Hi Phill: the 103s need the right tonearms in order not to sound aggressive, and this means mass. There are also all sorts of preamp issues as well. Given a sympathetic set-up they can sound utterly unaggressive and yet still slammin'! I have heard the 110, and it shares in much of the 103's sound, a great bargain in its own right!
Over here I have RE-discovered the Spendor BC-1 speakers, which mesh SO perfectly with my custom-made Pierre Amp (100 watts of SET-like push-pull SS power) that they have become my reference in-house speaker! The Pierre amp struggles with the high-sensitivity Klipsch Cornwall speakers, and yet makes the BC-1s, normally considered difficult to drive, into hugely dynamic slammin' rock-n roll speakers!! AND with amazing delicacy, detail, imaging and so forth, with surprisingly deep bass. Now I see why Malcolm is so enamoured of these: the right amp is required (high voltage?), the other amps I had in the past not enough to make them jump. These are now amazing at PRaT and gestalt, and amazing also in all traditional audiophile areas.
AND, in the Klipsch Cornwalls my rebuilt 12-watt Leak Stereo 20 now sounds like a Krell! Seemingly limitless power, with excellent bass and incredible dynamics and detail! NOW my garage system is set (simply too powerful for in-house....with a Lenco backing them up anyway ;-)), the Leak being too bright with the fab Electro-Voice, I hope to do swappies Cornwalls for the E-Vs, which are just right (the E-Vs being just right in my buddy's system).
I also scored an Ortofon 2M Black, will report on this presently!
Hope you're all having as much fun as I am!
Over here I have RE-discovered the Spendor BC-1 speakers, which mesh SO perfectly with my custom-made Pierre Amp (100 watts of SET-like push-pull SS power) that they have become my reference in-house speaker! The Pierre amp struggles with the high-sensitivity Klipsch Cornwall speakers, and yet makes the BC-1s, normally considered difficult to drive, into hugely dynamic slammin' rock-n roll speakers!! AND with amazing delicacy, detail, imaging and so forth, with surprisingly deep bass. Now I see why Malcolm is so enamoured of these: the right amp is required (high voltage?), the other amps I had in the past not enough to make them jump. These are now amazing at PRaT and gestalt, and amazing also in all traditional audiophile areas.
AND, in the Klipsch Cornwalls my rebuilt 12-watt Leak Stereo 20 now sounds like a Krell! Seemingly limitless power, with excellent bass and incredible dynamics and detail! NOW my garage system is set (simply too powerful for in-house....with a Lenco backing them up anyway ;-)), the Leak being too bright with the fab Electro-Voice, I hope to do swappies Cornwalls for the E-Vs, which are just right (the E-Vs being just right in my buddy's system).
I also scored an Ortofon 2M Black, will report on this presently!
Hope you're all having as much fun as I am!