heresy2guy

Thanks for the offer Tom, but there are two things that go hand-in-hand with Naks (from what I've seen) --- GREAT performance and spotty reliability. I've seen a fair number of Nak decks on Ebay that "need repair" and there's probably a great deal more that DO but the sellers aren't mentioning it. After doing some research and talking to people here on the forum about Naks, I'm going to stay away from them due to the reliability issues. Thanks anyway, and take care!

I too "fixed" my cd player a few months ago, when I got my HK430. The drawer wouldn't open or close right or would just get stuck. Took the thing apart and found a belt that was just too s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d from ah...15 years of use or so. Wound up buying some rubber o-rings from an electronic junkyard type of place. Radio Shack or any of the other stores didn't have the actual belt and said i had to get it from yamaha. I purchased a bunch of rubber o-rings from the junkyard store that looked like they'd fit. They would up being like 10 cents a piece or something. Anyway, I slid one on and wouldn;t you know it, it worked! Saved me from having to buy another CD player! I'm still searching Ebay for a nice tape deck though....

Say....did SAMSUNG make those wonderful bash amps and erratic control pods for the promedia 5.1 series?! LOL Sorry there, Bob, that was a bit of joke intended to lighten things up a bit....lol. I do love Klipsch and if I didn't, I'd take a "So what? Who the hell cares what they do?" attitude, which as you can probably tell, I do not.

"For 2-1/2 years, we have successfully executed our Klipsch ProMedia strategy through Best Buyconnecting with an entirely new customer, giving them their first step-up audio experience with a true high-end audio company in the multimedia space, and educating them on the advantages of our high-performance home loudspeakers, only available through our specialty retail partners." - Mr. Jacobs ------------------------------------------------------ In my opinion, this "new" customer has been exposed to Klipsch alright. He's been exposed to the Klipsch ProMedia series which has scored extremely well in audio reviews and puts out tremendous SPLs but has little to no longevity - in essence, they crap out at an appalling rate! And then there's the issue of promised "fixes" that have obviously never come to light as evidenced by the continued posts, speaking of the same problems, in the promedia 5.1 forum. The amps in that series are built off-shore somewhere in the Orient, I'd wager. Then Klipsch places their tag on them and sells them in great numbers and completely fumbles the ball on the obvious issues continuing to plague the series to this day. Why have they done that? In my opinion, it is because there has been no write-up of this issue in any publication - there's only the glowing performance reviews, which, incidentally, wouldn't be all too glowing should the editors have had to live with the system for say, 6 months before submitting a review. If this was the case, I can assure you a great number of reviews would speak of the BASH amps crapping out and leaving only the subwoofer functioning and volume pods with minds of their own. Alas, the only ways for a consumer to be made aware of this is by a) talking to other promedia owners who've owned their systems upwards of 6 mos to a year; coming to this website and reading the 5.1 forum; or c) asking a seasoned salesman (save your jokes) at bestbuy to give him the TRUTH on how many PM 5.1s he's personally seen returned due to the amp problems. So in a nutshell, what we have here is a cheaply made product with a Klipsch name that has an obvious flaw that's still unrectified to this day but since it's not widely written about it matters little to them because it's all about volume and numbers. Is that the kind of "step-up audio experience" you want the "new" Klispch customer to have, Mr. Jacobs? Secondly, you will have some of the synergy line at bestbuy, which is an issue I won't even get into. Then you hear of Klipsch teaming up with Samsung to deliver a HTIB package. SAMSUNG?---a company known for sub-par, cheap equipment?! I've owned various Samsung products from VCRs to a Hard Drive & CD player for my computer and you know what? The VCRs were cheap pieces of crap akin to Funai and Apex and the hard drive and cd player on my computer both eventaully malfunctioned and had to be replaced, although to Samsung's credit, it didn't happen at the same time. Why the hell would a company that prides itself on "HIGH-PERFORMANCE home loudspeakers" (to quote Mr. Jacobs) team up with a company that has spent (at least to my knowledge) the past 18 years or so building the CHEAPEST assortment of electronic devices imaginable that have a deserved reputation for said cheapness and a total lack of longevity? Perhaps so they can market the thing at bestbuy and sell a billion of them????????????? To top it all off, there's little reference to the heritage series because in my opinion, their fate has already been decided by the present management at Klipsch. They're sitting around having pow-wow sessions trying to decide how they can go about axing the "heritage" series gracefully, while chalking it up in a way that would be least-offendable to their traditional customers --- Well boys, the Heritage series haven't been selling too well (nevermind that we didn't want to put any in the stores for prospective customers to listen to), so in order to keep Klipsch profitable and alive, we needed to discontinue the line so that Klipsch may continue to operate and remain a competitive "leader" in our market. Hey, you can laugh it you want, but consider this: I never thought the day would come when Klipsch would continue to: Sell a problem-plagued product along with false promises; wind up in a bestbuy-type store; team up with a low-quality company like "Samsung"; and then intentionally (in my opinion) scheme to let the Heritage series die on the vine by not having them in stores in sufficent numbers so "new" customers can hear, and thus buy them. DID YOU??? This is not meant to be an "attack" on Mr. Jacobs---I'm just offering an opinion based on what I'm seeing with respect to Klipsch and my own personal experiences. I'm just waiting for the eventual announcement that Klipsch is "going public." That'll be the finishing nail in the coffin insofar as I'm concerned but will undoubtedly make Fred Klipsch and his Management Team happier then pigs in sh_t. It's their right to do it, don't get me wrong, but it sure makes me feel sad to see Klipsch go the way of so many other companies. I guess it's the American Way...a sort of corporate Manifest Destiny.

