Hey Ggg, thanks for the compliments. Have you ever called Mesa Engineering? Nice, and very helpful folks. I got brave and did some cap upgrades myself, with their help. If I recall correctly, those Wimas had very short leads and and were nearly impossible to install. I used V-Caps in the signal path. Learned how to use solder-wick to remove old solder. After that, installing new caps was easy soldering job. Nice to hear someone else likes the Baron. Something quite special about the midrange.

240zracer June 20, 2008 05:31

Wow, Jsawhitlock, I bought mine from the second owner who had stored it since 1970. Wish I had known you were selling!

240zracer December 19, 2007 00:03

No Timrhu, walls are still uncovered. The room sounds so good I don't dare to mess with it. Thanks for the compliment on the speakers! I wish there was some magic way we could all hear eachothers systems as well as look at the pictures.

240zracer December 18, 2007 23:57

Didn't strip it off, Dewald.....it was never there. Tell you what I would like though. I would like one of your gimbal ends for a tonearm! My brother works in a wood turning shop. I bet those guys could make a wonderful platter from some nice exotic hardwood. I'm quite certain I could make an arm. You are pretty talented, my friend.

240zracer January 20, 2007 01:10

Alfred. Here is a site that I discovered after I built my speakers. www.edgaraudio.com. Take a look at the eVeII speaker. It is very similar to mine and this guy provides a lot of information on his box and crossover design. The Eton 11 inch woofer is very good, but there is now a Scan Speak 8" Revelator that is no doubt better. These are just suggestions, but that woofer with a Revelator slit cone midrange and the $270 tweeter, I think it is the 7100, would be pretty awful good. That will be my next speaker if I ever have the money, that is. You can email me about crossovers if you like, but bear in mind that I am just a hobbiest with ideas. They are not all good ideas and I can prove it:)

240zracer January 18, 2007 22:37

Thanks Dewald, I'm finally able to say that vinyl just might be sounding better than the Wadia. Just discovered some really good LPs made by Discwasher in the late seventies.....Climax Jazz Band and Paul Smith the Good Life. They should be on the coffee table with Alison Krauss Live. Speakers are like everything else....there is always room for improvement, but I would describe this pair as an in the park home run. I have built many foul balls over the years.

240zracer January 18, 2007 22:14

I better not get bit, Oregon. But I will take a look and I do recall your thread. And stop sniffling, you did a nice thing for a friend:))

240zracer January 15, 2007 04:30

Oregon....I just peeked at your system. Very nice setup. I would bet that the sound is similar to my sound. Tell me more about the Lenco. What cartridge and phono amp are you using? I have a Clearaudio Wood that was boring until I discovered the stylus is tipped forward. Cartridge is now shimmed up at the front of it and tracks at the correct SRA and sounds really quite amazing. I haven't listened to a CD since I fixed the problem.

The room is the lower level of a walkout ranch and therefore the big windows. Nothing intentional as far as designing it for a listening room. No more dust than any other room in my house, but as I said, I make dust when I build speakers and that means I need to seal off this room when I am working.

I'm sure THE answer is a good sized and shaped, and well treated room. This is very simply the best sounding room in my house and I have not spent money on accoustic panels, bass traps, etc.

The lesson I learned is that an untreated drywall room has problems that cannot be overcome by system/speaker design. I'm no genius, Oregon, but I would listen to music in the attic if it was better up there :)

240zracer January 14, 2007 15:51

Oregon, here is my story. I've had my equipment in almost every room in my house, with all the typical room problems, especially with bass. I never got around to finishing my basement and there was a pool table in this room for years. I sold the pool table because I was sick of it, but also because I wondered how this room might be for music. What a wonderful surprize! No more bass problems and I mean I can stand in the corners behind the speakers and the bass is not accentuated even in the corners. The other thing that is good is the cement floor. I no longer "feel" any part of the music, which I always found distracting. I build my speakers, in fact I build them on the other end of this basement, and that is a rather large problem. Not large enough to make me ever move the system though, and I would say to anyone who has such a room to just try it out. I mean who cares what it looks like. I work on a pair of speakers for months before I finally put the crossovers in the boxes and that is actually where I get my enjoyment and satisfaction. These speakers are tuned for a room that is not perfect, but is worlds better than an untreated drywall room. And now after 15 years of trying, I am finally listening to music instead of tweeking speakers in a hostile environment. I'm also discovering vinyl lately just to mention it. Funny thing, I like more kinds of music now days. "The Good Life" with Paul Smith produced by Discwasher is the best recording I've ever heard. Life is good in the ugly room.

240zracer January 14, 2007 01:13

Mark....I just helped a friend build cabinets for the limited edition Fostex that came out a while back. Those cabinets with the curved horn in the bottom are a bugger to build and very heavy when done. He uses a 2.5 watt SET, and the sound is very open and detailed. I can't imagine building that curved cabinet out of Hickory. My router would be smokin. We used MDF :)

240zracer January 06, 2007 04:03

Tboooe - the whole house is a man cave! Directly behind the listening area is a Powermatic table saw :) Seriously, my ugly room is By Far the best sounding room in my house. I can't afford a whole bunch of room treatments for upstairs. Kehut, I never raced the Z in events, but I have owned it since 1973, and restored it twice, 250,000 miles. Also restored a 1966 GTO tri-power, 4-speed. I get pretty good stereo from it too.

240zracer December 16, 2006 04:51

System edited: Crossovers in the boxes. Replaced all interconnects and speaker cable with Synergistic Resolution Reference.

240zracer December 11, 2006 19:29

What, Pawlowski6132? You like my mess? I do not change equipment often, so it is difficult for me to make comparisons. I can say this, I've had the Scoutmaster for 3 weeks now, and for the first time, vinyl sounds as good as CDs. I never even think about replacing the Wadia. I have Nordost Red Dawn speaker cable.....my opinion of it is that it is very detailed, which is good if the speakers can deal with it. Synergistic Looking Glass from the VPI to phono stage. Other cables are Discovery balanced.....thinking I need to upgrade, but can't decide what to. Any suggestions?

240zracer February 25, 2006 05:11