I've been around long enough to be retired, so I now have the time to rediscover my lifelong audio hobby. My first love was speakers, and I've built a few over the years. I've decided I want to focus on restoring vintage solid state amps, and so I'm starting with my old Kenwood KA-3500 that I bought ca 1977. It's completely disassembled, and I've begun replacing components. Nice first project.
I started out with large Advents in the mid 70s, bought another pair for Double Advents, then got rid of them in favor of ESS AMT-1bs, which had the incredible Heil Air Motion Transformer for the midrange and highs, but not so incredible bass.
Then I heard Siegfried Linkwitz's Audio Artistry Beethovens at Tom Hoffman's store in Cary, and I was never the same again. I became a believer in open baffle design. But I didn't have $25K to spend, so I decided to try and achieve something better than what I had, something that might at least put me on the road towards those Beethovens, through my own efforts.
I got a pair of 60" Carver ribbons, built an oak frame for them, and paired them with 2 NHT-1259 woofers. Quite a step up.
Since then, I've built several Phoenix-like MTMs, using different drivers, with analog crossovers I built on breadboards, always paired with those same 1259s. Really good sound.
I currently listen to LX-Minis, still using the 1259s. I hooked the subs up a Rotel RB-980BX, which starts with an unbelievable damping factor of 1000 (only 500 into my 4 ohms) and 220 watts, and drive the rest with an Emotiva A700. I'm probably going to switch out the Emotiva for some older vintage amps once I've restored them, in hopes of getting even more soundstage and airiness, even though the sound they put out now is at times almost terrifying.
I really appreciate the vast amount of know-how, experience and knowledge gathered on this forum.
I started out with large Advents in the mid 70s, bought another pair for Double Advents, then got rid of them in favor of ESS AMT-1bs, which had the incredible Heil Air Motion Transformer for the midrange and highs, but not so incredible bass.
Then I heard Siegfried Linkwitz's Audio Artistry Beethovens at Tom Hoffman's store in Cary, and I was never the same again. I became a believer in open baffle design. But I didn't have $25K to spend, so I decided to try and achieve something better than what I had, something that might at least put me on the road towards those Beethovens, through my own efforts.
I got a pair of 60" Carver ribbons, built an oak frame for them, and paired them with 2 NHT-1259 woofers. Quite a step up.
Since then, I've built several Phoenix-like MTMs, using different drivers, with analog crossovers I built on breadboards, always paired with those same 1259s. Really good sound.
I currently listen to LX-Minis, still using the 1259s. I hooked the subs up a Rotel RB-980BX, which starts with an unbelievable damping factor of 1000 (only 500 into my 4 ohms) and 220 watts, and drive the rest with an Emotiva A700. I'm probably going to switch out the Emotiva for some older vintage amps once I've restored them, in hopes of getting even more soundstage and airiness, even though the sound they put out now is at times almost terrifying.
I really appreciate the vast amount of know-how, experience and knowledge gathered on this forum.
The tinnitus was worth it. 