That's good advice, especially if it's an older speaker. The older Heresys had the screws on the back of the cabinet and you could easily remove the whole board and peer inside. Look for HDBRbuilder, a poster here on the board, and ask him specifically. He use to work at Klipsch making Heresys in the late 70s, I think. He could probably help you out much better then I can. Take care.

Unless you want to be a Wall-Streeter, Federal Judge, President of the ol' US, etc..., it really doesn't matter what school you go to. Naturally, if you care to do any of those things then you best be an Ivy grad, if not, then your success really depends on how hard you're willing to work and your personality. I've seen hard workers with ****ty personalites go nowhere in companies so it's really a combination of the two. As for grades, well, nobody in the real-world inquires as to what your grades were in college. Only Human Resource people do to 23 year old college grads who are trying to get an entry level position. Once you're entrenched and in your late 20s, nobody cares what your college grades were. Oh, they'll ask WHERE you went to school, but seldom inquire as to your GPA. That's one thing that you always see on a recent-college graduate's resume - his GPA because he really has little else (experience) to show his merits. Like I said, if it ain't Harvard, Yale, etc..., then it really doesn't matter all that much, realistically speaking. What counts more is your ability to see where the rubber meets the road, your work ethic, and your personality. It might seem easier for you to take option number 4, but get a degree somewhere first and THEN, if your future plans go into the dumpster then you always have option 4 to fall back on, which, incidentally, isn't a bad option - lol. If you don't get a degree though, you'll live to regret it. Down the road you'll find yourself giving excuses to people as to why you don't have one. It's a trap I've seen smart people fall into - better to be forewarned and heed the advice. You're gonna pay sometime. Better to pay now while you're young. Most of the time, it's easier to do in your youth.

The CC stores in my area are pretty much the same insofar as stock goes, but the salespeople do swarm you like flies to sh_t. All in all, CC isn't what it used to be. Maybe they have too many stores and don;t sell enough to justify the overhead. Just taking guesses here....

"All I have to say is: Kinda hard to sell em if folks can't hear em!! LOL!" -and- "With Klipsh's direction I can see the Heritage line being moved from "Products" to "Classic." **************************************************** I think this is EXACTLY what the bean-counters at Klipsch have in mind. Any company that has handled the issues as they did with the promedia 5.1 series ---- There's no problem....oh this IS a small problem.....oh, it's fixed now with series "B".....oh, there's another problem now....oh, it's fixed with series "E".....Ahhh....ummmm....well, series "K" now has the REAL fix, believe US, just keep on buying 'em!---- is capable of anything, I'm sorry to say. Yeah, this kinda stuff hasn't occurred with the Synergy, Reference or Heritage lines, but the ProMedia embarrassment is representative of the kind of management that's in control of a company. Instead of pulling the plug on the obviously defective promedia 5.1 series and offering a completely new design to eliminate the problem, they just kept telling their employees what to say to the poor customers who bought them and promising false fixes just so they can continue to make sales. Any company that will do that will certainly have little trouble "killing" the very series that made them what they are if it's not as fiscally advantageous as they'd like.

