, it’s too loud/strident on the loud parts. Consider the conditions most of us listen in. The typical home has an ambient noise level of about 55dB. Outside at my home the SPL is typically 65dB to 70dB or more (C weighted, calibrated). My listening room is around 30dB, lower if I temporarily turn off all appliances, HVAC, etc. IMHO, we don’t really need the full dynamic range of a live performance in the relatively small acoustic spaces we listen in. The room gets involved too much. Much more than, and in a very different way, than the actual concert hall does.