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these are A7s, the wooden exponential horns atop are built by Markus Klug in Germany and replace the metal 511B horns that came with the A7s originally.

@@fralahay no bass below 40Hz, sub-woofers don’t blend so well and detract from the retro look/sound, which I prefer. What you see/hear is a recording with the tiny mic on my iPhone, converted to digital within, then compressed further onto RUclips.

@@fralahay ruclips.net/video/tvxh52mRyGk/видео.htmlfeature=shared

@@butter_stain no, don’t know. His email address is on his web page I believe.

@@brianbillings6815 very kind words, thanks

@@peterbaugh51 The Pete Riggle crossovers, on the floor next to the speakers, have an optional super tweeter circuit and volume pot. I did use super tweeters with them for awhile even though I could not hear any difference (high frequency hearing loss) but removed them after a well-known personality in the high-end audio field auditioned them with and without, said he could hear a sheen on top with them engaged but didn’t think it well integrated or pleasant so advised I remove them. I did and still hear no difference. I reinforced the insides of the bass cabs with 1x2 wooden battens glued and screwed in irregular patterns (to avoid standing waves), and used wool felt on one of each parallel surface pair (to avoid over-damping). I prefer the old school aesthetic also, so in addition to preferring no super tweeters atop my speakers, my Gerrard 301 turntable was designed to look old school as well. It looks stock but the flexible chassis was replaced with a CNC-machined (from solid brass) one, same the platter. The tonearm (Reed 5A) looks like a standard pivoted arm but actually being a (mechanical) linear tracking tonearm that doesn’t require an air pump and elaborate superstructure.

​​@@Rensselaer1586Your system reminds me of the JBL Synthesis 4367, a 2-Way 15" Floorstanding Loudspeakers, at $8,250 each. One day I may get those or the MOFI Sourcepoint 888's (only $5,500 a pair). I like natural sound. Sometimes size does matter 😊.

@@Chris.from.1950 I have started recording my jazz selection, alphabetical order. Hopefully you’ll like some others. That particular record is a nice one to have, makes your system sound more expensive 😂. Flattered that you knew that system Steve showed was mine. You’re paying attention.

@@markkilpatrick7951 yes external crossovers, based upon Hiraga design, made by Pete Riggle of Kenniwick, Washington

I like the arm a great deal, but only have two other tonearms in my past to compare with so not a great source for information. It meets my desire to use the best technology in an old skool appearance (I don’t like the looks of the laser-guided Reed linear tracker, massive superstructure turntables like Clearaudio, or huge modern multi speaker towers), and Reed has a very good reputation. I came into some inheritance so rebuilt my sound system with that in mind. I started from the perspective of the triodes and horns fraternity. SET’s sound different, more emotion. Usually low powered so one needs high sensitivity horn speakers. Back in the 80’s Japan was selling Americans transistorised stacked systems (Denon, Sony, Nakamichi, etc.) with less than 0.0001% THD (through feedback), Japanese audiophiles were coming to America and buying up movie theatre sound systems (Altec voice of the theatre speakers and small valve-powered Loftin-White amplifiers), and rebuilding them with the best available parts. Turntables, as a rule, were Garrard 301’s mounted in solid wood plinths (later veneered ply as layers convert sound vibrations to heat). The Garrard’s chassis was flexible pot metal so Classic Turntable Co. built mine of CNC-machined brass, same platter. My plinth is made of Panzerholz (Spruce ply saturated with phenolic resin) which is used in grand pianos to hold the harp (to prevent conduction from harp to frame, sound board). The Reed is a linear tracker without all the superstructure. Other considerations, capacitance is bad, keep it as low in cables and equipment as possible. My phono amp uses valves and transformers instead of capacitors. Naturally that and SUT’s instead of a preamp with MM/MC . Anyway, good luck with your system.

@@Rensselaer1586 thank you so much for information and your audio journey. I am more into modern sound. Great soundstage and imaging, yet fast bass and great immersive height. So I got PlatiMon VC speakers from Mon Acoustic and thinking of getting Reed Muse 3A turntable with this tonearm. I am currently using Chord Ultima Integrated amps but I want something different. So I am building a new audio system, simple yet great sounding one. Streamer with a DAC, int amp and turntable system. I don’t have ton of turntable experience but usually most of the turntables are great. But need to be careful with cartridges from my past experience.

My music room/office has a ceiling that is peaked in (arched) the centre so height varies, length is 20’ and width 14’ 9”.

