sheltie dave

Clueless, I can agree with the Clash up to London Calling for instilling a sense of social conscience, but the Ramones? Mom was ready to hogtie me when she came down to do laundry and saw me acting out Beat on the Brat(with a baseball bat) and little Liam howling with joy. I don't know how I will interact with a girl, but Mom says we act like two crazed gorillas when we get together. Maybe it's the La Scalas! Dave

Hey guys, not trying to goad anyone, but I just shut down the 299C after 45 hours of continuous operation, and neither of the Sovtek 7199s headed south of the border. I threw on Boston's first album and enjoyed "More than a Feeling" in its entirety. Even after close to thirty years, it can still get the sludge pounding through the arteries. Now powered down, and dispatched to the frozen northern tundra for tender ministrations by the voodoo electronics alchemist It will be a long purgatory running on the Crown and Nak, but I'll be fired up when the 299 gets back Ciao Dave

James, there is a pair of black satin for sale in St. Louis. You can talk to Klipsch, or get some oak veneer from the hundreds of hardwood suppliers on the way from Nevada to St. Louis, and drop them off at one of the four Amish communities on the way home. They will be done in no more than two days. Scenario two - do everything the same on the way to St. Louis. If you are cheap, find an Industrial Arts teacher in Nevada(the high school teachers are mostly all on summer break and many could use the additional $)or just about any reputable furniture refinishing place(more $$ and time than the first two.) Putting new veneer on the speakers, especially Heresys, is like wrapping a Christmas present. It's fairly easy, never use black, and no matter how good you do it, your wife can STILL do it twice as good in half the time. Seriously, that is where the veneering talent lies in the family, and my friend's Khorns look great with us guys doing them. Dave

James, I just bought a set of Heresy IIs with risers in oiled oak from Phoenix, Arizona. I won't be interested in selling, but you could try to contact the seller to see if he has another set or know someone who has similar. Also, Frzninvt has most everything in oiled oak; he might be a good locator source as well. The easiest of all would be to get the oak veneer and refinish a good set of cosmetically challenged HIIs yourself. You will spend less time and money and have total control over how the Heresys look. Good luck hunting! Dave

Bugs, Liam was introduced to Enya's first solo album the day we brought him home from the hospital. He also love Simon and Garfunkle's Greatest Hits. I am interested in getting him four or five CDs each from the classical, folk, bluegrass, jazz, and children's genres. My folks had seven children and the first five(me at #3) were stairstepped, so I never learned Itsey Bitsey Spider and all the other ditties that parents should? know. I do a great job of improvising songs, but I would really like to run with some winners that are battle tested. Time is non-existant, and I don't want to run in the store like a college student going into a grocery store after doing three bongs of mary jane. Coming home with the equivalent of four bags of chips, two boxes of ho-hos, three pounds of ground chuck and a loaf of bread would not impress my wife. Is Cat Steven's "tea for the Tillerman" his best effort? Thanks, Dave

Ryan, I decided to stick with the 7199s rather than switch to the 6U8s. One of my tube radio buds in the St. Louis antique radio club has a 299c that is still running 10 to 15 hours a week on the original 7199s. Fourty years and counting! The 7199 that blew was a RCA - the one that is still fine is a Sovtek. I threw a second Sovtek in last night at 9pm and the amp has been going continuously since playing the classical music station. No hum, pops, buzzes or other untoward distortion. I will let everyone knows if it departs for tube heaven prior to being shut down tonight for shipment. I can't wait to hear a glorious 299c. With a large supply of Sovtek 12au and ax7s, and the 7199s now both being Sovteks, I could pick upsome Sovtek 7591as and have a Russian to the core amp. Only problem is I would have to play Russian rock and roll music, which is truly horrendous. Does anyone know of a good Russian or Slavic rock band? All kidding aside, the best way to gain tube amp rebuilding business on this site is to provide great service, maintain happy customer relations, and to give us heads up on good deals. One out of three probably will not cut it. I work in a somewhat parallel field with similar needs where a majority of the workers are from out of town. I have a standing policy that any person who gets shorted or does not get a per diem check every week will immediately get cash from me for the amount they are shorted. After the first time I have to pony up, the workers are no longer concerned about their check arriving. I have never lost a worker from a site over pay in twenty years following this policy. Just something to consider if you are looking to increase you restoration business volume - kill people with kindness and good deals rather than knowledge. Thanks, Dave

