Recommendations for tube amps to complement Klipsch

shelbygt

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What are folks running? I have vintage LaScala, Khorns and horned Sansui. Thinking vintage old school like the speakers (and me). Separates?
 
My 2-cents....

I went through:

1-pair McIntosh MC-30's
1- McIntosh MC-2102
1-pair, Wright 2A3 amps
1-pair, Quad II's
1-pair, Transcendent Sound, SE-OTL amps
1-Viva 300B SET
1-Jolida 502 (?? forget exact model number)

Have sold them all..... yeah, they sounded nice. Of all of them, I would have wanted to keep the Transcendent SE-OTL's BUT, at (bridged) 4-watts each, they simply ran out of gas too early for me.

Otherwise, I realized I had some $$$ sitting there. Sold them, bought some Crown K2's and the sound is still good enough with the bonus that I have extra cash in my pocket.

Now, if someone wants to escalate the sound of their system, what I would do (and in fact did) is.... simply buy some larger more capable speakers.

Sold the Khorns, replaced them with the Jubilee's and the scale of the sound dramatically went up, distortion went down... sound got bigger... Yeah, if I really wanted to turn the gains on the Crown's up to "stupid", then the raw output of the Jubilee's would also exceed the Khorn AND would sound better while doing it.

"for my tastes & ears" this was a far more productive path to spend my cash. Other paths will certainly be different.
 
Well I have LaScalas and have used my MC-30’s and my Dynaco MKIV’s.
My favorite in my living room is the MKIV’s
I can sit for hours listening to jazz with this combination.
 
Well.... I've had a Dynaco PAS-3X and a ST-70 I picked up used a few years ago but never got around to hooking up. Just did that tonight. I've been using Deoxit on pots and connections. It's just plain muddy. Looking at digging in deeper. I think it's going to need a good going through and freshening up.
In the meantime I bought what i think are going to be a nice pair of Dynaco Mark 3 monoblocks.
 
Well.... I've had a Dynaco PAS-3X and a ST-70 I picked up used a few years ago but never got around to hooking up. Just did that tonight. I've been using Deoxit on pots and connections. It's just plain muddy. Looking at digging in deeper. I think it's going to need a good going through and freshening up.
In the meantime I bought what i think are going to be a nice pair of Dynaco Mark 3 monoblocks.

ST-70 can be a little mushy in the bass transients if not stiffened up (and even then...). Mark III should be pretty good sounding. You don't say what size room. Used Atma-Sphere can be had reasonably. Or if the significant other likes the looks, the Line Magnetic stuff has vintage appeal and modern reliability.
 
I had a restored HH Scott 299B that I used with a pair of Cornwalls. I don't have either, anymore, but I regret selling both.
 
Love the HF-81 paired to the Cornwalls
 

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I've owned Lascalas for over 20 years as well as Cornwalls,one thing I found out is those big 15 " woofers love lots of power irregardless of how easy they are to drive ,my best sounding combo on Lascallas was two 500 bridged watt Behringer A-500 pro amps driving the big woofers ,and my 100 watt tube Mc-2102 running mids & highs ,with the pro amps having gain controls it makes level matching a breeze , even though 1 watt will deliver over 100db I still find the big 15 inch woofers need heavy duty amplification to get the best out of them .
 
You raise an interesting point. I was once talking to Roy (Delgado at Klipsch) and though I don't recall the specifics of the conversation, he looked at me and said (heavily paraphrased) "you still need to get some volts in there to get those woofers moving"
 
We sold Klipsch with everything from MC 30's thru 60's 75's 240's 275's. 7100's and on and on and on. Scott, Fisher, Yamaha, Denon, Mac, B&O, B&K, Marantz, tubed or SS. My favorite speaker out of the box was the Cornwall, with either 7100 or 72oo power amps from Mcintosh. That said older Klipsch sounded mighty sweet with MC 30's. But with room equalizers give me a 7200. If you want a touch smoother sound I would want to try a new 275 or MC 152. Maybe one of the MHA amps with 50 watts or so would be enough. There is that simple MA 252 Hybrid, also to consider. I did a demo for a sales meeting using 4 corner horns, a MC 7270 and two Urei 539 room Eq's pushed by a Bozak disco mixer using SL 10 MK turn table with a V-15 V MR spinning 45 rpm single cut 12 LP's . Probably the best sound I have heard from Klipsch horns. It wasn't the amp but the entire combination. This was before CD's. or just as they were being introduced. Smooth out Klipschorns and the sound is mighty fine. Only thing coming close was very big Altec or professional JBL. Nothing made for the home could match those 4 Klipschorns. Even EV Patricians or JBL Harts field couldn't equal the quality. We had a gentleman with 4 800 Patricians and a center channel Georgian. Not even close. Our competitor had a couple of owners of Hartsfields I got to audition. One was a two way set up the other was the three way with the ring radiators. Even four Concert Grands pushed by two 3500's couldn't match the over all sound. Though I did prefer the. bass. Now if the Grands had the super tweeters I added , the contest would have been pretty close. K horns have always been a standard for others to equal or surpass in many respects. I chose Grands over Khorns because I never had the corners and I preferred the bass of bi-amped Grands. A friend of mine still has his Khorns and compared them to Mac XR 290's and like me he prefers the bass of the Macs and the midrange too. But when it comes to dynamics even the Macs with 1201 power amps can't match the ease of a Khorns he says. I trust him. He still sells the stuff.

The K-33 woofer needs reserves of current, and is why I prefer SS with Klipsch speakers. It may not be the best for the mid and HF drivers, but direct coupled for the woofers is my preference. I would rather an old MC 7200 with two room EQ's rather than. spending big money on an Accuphase, Bolder or Mac amp. Even a MEN 220 is not always the answer, but it makes up for a lot of room issues that can plague Khorns.
 
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ST-70 can be a little mushy in the bass transients if not stiffened up (and even then...). Mark III should be pretty good sounding. You don't say what size room. Used Atma-Sphere can be had reasonably. Or if the significant other likes the looks, the Line Magnetic stuff has vintage appeal and modern reliability.

Sorry, I dropped off the radar for a bit. My room size is 19'x26'.
 
So......Playing with my Dynaco PAS3+, ST-70, and now my newly acquired Dynaco Mark 3 monoblocks. The PAS3+ and ST-70 keep sounding better and better the more I play with them. The monoblocks are NICE. Having the time of my life experimenting.
 
I always had the best success with 7591 based amps/receivers, especially with the extended Heritage speakers like the Forte’ I and II, Chorus II etc. The Fisher 500c and Scott LK-72 were both standouts and both were restored. I currently use a pair of NOSvalves VRD mono blocks which are a notch up.
 
I was just sitting around fantasizing about a new system based on new Cornwall IIIs.

The best tube integrated matches in new gear looks like a Luxman SQ-38u (just discontinued) or a Leben C-600, based on my readings so far (and my budget.)

The Yamaha A-S3000 solid state integrated, an Accuphase 370, or my Sony TA-A1ES look like solid state contenders.

But this is just guessing. I'm moving into a new apartment where I'll have a large dedicated listening room so my mind is reeling from the possibilities. I admire my Spendor A6rs but they are not too lively at times.
 
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