Trying to find someone with a cable cooker in Metro NY

" As a side topic, I would love to hear a well set-up Klipsch LaScala or Klipschorn (or maybe better yet a restored/upgraded Altec VOTT or similar) played through a nice medium-powered tube amplifier.  I believe I may have taken the wrong path 20 years ago by not starting out with a pair of high efficiency Klipsch speakers.  The whole amplifier thing would have been so much easier by not needing high power and I suspect the dynamics and life-like realism of live music would have been easier to approximate in my home.  I am currently having a pair of SOTA 600 wpc +/- amps built for me so I am too far down the road to switch to horns now, but if I were starting over..... "
   Klipsch is very efficient. I think the very lowest of the older Vintage gear, which is all I fool around with, is the Forte at 98db and then Cornwalls at 98.5 db with Chorus next at 101db with the La Scala and the KHorn at 105db. I have run a set of MCM 1900's that had a passive crossover with one 200 watt per channel amp and never turned it all the way up.
  One of the nice things about Klipsch is the size of the community and if you search you will find someone not to far away who will let you listen to their system. The Klipsch forum is a good place to start asking for nearby owners and obviously I think Klispch is the best bang for the buck at the very least and in the better pro gear simply the best all the way around.
  I have three Altec A-7's in my shop right now being restored and they are the only ones besides Klipsch I will fool with. Very mellow sounding and require little power but not quite as life like as Klipsch and if you like to hear and feel percussion Klipsch is the right choice. Classical and Jazz and acoustic are really nice on Altecs.
  It is never to late to try Klipsch and there are generally some for sale near where ever you are fairly often. They won't last long unless very overpriced and the bonus is a huge dedicated group of current owners who will help you restore and upgrade things like crossover capacitors. You can get replacement drivers and parts for speakers 50 and 60 years old no problem and they sound really good. Not one other speaker company can claim this except perhaps the Altec Lansing JBL group. All this expensive stuff you read about  like Wilson and the rest are here today and gone tomorrow and none have the longevity of Klipsch and the huge market of good used and upgrade new parts that Klipsch does.
  I didn't intend to become a Klipsch "nut" when I first started looking into audio but I did become one when I saw what I could get for my money and have never regretted it.

mahlman

One of my audio blunders regards 3 items: University S6 speakers played with a McIntosh MA-2105 (no preamp), and Acoustat 2+2s: got rid of all over the years, and would go back in a heartbeat, especially to the Univ/McI combo sans preamp...

Regarding the "frozen" speaker cables with jumpers: sound good so far - obviously different than before. DON'T CARE WHY -  but it is noticeable to me. Notes to follow...

Evaluating the effects on the sound after in-freezer treatment of my homemade 12gauge Solid Core Copper vinyl-jacketed speaker cables and jumpers: 2-8' lengths, twisted; connections to JOB INT and GERSHMAN AVANT GARDE RX-20 as bare wire.

Immediately apparent:
Increased sound level (from same vol setting)
Wider and deeper sound; more 'layered' sound
More focused sound: More 'air' around instruments and voices in the                    sound stage; more defined sound
Cleaner, clearer (?) sound; appears to have faster presentation
Increased PRaT: more rhymic, toe-tapping, head-bobbing

Eagerly looking forward to comparing speaker cables with jumpers to true individual bi-wire...

So impressed with the sound changes I hear - over time, I will treat interconnects and power cords to a couple days in the freezer and frig...

Modifying discussion: has anybody else attempted the home freezer treatment?
                                          

Say insearchofprat here is something for you to think about. Great satire by the way whether intentional or accidental. You do know you have to keep from having any dips in elevation in your cables don't you? Electrons can puddle there in the dips and it can cause a popping noise when you first power up your amp. This is because the puddled electrons join the inrush of new ones and cause a temporary surge of power you will hear as a pop in your speakers. If you have a gentle slope from the amp down to the speakers with no sags anywhere all the electrons will drain off into the speaker each time you shut down and this will eliminate the pops. I also recommend rare earth heavy metal conductors as there is less space between atoms for the electrons to puddle up in so it will reduce pops even if you have dips.

insearchofprat,

I am not disputing that you hear differences and that they are for better. However, the list is so long and all-inclusive that it seems a bit exagerrated. A casual reader may conclude that sticking her/his cables in the refrigerator for a couple of days will transform $1500 system into $150 000 system.