Justin, I want you to be making a couple road trips to St. Louis from Mizzou first semester for Horns and Tubes sesions, so don't do anything that will result in significant jail time in Texas. Call your subdivision board of directors, if you have one. Find out what restrictive covenants are in place regarding grass height, number of dogs, leaving marine vehicles in open, leash and vaccination laws for your town. If there is no subdivision covenant, then find the city or municipal regulations and beat the neighbors about the head with inspectors. Borrow an SPL meter, and chart their excursions into poor musical tastes. If the peak averages are greater than 85dB A scale slow, then the police will be quite willing to get involved. Try to get three or four of your neighbors to start a 6am lawn service on all adjacent properties...three or four days in a row. If the neighbors all have significant valued homes as well, their concern will be as high or higher than yours. Last but not least, you can show your musical depravity far exceeds theirs. Suggested materials would include ABBA's greatest hits, KC and the Sunshine Band, and some new Rascal Flats for starters. Clip edit the start of Who let the Dogs out, as well as an underlying 25K to 30K test tone to drive the dogs wild.

A question to ponder... I am hitting the local cd store next week and am looking for ten to twenty cds that I can buy to play with our five month old. What would you suggest me picking up? And no, I will not be adding to my Metallica and Cult collection. Remember, this may determine our son going to Harvard, or driving a Pinto to M.I.T., which means Meremec in Town here in Missouri. Have fun!!

Tony, thanks for stressing that the 7199s are still available. Ryan, your input was appreciated, and the place in Chicago looks like a motherload for tube supplies and valves. After bonding with my son for a while (and washing drool, spit and exploding diaper off twice), I came over to my wife's viewpoint. I'll be spending a lot of time helping with the son and chores around the house, Craig will be changing the diapers, er, caps, resistors, and tubes on the 299C. By the middle of next month, don't come knockin' if the the house be rockin'....40 wpc of Dr. Scott, I presume? Now I have to hit Vintage Vinyl to pick up Peter, Paul, and Mary's Greatest Hits for "Puff the Magic Dragon." More bonding with baby, you know!

BKrop, of course I threw the Scott 299C into the fray without a rebuild! The tubes checked out fine, the transformers were good, and the amp looks a he** lot better than this creaking 40 something body does The seller told me the amp should be good for another fourty years...he just didn't say in what manner $200 in tubes can blow up a $2000 speaker which can catch a $200k house on fire. I worry about whole house ground isolation and gfci outlets; the equipment is relatively cheap and can take care of itself for the most part. Engineers used single fault isolation even in the fifties when possible(the 7199 went and nothing else.) The month with the 299 convinced me that tubes are a good way to go with Klipsch. They sound great with HKs, Crown, and Macs; they sing with the Scott

Ryan, when you say "switch the pin out of the socket," I am assuming the ceramic socket is merely the frame into which a pin contact assembly is inserted on the underside? This would mean that the + and - wires would be soddered to the pin assembly, and that the socket is only a ceramic insulator and guide for the tube on the top side. All I would have to do is look through the triode site and find the Stock # for the 6U8 tube socket, order a couple, and afetr electrocuting myself three or four times, replace the driver and phase inverter sockets, replace the 7199s with 6U8s, check a couple voltages, and part one of the underhood restoration would be underway! Forgive my naivite, but the last time I played with tubes was on a submarine twenty one years ago. Looking under the hood of the 299 is initially very intimidating, and my wife prefers my bonding experiences with my newborn to be a whole lot closer to the diaper changing table than my basement workbench dave

