Thanks Sherod and Rxman for being pioneers on these units. It will be another week before I get my DAC back (having it modded by Mauimods, then will get system up and running and be ready to explore new things with the AH |
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Rob Thanks for posting what you had before the AH preamp. I think it helps us all get a sense of what the AH does with different equipment |
Rdg
Thank you for your input. May I ask what your source, amp and speakers are and whether your room is accoustically treated? I am very curious to see what the AH does well with and what perhaps is better served by a different pre.
Joe |
Rgd Thanks for taking the time to answer thoroughly. Some nice equipment there, plenty of sensitivity for a good evaluation! |
Sherod and La45, have you had a chance to install RX8man's isolation kit and what do you think? My unit is with Joseph at the moment and we are contemplating having him float the board.
Sherod - any further interm update on the V caps progress? Once the bypass caps have broken in, will you be A-B comparing them to the V caps alone?
Thanks Joe |
Yes, I am missing my unit. I have had a month of patience practice. My Northstar DAC was in for repair of two transitors resulting in no right channel. While the DAC was in I had it modded by Mauimods and just got it back yesterday with great results. Took it world class IMO.
Joseph is doing a permanent fix on the grounding issues I had when I got a custom AH (only XLR on the output side at my request). Meanwhile I am using my ss Aragon preamp. This hiatus has given me a chance to go backwards and see how much difference having a great versus good source and preamp has made. Boy, the difference is not subtle. |
Victor - Thanks for the informative post - are there any adds posted with prices yet for the phono amp? Please do keep us informed at 300 hours on the V caps |
Well, my AH has returned from the preamp spa and it is so great to be enjoying it again. All the detail is there that I have had with my ss these weeks, plus the musicality is back.
Joseph floated the board as Rx8man has suggested we do, and Joseph was able to measure a 3-5 dB lowering of the already quiet noise floor with this tweek. What I hear is nothing - dead silence, except the faintest tube rush with my ear pressed directly on the tweeter. I am running my Amperex PQ's while waiting for a quad of early sixties Telefunken E88cc's I've ordered, and searching for some awesome Siemens cca's.
I hope everyone has been enbjoying the music through thier AH preamps while I have been without mine. Anyone going for the phono stage? If so, are you getting the internal or external one?
Joe |
Welcome JOJO from just one Joe |
I obtained some tubes to play with in the AH preamp and will report: They include a quad Siemens E188cc from the year 1960, a quad of Siemens early sixty cca, and a quad of Telefunken early sixty E88cc.
From my want ad on a-gon, offers are still coming in. If you have interest email me and I will pass you the person's selling information. For example a pair of cca under RCA label for $150 ANOS. I have not researched these offers so do your own diligence.
Peace
Joe |
This thread has been fairly quiet. Interested now that you have your AH preamps, are you sitting back and enjoying the music with big smiles of satisfaction and or moving on to other equipment changes and tweaks? |
Just got my first quad of cca's in today and will listen for the first time to them tonight. |
The Amperex PQ White Labels I have been using are very nice and may indeed be best for some systems, they seem to provide a very splashy, dynamic, exciting sound with a good amount of detail, no harshness and a quite natural sound. That said, last night my first listen to the Siemens early sixties cca's was something really special. There is a loveliness, control, evenness across spectrum, and a wonderful revelation of deep inner detail such as easily hearing the quailty of wood within a viola, violin, and cello sound. I became so enraptured with each genre I was sampling that I did not get to jazz, rock music, organ, and a few others but surely enjoyed classical piano, Jennifer Warne, Johnny Cash, and Scottish Fantasy classical string. |
RX8man - genuis that you are, we wait with baited breath. |
Sherod
Thanks for the cca reference. I inquired and he wants $1,250 USD for a quad matched within 5%. Mark, keep us posted on your Russian tubes.
I have now compared two seperate sets of early cca Siemens, to Telefunkens, early Siemens E88cc, and Amperex PQ white labels and feel strongly that the cca's were significantly better than the rest with finer inner detail, ability to distinguish timber, control, finese, and a more holgraphich sound stage with better air around instruments. The other three types were all much better than the stock EH and had some nice points as well with the early Telefunkens coming in second in my preference. |
I agree Sherod that the price seems high but an admittedly superior product. With patience, I was able to land two quad sets each for about $600 each, perhaps not as nice NIB but good tubes NOS or ANOS. I think you got an even better deal under the RCA label. |
You bet -thanks. Enjoy the music. I can't wait to get home tommorrow and settle back for some listening before bed.
