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klh 17's and tubes

S

sempai

ak member & humane being
last week found a pair of klh 17's at the local goodwill.
original grills, badges and not too terribly beaten up
spent last night with them hooked up to my tube receiver, a Trio KW 33L.

i'm in love.

but just to be sure it isn't just a passing fancy, an end of summer romance or just infatuation, i spent the day comparing it to some of the speakers i have lying fallow.

music selections:
1. oscar peterson meets roy hargrove (cd-telarc)
2. chill out -john lee hooker (cd-virgin)
3. ella fitzgerald, louis armstrong -(cd-verve)
4. buddy guy - i was walking through the woods (cd-chess)
5. teleman -four flute sonatas for flute and continuo ("methodical" sonatas) (vinyl -dover publications)

competitors vying for my affection:

epi 100's
genesis 1's
sansui a100's
fidelio 100's


the results when compared against the klh 17's:

the epi 100's sounded harsh and lacked depth and bottom end.
likewise with the genesis 1's (not surprising)
the sansui a100's lacked clarity and definition, but had a nice deep base
fidelio 100's had a nice full sound and cleaner then sansui's, but still not as nice as the klh 17's.

the 17's also had a much larger soundstage and imaged much better than any of the above.

yup, it is love.

the 17's and tubes and me are made for each other.

an audio love triangle.

i'm going to treat these girls right by following specialidiot's guidelines and tips for KLH 17 restoration.
http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=102176


art
 
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I am a big fan of the 17's. I tend to alternate between them and a pair of BA A150's in my main system. Great speakers.
 
ahhh my favorite speakers. I have yet to hook them up to a tube amp, (I don't have one) but would love to try em with a dynaco 160. Guess I should save some cash.
 
I will have to get around to finding a pair of 17's to hook up to my Marantz 8 power amp. I've been meaning to do this for quite some time.
 
ericjustin said:
ahhh my favorite speakers. I have yet to hook them up to a tube amp, (I don't have one) but would love to try em with a dynaco 160. Guess I should save some cash.
Click to expand...

the Trio Kw 33L receiver i'm using has only 15 watts per channel.
But that's enough to make the KLH's sing.

all the great things about tubes come to life with the 17's... enhanced soundstage, great imaging etc...

other speakers i had found and tried didn't quite make the grade.
i'm up to about 10 pairs now and feel like i can now start thinning the herd and not feel like i'm missing anything.

here is what i'm learning from all this.
it's not all about power and it's not all about cost.
there is lots of nice, great sounding vintage gear out there waiting to be found

my fledgling tube system so far has set me back much less then the ipod that i bought for my daughter.

like i keep reading over and over again...
your system only has to sound good to you.

klh 17's with tubes sound much better than they have any right to.


art
 
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