sheltie dave

Al, or other knowledgeable folks, I am interested in picking up Q-man's ALKs. I have a set of 90 Khorns with AK3 xovers and a set of late 70 Belles with AB xovers, I believe. Are the ALKs turnkey on both sets of speakers and what, if any mods would be needed if they are not turnkey? Thanks in advance for your assistance. I would do some research, but this is a work computer at the uranium mill - and there is only one goes out line for the web.

Dave, the dinner was great last night, Buster got his steak cut up in a doggy bag, and Mary gave her blessing for me to trade her amp. I now have a perfect condition (hopefully) MC 240 for an $80 profit minus last night's dinner. I just do not recommend doing this if the dog happens to be a pit bull. I have seen a friend open an old console to find an MC 60 tucked inside, and I never figured anything similar would happen to me. And Mary would fit right in on this forum; nice as can be unless provoked, then you better stand back as the fur flies. And the sheltie part? The Sheltie Rescue director in St. Louis has a girl that had kennel syndrome which took almost two years to overcome. When we visited trying to adopt another sheltie she had, Lucy Blue(her kennel rescue) came out from behind the couch and sat in my lap to be petted. I just wish that I could train various unloved pieces of stereo equipment to do the same. Two items I missed on right when I got out here were a working 299B($125) and a Dynaco 70 ($200) that had been restored and had new NOS tubes and caps. Good deals can always be found here on the forum,great deals are a little harder, and once in a blue moon you can shoot the moon. Right now I feel like I can draw Copernicus Crater!

AF, good choice on the album, and quite apropos for the current east coast wall of rain! I finally came up with a good garage/estate sale find - a Mac MC275 with one channel weak. The widow was selling a set of EV Patricians for $1,000 to a rather frumentious bandersnatch type of fellow, and she had a younger male sheltie that was straining at his leash trying to break free just to "sic balls and tear limbs" from the ---hole. I saw the beautiful boy and asked the lady if I could pet him. She warned me not to get near him, as he does not take well to strangers, and hates men other than he recently deceased husband. Lo and behold, Buster saw me and was licking my hand and wagging his tale a minute later. What a great dog! (Shelties usually are wonderful.) Mr. Jerk is still there, badgering the poor lady to see any other equipment her beloved used with the speakers. Our ears perked up when she casually tossed out that he used a huge Scottish tube amplifier and preamp for the monsters, but they were always too --mn loud and she was not hard of hearing like he. As I started chuckling, she went on to say the preamp worked well, so it sold for about a grand the week before to a friend, but the amp was old and tired like her. Now I was laughing - she had a lot of feisty character. Do you want to go down in the basement to look at it - I will sell it to you for $50. Sold, shouts the jerk. I'll take it now, just tell me which way to turn. And then the magic words, as she smiles and says, "No, I am talking to the nice gentleman who is petting my sheltie." We all go downstairs, me with dog in hand, and there on the bench sits the audio epiphany - an actual MC 275 with all original Mac tubes! And it gets better! The jerk starts sputtering and pulls out his wallet. Fifties, twenties, and a couple hundreds, hitting a thousand total. Mary, the old grandmother, smiles, and says that her husband loved Buster and that Buster would trust no other man than her husband. Right now I am practically squeezing Buster's kidneys out in eager anticipation, and Mary is relishing the moment as well. She looks at me and drops the bombshell, saying that she has decided to knock another thirty dollars off the asking price scince one channel doesn't work so well. Shaking in my boots, I open my wallet and pull out twenty - oh no seventeen dollars. Merde, merde, merde holdon I have some change up in the car. Let me set Buster down - I will be right back. I get the change, and sprint back down to the basement, to see absolute chaos. The jerk is hold a cardboard box, trying to fend Buster off while standing up against a far corner of the basement. Mary waves her hand, tells me to load the Mac in my car and to come back down to get Buster off the jerk. I have to race out now to buy a steak for Buster and take Mary out for a dinner date. Guys, let me tell you, Mary is a great lady. I will fill you in on round two in the next few days. Chiao

Q-man, I would be interested in buying them. Let me know if they are for Khorns or Belles, and I will check with Al if they are a direct plug in for my serial #s. Thanks,

Win, I have a friend here in Washington who wants the 299c. If bill doesn't want it first, it is sold. Things are going slow out here on the edge of the high desert in Ford, Washington at the ole uranium mill. I'm training a new tech how to do radiation surveys, but he is a little slow and just wants to rest all the time. Check out our favorite, Mr. Safety Bear...

