Well, I certainly get the sense that the two brands are very competive with no clear cut winner, which is good as I can sort of decide on price, ergonomics, and aesthetics. I had the Placette RVC which was very clear, neutral and deatailed, but not "plump" enough in the mid bass and bass for me, it seem a bit reticent. Maybe the frequencies were there, but no in-room bloom like I get from my Joule LA 150 MKII, or for that matter the Placette Active which I had transitionig to the Joule. I love the Joule, but I also want a passive for kicks and to have a different sound signature to enjoy. I'm not sure what C-core means since I know nothing at all about electronics, but I take it they perform better that EI transformers - don't know. I hear alot about the S&B tranformers used in the Bent NOH, Tap, and others, are you saying the C-core is a superior technology? I'm not sure I am ever going to really understand this so I'll depend on rational consensus and try one or the other. |
The S&B transformers used by Bent seem to have a great reputation, is it possible that the Promtheus trasformers are as good, even with C-core? |
Charlie, I'm not sure I understand the volume issue with passives in most cases. My DAC put out 3Volts and my amp plays at full power with .839Mv, I'm not sure how volume can be compromised. The other issue I have with transformers is that they are bandwidth compromised to some extent, and my understanding (limited) is that my volume control is not. I would love to hear a demo with SOTA passive potentiometer, passive stepped attenuator, TVC, and tube pre. I know there is a gap between theory and hearing, and that sometimes we hear the theory, we hear what we expect. Anyway, it is all fun. |
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Clio09, I've been listening to the K&K TVC for three hours now -- WOW! Works great with the CAT. Thanks for "breaking it in". Love it. |
I'm too enthusiastic at the moment to be beleiveable. I'm going to spend a few weeks with this and my Joule 150 MKII to get a fair measure of both. I have the sense I will keep both, as they both make recording sound wonderful, though different, and both they and the rest of my system sound different than live. Nevertheless, they both reproduce music that is very, very enjoyable in the home. At the price points of the passives, even the "expensive" ones, they seem to be a no-brainer to at least audition. I also get the sense they will last for many, many trouble free years - not much to wear out (except maybe the switches at some point). |
Well, I'm still impressed and I find that it is actually a better match with my Music Reference RM9 MKIIs which are running EL34s, while I slightly prefer CAT JL2 with the Joule pre - the CAT is ultra transaparent on its own. I think the "musicality" of EL34s are better matched with the TVC - a great combination. Don't get me wrong, I'm splitting hairs to some extent as all these pieces sound good in any combination. |
I tried it with the CAT and thought it worked extremely well; the fact that it cost $135 has to make you scratch your head. I order a aluminum case version which I beleive is locked in my mail room at the moment, but will be comparing soon. |
I'm going to be using the Joule 150 MKII which works especially well with my Merlins (and I like the way it looks) and Roger's Pot-in-a-Box for back up should a tube blow. I'm selling because I feel stupid with too much equipment on my hands. I was considering selling the Joule instead of the K&K, but I know how I am with equipment and I expect I may make a move down the road to a non-passive friendly system and regret having gotten rid of a great tube active. |
I came to the Joule after having a CAT SL1 Ultimate MKII, a LAMM LL2, and a Placette Active. All are fantastic, but I felt the Joule added just a touch more "body" that works especially well with my CAT amp and Merlin speakers. What I find is that most of this stuff does sound fantastic in its own right, until you compare it to something else. I have had several amps in the past 1-2 years and they were all great, terribly enjoyable and then I would use the CAT and realize it was superior, without the CAT I could easily have lived with many of them, Quicksilver V4 and Pass XA30.5 most recently. Transparency is addictive, and so is organic presence (hard to describe, but you know it when you hear it)finding something that can share in both qualities, in good measure is the trick, and part of what makes the hobby side of this fun. |
What are the theoretical beneifts/disadvantages between autoformers and transformers? |
Autoformers have been available for some time, John Chapman (BENT) and other premier passive TVC cos chose to use the S&B transformers; I have to believe there was a reason for that. Not saying the autoformers won't make great product, but it seems they were not the first choice when S&Bs were avaiable to the open market. |
Has anyobe heard the new autoformer TAP yet? I just bought one, but I'm sure it is not the first one out there...or is it? |
If by midbass you mean cello or standup bass, I would say both the Joule and the K&K were warmer (I found the K&K to be warmer than I expected from a passive). The Bent TAP-X is certainly balanced in that I feel (in my set up)I don't feel anyone part of the spectrum is highlighted or supressed - I get a satisfactory sense of the whole from top to bottom and very realistic sense of both cello on classical pieces and bass on jazz - and fantastic trumpet and sax. That being said, I think it is more neutral that the Joule in the sense of being a bit tighter and defined, and not quite is "loose" and bloomy - to me it seems like well controlled bass with presence and scale, but not in the overtly warm camp. That is with a Music Reference RM9SE amp that while it uses EL34s, remains a very neutral tube amp. Compared with the K&K, I feel a much better sense of soundstage presence and image specificity based on my memory, not a direct A/B. |
Wow! The new Bent TAP-X using the Slagle autoformers arrived. Why John does not call it the TAP-AVC I don't know. I did not have the previous generation Bent TVC, but I did have a K&K passive using the S&B MKI transformer and I tried it with my CAT JL2 (now gone) and the Music Reference RM9SE. For some reason the K&K did not float my boat - of course it was good, but I much prefered my Joule LA-150MKII and the Music Reference Pot-in-a-Box (resistor attentuator. This is a different creature, I love it and the Joule is gone. I can't A/B for precise comparisons, but overall the S&B did wow me, this Slagle-based unit does. I have a feeling John is going to succeed with this unit like he did with his NOH and TAP till S&B pulled thr rug out from under him. His new product is his best revenge. Certainly worth a try if your experience ends up being anything like mine. |
I meant to say the S&B unit did NOT wow me. |