94dB and 4 ohms jsut doesn't sound right to me... Mine were made in....hang on...let me look on the back....88 and they're 8 ohms and the publilshed figure for them was 96dB with one watt at one meter. Now, I bought mine new in...'91 I think?...which means they sat around for a bit before being sold. Perhaps this says something about the sales of Heritage series back then in the vert late 80s and early 90s....perhaps the heritage series wasn't selling that well???

94dB and 4 ohms jsut doesn't sound right to me... Mine were made in....hang on...let me look on the back....88 and they're 8 ohms and the publilshed figure for them was 96dB with one watt at one meter. Now, I bought mine new in...'91 I think?...which means they sat around for a bit before being sold. Perhaps this says something about the sales of Heritage series back then in the vert late 80s and early 90s....perhaps the heritage series wasn't selling that well???

Okay...been doing some research. The Nakamichis seem to be universally acclaimed as the "best" (oh no....dare I make such a statement, I don't want to incur Mobile's wrath....LOL ) sonically speaking. One thing I did notice is that the Nakamichis tend to have reliability issues. I wouldn't say they're as bad as the Klipsch Promedia 5.1s, BUT, like the 5.1s, they seem to be a product with above-average mechanical/electrical short-comings, i.e. the crap-out a lot. I think I'm going to stay clear of them because due to the info I have amassed. You could probably compare them to an old Ferrari or something - they perform great but not over the long haul - you gotta rebuild the engines every 40k miles or something. Since the only Nak decks in my budget are fairly old, I don't want to take that chance. The Yamaha k-1020 decks are kinda rare on ebay, from what I can see. They probably do sound great due to the Nak "guts" but will they be prone to the same Nak mechanical failures? The Tascam decks I've seen on ebay are pretty darn expensive so that kinda leaves them out. Still have to look at the aiwa decks but haven't found much on how the individual models sounded or how reliable they are. The H/K deck mentioned above seems good but the one being sold had issues and I don't need any issues. I'll probably keep me eyes open for another H/K or the Technics HDBRbuilder suggested. As everyone knows, I absolutely hated the Technics 100 wpc receiver I had, so I'm a bit hesitant about using them again. BUT, the thing DOES look like a tank and IS fairly priced and Andy did turn me on to the HK430 and I am looking for an HK430-like piece of equipment (good sounding, reliable, and cheap) so I may just take the leap-of-faith again....LOL. The turntable will be another issue. I'm spending my free time now on the decks. Buying a used turntable and having it shipped to you seems like risky business from I can gather so far. Much more so then any other piece of audio equipment that I may need. I noticed Crutchfield sells two new turnatables for around $150, a technics and a denon I think. Perhaps that may be the route for me on that issue.... Don't have many records anyway. I do have a lot of kids stuff - 45s that came with tthe read-a-long-books (lol) and that will be the main stuff I play on there, as funny as it sounds, for my kids. Thanks to everyone so far who's taken the time to help me out! I'll post again after I get a deck, just to give my opinions on it and keep everyone informed.