Gilbert, I would be happy to be Frzs backup for these. The OO would fit perfectly in our living/dining room with the natural stained and polyurethene oak floors. The only problem would be figuring out an explanation how the OO Heresys mutated into OO Cornwalls! Let's see, 50 pounds, 110 pounds, 50 pounds, 110 pounds. It will be difficult This would also drive up the cost of her anniversary present at the end of the month. Thanks

Fini, your daughter is going to grow up with a great sense of humor if she takes after her dad! And what stories she can tell... such as, " My dad is pretty strange too. He took my grandma's death couch, you know, the green flower embossed couch that had the plastic wrap on it, well, he took it to the dump, and, like, he brought home all kinds of dirty old electrical equipment, that, he , well, he made me clean up all these yucky tube things. And (roll of the eyes) he thinks they are valuable. Specially these tubes he said they're made in East Germany, by those swimmer ladies with mustaches." Boy friend(vainly trying to grow mustache half as good as East German lady swimmer) (opening fridge to get half gallon of oj- instantly gone, three sandwiches - inhaled in five seconds, and half bag of chips - acne starts pulsating) Uh, gee yeh. Dads don't know s---. Walks over to turn on stereo, throws on new Korn CD, walks to couch, sluffs in it with size 11s on end table. We should head over to my house before the game. My dad has a really great new stereo with Bose speakers that get real lad. This old gig isn't so hot. As you walk in- oh hi, Mr. Fini, when are you gonna get some real food in the fridge? Nice seeing ya again, we gotta head out now. Just remind her once in a while how you slaved over her and brought he back from the precipice of death when she had her tonsils out And btw, the HK 430 is up and running again. We cleaned the circuit boards, no go. Changed a capacitor, no go. Hit it with compressed air and deoxit, no go. Put it in a ten % humidity vacuum chamber to dry the fungus and mold, no go. Had the humongous heat wave for the last four days with temps over one hundred - threatened the receiver with a glorious death by trampling from the eight shetland ponies next door and then threw it on the back porch with direct sunlight during the late morn and all afternoon hours.... the mold completely dried up and it works wonderfully. In an effort to spread the faith, I'm loaning it and my Heresy II oiled oaks to a friend while I'm out in WA for the next two months. And if you ever want to set your daughter up with a $20/hr summer job sorting radioactive trash, let me know. I have just the position for her Godspeed with the healing process!

Hey Craig, just about everyone has been great when offering help within the forum. Kelly, Dean, Erik, and you do a fantastic service to us newbies that are staggering about trying to find a good component at a good price. "Newbie" is a relative term, as I would be completely at home buying, selling, swapping and stealing in the solid state millieu. Tubes are a completely different animal! The Cary would probably be a good deal at $600, but the road travelled in this situation appeared to be confusing and not totally above board. Half the sale is making sure your buyer is happy before buying the equipment - discussing how it will interact to improve your setup, how it will match what you listen to, and so on. With the Cary, I was getting a good sense of its abilities from the forum, but nothing from the seller other than give me more money and it is yours. In no way were forum members part and parcel of what transpired with the Audiogon seller. It's great that members patrol Ebay, Audiogon and other sources for equipment they feel will enhance our systems. Once in a while potential sellers might get greedy, develop sellers' remorse, or really be the south end of a horse heading north, but it is no reflection on the forum member who recommended us to "check this out." Craig, I'll be heading out to be the radiation safety officer at the Dawn Mine decommissioning outside Spokane, WA for the next two months. I'll be coming back to the Lou at the end of September for our wedding aniversary...my wife claims the main reason I'll be back is to send you the LK-72 and the 299c, and while she might be wrong, you will be seeing them NLT OCT 4th in your box. Ciao for now!

