My First Taste of Tube Amplication..kind of long..

[DoubleJ]

I was the one that bought Guys ST-70 that was for sale on the forum. I apologize for the tardiness of this review but some weird circumstances over the past 3 weeks have prevented me from doing so.

Let me first start by thanking you, Guy, for a very enjoyable and painless transaction. Guy went as far as to sending the amp BEFORE receiving payment. What a very kind and trusting act, Guy, and it was very much appreciated.

Please bear with me as I give you a little background fodder because it will make it easier for me to convey into words what I felt, heard, and experienced when I fired up the amp for the first time.

Im a Home Theater person all the way. Every system I have owned revolved around it, whether it was the speakers or the amplification that drove them. But as time has gone by, I have been acquiring more of the Heritage Series made by Klipsch (Cornwalls and K-Horns). Now that I am at 83.3333% heritage (Still running a C-7 center), I have come to the realization that I finally have speakers that can take on dual roles. Great sounding Home Theater speakers and speakers that will sound excellent in a 2 channel setup. The Denon 3801 does an ample job on the Home Theater end but when it comes to the 2-channel role, I knew I was being cheated. The sound from the Cornwalls literally hurt my entire body if listened to for long periods of time. I think others have used the word fatiguing but what ever you want to call it, it wasnt good. Something had to be done and the only choice was to try Tubes.

Ill be the first one to admit that I was a tube virgin. I have never heard a system powered by tubes or ever seen a tube amp, in person, for that matter.

All I can say now is WOW!!!.

Im hearing things out of my Cornwalls that have never been heard by my ears. I listened to both cds of Pink Floyd-Echoes and couldnt get enough. I was actually feeling the emotions of the words as they were being sung. A prime example would be Comfortably Numb. I have heard this song hundreds of times but never like this. I was literally Comfortably Numb. Just one more reference from the Echoes CD would be the emotions I felt when I heard one of more favorite songs, When the Tigers Broke Free. I felt what Pinkys father must have during the war and also what Pinky must have felt when he found the box of mementos and such. This same feeling was felt no matter what genre (I have a wide range of tastes. From Bagpipes to Nirvana. No Country) of music I threw at this amp.

I dont think I was alone in these feelings because I swear that the horns on the Corns rose up on the edges to make a smile that matched the big smile on my face. If they could, Im sure those Corns would want to walk over and give me a big hug for making the change to tubes or worse yet, walk over and kick me in the unmentionables for not doing it sooner. The K-Horns on the other hand are a different story. Their horns have a frown and are hoping that they can also share in the taste of tube ambrosia very soon.

Im now hooked/addicted to tubes and dont see myself changing this point of view anytime soon.

Thank You for taking the time read this drivel but I had to share it with someone and who better but my friends on the Klipsch Forums.

JJ

[Audio Flynn]

Not surprised you like the ST-70

Guy is real great resource on the forum. Although I find a reason to razz him periodically.

He must have been very confident in your communication to ship so promptly.

Rick

[Mallette]

Don't have to preach to me about the wonders of the ST-70.

However, that, said, the main thing about your post I must salute, applaud, and agree with is the absolute quality of this "virtual" audio lovefest. While brouhahas break out from time to time, they are usually from newbies unused to the vagaries of text communication, or from a few 'ol soreheads quite lonely and looking for some recognition of their existence. In general, this is the finest group of folks I've ever been exposed to en masse. I've about 6 friends I really give that designation, as they've been such for periods of 20 to 30 years and only differ from family in not matching my DNA. Beyond that, the folks I correspond with here are those whose judgement and temperaments I find most close to my own. I spend more quality time with the folks here than with my friends...and lately, fighting the war at Fort Leonard Wood, than with my family. It's a treasure, and I treat it accordingly.

Dave

[Deang]

The EL-34 has an intoxicating kind of sound, which is why you couldn't get enough!

[DoubleJ]

egads!!!

Can't spell tonight...

I would like a "f", Pat..and please tell Vanna to turn over the "i".

JJ

[jt1stcav]

Welcome to the wonderful world of vacuum tubes, where glowing bottles reign supreme!

[126mhz]

I'm not made of money and I love my ST70. I have right at $500.00 in it including having all new caps installed. I don't know how much coin a guy would have to spend to get the same performance and sound.

Welcome to "Vintage" tube sound.

Bill Woodward

[lwhaples]

JJ, Well written reveiw,saying how you feel is a good thing. Corn's and tubes are another good thing. Enjoy! Larry

[scott0527]

Congrats Double J. There's nothing like "your first" time. An ST70 was my first tube amp 5 or 6 years ago and I felt the same way you did.

