Deang Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 This short story begins with Ken, who lives in San Jose CA. Ken ran an ad for some 1974 Walnut Cornwalls which he did not want to ship. He felt this particular set of Cornwalls were just too beautiful to expose to the shipping habits of UPS or Fedex. I peaded, I begged, I whined, and he said "No way"...unless...it gets done right. Ken said he would consider it, if we found a reliable shipping company, that would build custom crates for the Cornwalls. Enter Omar. Yes, Omar. We started with Transpak. Omar is a shipping supervisor at Transpak. Omar starts out as a very nice guy. Later, Omar is a pain in the arse. Before it is all said and done, between Ken and myself, we ended up with no less than five different qoutes for crating and shipping. Finally -- crating and shipping cost as much as the Cornwalls. We were done with Omar. Ken sends me an email stating HE will crate the Cornwalls, and that we can use Forward Air to get the Cornwalls to Dayton, since there is a trucking terminal in Dayton. As it turns out, this terminal is less than 30 minutes from my house. Ken tells me he works with sheet metal, and that he will build the crate accordingly. It took Ken 12 hours to build "The Vault", bolt it to an oak skid, pack the Cornwalls (in custom sized cardboard boxes and shrinkwrapped no less), high jack them into a truck, and then drive them from his home in San Jose to the terminal in San Francisco. "The Vault" is practically air-tight and bulletproof. Uh...I'm not kidding. I think it probably could have survived a straight on attack from a fork lift. It is a serious work of art. Total shipped weight was 315 LBS, and $400 covered labor and materials for the vault, and all shipping expenses. When was the last time you dealt with a person owning this level of commitment and professionalism? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted February 12, 2003 Author Share Posted February 12, 2003 Oh yes...The Cornwalls. Very nice indeed. A perfect match with the Nosvalves Stereomaster 299b. Yes, they are as mint as they look. Not a mark on them. Of course, if I had figured my taxes before entering into this transaction -- I might be better off all the way around. Still, I'm very pleased. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 congrats dean! that crate would have never made it to el salvador (or for that matter our of el salvador) not due to durability issues but beacuse those kind of boxes are often used for shipping white powdered substances...lol, tony btw what a great little television nook system! bet it sounds GREAT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audible Nectar Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 SWEET! Ken should be commended on such a wonderful effort here - and for those beeeeeauuuuuutiful Cornwalls I have the utmost confidence that you will love your Cornwalls as much as I love mine. Congratulations! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2K Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 Great story Dean. What do you think of the Scott/Cornwall combination? And what mods/updates did Craig perform on the 299? Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted February 12, 2003 Author Share Posted February 12, 2003 I think the Scott and Cornwalls are a perfect marriage. I've only been doing low level listening to this point, but so far -- I'm extremely pleased with the combination. Craig did his usual magic on the 299b. Coupling caps replaced with the Russian film/oils, replacement of drifting resistors, yanked a bad can, and then added some power supply capacitance for his fellow headbanger. I'm sure he will elaborate, since I know amps about as well as I know...uh...amps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted February 12, 2003 Author Share Posted February 12, 2003 Just two. This one is in the basement. Basically the family hang out area. Music and movies. I have another one upstairs. Well, right now it's just two RF-7's. Looks like it will end up being the modded RF-7's, Edmond's Cary SLP-90/4, and a pair of ultralinear, EL-34 based Quicksilver M-60's. I called Mike Sanders of Quicksilver yesterday, and he says he used between 12 and 14 db of feedback on these. I forgot to ask about the pole filter thing. Oh well, who cares? They were mint, and all I could afford right now. I'm sure they'll do nicely. I wanted some mint Horn Monos, but someone beat me to them. At any rate, I really kind of need the extra power right now because I'm almost done with this second set of DQ's, and I need something with balls to test them with. When I'm all done, I'll either keep them or sell them -- depending on what I think about them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1stcav Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 Ken deserves to be congratulated on his commitment to high standards and true dedication in the preparation of "the vault"! The fact that Dean received the Cornwalls unscathed attests to Ken's commitment to having the horn-speakers delivered to Dean's doorstep in the vary same condition as they left Ken's garage! Why can't major businesses conduct themselves in the same manner when it goes to shipping their products? Some do, but alot also don't, and it's a shame when you receive a product that looks like it's box has been kicked all the way from the distribution warehouse to your front door! Way to go, Ken...you are to be commended for your professionalism! Congrats on your latest horns, Dean. I know they must sound as beautiful as they look, especially with your 299b providing the power! