Click pics to enlarge. Top, JBL Hartsfield pair with 375/HL-88 and 075 on top. In the background on the right edge of the photo is another single idle Hartsfield. Strewn on the floor are some DIY amps.
NY Diary (19-13): JBL Hartsfield x 5!!!
On Monday Andy had to see his accountant KW. Kevin and I went with him. Why? Because KW has the legendary and highly desirable JBL Hartsfield, and not just one pair but two, plus another single one! While Andy and KW were working, Kevin and I played many records.
KW is a vintage buff as well as DIY man. He has two operating systems, on the ground floor and in the basement. Both have a pair of Hartsfield and a Garrard 301 with Power Supply/Speed Control. Both use SUT and Harman Kardon Citation 1 as phonoamp. And of course both use DIY preamp and amps. We only heard the ground floor system.
It should be noted we didn't hear the Hartsfield per se. KW is only using the bass driver in the enclosure. As you can see in the top pic, the 375 is attached to a JBL HL88. Andy said previously he had heard the Hartsfield as is, which is what he prefers. I asked KW why, he said most of his friends prefer the HL88 on top.
The Preamp and Amp both use lots of expensive vintage components (Western Electric, UTC etc). KW told me just the parts cost for the 2-chassis preamp was $5K, sans tubes! And the 2 WE tubes he uses in the PS would easily cost more than the parts, Wow! I shall let the pics tell the story. We only heard the vinyl system. I wish we had time for the digital system, which employs the excellent Meridian 500/566 transport and DAC.
The room is a long rectangle. The Hartsfield are placed along the long wall. Given the lack of corner reinforcement and relatively short listening distance, the sound was shy in the bass and mid-bass. Fleetwood Mac's eponymous album was lacking in the power range. Otherwise the treble and midrange were pretty good, and I enjoyed his collection of old Hong Kong Polydor albums. Surprisingly, jazz was not too impactful; the large number of oil caps in the preamp and amp may have slowed down the transient a little. Even with 2x 300B each channel (~16 watts), there was audible clipping at higher volume, attesting once again that JBL's are not that efficient compared to Altec and Klipsch. I personally would place these with one side against each long wall and firing down the long walls. One wall is better than none, and the listening distance can be drastically increased.
The Hartsfield was created to compete with the Klipschorn (see this wonderfully informative link), but without corners I did not hear what I heard in the Klipschorns (here). Too bad there is no room in my den - I'd love to relieve KW of a pair! Here are more pics and descriptions:
G/F: The elaborate Preamp power supply unit uses WE 274A and WE 300B!
Also a 6X5, 6SJ7 and an OA2.
G/F: The Preamp section uses CX 301. The socket is floating, to combat microphonics.
G/F: The monoblock amplifiers use 2x 300B per side. Not WE though, no doubt due to cost.
All cables are DIY.
G/F: Grease bearing Garrard 301 with Classic Turntable Company PSU,
Ortofon AS-309s/SPU and SME3012/Ortofon SL-15
Downstairs: Another Hartsfield pair.
Downstairs: Also DIY preamp and amps
Downstairs: The SUT uses WE 618C (600 ohm) with impedance matching transformers.
Downstairs: Garrard 301 with speed control and Accuphase CDP
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