Craig, is this the big reason you like the 299b over the c and d versions? with both the 7199 and the 7591 being stand alone tubes, it is pretty darn inconvenient scouring ebay and Vacuum Tube Valley for replacements. As long as the amp is down, what do you think of the $75 package deal VTV has for the caps and resistors for the 299 series? Is this a large gouge, and if you have a similar package that you recommend, how much would you want? I still have a comple system up at the new house, and I can switch over to a backup amp/preamp setup here while I work on the 299c. If you think this rebuild is beyond a knuckle-dragging machinist with a fluke and a good sodering kit, I'll send it up to you, even though I'm an Illini fan. In the meantime, any advice on decent prices I should expect to pay for a set of 7199s and a quad of 7591s? Thanks, Dave

Hey guys, I need some help with my 299c. One of the 7199 output tubes died - looks like it outgassed and released a milky smoke that colored the top of the tube. Is there an alternate or equivalent tube that I can tempoarily plug in to replace the 7199? I have a large supply of 12au7 and 12ax7s by Sovtek. Two sites say one of these is a sub for the 7199, but size is different and I know nothing regarding bias and filament voltages. Could I drop one of these(or another sub) directly in without checking these two settings prior to placing the amp back in service? I am not worried about blowing the substitute, but wasting a couple of the 7591s is what worries me. Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks, Dave

Fini, yes, I got your mail. That's quite fair, and I'm hoping I can get Outlook behaving on my home computer so I can get the private message to you as well. Justin, you may notice that the address is my business address - a plant that formerly manufactured special materials. We currently have four guards that have military sharpshooter or better quals, significant combat experience, and a profound desire to disabuse any criminal element of misguided intentions. If anyone does succeed in gaining entry, there will be another five people with special forces training from the Navy, Marines, and Air Force who would throw tresspassers a garden party, complete with tea. We would all want to see if we could get the HK 430 in working order prior to performing any needed restraining procedure on uninvited guests. Local police would be late arriving to the social... Yes, I will never put my home address out on a web site for purview. However, it would be great fun witnessing a couple young punks trying to do a smash and grab on the Khorns or La Scalas. They better have good insurance for the hernia operations! Dave

Gary, what you might be experiencing is synergy. It's difficult stopping yourself from buying more and more Klipsch. Last weekend I visited a gentleman in Illinois who has at least seventeen sets of cornerhorns, and he is always on the prowl for another set. I thought I might be up with the big dogs, but not quite, judging from your lists New in 2003 Black Klipschorns and Belle center Oiled walnut Belles Honey stained Poly La Scalas Singlet Raw birch Heresy Scott 299C Crown Power Line 4 HK 630 and HK 430 on way JVC DVD/SACD/CD player cheap 1957 four bedroom ranch house concert venue with natural stained oak floors Oiled oak Heresys to match said floors per Wife's orders 1982 Bolens 25 hp lawn tractor with 54 inch deck so I have time to listen to music five month baby son - always in concert, love Klipsch speakers already!

Fini, my address at work is... This should be fun, as I have never done more than change a fuse on a solid state amp before, and the 430 is relatively straightforward. Gotta run now; our five month old is telling me it's time to feed him. Thanks again, Dave

Fini, I'll take you up on the offer if Prod doesn't speak for it. I live in 63111(St. Louis, MO)and had one of these in excellent working condition through college. They are a joy when working! If you still want a HK430, I'll keep my eyes open at the garage and estate sales here; they always pop up just when you have drained your wallet of green I think there may be a cap or set of resistors that are crapping out on yours, but the chase can take a little while. This will end up with a set of oiled oak heresy IIs I have coming in from Arizona. My wife hates the size of the La Scalas and Belles - banished them to the basement at the new house - but she loves the size and look of the heresys. Go figure! Anywho, when I go to the new house tomorrow I'll poke about and send you a list of my bone yard. Maybe you can get something from the tube amps I have as a return favor Thanks, Dave

