I've been singing the praises of my old Paramours on multiple forums (fora?!) recently - it made me nostalgic and figured I'd come over to the Mothership and share as well. Imagine my surprise when I saw the new Forum-at! Well, I've registered and I am now making good on my intention from last week.
After a long hiatus, my Paramous (a very early kit, as I recall, they were a present from my wife!) have been re-activated.
Over the past 15 years, I've discovered/decided that vintage Altec drivers deliver most of what I want at a reasonable price. I've been through Valencias and a pair of Santiagos (the latter don't have much of a reputation, but I was quite happy with them) - driving them mainly with PPEL84 amps.
About a year ago, I was able to acquire, at an attractive price, a pair of Altec 604E Duplexes (heh,
SuperDuplexes!) complete with Mastering Labs XOs. My intention was to house them, eventually, in a pair of the corner cabinets designed by Bill Fortier (see
http://www.wardsweb.org/Billfort/ ). The ultimate goal was (and is) for these to become the "house speakers" in the purpose-built hifi room (inspired by Gary Kaufman's!) in our future "retirement home".
Late last spring, circumstances conspired for us to decide (a year or two earlier than called for by our vague "plan") to pull the trigger on the design of a colonial reproduction house for our retirement property by these folks:
www.connorbuilding.com Also late last spring, my friend/contractor/cabinetmaker Mike Berg was recovering from some back surgery and had some time for shop projects... so I asked him to quote and build a pair of the Bill Fortier cabinets.
Drivers and cabinets came together at the end of the summer and were installed, somewhat imposingly, in our living room for the time being. They sounded so good (with a Dynaco SCA-35) that they stayed (my wife is a wonderfully tolerant woman).
(https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv223%2Fmhardy6647%2F604EalaBillfort.jpg&hash=3c104d6f2d8effc320ca589d7ccf15facc1d4c24)
I ultimately figured "these are pretty high-sensitivity; wonder how the Paramours would sound on 'em?" and brought my Paramours (still utterly entry-level, although I did finally add the C4S loads at some point). Fired them up and listened - and quickly packed up and decommissioned the SCA-35. mmm-mmm, very nice.
The Paramours are back on full time duty for at least the time being. Thanks Doc B & Company!
(https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv223%2Fmhardy6647%2FDSC_0105.jpg&hash=6b16b1f9f76daa9095da471a3a42d1eed4303b63)
Now, all I need to do is retire... :-P
