Just recieved my Fisher 400! (Thanks Cal)

[theclipper]

Hey everyone,

I haven't had a chance to get on here in a while. But I just wanted to provide an update and give Wayne (Cal) a well deserved thank you for providing me with the Fisher for Craig to work his magic on. I hooked it up and was surprised at how different the sound was compared to my Kenwood. It really seems to make the voices much more clear and prominent. I did have to turn up the bass knob a bit which I never did with my Kenwood. I can't wait to spend some time with this in the coming days to really see what I have. In the meantime, I was wondering if anyone had any tips or tricks about how I can maximize my sound. As well as anything I should know about tube amps as I have never used one before. Oh, one last thing, do you think a preamp is necessary? The sound is plenty loud for me, I just didn't know if they would make it sound even better or not. I have listed my current set up below. Thanks to all of you who have helped with my audio evolution!

Klipsch Forte II

Rega P1 (w/Denon DL160 cart)

Fisher 400

[Cal Blacksmith]

Thanks, I have been off the board for a while so your email (which I haven't looked at for over a week also! ) sent me over here to this thread.

You are more than welcome, I am glad the old girl has new life and that her new owner is in love with her.

Yes indeed the sound is much different than any SS receiver out there, much better imo! By now you have had a chance to listen a bit. You did not mention anything about the soundstage but that fisher was my first tube reciever and I instantly noticed how detaled the sound was, how wide, deep and full the sound stage was. For the first time ever I was able to colse my eyes and SEE where each instrument was, which way the piano was facing in the recording studio (facing the piano, the hight notes are to the right!).

I know that the process took longer than you wanted to take at the beginning but I am sure the results were worth the wait. You should get decades of use out of the old girl should you keep her that long now that she has had a rebuild, something that would have needed to be done with any older unit you would have bought. The Fisher sound is a more lush sound, fuller and some would say fatter. There is NO "right" way that an amp is supposed to sound, it is up to your ears and emotions as to what is best for you. I do love the Fisher sound, it is akin to the Mac sound to my way of hearing, a very pleasent sound overall.

I don't think much would be gained by adding a pre-amp. The receiver is an integrated unit and the built in pre-amp (receiver = pre-amp + amp+ tuner in one box) is very good and the phono section is also very good, it was designed and built when the phonograph was king and for my money, the phono section is one of the best you can get for anything in the ballpark of what you spent to have the receiver rebuilt.

The tuner is also a tube unit (DUH) and many people like the sound of a tube tuner more than the sound of a SS unit. I know I am in that camp. In fact it was a cap in the tuner section that started to go bad that made me put her on a shelf in the first place. The pre-amp and amp both sounded great but when I listened to the tuner, it was tinny and there was a metalic ring to the sound. I knew that the rest of the unit needed to be reworked due to the age and I went as far as to get with the Fisher Doc, (on line fisher guru) and bought a owners manual, schematics and a guid to rebuilding her. I bought a sack full of caps at my local REAL eletronics store and then put everything aside for when I had some time.

I think I paid $250 for her and used her for about 6 months before the caps went bad. The spare time to rebuild her never came and the parts and books got lost and she sat on the shelf for about 5 years until you had the need for her. That is her history as far back as I know it and now it is up to you to fill in the new pages of her story.

As far as the Xovers go, I still have all the factory xovers in use that came with my Fort'e 1s, Quartets, Heresy 1s and 2s, KG1.5s and my Cornwall 2s. Many say that new xovers made a large difference in the quality of the sound from their Klipsch speakers, I don't know about that but my speakers sound great to my ears and the Klipsch board members that have been to my home and have listened to my setups didn't complain about the sound either!

When it comes to getting the most out of your system, play with speaker placement next. The Fort'e speakers are sensitive to placement due to the rear passives, sometimes moving them only an inch or so is enough to hear a difference in the sound. From memory, when I used my Fort'es as my mains, I had them about 18 inches from the walls on each side of them when placed in the corners, slightly toed in to the listening position. When Forte's are placed correctly, you will get more than enough bass to keep you happy. IMO they are the best Rock speakers that Klipsch ever made and mine are now serving in my HT as the mains where they are doing a fantastic job I might add!

[theclipper]

Hey Cal,

Its great to hear back from you. I have really been givin her a workout the past week. This is the first time in my life I've actually encountered sound stage. Its just so different than anything I've ever head. The music is so much more engaging and fun this way. I need to work on my speaker positioning. I decided to upgarde to the Bob Crites titanium tweeters and see what kind of difference those make before deciding on the crossovers. I have the Fisher set to 4ohm even though the speakers are 8ohm as I was told the bass response would be better. Do you think that messes with the clarity at all or is that a good way to keep it? Also, would you have any other suggestions about tweaks or upgrades I might want to think about. Well, thats all from my end, time to spin some LPs and get some studying done. Thanks again, I really do appreciate it! [H]

*Edit* It is really fascinating to me that I can now differentiate between what is a truly great recording as opossed to one that is muddy and subpar. Never before had that been possible with my old gear. I am so fortunate to heed the advice of all the smart people on this forum!

Clipper

[Cal Blacksmith]

Good to hear all is well. I also run my speakers at 4 ohm, no problem with the quality of the sound, all is well.

Keep working on the position of the speakers, you will find the right setup after a little while and congrats on your higher quality of audio, welcome to the nightmare of always looking for something just a little better, now that you have a good idea of what can be done.

Bad recordings are truly dreadful huh? []

EDIT, hey a pic or two would be nice to have posted[]

[theclipper]

Hey,

I'm on my way to school right now but I will post some when I get home later today.

[theclipper]

Sorry the photos are so big and that this took so long to get up, I've been very busy with school. Anyhow, the first is my very humble set up. I need to really try to make it look nicer. The next two are close ups of the 'ole girl. I have it on that top shelf for now to keep it from overheating. I moved the TT under the TV bc that stand is a little sturdier. You can't really see it in these photos but I have an innertube under the TT to isolate it from any rumble issues and footfall. It has worked incredibly well. Its hard to tell but I have my speakers about a foot from the walls in the corners, slightly toed in. I just installed the Bob Crites titanium tweeters last night. I can't really hear any difference in them compared to the old ones yet but I will do some more listening today. Hope they don't turn out to be a waste of money. Well, its back to the books for me. Thanks for looking!

[Cal Blacksmith]

She cleaned up nicely. It looks like she is right at home there, ENJOY the music, she can deliver it in spades. Ya gotta love those huge output transformersand the "magic eye" tuner light!