Looky What I just got - Those Darned L200 Cabs (from Aberdeen)

[Zilch]

Well, they're semi-quasi-L300s for now, in my view....

[hjames]

Next step - I'm in a holding pattern!
I had been using my old 110w/ch JVC surround receiver in the living room for the quasi-L300s, but when I biAmped them in the spring and replaced it with the JBL amps I knew using it now was a temporary measure.

I'm a fan of the old Yamaha gear. So - I bid on and won a pristine Yamaha CR-2020 receiver. These were really nice units with an honest 100w/ch, low s/n, huge transformers and discrete circuits. Some of the really good gear from the mid-70s before everything went to black plastic faceplates. See http://www.thevintageknob.org/YAMAHA/CR2020/CR2020.html
Anyway, I was really anticipating this - so when it arrived yesterday and I opened the VERY HEAVY large box - freaking wadded newspaper and bubble-pack! Every corner on the unit was crushed, the record out selector shaft was sheared loose, but worst - it only works on the right channel now. (and it sounds REALLY nice on the one channel - effortless!)

I sent pictures immediately and she's crediting my payment while I pack it properly for a return shipment on Saturday, but, what a darned shame ... what a waste of good gear.

I'll have to find another ... and send them pix of what good packing is BEFORE they ship!

Ah well, off to Home Despot for some 1" pink foam!

[JBLRaiser]

Next step - I'm in a holding pattern!
I had been using my old 110w/ch JVC surround receiver in the living room for the quasi-L300s, but when I biAmped them in the spring and replaced it with the JBL amps I knew using it now was a temporary measure.

I'm a fan of the old Yamaha gear. So - I bid on and won a pristine Yamaha CR-2020 receiver. These were really nice units with an honest 100w/ch, low s/n, huge transformers and discrete circuits. Some of the really good gear from the mid-70s before everything went to black plastic faceplates. See http://www.thevintageknob.org/YAMAHA/CR2020/CR2020.html
Anyway, I was really anticipating this - so when it arrived yesterday and I opened the VERY HEAVY large box - freaking wadded newspaper and bubble-pack! Every corner on the unit was crushed, the record out selector shaft was sheared loose, but worst - it only works on the right channel now. (and it sounds REALLY nice on the one channel - effortless!)

I sent pictures immediately and she's crediting my payment while I pack it properly for a return shipment on Saturday, but, what a darned shame ... what a waste of good gear.

I'll have to find another ... and send them pix of what good packing is BEFORE they ship!

Ah well, off to Home Despot for some 1" pink foam!

Double boxing with strong support is a must.

[johnaec]

Double boxing with strong support is a must.

I've said it before - a UPS clerk actually told me that shipments must be packed to withstand a 3' dead drop at any angle, and pointed at the end of the conveyor, (about 3' off the floor), coming out of the warehouse that just dropped boxes on the floor! I assume most shipping companies are the same way. And the fact that many people think bubble wrap and newspaper are going to stop a 50 lb amp from smashing through when dropped never ceases to amaze me!

John

[hjames]

I've said it before - a UPS clerk actually told me that shipments must be packed to withstand a 3' dead drop at any angle ...
John

yep - except it was a USPS shipment, so UPS rules wouldn't apply ...

But - who would imagine someone would pack a nearly 50lb high end receiver with wadded newspaper and think that would be fine?

[BMWCCA]

Yep, BTDT. Nothing surprises me anymore about the way people ship amps or speakers. I'm waiting for a motorcycle helmet I bought off Ebay to arrive via USPS. I even worry about them managing to destroy that!

For some reason I've always been happy with the way my UPS deliveries are handled:

[hjames]

Well, Chas is a great packer! Woohoo!

I just got box 1 of 2 via USPS (and canada mail).
Its a pair of 2231s reconed as 2235s from the North.
I pulled one of my 2215s from the "L-200" (quasi-L300s) and swapped the 2235 into its place. its a bit late to run the levels up much, but it does sound nice in that cabinet. Crossovers are the 3133 equivalents I built last year - cabinet is basically stock - no Zilch-plugs in sight (yet).
I'm still hoping to swap out that 100s/ch surround-sound JVC receiver for a clean Yamaha receiver of around 125 watts. I'll never run it loud, but that should leave a fine margin. Maybe next month if things go well ...

Nice vintage speakers should have nice vintage amps.

[hjames]

Well, I made another trip to Aberdeen today. Stuart (the guy who sold me the L200 cabinets back in Feb) had reposted a Yamaha CR-1020 receiver last night and a quick email and phone call and he said he'd put it aside to sell to me.
So we ran up there today, tested it out in his audio den, and brought it down to VA and into place around 4PM.
Its for the Living room system room - its a very nice clean 2nd generation Yamaha Receiver circa 1977-79.
Roughly 80-90w/ch but very clean watts. Its a great match for the quasi L300s.

