Hello,
I'd like to introduce myself and give a brief back story that led me to this forum.
My name is Sean. I have always been fond of good sound ever since my Uncle gave me his Vintage, late 60's Motorola portable suitcase stereo / record player. I still remember the 4 large round dial controls for Bass, Treble, Balance and Volume at the top after you folded down the turntable deck. Oh how the tubes glowed as the rich sound played from my favorite vinyl. My first
WOW! Moment was visiting a college friend of mine's buddy who had modified electrostatic speakers (Quads I think), Audio Research Tube preamp and some kind of tube mono blocks pushing the Quads. Once we changed from CD to vinyl, my jaw dropped. I then fully understood what lifelike sound stage with depth and detail sounded like.
Now I never pursued such a fickle set up due to funding and opportunity. However, I came across some very interesting reading that came in the mail back in 1988. It was the Fall 1988/ Winter 1989 Issue of Crutchfield. I was enamored with all the latest goodies that were to rich for my wallet. The most intriguing read was on page 73. (YEAH! I still have the this Issue in my file cabinet... LOL) The praise and specifications of the Proton AP-1000 preamp and D1200 amplifier really fueled my desire to get my hands on this stuff! Especially since I still owned my uncles hand me down Dual 1219 turntable. With a credit card burning a hole in my pocket, I obtained my first pieces and started to play my favorite records. That is when I found out the huge limitations of my Realistic Nova-15 speakers and went shopping for something "Bigger" that I could afford. After a brief conversation with a knowledgeable sales person at American of Madison, he steered me towards the latest 4 ohm JBL's. I ended up with a pair of 830T's.
To this day, I STILL run this "Old Junk" as I affectionately call it. Recently, I refurbished both of my D1200 amplifiers, AA1150 amp and both AP-1000 preamplifiers. The front end of the system is my OPPO UDP-205 and the bottom end anchor is a hefty M&K MX-145 dual 12" "Push-Pull" sub. Crossed over at 50 Hz. by a Paradigm X-30. Currently, all the interconnects and speaker cables are Blue Jeans.
Upon finishing the refurbishing process on my main audio components, I started to focus on the main link between all the electronics and my ears. Those good old JBL's. These poor things have taken quite a beating over the last 30 years. The monstrous power of the D1200 even burned up a voice coil on one of the Titanium tweeters. (which was my fault) The search for a replacement tweeter lead me in many directions. Do i buy, build or rebuild my main speakers? This is how I came across this Forum. The thread by Dannie Richie "I bet I can make your speakers sound better" Intrigued me. Why not try and take some pretty nice sounding speakers that have survived all these years without the woofers rotting to the next level? So I took the plunge and picked up a "Level 2" upgrade kit from Dannie to get rid of all the "Cheese" I have been blissfully listening to for decades. I have ripped out all the old, deteriorated damping material and crossovers. Re-braced the inside corners of the 3/4" thick MDF cabinets and am preparing to install tube connectors and "No-Rez". I have already built the new crossovers and will be installing them this weekend. I look forward to hearing less "smearing", more detail and an overall open and cleaner sound. As Danny shared with me, I should be "Pleasantly Surprised". Years ago, I heard Joe Walsh explain the magic behind his unique guitar sound. His simple answer was.... "The 8" speaker". With guaranteed less "ringing" and improved clarity, I plan on hearing for the first time ever how nice these 8" drivers in the Good Ol' JBL's are. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Best Regards to all the members here, Cheers to Danny and god bless all our Veterans and Law Enforcement going into this Memorial Day Weekend!!
Sean