Joe |
FYI, I have noticed that Audio Horizons is now advertising thier long awaited phono preamp on Audiogon adds under tube-preamp. Victor wrote a lengthy "article" with pictures and detailed explanation of specs. Obviously they are very pleased with how the product turned out. Temps me to return my vinyl to my main system. Has anyone heard a prototype or ordered one on the free home trail? |
Ralph
With $400 and patience you probably can find a pair of early 60's Siemens cca's in used but lots of life left condition for postion 1&3 with enough left over to get early sixties Siemens E88cc;s or E188cc's for postion 2&4. A want add here on audiogon turned out to be better for me than ebay or audiogon classifeds. |
Rob
Mine are also medium dark brown. I would guess stained oak due to the grain but would be very intersted in what Victor or Joseph says. |
I heard from Victor (I am shameless about bothering him) that the knobs are an Asian hardwood. He is checking to see with Joseph to see what variety.
TVAD That is the same quote I got at $1,250 a matched quad from that vendor. I sent a quad of cca's from a different source to Victor for his evaluation against his wonderful ones. From this source they are about $650 a quad for early sixties. Will let everyone know the results.
I am in Vegas the next 5 days - wish me luck, Daddy needs a new pair of monoamps! |
I have heard from Victor that Joseph says that the knobs are made from Taiwanese hardwood called, "red wood." That sounds exotic. Rob - may we ask you reason for wanting to know? |
Rob
That is a very nice system and the feet look great with quite a close match to the knobs. What have you noticed sonically with the feet? |
Cool - will wait for your report |
Forgot to update you about my Vegas trip. It was my 42nd trip there to teach a workshop on how to win at dice using meditation techniques and money management, more info at www.RainbowVentures.net. Short version - we won again!
I am in Portugal this week teaching. Great country - less filled with tourists than much of Europe. At home been listening to the AH with the Seimens cca's and they just seem to get better each session. |
I sent a quad of cca's to Victor which he and Joseph auditioned and reported on very favorably. I will compare these when I return home to the ones I am using now from an a'gon member that I like so much before deciding which quad to keep. Thanks for the monoblock tip. I have never owned a tube amp - are they as picky as I have heard in terms of tube maintance and heat generation? My guess is that they are still worth it in terms of sound. |
Sherod Thank you for the information but I have decided to wait on the amps. In the last few days I have gotten hit with a 6k bill for my daughters fender bender, a 3 K ER bill for a visit there by her to check out a medical problem (she is now fine) and a 2K bill to repair a car transmission - so not a good time to get new equipment. Fortunately I can be perfectly happy with what I am listening to now and that everyone in my family is healthy. |
Cedar, I was interested in the thread as well but since I do not own the DAC have not posted. I hope you get some responses. The one thing I can add is that Joseph and Victor recently tried my Siemens early sixties cca's in their DAC and very much liked them there, feeling it made a excellent improvement.
Joe |
Mark
Glad to see that you sold your extra TP 2.0n quickly. I hope you invited the purchaser to post on this thread his or her reaction to the unit. |
La45 Congradulations on taking the chance, doing the work and enjoying the result. Approximately what did you go from and what did you go to in terms of speaker distances and toe in, etc? What kind of speakers are you using? |
Still here and enjoying my AH with the Siemens cca's. I am so happy with my system right now that I may not tinker with it for a long time - just enjoying the music. |
John
I have a picture of the unit in Black that I can e mail you if you want. Sound is wonderfully life-like, very dymanic and quiet with great detail, nuance and punch - can deliver whatever is called for. If I had to pick between warm and clinical, I would say the sound was warm but it is really more natural-organic in my perception. I listened to classical piano and female vocal on the unit for months becuase I was just so entranced by the lovliness. This week put on rock and was blown away by the ability to deliver "have to get up and dance" energy. This is with Siemens ealy 60 cca tubes. Also like Amperex in the unit. |
My system could go bright and also did not want that. This is not bright and there is no bloat. It is sparkling and defined but not etched. Better than my ss preamp in ways mentioned in other posts but without sacrificing bass slam etc. |
Ken Please ask Victor who is the designer's liason to be sure what is available. He can be contacted at vcomerchero@sbcglobal.net. My best understanding is that the preamp can be built with balanced inputs and balanced outputs but is not balanced between, but perhaps that can be arranged. I have a unit with balanced outputs only and hear a distinct improvement over the RCA outputs in this configuration, even on a short IC run. |
I have not heard the phono and wait feedback on it as well |
Haven't heard much lately from our little AH club. How is everybody doing? Any new audio adventures to report?