Arf, I'm trying to pull everything together so we can have a horns 'n tubes session every other month in St. Louis. I just need to get everything moved to the new house. I have both a late 70's La Scala and Belle set, and I'm running them with a 299C and a HK 630. My evaluation is quite skewed, as the La Scalas that I have done the majority of my listening were in the middle of a hard plaster and cinderblock basement room with poured concrete floor. I started off with a Crown Power Line 4 and a retro Nakamichi 420 preamp(PWK liked to run a 420 with a Crown d75 on one of his setups) The sound was horrible and contained no base. Even than, however, the LSs impressed two of my audio engineer friends with the clarity and rapid attack they showed with difficult to impossible tracks they hand selected. My wife didn't much care for the volume levels we attempted in listening and testing the LSs until the friends brought their equipment upstairs. Hearing them chat about the lack of spurious reasonances and other odd harmonics that crop up in other houses due to loose ducts, piping and other sound shorted equipment, the wife smiled and informed them that her dad certainly had built the house well fifty years ago. Jim Cornell has been raving the gospel re. the HK430, so I decided to pick up a X30 on eBay.(I still have some fun pictures of my college days partying with my HK430 and Nak gear in prominent place.) The 630 I got is in good shape, so it booted the Crown and - lalallala - we now have bass. Tight, handles all the Midnight Oil base with aplomb, slaps smiles on my friends' mugs, and shakes the doors base. It sounds natural and warm, but it still isn't there. Got a good deal on a 299c again on eBay, slap that on the LSs, and wow! It sounds wonderful. The 299c has not been massaged in any fashion, fairly tatty to be honest, and it beats the HK630 in 8 out of 10 categories we trot equipment through. It even wins the award from my wife.... with the Crown, she didn't want to listen to music at any time while doing laundry, because it sounded too harsh. With the HK630, she would listen to music if it was on. In both cases she wanted to be trained on how to turn the stereo off. With the 299c, she made me train her how to turn the stereo on. I asked her if she wanted to see how to go off as well (stereo- not me ) and she said it wouldn't be necessary. She liked the way it sounded too much to turn it off I can't say this brief synopsis is a level playing field. All three setups convienently show how brilliant Heritage Klipsch is. I would need to get all three setups in a good room, set up the amps so they are relatively flat frequency response, and then get parallel listening levels to do a good listen. I think part of our favorable assessment for tube amps is due to their weighted reponse pattern in the mid base and low midrange/rolloff as they near 20khz. Either way, a dog setup with the La Scalas is on par with my one friend's 10 grand setup in a accoustically perfect room specifically designed and tweaked for his baby. Witnessing an audio engineer drool over Klipsch is a wonderful thing! Cheers, Dave

Louis, you've got mail... and please amend my $ to match your $. Looking forward to hearing the 81 with my arriving Khorns Dave

Keith, I have a 299c and would be verrry interested in getting the second wood cabinet if you are willing. If Craig is not paticular, I'll take the walnut cab to match my walnut Belles Thanks!

Have I achieved musical nirvana? Time to pull out the checklist. Let us see, do I have good equipment for a decent price? At the new house, a set of walnut belles with the "new" Harman Kardon 630 receiver and cheap JVC cd/dvd/sacd player. Total cost - $1160 in the past six months. A definite yes here. Wife approval factor? Maxed out with the belles. Yes! Good room? Much improved over cinderbloc walls, but still a ways to go. A qualified yes. Good music programming? Hey, it is my collection, so a definite yes again. Just as I am getting settled in to a good two CD session, our four month old lights up the air raid siren, so I dash up to get him, and take him down in the basement, and try to settle him down. Only to find out, musical nirvana is the ability for one person to communicate the wondrous passion, love, artistry, and joy through a musical instrument to another. And it is especially miraculous when the Mamas and Papas and Simon and Garfunkel can do it with a crying four month old! MUCH MUCH MUCH joy! Cheers Dave

