decooney

Responses from decooney

Never Owned a Tube Amp and Want Advice
@dsper A nice place to start.  What brand/number tubes came with it? 
Neutral Sounding Tube Amps - what gives?
It’s also why some own multiple tube amplifiers with different circuits, tube options, and some variation in sound. There are instances where stock low cost tubes offered in new amps can tend to sound a bit dry or sterile or neutral, whatever you ... 
What tube amp for Harbeth 40.1
@yogiboy Any Harbeth that I have owned sounded great with Quicksilver amps!!http://quicksilveraudio.com/amplifiers/ Hey yogiboy, good to know. Several colleagues with QS and others with Harbeths but not together. Which of the QS amps have you trie... 
Threshold 4000
If you got 20 years out of it from Jon's last update, at least if you send it to him again he'll know what can be left alone and what needs replacement, and he makes his own updates.  I'd also be asking Threshold why it's 50% less cost, are the pa... 
Never Owned a Tube Amp and Want Advice
+1@pkatsuleas My suggestion would be to get yourself a good tube pre and see how you like it with your DNA 500...@dsperExactly. If you like separates, try this for a while if you want to learn and appreciate the differences a little more.   Allows... 
Confused as to where to go next...looking for warmth
@andy727Part of the added grain and lack of finesse you are hearing starts with the Node2i itself, using it's own native 24/192 Burr Brown internal DAC. It's a fair throw-in DAC for what you pay for the 2i platform, AND there is a COAX out on the ... 
Think fast: What would you take?
Don’t underestimate fast moving monster fires, whatever you do. Those who think they can sit there in front of their house and battle it with a hose have absolutely no clue. Take a few things and get the hell out of there early, Traffic! Seeing wh... 
Confused as to where to go next...looking for warmth
Can you borrow or demo a really good 2-channel solid state -or- tube stereo preamplifier locally?  Using the Arcam as a preamp-processor feeding your Liberty Audio B2B-100 mosfet power amplifier is the THE limiting factor to your 2ch audio sound. ... 
Never Owned a Tube Amp and Want Advice
@dsper As you likely know very well, a McCormack DNA-500 is no slouch, quality build, big transformer, 500 watts, a capable amp - originally $7k retail as I recall. +1 on 8ohm speaker impedance comments shared above in your favor.  If I were in yo... 
Just installed a bluesound node 2i , quality not so good
+5, agree with others. The COAX OUT on the back of the Node 2i is still there for a reason. The designers provided a good streamer platform with a decent Burr Brown 24/192 DAC inside the 2i series, and it works well as-is for most.  However, if st... 
SS vs. Tubes with Vandersteen 2ce sig II
@eskelinfanHe also talked to me about the problems in pairing tube preamps with ss power amps.Sometimes I rotate in different class A/AB SS amps with my own 6sn7 based tube preamp just to remember where I came from and revisit every once in while.... 
For anyone who moved from tubes to solid state — a question
Looking closer at those TRL 200,400,800 amps, now I think I better understand what was meant earlier around "maintenance", and  "event" when firing them up.  Wow, that's some array of output tubes... Certainly makes for a case of owning a backup S... 
SS vs. Tubes with Vandersteen 2ce sig II
@eskelinfan    If you do go the different-amp route, and want to stay with tube (resale yours for some reason) and want fewer output tubes to deal with, the other option to mention is Quicksilver Audio. Vandersteen and QS are 1hr away from each ot... 
SS vs. Tubes with Vandersteen 2ce sig II
Do both. I tried nice Cifte’ u7 input tubes in a different amp and was underwhelmed. The Vandy 2ce Signature will benefit from added power, a buddy tried my former EL34 amp (12 output tubes) with them. A little too smoothed over. A quad of KT150s ... 
SS vs. Tubes with Vandersteen 2ce sig II
@eskelinfanAnother thought. Check with Upscale. Rather than buying another amplifier, the "Premium" model can roll KT150 tubes right? https://www.primaluna-usa.com/tube-rolling-legacyAgoners here liking results in their PL DLP, thread, 30th post d...