We've tried Airtunes, Emma's iPod, CDs or FM - so far it sounds perfect with all of them.

Still waiting for the 2nd 2235H from Canada for this left speaker - Chas thinks Customs may be checkin' it out ... sigh.

[Fred Sanford]

Looks good- what's the rotary phone there, an old Western Electric 300?

Enjoy,

je

[hjames]

Looks good- what's the rotary phone there, an old Western Electric 300?

Enjoy,

je

Thanks. The phone? Its some retro vintage thing Emma bought - its a push button phone designed to look like the classics ... its not bad, just haven't decided where its going to live now that my corner tables were replaced by big speakers!

And what a change in the sound. I knew ther JVC receiver was great for home theatre use but was just a placeholder there, but that Yamaha is really crisp on those speakers. Even that telcarc 1812 had quite a snap to the Cannons (not like the monitors downstairs, but a pretty fine second place) - again, you can hear subtle nuiances in Aja, and the remastered Boston (first) Album got "stupid loud" at anything above 2 on the volume setting ... I had no idea.

[Chas]

Nice looking woofer! But that foilcal has gotta go....

[hjames]

Nice looking woofer! But that foilcal has gotta go....

yeah - I know - when I got them they didn't have ANY foilcals (in L200 mode), and with the upgrade and second lPad, I'm not sure a Summit 300 foilcal is the right way to go. besides, I really want to do grills and foilcals for the 4341s first. I only pull the grills off the L200s to take pictures.

[pos]

Heather, I have two questions regarding your experiments with the quasi-4341 you did with this L200 and your 2123H. How did it sound compared to your current 4341? Did you manage to get a good blend out of these drivers? Did you run the whole setup active?

I saw that you used a T-amp. I am tring it for the 1" but found two issues when running active:
- the amp does "pop" when turned on, which I am afraid could fatigue the diaphragme (their is no crossover or protection cap after the amp)
- the residual noise is clearly audible with the 1" due to its high sensitivity, even with a S/N ratio well above 100db for the t-amp. I tried with other amps (Yamaha M50, S/N > 120db) and got the same problem.

How did you handle these problems?

[hjames]

Heather, I have two questions regarding your experiments with the quasi-4341 you did with this L200 and your 2123H. How did it sound compared to your current 4341? Did you manage to get a good blend out of these drivers? Did you run the whole setup active?

The quasi-434x didn't have the quality of the current system - what I had was a 552 JBL crossover feeding two amps - the low side fed the old 2215 woofers, the high split fed a 3133 passive crossover (one I built when I ran the system as quasi 4333 3-ways). That passive fed the remaining drivers (the 2123, 2420 and 2405 slot). It wasn't bad, but the 4341s are much smoother. Of course, I wasn't running the correct Woofer, the correct 10", or the correct 4345 style passive crossover for them.

I saw that you used a T-amp. I am trying it for the 1" but found two issues when running active:
- the amp does "pop" when turned on, which I am afraid could fatigue the diaphragm (their is no crossover or protection cap after the amp)
- the residual noise is clearly audible with the 1" due to its high sensitivity, even with a S/N ratio well above 100db for the t-amp. I tried with other amps (Yamaha M50, S/N > 120db) and got the same problem.

How did you handle these problems?

I was only running a T-amp briefly with the horn kit that Zilch sent me.
Once I finished that test I sent his t-Amp back with the horns, 552 crossover and compensating networks (but I liked the 552 crossover so much I bought my own!)

With the 2123/2420/2405 I originally ran a 75watt crown amp, then later I ran those 3 drivers on a JBL 6330 Amp (thats what I run the high side of my 4341s with also). I run the low side with a JBL 6360 amp - both of those amps have built-in driver protection that disconnects the outputs during power on to avoid the thump.
You can blow a compression driver diaphram with those power-on thumps - they aren't meant to take low frequency like that.

Even with protective circuits in your amps, the order you power on your gear is important. With my system I fire up the receiver (signal source), then the 552 crossover, and last the 2 amps. I power down in the reverse order (amps, crossover, receiver).

I haven't heard the HF noise you speak of, but I am a bit older and maybe burned off the high end of my hearing in too many smoky concerts in my youth

Well, I do hear a bit of "sizzle" on some digital discs with very high frequency stuff - but not exhaustively so (Aja and the lot).

[macaroonie]

Brasso for the contacts ???????????