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 Now that's true dedication to the sport of this hobby, when you are so meticulous in packaging items like that. I doubt that many would bother to go through the troble that ken did. Congrats on your purchase dean ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfz28 Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 Man that guy can build a crate, I bet that is a good combo, cornwalls and a rbuilt 299b by Craig.Dean off subject here what kind of digital camera do you have to take those great looking pictures, how many megapixals is it? Im thinking about getting a HP 320 digital camera, 2.1 megapixals, can get it for 115 bucks. I wonder if it will take as good as pictures as yours turn out. I dont know crap about digital cameras.Any help on this digital camera from anyone would be nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hofy Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 That is a great job by Ken. Now for the big quesstion. Dean, what are you going to do with the vault? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 Dean, That was some first rate crates there !! What did they cost to have built and shipped ?? When are going to give that 299B a good lashing and review it. I'm biting at the bit waiting to hear what you have to say !! Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted February 13, 2003 Author Share Posted February 13, 2003 New cables breaking in, and want to run some heat on those new coupling caps and tubes as well. Actually, I need to run everyone out of the freaking house for a couple of hours so I can blow all the crap out of my ears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike stehr Posted February 13, 2003 Share Posted February 13, 2003 Who crapped in your ears? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted February 13, 2003 Share Posted February 13, 2003 I Did and he liked it !!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted February 13, 2003 Author Share Posted February 13, 2003 Oh Crap!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted February 13, 2003 Share Posted February 13, 2003 ---------------- On 2/12/2003 4:57:14 PM arfz28 wrote: Im thinking about getting a HP 320 digital camera, 2.1 megapixals, can get it for 115 bucks. I wonder if it will take as good as pictures as yours turn out. I dont know crap about digital cameras.Any help on this digital camera from anyone would be nice. ---------------- arfz28 - I'd suggest, if your budget can stand it, bumping up to at least 3mp. Prices are dropping on those units. I bought a Canon S30 from Beach Camera www.beachcamera.com (I know - a NY Metro area camera shop, but they were great, product exactly as promised (not gray market) and no upsell pressure or bait and switch) for $408 when they were selling everywhere else for $499. They're now $399 at Best Buy, so I imagine Beach has them for even less. Color and picture quality is outstanding. Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfz28 Posted February 13, 2003 Share Posted February 13, 2003 Thanks dougdrake for your reply, but 400 bucks is out of my price range, Id reather spend it on stereo equipment, LOL. Basicly I am going to use this camera for selling stuff on e-bay and e-mailing pictures. Basicly will this HP-320 do this for me with perty high picture quality, I dont wont to waist 115 bucks if the pictures will suck and have no good detail.We have a 35mm regular camera that we are happy with, just would like a digital camera to send e-mail pictures and sell on e-bay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted February 13, 2003 Share Posted February 13, 2003 I think at least you'll want an optical zoom, and I don't know if you can touch that for less than $150-200. Digital zoom gets pretty grainy, I believe, which may be undesirable even for posting on the 'net. Plus, undoubtedly you'll love the convenience of the digicam and will want to use it for more and then wish you had it. (Just my experience.) But, it's up to you, of course Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted February 13, 2003 Share Posted February 13, 2003 jeez Dean, where did you find that pic? never mind, I don't want to know. It reminds me of when I went to the Doc with ear pain, I had a perforated ear drum from when I was a kid. I knew I was in trouble when he looked in my ear and said: "You wouldn't mind if I took a picture of that, would you?" Turned out there was a granulated polyp hanging out through the perforation. I'm probably in medical textbooks somewhere still today. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.