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Belles in their Place


cjgeraci

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I turned the room and rearranged the setup to make room for the Belles and the rest of the toys. Thanks for Sheltie Dave for all of his help in making the revisions happen. A great guy with a wealth of knowledge to boot!

The new year should bring tons of fun: working on restoring the Cornwall's grill, building a stand to elevate the Cornwall upwards, inserting Niles switchers so that I can run a variety of preamps/amps with the setup, and knocking out (or moving) two walls to enlarge the room backwards from the front array you will see shortly . The Dynaco Mark IIIs need to be rebuilt. The following should be the equipment setup once the Niles switchers are incorporated: Belles:- Mark's Peach and either the Marantz 8B or Dynaco Mark IIIs (switchable); Vertical Cornwall: Classe pre and a NAD solid state amp; RF-7s- Classe pre and Dynaco 70 (surround duty) and Marantz 7T pre and Rotel 1080 (two channel)(switchable). The Jolida JD100 and Denon 2900 as sources and SVS sub handling the lowest parts.

Pics to follow.

Carl.

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Thanks, guys. Yes, Danny, I have come some ways very quickly from the last time posting, much due to the lucky find of vintage stuff - all in one house!!!!

Chris, the vertical cornwall sounds fantastic between the two Belles. There is not really a timbre-matching issue as far as I can hear, and I now run all three speakers most of the time for music instead of just the two Belles. I highly recommend running a Corn between two Belles (or LaScalas).

Carl.

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If I ever received such an offer, that would be tempting. However, even though having a perfectly-matched front three would be ideal, I run into the same problem that many do - a Belle as a center is just too damned tall!! In contrast, Vertical Cornwalls fit so nicely as centers on their side that I will probably accept the fact that my front is not "perfect" but is close enough - and I really like it as is. On the other hand, if I ever upgrade my plasma in the family room (and steal it away to this system downstairs), I may be able to accomodate a Belle as a center.

Chris, you have great options either way. I personally favor the sound of Belles slightly over Cornwalls, mainly due to midrange performance, and the fact that to my ears, the Belles have tighter bass (though not as deep). So, I would personally choose the K-horns, Belle front with other Cornwalls all around. However, I also believe that all Cornwalls would be spectacular in its own right.

Carl.

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Thanks, Fini. Overall - I am very pleased with the sound and glad I grabbed the Belles. Their bass response really surprises me in light of some people's comments about their lack of bass. With respect to most music, they have plenty of bass - I guess you have to run the right amp (and my Marantz fits the bill). Even Dave had a surprised look on his face when he heard them hooked up to the Marantz (with respect to bass response), and whatever may be lacking on the extreme lower end, the SVS makes up for.

I will buzz Dave tonight. It took him days to return one of my calls recently, and even then, he could only talk for mere seconds. I assume that he is very busy.

Carl.

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On 12/22/2004 10:40:11 AM cjgeraci wrote:

Chris, you have great options either way. I personally favor the sound of Belles slightly over Cornwalls, mainly due to midrange performance, and the fact that to my ears, the Belles have tighter bass (though not as deep). So, I would personally choose the K-horns, Belle front with other Cornwalls all around. However, I also believe that all Cornwalls would be spectacular in its own right.

Carl.

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I'm sitting here in my living room listening to Klipschorns and flea-powered SET gear. Every time I listen to this combo, I wonder why I would ever consider excluding Klipschorns from ANY room. They are SO GOOD.

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about false corners. My current feeling is to lay a room out with Klipschorns in the front in false corners. I think this will give me a lot of options for room layout that will satisfy a 2-channel room as well as a multi-channel room.

So ... I'm back to a Klipschorn-Belle front array, with Cornwall surrounds, and possibly one or two nice subs.

Hell, I'd be thrilled with a Heresy multi-channel system. It would still beat most out there. I dropped by Cambridge Soundworks yesterday while shopping in the mall, and listened to their "high end" stuff in the back room. They looked sharp, but sounded like they were under water.

Klipsch with great amplication is just tough to beat for the dollar. I also think the Belle is one of the prettiest speakers ever made, too.

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On 12/22/2004 11:37:22 AM Chris Robinson wrote:

I'm sitting here in my living room listening to Klipschorns and flea-powered SET gear. Every time I listen to this combo, I wonder why I would ever consider excluding Klipschorns from ANY room. They are SO GOOD.

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about false corners. My current feeling is to lay a room out with Klipschorns in the front in false corners. I think this will give me a lot of options for room layout that will satisfy a 2-channel room as well as a multi-channel room.

So ... I'm back to a Klipschorn-Belle front array, with Cornwall surrounds, and possibly one or two nice subs.

Hell, I'd be thrilled with a Heresy multi-channel system. It would still beat most out there. I dropped by Cambridge Soundworks yesterday while shopping in the mall, and listened to their "high end" stuff in the back room. They looked sharp, but sounded like they were under water.

Klipsch with great amplication is just tough to beat for the dollar. I also think the Belle is one of the prettiest speakers ever made, too.

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I think it is wise to keep the K-horns and add on from there. I agree with your comments about bang for the buck - provided you run great amplification. While the horn sound is not for everyone, the majority of people to knock Klipsch speakers (new or old) have not usually heard a pair run by really nice amplification. Even I was a bit skeptical years ago, the very first time I heard a set of Klipsch speakers run by a less than admirable receiver. But, then I heard a pair run by a really nice amp, and I was hooked.

I also agree with your comments on the appearance of the Belles. I have heard a number of K-horns over the years and fell in love with the sound. When I saw Dave's Belles, I also fell in love with their appearance.

Carl.

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On 12/22/2004 4:18:43 PM D0N wrote:

lookin good! I think you should set the TV on the CW. The CW looks out of place in front of the TV like that.
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That's not a bad thought. However, two potential problems. I am not sure if you can tell from the pics but that is a flat-screen tube. Regardless of the Cornwall's durability, I am still not all that comfortable with putting a 160 pound, flat-screen tube on top of the Cornwall. That plus the fact that this TV projects a deep footprint and the deeper the base it is sitting on the better. While large, the Cornwall cabinets are just not that deep (say, as compared to the Belle, etc.) Also, there are more goodies not pictured that are on the TV stand down below the TV, namely, the Rotel amp and the Stereo 70 amp.

Frankly, I am running out of rack/stand space with all these preamps/amps. But, that's part of the fun - I guess.

Will keep it in mind, however. Always want to improve the aesthetics.

Carl.

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