@immatthewj
I didn't mean to hijack your thread but I guess I more or less did take it over. I should be more mindful in the future. Sorry.
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Funny. I looked for a good while and each time I found one, it would be gone by the time I tried to buy it. Maybe you remember that I settled on the Aesthetix Calypso Signature. Got it home, used it for a couple listening sessions. It did a nice job for listening to CD's. I'd never had tubes in line for CD listening before so that was kind of nice. I did not really get to appreciate it so much for vinyl as I was having problems with a weak tube in my Cary phono preamp as well as trouble with the turntable I was using. In the meantime, the Calypso started having a problem. LED's were dim and almost no sound. I found a loose RCA cap on the back, maybe all there was to it but I talked with TMR about it and they suggested to just send it back to them for repair and evaluation. It made me kind of nervous about it and I decided to just trade it for a Linn LP12 that they had. Waiting for that to arrive. Only took me 50 years to get one. I hope I like it.
At the same time, I found a Cary SLP 98P F1 in Jaguar red. It has several upgrades, including Lundahl phono input for LOMC, Hexfred recifiers, is direct coupled (supposed to help a lot) and has oil filled caps I don't know what all that means but I know that the upgrades are considered to be important. It also has a new compliment of tubes with only a few hours on them, not burned in yet. I may be looking to vintage tubes as these are all new types and I probably won't like them.
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I believe I was told Jensen caps. The tubes are EH 6SN7, I think 2 are gold and two are not. AU's and AX's are JJ. Probably not what I want to hear. I have quite a lot of vintage AU's and AX's and variants that will be better than JJ's. I've never had or heard JJ's but what I read isn't so great. This is only the phono side I think so might not really affect me too much since I use the Cary PH301 phono pre. I just thought it was a fair option to have the P version, especially with the Lundahl MC upgrade. If the PH301 ever goes down or is off for repair, I still have a phono section that I might care to use. I have others in other preamps, they just don't do what I want.
As to a local tech, probably nothing within less than 3 hours of where I live. My son does some of this but he is amateur at best. I have done a little too but this stuff makes me a bit nervous. We'll see what I find when I get the preamp. Thanks for all.
I don't know how good the EH tubes are. Never had or heard any of them either. I'm sure I'll be looking for vintage tubes at some point.
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A friend of mine sent me a Moscode preamp and it is called a hybrid. He sent it to me to see if it needed tubes as he has no way to test and it had stopped working for him. It had a bad mute switch that just needed cleaning. I was not overly impressed by it but I've heard worse. For whatever reason, it is called a hybrid preamp. Some people speak highly of them. Left me kinda "meh".
Thanks for your explanation. You're well ahead of me on this stuff. I am an avid listener and I try when I can to understand some of the basics of electronics and that's about it. I have no intention of trying to build them. I may replace a part here and there but my skills in that area are very limited. When people start talking electronics to me, I feel like I'm back in kindergarten. I do pay attention though so don't give up on me. Thanks again,
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Yup, I just bought a desoldering rig in the last year. No idea what took me so long. Very handy tool. Knowing almost zero about all of these components is what makes me nervous. With no experts anywhere near where I live, I have to send things away to be worked on and I really don't know who to send to. There is a semi-retired guy in FL who sells "rebuilds" on ebay. I know one in TX but he is booked for 18 months at a time. I'm getting way too old to wait that long. I did send a VPI bearing to VAS. Still waiting for a verdict. He is likely to get some re-tip jobs from me as well.
If it's a simple de-solder and solder in a new piece, I'll likely take a stab at it. Between my son and myself, we can take care of the simple stuff. I talk to the guys over at DIY audio too and they are helpful, just speak a different language than I do. EEese.
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Thanks for all.
Seems to me that Brent Jessee speaks well of the EH and JJ's but I may be mixing him up with another tube site that I go to. Most who sell something will have at least "something nice" to say. Hard to sell things if you say, "hey, these are crap but maybe you'll like them". :)
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Tube depot maybe but I think Brent Jessee does sell some EH and JJ tubes. Any modern tubes I've ever had looked to be very poorly made. I haven't had a great deal of them but Mazda, some Chinese and Yugoslavian (EI?) tubes and none were what I'd call good. All that said, I have not had EH or JJ so I will be hearing them one of these days. Seems to me I read good things about Gold Lion and I think they are fairly new, or even still current, not sure.
So, having Hexfred rectifiers, does that make the SLP 98 a hybrid?
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decooney
Thanks. What you're saying is pretty much what I gather from all the study that I've put into this preamp. At least this one comes with the upgrades and is further upgraded than some with the Lundahl step up. I could be mistaken on the Jensen caps and may have read it on another or in talking to Cary. I can't find it in my notes on this one so not sure. I'll open it up when I get it to see what is inside.
This one has been sitting on the shelf for the better part of 5 years. I am buying it from the 2nd owner who bought it to pair with a Cary tube amp 12 something or other. I pay little attention to amps so don't remember the model #s. His Cary amp started to act up and needed repair so he barely got to try the SLP 98. I think he said he only put a few hours on it and probably wasn't overly impressed since it had stock tubes that only had 10 hours on them. I remember that feeling with my PH301. I could tell that it was special but Chinese and Yugo tubes had to go. Virtually every vintage tube was better than either the Chinese, or Yugo EI's.
