Dflip Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 Over the past few weeks I arranged with Craig to purchase a LK-72 Scott amp he had, after Deang bought the 299A. Craig had it available and I decided to take advantage of the opportunity. I have been reading posts here for the last year and a half and have learned a lot. It was either buy a preamp, Wright WLA 12A linestage, or an integrated amp. The preamp would still leave me looking for an amp at a later date and several thousand CDN later. For financial reasons, it settled on the used Scott integrated. After taking into account the Canadian peso, shipping, paypal charges, brokerage fees, PST and GST, it became a fairly expensive proposition. The brokerage, PST and GST came to about $200 CDN by themselves, oh joy. Anyways, I have my Christmas present. It arrived well shipped, wrapped in bubble wrap, lots of styrofoam chips on the top and bottom and taped to the nines to hold it all together. In other words, even UPS couldn't destroy it. I did discover that Craig smokes, it took about 2 days for the aroma to escape my basement. The amp was completely repaired, updated, renovated by Craig, with the Russian military caps installed. After figuring how to turn it on, pull the volume knob, dummy, LOL, I was listening. It sounded better after 10 minutes and a lot better after an hour of warm up. I immediately noticed that the bass was as strong/predominate as my 150 Acurus amp. In fact it had more punch at the bottom end. The mids and highs were not as bright, which was a good thing. The Acurus system was bright. I had trouble listening to it for more than an hour at a time. I started listening to jazz (Diana Krall, Patricia Barber) and the some pop (Shaun Colvin, early Chris Isaak, Erica Badu) that I normally enjoy. At volume the amp can really sing. It filled the room with more punch and a much more encompassing sound. At about 1 pm on the dial, it is as loud as I ever really would want it to get. I am still experimenting with with the center channel feature, but am very happy with the tubes. The 7199 tubes are all American NOS. Craig did a very good job on the amp and it will keep me happy over the holidays with hours of listening without the shrillness of the Accurus/Cornwall combination. I had about 8" of rope caulk on the squaker of the Cornwalls with the solid state setup. I have now removed about 6" of it, because the setup sounded too laid back by comparison. The difference was significant and the only difference between the two system is tubes vs. solid state. I have yet to properly try out the phono setup. I will get the Rega Planar 3 out with the RB 125 arm and Grado cartridge and give it a whirl. I know I have rambled on here, but I'm sold. The tubes are glowing peacefully while I sit back and enjoy. I have joined a number of happy campers here on the Klipsch two channel forum. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfz28 Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 Dflip, your impressions of the scott tube amp sound like a carbon copy of my impressions of the scott 299a of mine.Wait tell you hear the phono section, its great.And I am with you on the warm up time, it seems the longer its on the better it sounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 That's great Don. Yeesh, if you think you ramble, I guess my meanderings must sound like inane babbling. Let's see, where can one by a tubed unit that: Is tube rectified. Has point-to-point wiring. Is all discrete. Has a derived center channel for subs. Has a balance knob. Has tone controls. Has a loudness switch for low level listening. ...and the aroma of Americas finest tobacco -- all for less than what one usually pays for three dozen pizzas. Thank God Craig doesn't chew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 I think when Craig gets his repair/mod dealings up to full swing he will have to buy some sort of defogger-air freshener. This is the second reference to the smoke out upon amp box opening! heh... Ole Craig. Time to Quit smoking, chief! kh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike stehr Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 Hey Flip, Can ya take the bottom cover off and take a pic of the wiring? heh Considering Craig's time, his quality of work and for very litte that he charges, seems like the smoke smell is pretty moot to me. Boo Hoo Hoo.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Songer Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 I, for one, LOVE tobacco. I don't smoke cigarettes and haven't since about 1983, but I understand why people do. It's so incredibly pleasureable. I now enjoy tobacco only in the form of high-dollar cigars--about 2-3 week. But I DO NOT smoke them in my home. The residual stench of tobacco smoke, even fine cigar smoke, is horrendous. I bought a pair of Belle Klipsch once that lived in a frat house for about 10-15 years. Imagine what THEY smelled like!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 Indeed. I used to love the smell of cigarettes in the 60s.... by the 80s they were smelling pretty bad with the additives. Now, I find cigarette smoke almost offensive, especially in a closed room(and even outside). A lot of loons will come out on the beach with pure ocean air...and fire up a cigarette! It doesnt even smell good the first second you light it like the ole days. I think good pipe tobacco smells much better. Allan, as for cigar, the pleasure is ALL IN THE USER! Heh.... Considering ole Craig works in his garage, I cant believe it's that strong..but evidently it is. This might effect the new name, craigus! Heh.... kh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 I think the smoke smell may be partially from me but trust me this 40 year old amps have a smell of there own and may be part of what everyone is talking about. I could see Dean having a smell since his amp was about 2 foot from me for 9 months while I worked on other amps. But Don's amp I almost never was near it. Maybe the previous owner is guilty on this one. But anyway glad your enjoying it !! Craig PS chances of me quiting smoking are about as good as me turning down the volume !!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2K Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 Its a good thing you didn't have sex around those amps Craig. Wonder if we could smell that too? Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 Jeepers Keith, why did you have to go THERE? It took me two hours to rub those stains off the chassis plate. Actually, I couldn't smell anything from the amp. But now that I know this, I might want to wipe those tubes down with some IPA:) I smoke indonesian cloves. About 60% tobacco and 40% cloves. No additives. It's actually illegal in most countries to add ANYTHING to tobacco. Cigarettes from the U.K. and most of Europe are additive free. Last month I bummed a Marlboro -- and gagged violently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike stehr Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 Man, them Cloves reek! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 Heck I think I'll fire up that Cuban I've been saving !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 Cloves reek huh? 1/2 an hour after I smoke one in the car the smell is gone. Deb gets in the car and says: "Did you smoke in here?" "I don't know, did I?" Smoke an American cigarette in a car and you can still smell it a week later. You may not like the smell of them, but they sure as hell don't reek. I smoke at work, and people want to know where the Christmas ham is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dflip Posted December 19, 2002 Author Share Posted December 19, 2002 I don't smoke and gave up drinking a year ago, so my stereo is my vice right now. The good thing is there is more money for the stereo. The schools have been nonsmoking for quite a while and my friends don't smoke, so maybe I am just sensitive to it. The box and the styrofoam chips also picked up the smell. It disappeared after at least one full day. I played a Manhatten Transfer LP with Who, What , When , Where, Why on it. It was sweet sounding. Much better than I remember, although I did need a bit more bass. Probably a lot to do with the Rega 125 arm, which is not the greatest. It was slightly quieter than the Teac CD player, so it needed some additional volume. It had a very nice room filling sound with good punch. I may get a better opportunity over the Christmas holiday to play some albums. I have mostly been using the CD's right now and they sound wonderful. I don't have a digital camera, so the pictures are not possible at this time. I guess it might be next year's Christmas present. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 mike stehr, Not to worry I have a LK-72 on its way to me and I'll take a boat load of photo's for you and maybe this will help you fix yours up. Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 Soon ole Craig might have some things to view online so stay tuned! kh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike stehr Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 Thanks Craig! I would really appreciate that. Hopefully this weekend the unit will be checked out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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