mulveling
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Posts posted by mulveling
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Glad to hear that you've finally got your McIntosh back! Did Terry fix your gain dial(s)?
He fixed the gain dial, but for my big birthday surprise - the left channel is dead :'(
Hooked it up, heard a soft pop, then low-level motorboat hum noise. When playing music the left channel is at a very low-level, and completely garbled. At least there was no violent event. Right channel plays fine. Fuse looks fine. I guess something may have gotten whacked out of place in shipment (though the packaging all looked fine)? Enjoyed the Heathkits last night, but their bass is extremely soft compared to the Mc.
When I went to pick up the Eico today (
), the seller gave me the name of a good local alternative to Terry. I think I'll drop it off there next week...not taking the risk of shipping that thing again. This Eico should be twice as powerful as the Heathkits 
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Didn't really like the HF-1 with flats. Sounded too muddy and the bass was flabby. Bowls was better in the clarity/bass tightness but then the highs were too fatiguing. Guess I'm just not a Grado man =\
The vwap pads kinda fall in the middle there, more towards the side of flats though. I think I remember liking HF-1 best with vwaps. Bowls are for cereal. I'm not a Grado man either...except for the HP1000 - those are awesome, but flats only. The vintage RS1 have their moments (with flats of course), but I still far prefer the HD650.
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Gotta admit, I love the hell out of 70s music. 80s is pretty good to me too.
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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
Have a great one dude! Which amp is going to get birthday preference?
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.
Have a good one Mike! Go buy some new vinyl to check out.
A splendid idea! I'll have to stop by a record store on my way out tomorrow.
Have a Happy Birthday Mike!!! Let's celebrate!!! I might let you borrow my Bogdan Ghost for a day..
Isn't that big fat a power cord? You know, all my vintage amps have hard-wired scrawny cords
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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!
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Good points for sure mulveling. The Dragon is great. I've been happy with it from day one. I'm not sure what is meant by a continuous volume pot, but I'm assuming it is like my SP SLAM PPX3. It doesn't have a stepped attenuator, but the Dragon does. I do like the fact that I can dial in to what I'm listening to on my SLAM, and once in a great while have some trouble dialing in just right with the Dragon, but it's a small thing for me, and the sound with the stepped attenuator installed is probably better than having it without one.
Sure wish you guys could come over and check out the Dragon... Just come to Hawaii
and enjoy the sun and beaches. BTW, what type of GE12AY7 am I looking for. I see some from 1950s and then some from 1960s? They vary in price from $50 for one to $20 on Ebay. I'm pretty much a tube noob
, so not sure where a good reliable place would be to purchase tubes. Any insight and help is much appreciated. 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".
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A refurbished Thorens TD 124 is really peaking my interest. I could build a crazy cool plinth for one, and they have quite a following.
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
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Thanks for your insight Purk. I was thinking about that, but since I never heard a SDS-SE I wouldn't know. One day I gotta fly up and join a meet with my amp. It would be interesting getting it from Hawaii over to the CONUS though. I gotta check the GE12AY7 tube as well.
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.
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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...
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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.
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Would you say it was the source (DAC1 has a reputation of being bright while the G08 has a reputation of being warm and smooth), or would you say it's the amp?
It's the amp. I bet the Supra would sound even better out of the G08.
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You guys that prefer the 600 are nuts
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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.
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happy birthday dudes!
don't die yet, keep posting first
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god i love sushi. there are some great sushi places in cinci (large expat japanese population here, surprisingly). unfortunately, my best friend and meal buddy hates sushi, and it sucks eating some fugi, and drinking some asahi and sake by yourself.
aren't the 6BX7 just great tubes?
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).
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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
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I always hear "channel imbalance" in response to this question, but to me thats a pretty weak answer. If my headphones are so out of balance that a step on a SA normalizes the channels, then I just need new headphones.
I think the real answer is what Nate said, that its cheaper. And maybe there is a bit of a cool factor going on as well.
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.
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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...
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PS It probably has something to do with Cambridge Audio being a European company. There's this whole overly-protective movement, so they're probably required to cover the B-terminals, because they're unused in most instances, whereas the A-terminals are almost always in use.
You know, in case you accidentally touched the two together.
I too was thinking the explanation might go something like that.
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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?
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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.
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You are comparing apples and oranges. A Tung Sol 6sn7gt is what 60 years old? ..... and handled in who knows what manner over the years. I have more trouble with old 6sn7's than I do anything; especially the TS round plates, Ken Rads and NU's. Plus, the 6sn7gt will be working a lot harder in the SP amps gain slot.
The 6C33's are barely turned on in the Zana @ 10% dissipation and 5.7 volts for the heaters. 6C33's now available were made when 1970 .... at the earliest? You likely have 6C33's from the 1980's.
The TS black glass 6su7gty's you have coming for the Zana's gain slot will be a much better comparison; although those TS's had incredible QC. All theie 6su7gty's were specially screened for noise and section matching and burnt in for 48 hours before they left the factory.
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
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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
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Me, too, and I can't wait to find out how it pairs with Eminent Tech LFT-8b's that I should be getting in few weeks. Before that, I need to have speaker wires made with skinny spades as the speaker taps are pretty small.
I also need to get a new box for it since I highly doubt I can pack it back into the boxes in which it was shipped (it was packed well, though). Maybe a wood crate or something sturdy like that.
I hope you get yours back soon, Mike.
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...
), the seller gave me the name of a good local alternative to Terry. I think I'll drop it off there next week...not taking the risk of shipping that thing again. This Eico should be twice as powerful as the Heathkits 
:sadcat:
Best Bang For the Buck Speakers?
in Speakers
Posted
Floor-standing $3k speakers for surrounds?
A bit confused as to whether you mean a 5.1/7.1 setup, a pair of rears, or a front 2ch setup? If the latter, then this:
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1210946909
Truly fuzzy speakers, in every good sense of the word. Yes, that is black velvet. I have 'em, love 'em, next stop for me is Prestige line. They sit on agon for ages because hardly anyone in the US has heard the good Tannoy lines.