CJ PV-2ar or PV-7 or ARC SP-6 for Klipsch Heresy?


I putting together an old school tube-based system to drive an unmodified pair of Klipsch Heresy 1 speakers I picked up on eBay.To give the "old school" a fair shake, I'll be using the best ancillary equipment and tweeks, Transparent Ultra signal cables, and MIT power cables and filtration, etc. Seems to make sense to me to pair them with one of the classic tube preamps of that era such as a PV-2ar, certainly might tame the brightness and "shout". Thoughts?
elunkenheimer

Showing 4 responses by elunkenheimer

Thanks so much guys, hooked up a near mint, unmolested Heathkit AA 151 integrated. I set the tone controls strictly by ear. I'm a musician so my sense was that was the only way. With null at 12:00 o'clock, Treble ended up at 9:30 (!) and Bass at 2:00 o'clock. Sounds great on jazz vocals like Diana Krall and Steve Tyrell. One woofer seems to pull back (recede) a bit on deep plucked bass notes. Sounds fine, but looks odd vs other woofer's behavior. Flipping the AA 151 Invert Phase switch, the sucking motion continued. Flipping Stereo Reverse made no difference either. Is it the 40 year old crossover?
For now I intend to use my custom 7591/6sn7, fixed-bias, push-pull amp which uses a Pilot 410 input and phase inverter circuit built on a stripped Heathkit AA100 chassis retaining the great transformers. With this venture into high-efficiency horn speakers, at some point I tempted to try a 2A3 or 300b triode amp. The ALK Engineering site though highlights the seriously flawed crossover impedance curves of vintage Klipsch designs and my sense is that would not make a mini-watt triode amp happy. Should I get serious, an investment in the brilliant, but not-so-inexpensive ALK crossovers would be the next step.
I agree with Atmashere about "noise floor". With my Tube Technologies CD driving the Heathkit AA 151 into the Klipsch Heresy 1's, it is dead silent between cuts.
Raymonda these are all substantive recommendations and worth my pursuit at my "fling" stage with the Heresy's. One mod you mention is the first I considered immediately upon opening them up, replacing the "zip chord" internal wiring. Curious that Klipsch modifier blogs I've read suggest accoustic stuffing, cabinet gasket/sealing, crossover upgrades, porting and replacement drivers but don't comment on the internal wiring. Paul Speltz said he'd sell me Anti-Cable buy the foot for that purpose.