Wolfram, I got a call from the gentleman twenty minutes ago. He stated that he had an offer of $600 for the Cary - I told him I would go no higher than $550 and thanked him for his call back. If he e-mails or calls you, make sure that you get solid info on this second party before you match unless you NEED the preamp. As far as I know, we are the 2 parties involved. Last time I checked he still lived in Minnesota, so there is no way an offer from me at $550 could in any way be construed as $600...and ditto yours Caveat emporer!

Wolfram, I sent you two e-mails re the Cary preamp. As I noted, it is always a concern on E-bay and Audiogon that you prefer dealing with honest people rather than a sharp businessman. That listing was at least a couple weeks old before he got any responses ( and all generated via Dean and Mobile from this forum.)I will not bid up the preamp, and I hesitate to involve myself in buying it for the stated price at this point. He seems hellbent to get more $, and while I offered him full asking price, he would not commit to the deal, stating he had someone else (you) he needed to talk to again. At this point, the Octal 6 looks much more interesting and a better value for the buck. I know Lloyd is honest and will provide what he states for a good price without changing his story. The Cary owner ought to be careful, lest he negotiate his way out of two good faith offers in a vain effort to get more money. How hot is it over there today? We hit 103 farenheit yesterday in St. Louis! Regards

Erik (and Wolfram), are you the other party talking to Jonathon regarding the Cary? I offered him what he was asking, but have not heard back as yet. He said there was another offer on the table. If it is just a matter of you being first in queue, that is not a problem - I will talk to Lloyd regarding his Octal 6 preamp kit. It will be interesting to build that bad boy, and I have a friend who has experience constructing circuit boards. Regards

Artto, at some point in the not far distant future, we will be building an addition to our house and a great room will be in the works. Does PWK recommend any special room dimensions for consideration, or did he leave that up to you? What type of ceiling would work well with the great room? We are looking at oak floors and a rafter with oak beams to optimally use the available space, but keeping costs down would also be nice. We have a set of cornerhorns, three Belles, and three Heresys, so we are well set with speakers at this point. I would like to get the great room planned out so we can build the new extension based on these needs. Thanks for any suggestions!

Speaking of illusions, is there a consensus for a preamp for the Quicksilver 60's? I'm probably heading out to Washington state in two weeks for a two month contract job, and I can jump on a good tube preamp if ya'll see one before I leave so my wife can enjoy the fruits of my labor....(she hasn't heard the cornerhorns with tubes yet Dean, you mentioned the Cary AE3, and there is one on audiogon - is it a decent selection, or would it be better to wait for something else when I get back? I have both King Crimson and Paul Simon's greatest hits CDs. Widely divergent and yet two glorious examples of guitar based music, one that's pure pop and one that is anything but. For tonight, they be pushing the horns via the hk 630 again. Ciao

Craig, even though you don't know it, you are getting further behind as we speak. I have to send you the 299c and an LK-72 that I just bought. I also have to find a good preamp for Dean's Quicksilvers for under $600. Please keep your eyes open if you can. This fatherhood thing, trying to get two houses up to spec, and trying to get my wife's handicapped sister into a group home before we move on August 9 is keeping me up past 11 pm every night. Unfortunately, it leaves little time for playthings, which includes getting the amp(s) up to you in any reasonable fashion. I will email you the day they are outta here, and there won't be a huge rush on them. I have two friends that want to duplicate my setup already, so more business will be coming your way!

