mulveling

Thanks a bunch all you guys, and gal! MEGA-ULTRA-THANKS to Tom for the kick-ass Nipper (RCA dog) & Victrola figurines...just like in my avatar! I love these things! Also thanks for all special acoustic hockey pucks!!! And I still have your Aqualung vinyl remaster and Renee Fleming SACDs...if possible I'd like to buy one or both off you, sir You know, somehow this amp thing has gotten out of, and is staying out of control...too damn many choices I just today got the McIntosh back from Terry, finally (it measures in at 140 Watts/ch, woots!). So I may watch a movie or 2 tonight out of that and the Zana Deux. I'll probably be hitting the Jethro Tull records again (which I've been doing a lot of the last month), out of the Supra SE with the 2c51 adapter Purk's lent me, and has hopefully forgotten about Tomorrow I'm going to pick up my 3rd vintage power amp, the el34-based, 35 Watts/ch Eico HF-87 Of course I had to be sick this week, so this is all contingent upon my annoying left ear popping the pressure out at some point...gotta remember not to blow my nose again tonight. A splendid idea! I'll have to stop by a record store on my way out tomorrow. Isn't that big fat a power cord? You know, all my vintage amps have hard-wired scrawny cords

Damn Reks, this is all too much bullshit for just one guy. Hang in there. I ever get a visit from a deity, I'll be sure to give him/her/it an earful on your behalf!

Nice offer Too bad I hate traveling, heh. Hmm, I got curious partially through Jethro Tull Under Wraps and just switched from the Supra to Zana. Yep, I really did miss it. Not sure about the variants on the GE 12ay7 - I've got two types that look similar except one type has red print and the other has white. They sound the same. The reds have some numbers like "63-52" on them, perhaps that means 1963 vintage? I'd doubt the premium prices are worth paying, though I know the temptation to go for them when tube shopping just to "be sure".

That sounds like a great choice, I would look forward to photos of the finished product Vintage tables like that should be a good investment (especially with the plinth you'll make for it), what a great way to protect your wealth from the falling dollar

I still love the Zana... In a few days I'll probably swap the Zana back into the headphone rig and see how it facilitates long-term musical enjoyment following up to the 12ay7/6bl7gta Supra SE. I kinda miss its sound, and the continuous volume pot is a plus, in my book - easy to dial in just the right volume. I agree with others that the Zana is an amp that becomes appreciated more with long term ownership. But yeah, your Dragon is probably awesome as well. I often wonder what the hell I'm doing with 3 similar quality, expensive amps; still it's hard to choose 1 or 2 over the others. I should probably have just 1 balanced amp w/ pre outs, but that would involve a lot of work & worry - that and I don't want to have my L3000 cables modded.

Another alternative is a SOTA. You can sometimes find a vintage SOTA Sapphire w/arm on audiogon in that range. Sometimes a Star Sapphire, if you're real lucky - though don't count on an old Star's vacuum seal to suction well anymore; I bypass mine anyways. The real advantage of the Star over the non-vacuum Sapphire is the 4-point suspension and meatier platter. My Star cost $2K, but that was with the Koa wood body and a $1K+ arm. That VPI should also be a great table, but the SOTA suspension really comes in handy in my current dwellings...

That's happened to me twice, with 2 different Tung-Sol 6sn7 tubes - the expensive kind It was the right triode heater that went out in both cases. One of them tested and played OK afterwards (in a different amp), which is consistent with your tube showing life after death. Haven't used it again, though. The other tube never came back.

It's the amp. I bet the Supra would sound even better out of the G08.

You guys that prefer the 600 are nuts

Even better would be to spend an another $20-30 and get a used HD650. The 650 with stock cable whips the 600 with any cable, IMO. My complaints on the 600 are grain, recessed mids, the low-end, and the high-end. The differences between 580 and 600 are very small, by comparison. I'm one of the few who liked the sound of the Clou Red, though I was switching from 600 to 650 at that time. I've usually found the cables I like with the HD650 aren't so for the 600, and vice-versa. The stiffness and weight of the Clou is likely to drive you nuts. It's the most annoying headphone cable I've ever used...beyond the tolerance threshold of most. It must be the vocal minority that prefers 600 over 650, that keeps the used 600 prices up over $200. For those of us that prefer the 650, it's worth the meager price difference many times over.

happy birthday dudes! don't die yet, keep posting first

Love sushi, and love the sushi place on the square where my office is located (not that I go into the office much anymore). The sushi presentation and taste is always excellent. Lunch prices are reasonable - sushi & sashimi special for $9 rules. Dinner prices are much higher but the sushi boat is like totally awesome. The "boat for 1" easily feeds 2 - at least if you can eat faster than your girl then you're good Haven't heard the 6BX7 yet - gonna compare them to the 6BL7GTA I've got on my Supra - which are already kicking ass now that they've got some hours, and now that I got the driver tube thing sorted out (GE 12AY7).