I just returned from another business trip and listened to some new to me CD's: The Ultimate Jesse Cook, Springsteen's The Ghost of Tom Joad, and Everything Matters by Pierce Pettis. Boy, the AH sounds wonderful. After each trip I am again amazed at the how enjoyable it is to hear. I sent two seperate quads of Sieman's early sixties cca's for Victor to audition for me and he pronounced both sets to be of very high quality (which was also my less informed impression). One set nails the realism and the other possesses a magical fluidity. The differences in tubes are fascinating to me. I am happy that I got so lucky with your kind assistance in learning about tubes and a bit of patience.
Joe |
Cant wait to see the "baby pictures" of the new unit! |
Sherod, Where is the pic of 2.1 with the wooden knobs, please? I looked in the adds for preamp and just saw the metal knobs. Have a good week.
Joe |
Thanks Sherod. I like the 2.0 and the 2.1 equally well in terms of looks. I preferred the black 2.0 as all my other equip was black. How many of you have black and how many silver? |
I would be inclined to go with your best and with the phono unit separate with clear indications of lowest price unit and ease of upgrade.
But it is a very tough question becuase if the lowest unit recieves high praises at that attractive price point, you would generate much interest(sales)with many deciding "what the heck" and upgrading right away anyway. I would provide the reviewer with a set of stock tubes as well as a set of great cca's, checking specific unit and its tubes for very carefully for microphonics before sending. |
Lak - Glad you enjoyed the read. Let us know when you reviece your unit and what you think. By the time you finish you audition and post comments it will likely be a three and half hour read.
After hearing my AH 2.0 a friend of mine here in town is auditioning the AH phono pre, so I will get to hear the phono unit this week. He likes it already and is currently dialing it in. Time to go upstairs and hear some music.
Peace |
Victor, I am a bit confused. Does this issue only apply to motorized volume controls, meaning the remote controlled units? Also it would seem that dead center image is pretty sensitive. I can move my head a few inches left or right and slightly change the apparent centrality of the sound in my system. |
Victor - No worries! My anxiety did not rise with your post, rather I was trying to suggest that you might be overly worried given percieved balance can be influenced by as Bill mentioned by earwax et al. My AH imaging is dead-on and beautifully dimensional. |
Sherod - thanks for exploring the different caps for us and for reporting the results. I was very interested in them.
Victor and Joseph Congradulations of your new buffer. Its a great option for to explore the enhancement of tubes without changing major pieces of what might have been put together painstakingly to achieve synergy. |
I would second Bill's request and reasoning. Joseph's genius for "absolute sound" plus ss reliability, ease, and power would be highly desirable. |
STLtrains - Your query is very welcomed on the thread, sorry I have no experience with the Nuforce amps. If they mate well with other tube pres, they should do well. I know that if you email Victor with your amp specs he will check out the technical matching of the equipment for you. |
Here is some feedback on the Audio Horizons phono preamp. A friend of mine who has been auditioning one kindly lent me his for a few days.
I do not have much to compare it to in terms of other phono preamps and I am not sure of the "greatness" of my cartridge, but I am putting on the same artist and title on CD and phono and listening that way A-B. I am impressed with the phono being very natural, easy and relaxed sounding yet with sparkle and snap. It is very close to the sound of excellent CDs in terms of things that CDs do well. Air and bloom are very good and sound stage is excellent. It is an ultraquiet unit. I would be very happy to purchase the AH unit.
I have used Dark Side of the Moon, some Liszt Transcendental Etudes, Joan Sutherland arias, some solo guitar and piano and a symphonic piece for the comparisons.
Thorens 180TD turntable, Stanton cartridge, AH preamp, Aragon 8008BB amp and Von Sweikert VR4SR speakers.
Hope this helps anyone considering the phono pre. |
Happy five hundredth post day to all who post here! TVAD let us know what you think of the Mullards - at the present I am very happy with a sweet quad of cca's. For almost six months now I have not had the top off the unit for tube rolling. Many nights I am moved to tears by the beauty of the music - that is my final criteria. |
Stltrains - Welcome aboard:-) |