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Yes, V12. He said it was a heavy monster.
Will post when I get the SLP, should be next week.
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Thanks guys. You are an absolute wealth of information. I look forward to having the SLP in my system and more discussion to follow. Many thanks.
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immatthewj
Again, thanks so much for all the info. I will absolutely post after getting the SLP98. I'm guessing that a bunch of new EH tubes and JJ tubes are not going to be all that pleasing to me but who knows? It will take a good while to burn them in as well. They only have 10 hours or so on them and likely have only been in place each time the unit has sold. I'm #3.
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@harpo75
Got the SLP98P F1 yesterday. Hooked up and tried it today. I have no sound and no LED's light up. The 6SN7's do not glow at all. They seem to not be getting power. The 12AX and 12AU tubes do glow even though not in use. I wired to AUX circuit so I can use my PH301 phono amp. I would try the SLP98 phono at some point just wasn't bought for that purpose.
Anyway, the PS box seems to run quite warm. My PH301 PS box is nearly identical and does not run warm at all. I opened both cases, PS and preamp, took a couple pictures and put covers back on. Did not look odd at all to me and I touched nothing inside. If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear from you. If I can figure out how, I'll post photos. Thanks for any help you may have. Much appreciated.
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@immatthewj
Hope to be touching base with you one of these days to talk tubes. Have a problem from the get go. No power to the line stage side. No idea what is up. PS seems too warm. Don't know what to make of it. 3 tube preamps in a row with something wrong. I know they all worked before coming to me. My luck.
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@decooney
Got the Cary SLP 98P F1. Beautiful to look at, like new. Only problem is, I have no power. Hoping to hear from Harpo since he seems to know these things inside and out. I took covers off of the preamp and PS, took a couple pictures and put covers back on. Everything looked fine to me but other than a broken or disconnected piece, I wouldn't know what to look for anyway.
It has the gold Jensen caps, was fitted with Hexfreds and direct coupled. If I can ever figure out how to post pictures I will.
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@decooney
Trying to figure that out now. I didn't notice anything but I'm not the one who should be looking. I can see if something broke or got disconnected but that's about it. I talked with the guy I bought it from and he's a bit baffled. I do not want to send it back. I want it to work. Will have to see what a few people have to say. Might be something very simple. I do not know.
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@decooney
@harpo75
@immatthewj
OK, it's official. I'm an idiot. I had the umbilical on wrong. No idea how that's even possible but it was. All is well now, probably just took some hours off the PS caps making it too warm. Good grief. I'm a happy boy now. It even sounds good with croppy new tubes.
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@harpo75
@harpo75
Yup, I'm fully aware of the nub/keyway on umbilicals. When it dropped in to where I could tighten the nut, I assumed all was well but yet something didn't feel "quite right". I never thought it would go in far enough to tighten the nut if the nub wasn't lined up. My eyes in evening light, not so good. I am old and have AMD. These things always go by feel for me. Lesson learned. I do think I dodged a bullet in that it didn't fry itself. I am very pleasantly surprised in what I hear even from new stock tubes. Thanks very much for your help.
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@harpo75
Thanks for that. I concur, getting old absolutely sucks and you're right, young people could not handle it. I've had multiple back injuries, including a fracture and multiple ruptured disks. Lots of hard and heavy work and now I'm paying for it. No surgeries yet, hope to keep it that way. No pills either. Eyes getting worse, might need cataract surgery one of these days. Ok, enough of that. I think this place is supposed to be about music. :)
Can't imagine how that felt. I hate electricity.....or at least the bite that it has. It's no wonder there are so many warnings on this stuff. I seem to draw static charges and get shocks when no one else does. I may be one of those negatively charged types. I guess I should be careful in lightning storms. I do know an auctioneer who has been struck twice. I joke that someone is trying to tell him something.
Anyway, thanks for all. I will try to post some pics of the "innards".
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@harpo75
Yup, I've read about the Sweet Little Preamp and the 98 significance. Same with the 80. 90. 94 and the 05 I think. Apparently, Dennis Had used this "code" in a number of builds, at least preamps. Maybe he had some meaning behind all the numbers. Who knows?...........Well, you might I guess. The F1 seems to be a very nice upgrade from what I've read. Hexfred and direct coupling being more. Not sure what else is in there, several blue smaller caps, wixa or something like that? Definitely has the Jensen gold/yellow caps. Not sure what to look for as to grahill switch. Having the Lundahl step up for MC I guess is another fair upgrade. I have a photo of the guts but haven't figured how to post yet. It appears that we have to pick a host site for photos and then bring them here? Haven't done that in a good while but will try it if that's what we have to do.
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@immatthewj
I took it as the offhand joke but considered that I had sort of taken over the thread as well. All good, my apology to your apology to.................and so on. :)
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@immatthewj
It has been very informative. I'm happy too.
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