[Erik Mandaville]

I just finished repairing an amplifier for another forum member that is based on the ST-70. Once finished and working properly, I found it to sound more like a 50 watt amplifier than one connected for triode operation. It sounded huge without the Klipschorns, which for test purposes were being used in two channel mode with my own 6SN7 tube preamp. The combination was really nice, although there was just a small amount of background power supply-related noise. It had some real strength and incredible bass capability, although I found it just a little on the bright side in the upper midrange and higher frequencies. It may just be that I needed to get used to it, some of it's parts needed breaking in (the amp is new), or probably a combination of both those things. I liked it very, very much and it's the first experience I've had with EL-34s. I agree it's a really great sounding tube! If I had the $500 he wants for it (this person is going all digital!), I would buy it for our collection!

Erik

[sunnysal]

the st-70 is a screaming bargain of mega proportions! near high-end at "best buy" prices. I LOVE my MkIVS! congrats! tony

[Born2RockU]

The person ERIK is talkin' about going all digital is I .

I just purchased this Kennedy EL-34 Triode amp for $645(including shipping) off EBay.

As usual, I needed ERIK to check it out to make sure things were in perfect form.

After the amp was returned to me a few days ago, the amp demo'd incredible.

( ERIK you are Da Man ! )

I have so many TUBE amps now, and have no use for this Kennedy 34-L amp.

Besides, I am building a complete TRIPATH digital surround set-up.

Here is the EBay auction I won it at.

Kennedy 35WPC PP EL-34 Stereo Tube Amplifier (5754624403)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5754624403&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1

If anyone is interested in this POWERful amp, please contact me immediately.

born2rock@pdq.net

I have no use for this incredible EL-34 Stereo Tube amp !

Enter]

[Erik Mandaville]

Craig:

It could still make for a really, really nice front end amp for the Klipschorns. If we didn't happen to be saving for a subwoofer and a pair of Altec 511B horns, I'd be interested in it myself; and then use the Teac for the center and side channel amp -- and the Horus/es with the rear Heresys.

Thanks again for those brand spanking new 5687s! Those little guys are my favorite input/driver tubes! They don't cost very much, either. Well, I should qualify that. There is a variant of it that are EXTREMELY expensive, but quite good sounding.

Erik

[Born2RockU]

ERIK:

As always, you are most certainly welcomed for those NOS 5687 input/driver tubes.

You have always been there for me, since the day i met ya.

You are a great friend and this is the LEAST I can do for you.

That Kennedy EL-34 stereo tube amp sounds great.

I am actually using it as my two rear-centers of my surround,

until my TRIPATHs show up in the mail, this week.

I am just so freaked out on the quality of digital verses tubes.

I feel I am going to cash in and just run w/ it,

if the complete surround TRIPATH's even come close to my complete surround tube setup.

Talk about CLEAN !!!!!!!!

[Erik Mandaville]

I absolutely agree with you on the 'clean' aspect of those Teacs. I found it dead silent right out of the box, and this was even the case with our Lowther PM2A drivers. Those are even less immune to noise than the Klipschorns, and the Teac is wonderful with them. I was just trying to figure out a way you might get some use out of the Kennedy amp, but I see you are!

I was glad to help you out with that.

Erik

PS: Sorry we had to miss each other for drop off and pick up, though! It's hard to take care of stuff like that on the weekday with my school and your drum lessons and rehearsals. You have to let Marie and I know where you all end up gigging, if you're going to be doing some here in Houston -- ok?! You have to let me try your kit out sometime(not in public!) to see if I remember how to hit a drum!

I still want to get a Roland V-pro sometime, but those things are not cheap! For electronic drums, though, they really have a pretty nice feel.

...I've got lunches to make for the work week, so I'll see ya! I also got a new Miles Davis CD I want to listen to.

Erik

[JJkizak]

I have listened to tubes in the 50's,60's,70's, & 80's and when I switched to solid state and there immediately was no hum, no hiss, no lower bass tonel coloration, no boomy bass, no muddied cymbal hits, no maintenance, no ground loops. In my field I have thrown away thousands of mediocre tubes, the same garbage you are using in your super amps.

JJK

[3dzapper]

"In my field I have thrown away thousands of mediocre tubes, the same garbage you are using in your super amps."

JJ, If you had all those tubes now, you'd be an ebay millionaire!!

Rick