I don't think the term "power," in respect to watts-per-channel really means a whole lot when you're dealing with Klipsch speakers. This is one of the first things that I learned by coming to this forum and reading all I could. I mean, one little watt makes 97 dB with my Heresy IIs - that's a LOT of volume! My own experience comes into play when I had my proton d940, Technics, and now H/K receivers connected to my Heresy IIs. Their ratings are 40, 100, and 25 watts-per-channel respectvely. Guess which one sounds not only the cleanest but loudest - the H/K with "only" 25 watts per channel. I "aspire" to one day have a pair of Khorns or LaScalas and then run them off a nice tube amp that'll probably have somewhere between 3.5 and maybe 18 watts per channel. Ask anyone here on this board who's knowledgable on tubes and they tend to snicker when you want to use the term "watts-per-channel" with "tubes." Instead, the conversation tends to circle around just how the particualr amplifier SOUNDS, it's tonal characteristics, NOT it's power. For the most part, power-issues seem to be issues for either non-Klipsch (i.e. non-efficient speakers) or, when concerning Klispch speakers, the yet-to-be educated. As for me, I still consider myself a "freshman" on these topics, so it'll be some time until I can don my cap & gown, so to speak. LOL. Hmmm....seems like you've got two choices: SS or tubes. Most people seem to use SS on the RF series. Most people seem to use SS on Heritage too but a lot use tubes and the consensus is (even among SS heritage users) that tubes are what they'd one day like to try - kinda like myself. So, since you own what I'd consider to be a "heritage" speaker (due to what's written about it's sound), you can either go the SS route or leap-frog it and go directly to tubes. Perhaps you have the money to buy, listen, and compare BOTH and then make a decision. That would be the very best way in my opinion. Then you can choose what you like best and either return or re-sell the "loser" while keeping the "winner" and thus by default, become one happy camper! Sounds like the way to go if you can afford it! Take care!

"You are entirely correct. I mistyped here. What I meant to say was..." ***************************** Seems to happen to the best of us, eh Mobile?! LOL

Oh yeah...I missed a point I wanted to make, sorry. Anyway, it's about the quotes you said you hear about the 430 Mobile, about it being a bass monster, bassy, etc... I know you would rather see comments that are, well, probably more intellectual and more technical, but here's a thought: Most audiophiles who would give you descriptions and comments in the vernacular you want wouldn't be caught dead shopping for $30 30-year-old receivers. They're all interested in either restoring tube amps or buying top-of-the-line SS equipment that's worth more then my 18 year old Volvo. Either way, those "sophisticated" types don't seem to be bargain hunters shopping for old, cheap albeit GOOD equipment. Guys like me buy that kinda stuff. And I can't speak for anyone else but when something sounds good to me, I tend to want to talk about it in emotional terms, not overly scientific, PhD-level technospeak. Here's an example - "That H/K 430 is a bass MONSTER! It gives me bass I never thought my Heresy IIs even HAD!" or "It totally changes the sound coming out of my Heresys - now I have glass-cracking highs and super-tight, but not boomy bass." Those kinda comments are what I usually give and for the "layperson" like myself, they're easy to understand and even the "sophisticated" audiophiles should grin when they read it because they should understand what I mean although they can explain it in better, technically-accurate terms. LOL

Mobile you don't owe me anything dude...LOL....there's nothing in my opinon to apologize for! I'll reiterate for the 3rd (?!) time that I didn't phrase my original comment correctly, the one that you again quoted above. Yeah, the way it reads does give you something to say like "Hey! What are talking about....BEST sounding???" BUT, like I said before, I've made the CORRECT comment (best sounding combo FOR the money) on many other posts. So, after having read my other posts, you should know what I mean although the way I phrased it the other day did call for somebody to perk up and say "Whaaaat?!" But, I feel like I'm beating a dead horse trying to explain this very thing again when there's no need so I'm just gonna let it die it's rightful death. I agree with Andy though: the gauntlet is thrown and I'm waiting for someone to say "Hey, HERE'S a great sounding receiver and set of non-heresy speakers that you can buy for less then the setup you've been talking about and it not only plays louder but much much cleaner." Remember...I'm Mister Cheapo....I *live* for that kinda stuff! I *want* somebody to prove me wrong! I just don't think it's gonna happen! As for you trying out a HK430, Mobile, it would cost you almost as much to have a unit shipped to you and then returned to it's owner as it would be to snare one at a good price on Ebay so it's probably better to just buy one if you've got the extra change around. Hell, if you don't like it or think it's worth the price you paid, you can always resell it on Ebay. But I must say that I haven't heard any complaints from anybody on this forum who's purchased one so unless you're the exception, you'll probably find it's a definitely worth the price. I guess some of my comments tend to ignite a rage in you like a red cape does to a bull and for that I'm sorry but hey man, I'll still post them cause this board's a great place to get info & opinions so I guess I'll just try to avoid the color red. LOL

