LeBaron Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 For years I have been seeking the sound that I heard many years ago. I had a pair of Stephens TruSonic 15" coaxial drivers in some huge cabinets powered by some McIntosh MC30's. The were way too klunky, and at my ripe age of 21 I sold the amps on ebay (in 1998) for $650 and traded the speakers (gasp) for a pair of mint KLH model 17 because they were smaller. After a decade of regret, I finally have rebuilt a system that I really love. I have a pair of Heathkit AA-61 14 watt tube amps powering my LaScalas, and it is wonderful. The LaScalas don't hit as low as the TruSonics, so I have a sub. After 3 months of heavy listening, I think I am quite satisfied. The LaScalas have Crites tweeters and Sonicaps (in one I recently installed Sonicap II bypass caps to see if I hear a difference). Source is either Vinyl on a 1200 with a modified Rega arm or mp3's (gasp) from my computer and soundcard. Preamp is a Bozak disco mixer that I rebuilt with Black Gate capacitors. I used a Bryston 3B with these for a short period of time, but that is way too much power for these speakers. I have used some other amps with these too, but they are so sensitive, you need a very quiet amp. I think with the Heath's you gain a lot of sweetness and vivid detail. If you can find any of these amps, grab them. I would like to get another set if anyone has a pair available. And nothing bad about the KLHs. My dog ate my 17s and then they were burnt up in a fire, but I recently got KLH model 6's for my second system and I love them too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 Nice heathkits that is not a very common model! What are you using for a preamp with the Heathkits... PS those transformers look like they got pretty hot at one time. Hope you have given them a good overhaul.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeBaron Posted December 5, 2008 Author Share Posted December 5, 2008 I am using a Bozak 10-2DL disco mixer as a preamp with them. The mixer sounds better than you might think. It has all Alps Black Beauties, Black Gate Caps and it is discrete. The amps were refirbished before I got them. They were also modded so that the volume pot and switch are out of the circuit. I did a little work to them. I installed 5 way binding posts and new insulated RCA jacks. I also shielded the inputs better. They are dead quiet at idle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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