Masterflysparklestick

Ah, that's great. Now make me a sandwich. Later, outta here........

Yeah, sometimes I'm an idiot. I did see the problem though and placed a small piece of cardboard between them. One snapped off which hastened the removal of all. Please forgive me.

I don't recommend these spade adapters. After two days hooked up one broke clean off at the screw connection. They are pot metal. Good idea, but........... Went with crimp/solder spades.

Very elegant solution! Beautiful room.

After:

Installed the banana plug adapters this morning. They work fine, but don't look to be the strongest thing on earth. Ran the plugs vertical with relief which is working fine. Before:

I just ordered these for my Belles: http://www.ebay.com/itm/180785029266?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Thank you all for the great help and kind words. Loving the Belles, don't have words for it. I am now needing to warm up the tubes for about 15 minutes prior to listening. I've read where some guys warm up for that long or longer to get optimum sound quality. Brings out the nice mid/highs and is a first for me with tubes. Due to too much brightness before I had to pull my beloved 1946 Raytheon 6sn7GTs out of the CD player and put in a pair of Sylvania chrome domes. Was able to go back to the Raytheons with the Belles and couldn't be happier. Have a pair of them in my tube buffer in my HT room too. Pretty much dialed in now. Thanks again!

Thank You everyone, I'm loving them. Do have a quick q though. Is there any reason I should get into the bass bins to clean them out? Since the rest was so dirty?

Yeah Mookie, I've always been a bass guy. I remember my first self contained record player as a kid. The speaker faced up to the side of the platter and I'd put a small metal trash can upside down over it to "improve" the bass/resonance. Still have a few of the LPs I played on that thing 50 years ago. Lenny by Stevie Ray is on the playlist tonight.

Yes, exactly at ear level. The 81s tweets were too high. Forgot to mention: On the drive to pick them up I told my wife that one of the fundamental laws of the universe will dictate that the Belles would be in a basement. Yup. Now I'm 62 years old, 5'9" and weigh a buck eighty, but with the seller on the top end and me on the bottom we got them out. Glad my basement has a nice wide door going into the garage. Also forgot to mention: Of course I had to Make sure I could drive the Belles at a decent volume. I knew they were fine when the wife ran downstairs saying the heat registers in the floor were jumping. Yes RTR forever. The one in the pic is a Pioneer RT-707. I've got an RT-909 in my HT room. Analog rules! Hey Mookie: Eyes are open!

I want to thank everybody for their input in this process. I learned a lot of valuable information that helped me make what I feel was a good purchase. I've been looking for years for a pair of local Belles and your help and advise helped put them in their proper place. And just so ya know, a pair of Belles fit in the back of a Nissan Murano no problem other that when I had to slam on the brakes on I-225 and they slid a bit.

They sound pretty awesome for sure. Much fuller, image and stage both excellent. Couldn't get both before. Aimed about three feet behind listening position. Huge improvement in drums and better mid bass. Clean loudness. The cabs are actually in excellent condition. All of what looked like chips was just dirt. They were very dirty. The cleaning rags were actually blackened with dirt and had to rinse often. Had to vacuum out the horn/crossover box before wiping out. I think the dirt must have been protecting the finish. Some polish and a little buffing and almost good as new. I do have to say though that the RB-81s were darn good 2ch speakers. The Belles are much more, smooth. They sounded as good as they could have with the gear he was using at audition but really shine with the tube amp. Was a bit nervous whether my little 12" sealed SVS sub would keep up, but it is doing a great job blending and pumping out the lower bass. First song: I'm Gone by Alison Kraus Right Now: Sensual Overload by Chris Standring Next: Headhunters LP by Herbie