Hi all, I received Dee's 299c tonight from Arkansas and spent some time unpacking it and setting up the tubes. I got a little bit excxited to see all Telefunkens for the pre stage, a new Sovteck for the rectifier, and all original Scotts for the 7591s. Dee, thanks for the great packing job! Boy oh boy! My questions involve the terminals and speaker loads. The screw terminals are high, 0, 4, 8, and 16 (ohms, obviously.) For hooking up just the khorns, and then hooking up both the khorns and belles, ground would be 0 and then use either 4 or 8, or 8 and 16, respectively, to run one or two sets of speakers? Like Craig, I like to shake a lot of dust off the ceiling when the little one is not sleeping. Wish we were in the new house all the time, so I could listen to the khorns and 299c/soon Quicksilvers without having to hop in the car and drive ten minutes Thanks for your help

Dean, please let me know if I just have rabbit ears, but I hope that comment wasn't directed at me If you haven't received my check, let me know and I will Fedex a cashier's tomorrow. I mailed Dee's the same night and I pick up his 299c tomorrow. I got the new-to-me khorns set up tonight and was running them on the opposite wall from the belles with the HK630; my two friends were freaking that a $30 receiver could sound better than any concert they have ever attended. I'll need about four days to get enough listening time to write up a review... however my friend Matt went to use the office. He was on the throne and told his friend, "XXX, I am sitting on Sir John listening to the most incredible speakers I have ever heard, even with the door shut." Maybe it's the maple veneer door that does the magic Thanks, Dave

Hey everyone, the road trip was a success. My audio engineer friend and I bugged out from St. Louis Friday night at 9 pm and pulled into Marietta at 7 am, having napped at a rest stp in KY and being run off the road at 80 mph in Tennessee I am going to need help getting the cornerhorns set up. The previos owner ran these as part of a tri-amped home theater, and the Khorn crossover network does not have the woofers hooked up at this time. The Khorns have AK3 crossovers, and the center belle has an AB crossover. They are from the 89 - 90 era, hence the newer crossovers. They appear to be in good physical shape, with no dings, scratches, or damaged cabs and crossovers, and they were wrapped in plastic sheeting. The belle has an oak veneer under the black - can't tell about the Khorns yet. Ed, I am sorry that we didn't get the chance to hook up. My wife's cell phone was not cooperating, and we were so damn tired that we just bolted back home when we got the speakers loaded. The owner freaked out when we got everything in, but I had confidence in the advice given here about transport. Thanks, everyone. Heading to the bath and bed now, but I should get some time to work with setting them up in the am. Toodles, Dave

I haven't thought about this too much for the past three months, but the time has finally come. My beloved wife has given me permission to take a road trip to Atlanta to pick up the black satin Khorns and Belle center. I pick up the rental Dodge Grand Caravan this evening, yank the two rear sets of bench seats out, and toodle on down the road. Get the horns out of storage tomorrow am at 9 in Marietta, hopefully hook up with Edster for an hour or two to chill out, and then toodle back to the Lou. The speakers will land in the basement at the new house, where they will be fighting with the Belles, La Scalas, and single Heresy. Sometime next week I should get the 299c from Dee and the Quicksilvers from Dean, and the sorting and matching will begin. Is there a good restaurant we should hit either coming or going along the way? A good man listens to his wife, but marches on his stomach, to paraphrase General Patton. Cheers, Dave

Dean, you have mail. Craig, you will have UPS soon. I got tied up calibrating instruments at work and repainting my two homes. I need a little info on your hotrodding of Dee's 299c, and might want you to duplicate it with this one to have a mirrored set And those blue caps look cool. I saw one of them vaporize on the submarine one morning when I was tired. Made me glad I was not an electrician that day Thanks, Dave

Didn't go to the Mac home theatre presentation yesterday, but I will catch the multiroom and multichannel presentation today at 2pm. Does anyone have any Mac questions asked/answered by Ken? I also have a second seat available for today's presentation, as my audio engineer friend is down in Chattanoga picking up some Hammond b-c guts for his engineered Hammond B3 project. Email me if interested - it is at 2pm at HIFIFOFUM. Thanks, Dave

