Victor (916) 933-2557 is often much easier to get a hold of and for me to understand verbally. |
Sherod - I tested my cca's as I took my AH unit part for shipping for upgrades this week. On my B&K 606 tester scores from 65 to 120 are Good. When the cca's were inserted in the AH in April of 2007, they averaged a score of 105. Now over three years later they are reading and average of 102.8. So it looks like we still have much life left on the tubes and the AH appears to be exceptionally easy on them.
Joe |
Interesting - thanks for the report. I have my system on for about 6-8 hours a day but playing music maybe two hours of that time |
Sherod
I'll be interested in the test results of old versus new. There seems to be quite a variety in sound between cca's - your new ones appear to be some of the great ones, congratulations. |
Audio Horizons Upgrade
My AH 2.0 unit arrived back in good condition via Fed Ex from the works upgrade to 2.2 status (Power supply, Vishays, Clarity caps, g upgrade, fuse holder and tuning fuse.) As always Victor and Joseph were a delight to deal with. Here is a first impression report. Context: I had avoided the upgrade for a long time due to my years of satisfaction with the 2.0. In my opinion the 2.0 is an excellent unit with departures from live music mostly benignly ommissive versus distorted. Both the old and the new units were set up on Hyperion Magnetic decouplers and mass loaded.
Well. I am thrilled with the upgrade even before break in is complete. The overall impression is that whereas the 2.0 eloquently spoke the music, the upgraded unit beautifully signs the music. Yet nothing is softened that should be sharp or edgy. There is distinct improvement in many areas and no downside that I can hear.
I notice a much improved three dimensionality to the sound stage, particularly front to back layering, less congealedness in complex passages and ability to sense small movements. For example with someone in the background clapping you can sense the swing in their body to the beat. The lower bass is more present and weighty without being louder or boomy. The most wonderful thing is an enhancement in the decay of notes: more natural, going on forever, second and third order harmonics more organically present and beautifully interacting with the leading edge of the next note with all timbral differences remaining intact through such transitions as one note faded and another begins.
I find myself lifted in spirit and heart while listening and eagerly wanting to hear all my recordings once again not so much for increase detail as for increased beauty, emotional impact and naturalness. Thanks to all on the thread that experimented where the meek to not tread to suggest many of these improvements to Joseph. |
Correction 2nd paragraph, 2nd line should read "the upgraded unit beautifully sings the music" |
I was away last week so very few hours on the unit. Will post again in a few weeks when it is broken in more fully |
Upgrade update - AH 2.0nB to 2.2nB using cca tubes. I have over 200 hours on the unit at this time. Basically what I said in my 8/12 review still holds. The unit did go through a an awkward adolescence during which the bass deteriorated in quality and the treble exhibited harshness, but all is well now. Added to the initial impressions would be that the unit now sounds more relaxed, easy, and natural. It quickly becomes hard to remember the previous 2.0 sound and now I am mostly out of the analytical mode and enjoying the music with many CD's producing the thought "Gee, I don't remember this music being this beautiful". |
I am not sure but Victor, AH's representative is happy is answer all questions vcomerchero@sbcglobal.net Hope this helps |
Very very happy still with service, reliability, and sound.
But am replacing mine due to WSF wanting simpler equipment, with the $11,800 Ayon CD5's (Transport,DAC, and preamp all in one box so she can operate easily)- only thing I found that satisfied as much as the AH. Disclosure - my AH is for sale. |
Sherod welcome back and glad to hear you are feeling better. Though I moved to Ayon I still have great respect of AH sound and support and would love to hear the 2.3 myself. |
I had I think a similar issue with my 2.1 and it turned out to be tube microphonics. Using Herbies tube dampers eliminated it by dulled the sound, floating the circuit board helped a bit, also you can try very gently bending the pins out just a bit on the offending tube to get a tighter connection. You can tell which tube is trouble by pulling off the top and while the unit is powered up and connected to speakers, gently tapping the tubes with a pencil eraser. You will hear if one tube is particularly microphonic.
The best solution however that I found that completely eliminated all noise and made the unit totally silent was to replace the tubes with other 6922's. I found Seimens 1960's cca's to be amazing in the unit, but also cheaper Amperex PQ's etc provide wonderful sound. Don't give up- it is a wonderful preamp and this should be able to be fixed easily. You can also talk to Victor or Joseph at AH and they will do everything in their power to help you. |
I did not have a remote and turned it all the way off until I went to use it. It has a soft start up to be gentle on tubes. My tubes showed very little use on my tube tester after 3 years of use with the cca's at about 2 hours per day. I would email AH on this question.
Glad you like the sound, it is indeed wonderful. |
I strongly preferred the early 60;s Siemans cca's. But the cheaper Amprex White Label PQ's were also good, abit wetter and less controlled. Hiss level may vary with tubes. Unit should be very quiet, just a tiny bit with your ear right up to the tweeters. |
Michael
If you want to keep, and seller is not cooperating, send it back to Joseph Chow who designed it at AH and he will make it right. |
When I owned my AH I found that maybe one in 5 sets of Cca's even from reputable sources sounded amazing and the rest just OK. These best sets of Cca's beat everything else, but the rest of the Cc'a for me were beat out by Amperex White labels. Hope this helps - its a great preamp! |
Sherod
That trumpet will be a relief from all that harp music, especially if you know some jazz:) |
Much better way to look at it! |