Hey guys, I am looking at various permutations trying to get at a three channel setup for a reasonable price. Oh, the sacrifices we make for our hobbies! Jolida has the 1703 integrated hybrid amp with a left, right, and center speaker output, but methinks all three channels would be equal volume, rather than having the summed center channel at a lower volume. This option does have a plus - it appears to be the least costly and provide modern signal input flexibility along with a tube preamp section. The Mcintosh C24-28? series preamps have a summed center output, but I would then need to chase after a tube amp for the stereo channels, and flip my old Crown amp for the center. The Scott 299 C(and probably other vintage tube stereo amps) also have a center output RCA, but I wonder if this is only an output signal to go to a seperate amplifier. Volume isn't a large concern, with a pair of Khorns and a Belle, but it will mutate into a home theater setup once I stop finding so many good deals on Klipsch Heritage speakers. We REALLY need to start up a national Klipschaholics Anonymous, judging from some peoples' taglines. Cheers, Dave

Edster, I probably won't be down to Atlanta for a couple weeks to pick up the khorns and Belle. I just picked up a three week contract to characterize the radioactive contamination levels at a steel mill across the Big Muddy(Mississippi)in East St. Louis. Besides dodging potholes and bullets in ESL, our son is STILL waking us up every two/three hours for more food. Tired, tired, tired. We are hoping he slows down a little and actually starts sleeping through the night, but not even a glimmer of hope yet. He is three months old on Easter Sunday, and he tips the scales at 18 lbs 3 oz today. I'm going to start him bench pressing three pound barbells this weekend! On the happy side, I have a good friend that is a master Amish finish carpenter. He already has taken a liking to the vast expanse of exposed surface area for some exotic or classic veneer, and he wants to know two things... what are the nicest two veneers Klipsch used on the Khorns, and does anyone have the classic Klipsch PWK logo in jpg format. He thinks he can scale it up and intall it as a large monogram on the tops or fronts, if we do veneer them Cheers, Dave

Edster, right you are! My wife told me if I bought another set of large Klipsch speakers, we would buy a new house to fit them all in. (new house in one month)... All three of my heritage additions have resulted from WAF space assessments. The wife assesses, and decides there is not enough space in the house for the Klipsch speakers. I have really lucked out on the walnut Belles and you(Edster) turned me on to a screaming deal with the Khorns and Belle. I overspent by a little bit getting my first set of Klipsch - the La Scalas - but that was before I knew about this forum. My wife said there is no way I can buy a set of Cornwalls, but she likes the Heresies. Is that approval for...? She also likes that our three month old son will not be able to pull the speakers over onto him. Tip factors and child safety are going to be real important for the next couple of years in our house. Hobbitt - were your ks and belle boxed, or bare when you put them in the Caravan? Was it a Grand Caravan or normal sized. They rent for fourty a day in St. Louis with unlimited mileage, which would work great for a Georgia road trip. Cheers, Dave

Hey everyone, I need a little guidance on picking up a set of klipschorns and a belle. I'm going to be transporting all three in a truck or van/suv that I will be also buying this week, and I need to know what dimensions the khorns are when they are broken down. I have the overall dimensions, but not the bass bin/horn sections. The speakers are not boxed, so advice on how to pack them would be appreciated. For those of you who have moved the khorns, what vehicle did you use and how much extra space did you have? I think I might have to rent a U-haul trailer, but if there is a van or suv I could rent that could haul the whole shebang, I would also consider that. I can't wait to get the speakers up to St. Louis. All three are the satin black finish, so it looks like I will have an all Heritage home theater (in black)! Edster, if you read this, I'll be picking the speakers up in Atlanta, and I would love to visit your shrine to Klipsch and tubes. Cheers and thanks in advance, Dave