Thanks for the quick response.

Since that video I have replaced the Ayon with a Soundgate Ongaku replica. Presently I am playing with the super tweeters shut off as I can not hear a benefit with them on.

@@Rensselaer1586 Is the soundgate amp a little better ? I like trying a few tweeks, so I would try either the Lessloss speaker filters or the Bybee speaker bullets. Tweeks can be expensive, but they are fun IMHO.

Also, the speakers are those with AlNiCo magnets, sound better than the ferrite options.

Sorry, late reply. Speakers are Altec A7 Voice of the Theatre, built late 60's they were originally used in movie theatres behind the screen to broadcast film soundtracks. I reinforced the cabinet with 1"x2" beams glued and screwed on narrow edge in irregular patterns to the insides, wool felt on one of two parallel sides, used Duelund silk and oil insulated tinned-coated copper stranded wire to hook up speakers to external crossovers (Pete Riggle of Washington State built these Hiraga copies) as those wires closest to vintage RCA in sound. The metal Altec treble horn I changed for a wooden exponential horn built by Marcus Klugg in Germany.

I don’t recall the choice. I think I saw a fifteen cell, red-stained horn with cork glued to exterior surface (to help deaden vibrations), on his website and asked if he could make me one like it except with just two rows instead of thee (for wife acceptance factor).

I suppose with. I “suppose” because I have high frequency hearing loss. I can’t hear the high frequencies that the super tweeter emits, however I perceive something which seems to be an improvement with the super tweeters that I think is some sort of psychoacoustic effect.

Dana?, Sorry, I thought I had recorded everything in earlier posts. The speakers are Altec A7's I bought used from a guy in Germany for 3400 Euro's. He had already removed the fibreglass batting inside as it releases micro particles into atmosphere (breathing!). The bass speaker was a 416-8B Alnico unit, the treble a 902-8B ferrite with tangerine phase plug that I replaced with new Great Plains Audio Altec 802-8G Alnico magnet compression drivers. I additionally changed the two Altec 511B metal horns for two rows of 5 exponential horns (like RCA type but with two rows instead of three for WAF) made by Marcus Klug in Germany. The speaker cabinets rattled with bass because the rebuilt Altec crossovers were mounted to a thin particle board sheet that was screwed over a large hole in the back panel, it held on with wood screws in the same holes they always were. I changed the back panel for new with new holes drilled so tight. I reinforced the insides with 1"x2" wood beams glued and screwed to inside surfaces in irregular patterns to prevent standing waves, then lined the entire inside with 2" thick wool felt (which I stripped off from one opposing side from another padded as it was too damped). Then the Pete Riggle crossovers connected to the speakers inside by Duelund Dual DCA20GA tinned copper multi strand wire wrapped in cotton and oil (lessens capacitance) which is copied from the legendary Western Electric WE20GA tinned copper wire. The crossovers I keep outside and pass the wire through a small hole cut in the top of the cabinet (to keep wires the same length and to allow removal of back panel without tearing the wire out with it). Is it only the speakers you wanted to know about?

Oh yea, I forgot, on Pete's recommendation I added a pair of JBL Selenium ST400 super tweeters atop the cabinets, pointed to reflect off the back wall of the room so as not to cause interference waves (the wavelengths in those frequencies are very small and misplacement by a mm or two can be a problem).

Merci pour vos e’loges

Le bras (Reed 5A) est un bras pivotant a suivi tangentiel, qui a l’air de la vieille e’cole, mais beaucoup plus.

Thanks for the kind comment. I had audiophiles over to compare (live) the sound of the pure analogue (true “one step”) of tape to acetate, with the DSD-64 to DAC to acetate to stamper “one step” Mobile Fidelity Ultra Disc of the same recording. Outcome, all (eventually) agreed that the pure analogue sounded better, easier to relax to, the digital MoFi was more “Hi Fi”, clearer more sharply etched voice and sound stage whereas with the pure analogue acetate one could more easily hear each and every instrument and more natural sound and decay of each.

You can buy one for less, really.

I have not measured the frequency response of mine but would guess 60 Hz is about right. Pete told me that adding super tweeters somehow improves the bass but couldn’t explain why. I have read where people who have added sub-woofers to the A7’s never felt they meshed well. Using two 15” horn loaded bass speakers per side does work, but I am not sure how this crossover would work (unless 16ohm compression driver then two 8-ohm 15” bass speakers wired in series?). Personally, I don’t really miss the deep bass as, if the rest great, the music played, through my speakers anyway, is coherent/seamless, and through some “Audio detail 211 mono-blocks” I recently auditioned, competitive with the best-sounding systems in the world.