Thanks guys - the good stuff's rolling in! The Technics and H/K decks are on Ebay now and are very cheap indeed (so far, but there's still more time on both auctions). The Technics unit seems so heavy and well-built that I could park my wife's Saturn....no, scratch that, my 245 Volvo Turbo Wagon on it! LOL. The Nakamichi decks seem kinda expensive, but I too have heard that the Dragon and CR7A (i think that's the name) are some of the best-sounding decks out there but you're gonna pay dearly for them - they're expensive and out of my budget. I did see, however, some Nakamichi Cassette Deck 1s and some Nakamichi CR1As on Ebay that'll come in under my anticipated budget but i know little about their sound and don't know if they're likely to crap out. I have heard that Nakamichi decks seem to require more maintenance and repairs then other decks. I have to look into that Yamaha deck. I'll do it now in fact. Hang on. Ok...got one on Ebay for $50 right now. What do you mean when you say it has "nakamichi guts?" What "guts" does it share and with what Nakamichi unit? Damn. Gotta run. I'll be back on later. A quick thanks to all who've commented and shared their knowledge thus far.

"But drawing other conclusions without listening experience seem problematic" ***************************** I guess this means nobody can say really say anything about any piece of equipment unless they've heard it themselves, with their own ears, right? In case somebody didn't see one of my above threads, I already admitted to not phrasing my comment correctly. I meant to say that it was the BEST (yes, a "sweeping" comment there Mobile-lol) combination for the money. I have made other statements to this effect in many other threads. I don't think I ever intentionally said the H/K and Heresy combo was the best REGARDLESS of price since that's a ridiculous thing to say. Again, I'm waiting for someone to prove me wrong that it's NOT the best bang-for-your-buck combo around, broken and repairable equipment (and that $12 mc250 & $100 Khorn example) not withstanding. As for Mike, you did say you beat my example, and then you proceeded to say you did it with tubes and then listed the equipment. I just a) don't think the equipment is applicable and don't believe it could be better sounding. Here's a sweeping statement - Find another receiver or amp/pre-amp/tuner and another set of speakers that will deliver more volume and sound better then the HK430/Heresy Combo because I think it's the BEST two-channel setup ***for the money***.

You're right Doug - the Forte IIs used a different midrange then the Heresy IIs. It's the original Fortes that shared the same mid and tweeter. I caught this myself last night and "edited" my post accordingly but now I'm looking at it today and I notice that it's the same un-edited post that I did, in fact edit. LOL. Go figure. Probably my fault - I usually have several windows open at one time and I probably closed the edited one out before clicking submit. No harm done since Doug pointed out the midrange difference anyway. I do know that the Fortes had similar mids and highs to the Heresy IIs due to sharing the drivers, but the Forte IIs went to a tractrix horn midrange so I suspect they may very well be an audible difference to both the Fortes and Heresy IIs. BUT, regardless of all that, I've heard many people say that the Forte, Chorus (the Chorus had same mid and tweeter as the Cornwall II) and Quartet all sound "heritage like" except they had different (cheaper in my opinion) cabinets and passive radiators. Well, I think the Cornwall II didn't have a radiator - I think it was ported. And since you seem to have a rather decent budget ($1,000) perhaps a nice vintage tube amp and preamp would be the way to go??? NOS really digs the vintage tube gear and I'm sure he could help point you in the right direction. One day, I'd like to hear a pair of Khorns connected to some really good tubes. I bet it'll make my heart sing.... and then make me cry because I haven't the disposable cash to go that route right now....or more to the point, the proper floor-plan in my home to place them since my house isn't very big (see picture) and placing Khorns in it would be akin to trying to mount a pair of Heresys on the dashboard of a Yugo! LOL. As my wife said after looking at a pair of Khorns: "If we ever move back East and can afford a big old restored Victorian THEN you can have them." Guess that'll be when hell freezes over...LOL! Oh well, I guess my beloved Heresys and H/K will have to suffice!