Bought some vacuum tubes: 3x GE 12AY7 2x 6BL7GTA 2x 6BX7GT ...and a nice painted ceramic RCA Dog/Victrola salt & pepper shaker set (easily nice enough to not look like it has an actual purpose) ...and 4 boxes of contact lenses, since I just broke my goddamn glasses. ...and a cheap as hell balanced Senn Zu cable (thanks for the heads-up n_maher!!!) ...and a sushi lunch today Damn, been too busy this week. Need to go back to pretending I'm a miser

If owners could somehow accurately measure their headphones, I think they'd be surprised at the occurrence of imbalances in the ballpark range of 1db (sometimes even more). At 2db it becomes pretty noticeable. I believe the numbers some manufacturers throw up on driver matching (0.1-0.05db, etc) are likely BS. Sennheiser headphones have been pretty consistently well balanced though, IME. Not basing this on hard numbers, just my subjective experience. 1db imbalance is actually pretty damn hard to detect at first, until you know it's there. Stereo cartridges (many of which are spec'd at 0.5db+ matching), and even the odd record, can be equally likely source of imbalance. Then add in the effect of some pots - and you might have quite the cumulative imbalance, if you're unlucky. Let's not forget that many have a natural imbalance of the way they hear, in their own ears. Personally, I find that if there's a slight imbalance towards the left side, it can be very aggravating. Same imbalance on the right is not so bad - must be something about the right brain/left brain thing.

Pair of Tannoy Eyris DC3 just came up on agon for $1100 - KILLER deal on beautiful speakers (retail $2800). Leaves some nice breathing room on $2K budget... http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1210487235

I too was thinking the explanation might go something like that.

Forgive me for being obvious, but did you try unscrewing the binding posts all the way to see if you can get at those plugs from another angle?

You know, my right ch knob was loose as well. It wouldn't even pass signal until dialed past 2:00 o'clock, but worked well enough past that. I wonder if it got that way in shipping - there was the possibility of that area bearing weight, from the way the seller packed.

That's true, 6sn7's have seemed far more flakey than any other tube type. Many have micro-phonics (ranging from bad to ridiculous), I had one go nuts in a microZOTL, and now the heater issues. Nothing against my SDS; I love & cherish its absolutely unique/extraordinary sound quality and its quirks (like the internal fan ) are small in comparison to that. Yep, my 6c33's are dated 76 and 80. BTW I just got your generous package of 6su7 tubes, popped the first one in and works great. Thanks for the great deal

Just heard from Terry - he'll email me back when my amp makes it to the bench. :sadcat: (let me know when I reach my sadcat quota for the month) I can understand he's likely very busy, especially considering how reasonable his price quotes are, and given the buzz on his quality of work. I'd certainly much rather have it this way that a quick fix from a hack. Still, a time estimate-ballpark would be nice. Even a Mikhail-style estimate

Yeah, the old binding screw terminals can be annoying. I ironed 1/4" spades on some unterminated star-quad - did a terrible job of it I might add - but works great. I initially tested the amp on some cheap speakers w/ bare wire connection...was very careful to make sure there were no stray strands of copper! It took me over an hour to pack that amp up for shipment...including finding the appropriate boxes & foam pack around the apt. Packing peanuts won't work with an amp of this density; they'll quickly get crushed and yield free air for the amp to bounce around. Thanks, I just sent Terry a polite and short email...

Did I ever mention how rock solid the Zana Deux is? Not a single issue or quibble with it all these months, and from what I understand the previous owner put quite a few hours on...using the same 6c33 and rectifier tubes I've got in there. Also sports a ridiculously low noise level for a tube amp. Last night I just had the right ch heater go out on a Tung Sol 6sn7 in my SDS. This is the second time that's happened (same channel too), and on a different tube from a different seller (I hadn't put that many hours on either). Probably just bad luck with tubes, but it made me think about how reliable that Zana, and its tubes, have been. Yep, L3000 4eva here

Awesome! Hope it works out for you. Mine is sorely missed...still in the shop I'd like to watch some movies tonight - in 2ch since I haven't gone the HT surround route. For this application especially, I need the extra headroom, dynamics, and bass, that the Mc2100 affords over the 20 Watt Heathkits. Need to mail Terry and see what's up. I'm thinking bi-amping the Heathkits up high and Mc down low could be something special - though it would almost be a shame to waste the mids & highs of the Mc, which are quite good. Most of all, it's nice to feel free of the need to own a $3K+ power amp. Money better spend on speakers IMO

I also have some nice tubes from Earl, on the way. Tung-Sol 6su7's for the Zana Deux. I'm pretty sure that's the last thing I've bought.

Happy birthday dude!!! Today is the day to spend that little extra on finer hookers & booze I've long admired your superb DIY work. Here's to many more years!