Fini, either you got the first Playboy in the three year subscription I ordered for you and your better half, or you got the check for the new McIntosh MC402 amp I saw last night. If you pick the amp, I'll only owe you another $4,970 or so I do not want to Mac bash. I love Macs, and got in a little scruffle with Ken over the suitability of using vintage tube and older SS equipment with our beloved Klipsch speakers. Ken presented the newer Mac philosophy - sell "digital ready" as the latest and greatest approach to modern audio. It may be hard for me to swallow, knowing that speakers built in 1975 and integrated amps built in 1961 can sound 98% as good for 2% of the investment the Mac salesman wants. Eventually, I definitely will get a newer used or demo Mac setup, but for the next few years I will have fun learning 'bout tubes and used Heritage speakers. And by the way, we had a new addition to our Heritage gaggle - the oiled oak Heresy IIs arrived from Arizona tonight. I just had to pull the grills off, and saw a heresy according to the new Mc philosophy; a single tweeter! LOL Dave

Dee, you have mail. Thanks, Dave

AVman, for more than a decade, your love has been reflected back to you in greater glory than anyone who has not had a lab could realize. As your pain and grief lessen, and wonderful memories again fill your heart with joy, there may be another special lab from lab rescue that could find joy and love in your house. I pray that peace and happiness will grace you in the difficult days and weeks ahead. Dave

Greetings from St. Louis! I just got home from an official McIntosh "information seminar" at HiFi Fo Fum in St. Louis, and will attempt to throw some of the info out for reflection and rumination. An interesting evening, as HiFiFoFum has gone out of its way over the past five years to demphasize McIntosh sales. Thre months ago, they had only a single Mac item at each of their two stores in the Lou. The salesman, Ken Zelin, brought in the Mac 400 wpc 2nd from the top of the line SS amp, the $4500 tube preamp, and the 7ft tall twin woofer, gadzillion tweeter tower speaker to assist in his presentation. They were impressive, but with a total price tag over $28k, I'd still stick with my Belles, HK630, and garage sale priced JVC for a whopping total of $1200. Ken made some speaker statements that made me think of PWK's BS button, ala "increasing the number of tweeters decreases the off-axis distortion level due to self-canceling wave interactions, the tweeters don't have to works as hard as a single tweeter when 200 watts is applied, the fifteen inch woofers have the lowest frequency response of any speaker(down to 15 hz),use of extruded aluminum for the speaker cabinent eliminates all reasonance, etc. He did make interesting points regarding dynamic range, headroom, and "digital capable" two channel systems, ie Macs, vs systems with only 55 to 70 dB dynamic range available. He poopooed SETs and other low range tube amps due to the limited dynamic headroom, but he also declined to state the speaker efficiency of the $20k Mac speakers vs the khorn, Belles, and LaScalas. He totally skipped discussing the $4500 tube preamp, which I had a great deal of curiosity about, and he also pointed out that Mac will not be making any product for under 3K in the future. Thanks, Dave

Fini, I just had a brainstorm regarding the waveform generator. Management has been concerned about our ability to detect changes in background contamination levels using the little 1/4 watt speaker, and knowing that I have a fairly decent knowledge of sound gear they asked for me to present a little show tomorrow am on possible solutions. I showed one of the managers the generator this morning and told him it was a late fifties alpha, beta, and gamma radiation multichannel analyzer powered by tubes that was developed at Livermore. He actually bought it, and asked if I would be willing to bring my Heresy singlet in so the clicks could be heard over the grinders, forklifts, and other heavy machinery. It would be greatly amusing to run the generator for a few minutes, varying a click pattren rate, but it would scare and intimidate too many people. I have a $10 dollar bet with the site manager that the Heresy will produce 112 dBA slow at thirty feet with a twenty watt input, so I should be eating lunch for free tomorrow, thanks to Klipsch! And if you have any 7199s or 7591s in there.....