---"Mr. Bush is unique in this regard of divining the direction of our nation through the Word of God, and he is wrong to do this. He also happens to be un-curious, anti-intellectual, grossly uninformed about subjects most students would understand, and incapable of public speech, ad hoc discussion or understanding that he is our CIVIL not religious Chief. This now makes him by world polls, "The scariest Threat on Earth." He needs to be called on this." ************************************************************ Hmmm....well, I'm sorry to say this, but what's wrong with being "anti-intellectual?" In my experience, such a term is often used by pseudo (although self-professed) "intellectuals" (who claim to be democrats but secretly hide their socialistic yearnings -lol) to describe people they see as a threat. Furthermore, a "world poll" that concludes that President Bush is the "scariest threat on earth" perfectly illustrates just how myopic and ungrateful (yes, UNGRATEFUL!) the rest of "the world" is. Too bad that the collapse of the Soviet Union eventually led to the WOMD proliferation we have today. The old Soviet Bear might have huffed and puffed and showed it's teeth every so often, but in reality, with all the checks and balances, there was little threat of a major American city suffering a 9/11 attack. Today, unfortunately, it's just a matter of time until some anti-american terrorist organization manages to get it's hands on a nuclear or biological weapon and then uses it on American soil. Should truth be told, there's a greater threat to Americans today then there ever was during the Cold War. In my opinion, sitting around and taking a reactive posture is bad news - all we're doing is waiting for someone hurt us. We need to be PROACTIVE in order to ensure another 9/11 doesn't happen. Furthermore, the only reason they used jets on 9/11 is because they couldn't get their hands on biological or nuclear weapons. Do you think they would have "refrained" from using them if they had managed to get them?! Had New York and/or Washington been nuked NOBODY in this country would be "protesting" anything right now. They'd all be screaming for blood! And those same liberal, closet-socialists (and I've met more then my fair share in undergraduate school--where they seem to be thrive, safely hidden from the "real world"--thank you) who are "protesting" now would be "intellectualising" on how the powers-that-be could have let that happen. In other words, with those people, you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. In my experience, contrary to what they might think, those people are never part of the solution but are always part of the problem. I haven't even read this thread until today, but since I do believe everyone has a right to be heard, I thought I'd give my own two cents. With that said, I refuse to be further sucked into a conversation that really has little place on an Klipsch website so don't expect another post from me on this topic. One thing I will mention before I close, however, is an article that caught my eye the other day that deserves mentioning: 3 or 4 school teachers were stoned to death in the Congo when "word" spread that they "cast an Ebola spell" thus causing the recent Ebola outbreak that's claimed the lives of many people in that region. If that doesn't illustrate how some parts of the world still are, I don't know what does. I'm sure as hell glad that I'm living here in America and I take immense pride in being a Veteran.

I think the key phrase here is "not spending a lot of money." Your best bet will probably be buy some used gear based on the recommendations of some of the more experienced and "exposed" posters. You can also opt to look for some busted, broken gear you can score for a steal and then fix, or perhaps find a nice mc250 somewhere with a blown fuse for $12... LOL All in all though, there's plenty of great sounding used gear out there that won't break the bank. You just need to inquire on the board as to how robust it is because you don't want to buy something that's notorious for giving problems or crapping out. I'm sure many people will respond and throw some options your way. All I can recommend is the now infamous (?!) H/K 430 as an excellent, extremely cost-effective buy that'll probably sound great on your Fortes seeing how they have the same midrange and tweeter as the Heresy IIs and boy oh boy does the H/K sound good on the Heresy IIs. It seems like everyone here who took HDBRbuilder's (Andy's) advice is EXTREMELY pleased at the low cost and high performace given by the H/K. If you wanna spend more then $80 to $100 (the average cost of the H/K) and want to try some tubes you should ask NOS or Mobile about some "relatively" low-cost good performing tube amps since they seem to tinker around with that stuff and are quite knowledgeable. Tubes should work well with your Fortes since they use the same mid and high frequency drivers as the Heresy II, which is part of the Heritage series. And if you ask around here, most people will probably say that to achieve the best sound from your Heritage series you'll need to go with a quality tube amp. You can get great sound from quality SS gear (I said quality, which doesn't necessarily mean expensive) but the overall consensus tends to be that tube power reigns supreme for the heritage series. Whatever you choose, enjoy your Fortes, which, incidentally, have been known as "heresys, but with bass!"