Thanks for the reference, I am not very familiar with Classical music in general, much less specific performances. My recording was part of an effort to compare two current manufacturers of AAA records, the very esoteric Electric Recording Company of London and the old and established Deutsche Grammophon that is selling a new product called the Original Source in which they are using original four channel 1/2" tape masters to cut stereo records in pure analogue.

@@Rensselaer1586 interesting I am aware of this project , just think there r issues with their Down mix , think ERC is all tube chain, OS is slid state , to me the DG is a meh recording

Slightly soft, oil-filled caps I believe, but then could be my cartridge (see what Michael Fremer wrote about the Phasemation PP-2000).

The Reed 5A is the tonearm (hand tree?), the cartridge is Phasemation PP-2000

@@Rensselaer1586 Cocobolo?

@@Rensselaer1586 Thanks a lot

vtaf.com/index.html#/

vtaf.com/index.html#/

I do not know what “small format” means. The crossover is crossed at 500Hz without the super tweeters engaged it is as Hiraga designed, switching on the super tweeter circuit diverts upper treble. Since changing my compression drivers to the new 802 8G AlNiCo units from Great Plains Audio, I am leaving it two-way (no super tweeters).

They are AlNiCo. They are brand new, Altec 802-8G compression drivers now made to spec by Great Plains Audio. They replace older ferrite units (902-8B compression drivers) that came with the used units I bought.

When I bought these speakers I asked Great Plains Audio how I would know if the magnets needed re-magnetism and they told me if they worked at all then they didn’t need to be re-magnetised.

I may not want to remove it, the bass sounds fine with good recordings. It may sound more pronounced if I remove most of the wool felt, but I worry it would then not sound as balanced as now. The crossover frequency is at 500Hz, Hiraga design. The super tweeter only cuts in if turned on, pure Hiraga two-way crossover if left off. I need to find time to make videos with and without, please forgive me for the delay.

Thanks

Ayon Spitfire, thirty watts per channel Class A Single-ended Triode integrated

The early days of audio were of low-powered SET amps and high efficiency horn loaded (magnet and field coil) speakers. Those engineers were concerned with getting the sound correct, to sound real. The horns were built large in order to reproduce sound waves that were at least as big. As time passes, people want smaller speakers (for their homes, studio etc.) which, though smaller, were inefficient so needed more power. The triodes were then paired up into push-pull designs that doubled the power with a loss of sound quality associated with splitting the signal, power each half separately then re-combining it to a less-natural but greater-powered signal. Then valves (predominately even order harmonics, like musical instruments, quite high in 2nd and fourth, but that masks higher order even and odd order harmonics) were replaced with solid-state transistors (lower level but predominately odd order out to the higher level harmonics, causing listener fatigue, but helping struggling bass from smaller speakers). Then adding sub-woofers, super tweeters, with separate amplifiers with elaborate crossovers, cheap electrolytic capacitors and resistors, wire, etc to save on costs. In the end, some systems project better sound stages, some more extended highs, some more bass slam, all those “hi-fi” aspects, but at the cost of natural sounding music, and have not IMHO, surpassed the “warmth” of those early designs.

I am using an Ayon Spitfire, cheaper version of the Crossfire. It is a 2x30 watt pure class A SET (which is rare, most Single Ended Triode (SET) amplifiers use WE300Bs which typically put out 8 watts per channel, or 2A3 or 45 which put out even less power respectively. The Spitfire (and Crossfire) are able to put that much out because of in-house valves they make that look like huge WE300Bs. Mine uses two AA62B Triodes, others on it are 12AU7's and 6H30's. The Scorpio you are looking at I presume is the first version (they sell a series II now), and I believe that was a push-pull configuration? I have never heard one so can't really comment on the value of buying a used series I other than to say SET's sound more real, lush, less hi-fi than push pull usually (see exotic and fantastic Audio Tekne TFM-9412 as the major exception). My Ayon also uses no solid state devices in the signal path either, which cause odd order distortion. The problem with SET's is that you need a fairly flat impedance output, and speakers with fairly high sensitivity, hence my Altec horns. I'm sorry I can't help further.

@@Rensselaer1586 Thanks so much for the information - really informative and helpful and has probably given me the answer I needed. Thanks again.