larryi
Responses from larryi
| Sweet new tube amp needs better speakers Is there a reason why it has to be a floor-standing speaker instead of a speaker on a stand, particularly where the speaker/stand combination takes up an equivalent amount of space?:If you can locate the speakers somewhat close to the back wall, I... | |
| Sound-Smith retipping If you really do hear an improvement, then the sound has been altered. Any alteration can be for the better or for the worse depending on your taste and on how the change interacts with the rest of the system. The fact that most of the reactions... | |
| Townshend Pods under TT Don’t Do Even if you have the right springs for the particular weight of the table, putting all the mass on top of the compliant footers makes the whole system inherently unstable. When a suspension is built into the table, the center of mass is at or bel... | |
| Auditioning headphones (ethically)? I own a pair of the the older version of 007 phones and a Headamp Blue Hawaii SE amplifier. I considered the 009 phones, but, overall, I prefer the less bright sound of the 007 phones. I have heard the Dan Clark phones on this amp, and I like th... | |
| Auditioning headphones (ethically)? I agree with tonykay about going to a show. I think an audio show is the only way to really hear and compare phones. I love the venues with the giant ballroom full of exhibitors. Everyone is helpful, and most are willing to permit you to take th... | |
| So where should the tubes be? I don’t think one can really experience what is special about tubes if the amp is not a tube amp. But, it is critical to audition the candidates and to choose the right amp for the particular speaker, room conditions, volume requirement, etc. It... | |
| So where should the tubes be? It depends on a lot of design considerations. If the component has AC from the power outlet converted to DC by a tube rectifier, that is at least one tube. Some gear also use tubes to regulate voltage. At earlier stages of amplification, most, ... | |
| Speakers for triode tube amps I have not heard the specific model of ProAc speaker you are looking at, but, I've heard several other models, including stand-mounted speakers with the ribbon tweeter. I really like the ProAc ribbon tweeter speakers I've heard. This is one of t... | |
| Tube testers Yes. While I have personally been fortunate in that I've never had a tube failure, including tubes I've been running for 15 years or so. But, I know of plenty of instances where a tube suddenly failed after testing strong on a TV-7. It is just ... | |
| Tube testers Vinylvalet,The tube tracer looks quite interesting, but it appears to be a pretty complex and tedious process (I suppose it is fun to some people). The Amplitrex, if attached to a computer, will also trace the tube. I lasso like the fact that it... | |
| Tube testers Probably the best is the Aplitrex tube tester. It is extremely easy to use (no looking up tube types to set operating parameters), it gives both real numbers (emissions, transconductance, noise) and the standard values for each of these numbers f... | |
| So where should the tubes be? Where tubes make the biggest impact on the sound is the amplifier. But, good tube amplifiers also represent the highest cost in making a switch (good output transformers are particularly expensive and important to the sound), so that might not be... | |
| Problem Solvers Needed-Got my New XOs installed and am worried.... A good crossover design would involve more than looking at the speaker specifications and box dimensions, etc. and would involve more than actual measurement of the speaker--you would expect there to be some iterative process involving listening t... | |
| Point to Point vs Circuit Board I know a builder that does something pretty unique. He primarily builds amps, preamps and linestages, but, he also builds DACs. All of his builds employ point-to-point wiring (he builds tube gear), but for the DAC, a circuit board is used for th... | |
| Point to Point vs Circuit Board Even in the tube camp, not everyone will agree that point-to-point is superior. You can spend well into six figures for an Audio Note amp, and it utilizes printed circuit boards. I don't think this was done to cut cost, as nothing else in their ... |