Sorry Mike, to me, it doesn't matter what Sanford & Son specials you might dig up and then connect to a "$10 full range speaker" with a home made cabinet. I sincerley doubt that it'll come ANYWHERE CLOSE to the sound produced by an H/K 430 with Heresys. I'm talking about buying working equipment at it's current market price that's cheaper then the HK/Heresy setup and puts out better sound and gives better performance. I'm NOT talking about scrounging around some junkyard or electronics-graveyard for busted and broken equipment and then trying to play B.A. Barakus (the guy from the "A-Team" TV show of the early 80s) armed with a soldering gun and a bunch of wire and spare parts and trying to build some frankenstein-like creation and then hooking it up to a $10 full range speaker(?!) and a homemade cabinet. I simply fail to see how that kind of abortion can sound as good or better then an H/K 430 and a pair of Klipsch Heresys. Trying to convince people of the merits of a cheap HK/Heresy combo is tough enough. Trying to convince people that the equipment you mentioned above in your post will sound as good or better then the HK/Heresy combo is like trying to part the Red Sea. Show me a "normal" working receiver who's current market value is below the H/K 430 and then a pair of speakers who's current market value is below that of a used pair of Heresys and then show me that it'll deliver more performance and give better sound then the HK/Klipsch setup. I don't think it can be done. And let's not bring up the guy who manages to find a "broken" mc250 for 12 bucks that only needs to have a fuse replaced to work properly and then somehow buys a pair of K-horns for 100 bucks from some old widow whose deceased husband bought them 40 years ago! That's fantasy-land stuff. I'm talking reality here - being able to go into an audio store or buy from an online merchant equipment that's working normally and is accurately priced at a cost below the HK/Heresy package. All that's left for me to say is that according to your post and comments, it seems like you're even cheaper then I am, which puts you in a category I previously thought to be unattainable! Congratulations!!!! LOL

Heck, Mobile, I'm low man on the totem (sp?) pole here - I have ONE cd player, one receiver (gave my dead proton away the other day) and one set of heresys --- that's it! LOL As a matter of fact, I'm thinking about "moving up in the world" (see my SLEEPER CASSETTE DECK and TURNTABLE post) since this year's tax refund is close at hand and I think I might be able to squirrel some away before my loving wife gets her talons...er...HANDS on it! LOL WANTED: H/K430-like (in cost and performance) cassette deck and turntable!

Well, I'm counting down the days until my tax refund and I think I can get my wife to let me spend a little bit on some audio gear so I'm wondering if there are any cheap, well-built, GOOD sounding cassette decks and turntables out there? Andy, you helped me before on recommending the H/K 430 LOL and I was wondering if you or anybody else here might know of any H/K 430-like (in performance AND price) cassette decks and turntables? There's gotta be some good "sleepers" floating around Ebay and I kinda figured that if they did exist, somebody HERE would know about them. LOL I'm open to all suggestions. Oh yeah, I'd like to try and keep the prices low, say, under $125 for the cassette deck and under $150 for the turntable. Is there any chance of success in finding some good sleepers in this price range? Thanks!

See Mobile, you're right - I DO read what you post (and everyone else too) - LOL! Like I said, I seemed to recall you being a reference fan, but there's a lot of new stuff here on the board I'm reading tonight and I didn't feel like doing any homework now (read: going through the zillion or so posts you've done in order to ascertain the truth behind your preferred Klipsch series) so I had to rely on memory. LOL

Oh yeah - Hey Mike - I'd be concerned about "rapping" with an Ebay seller for an expensive purchase; not one for 30 to 100 bucks - LOL. I'd be MORE concerned over buying something EXPENSIVE, like one of those supposedly restored vinatge tube-amps or perhaps a set of Cornwalls or La Scalas or other items that, with shipping, will approach (or even exceed) four figures. But hey, that's just me. I think Andy was trying to point out that considering the low cost of an H/K 430, there really isn't much "risk." It also seems that many people here have spent (and still do spend) considerable amounts of money on audio gear. I might not be "well-to-do," but even I could fork up the $60 to buy my H/K and then the $20 to ship it, so if somebody's really interested in how one sounds, there's not much of an excuse, fiscally speaking, to justify not picking one up. But again, that's just me... LOL