mulveling

Responses from mulveling

What Does It Take To Surpass A SME V?
Since you will have 2 really nice cartridges, an S tonearm with removable head-shells would be convenient. With SOTA, you have to be very careful that an arm will fit within the arm board, won't bump into the dust cover, and won't be over-weight f... 
Help and Advice Needed: Cary Audio SLP-05 Preamp RMA Disaster
That is indeed very odd Cary has placed a 1st tube stage before the attenuator. It makes for very precarious matching issues like this one. A power amp’s input stage is protected by the upstream preamp volume control, but when the preamp itself ha... 
What does "balanced triodes" refer to as related to vacuum tubes?
Yes, most small audio tubes like 12AX7, 12AU7, 12AT7, 6SN7, 6CG7, 6922, 6H30 etc actually have TWO triodes in each glass tube. That's why you sometimes see gear with only ONE tube (one triode handles Left channel and the other Right) or gear with ... 
When were the best tube amps made?
AR fans will hate me for this, but AR SP9 MkIII  has remained one the WORST sounding components I ever purchased, very bad memories of that one. Hybrid design didn't work for me, SP10 would have been much better choice. This purchase probably aro... 
Too much power?
I really didn’t expect it, but every time I cross over beyond 200 Watts of tube power, I get significantly better dynamics, bass, impact, and subjectively better "grip" over the big 15" drivers as a whole. Like I said I do listen quite loud, but t... 
Four Hour Tube Amp Warm-Up
I’m becoming more open to the idea that sound quality could improve up to 4 hours, which seems to be around the amount of time for the big transformers & their potting to fully warm up. However, it is very difficult to separate any such sonic ... 
Tube Preamp for Pass XA25 under $3,000
@hilde45 The UltraVerve has a very unusual configuration! I was not familiar with its 6AH4 tubes (use as cathode followers), but apparently each one is a single section of a 6BX7, which I do have experience with - as the OTL follower outputs on ... 
Compare Bob Carver Black Magic 25 and Rogue Stereo 100?
No doubt - be prepared to buy and return, or buy used gear you can resell for low loss. Used Rogue gear generally has good resale value. It's best to get two amps in at once and compare yourself over several days (at least). I can tell you an EL84... 
Tube Preamp for Pass XA25 under $3,000
If you can find a used Rogue Athena, it should be well under $3K and it does NOT get embarrassed next to much more expensive ARC Reference 6 or VAC Renaissance V preamps. Low end is solid clean fast and powerful (a hallmark of 6H30 tubes); it real... 
Compare Bob Carver Black Magic 25 and Rogue Stereo 100?
I like how Carver changed from running huge KT120 at "loafing" levels in the 275, to running EL84 (Black Magic) hard with the same tiny (practically microscopic) transformers. Consider getting service on these amps after the latest Carver co. inca... 
Four Hour Tube Amp Warm-Up
Dozens of tube components later, the only ones I ever had concerns about a warm-up time longer than (say) 15 minutes were the hybrid electrostatic amps with lots of high-voltage transistor CCS on their outputs. Never really experienced that with ... 
Not sure what to think or do...
Seriously, I would be so frustrated I’d simply return the speakers and ask for a refund on the amp. Then start all over again with different brands. When I’ve had new speakers, they’ve sounded good from the start. You’ve paid way too much, wasted... 
Amp preamp impedance matching...can anyone explain?
@dpop  Right near the start of that article: "600 Ohms in order to achieve maximum power transfer to the receiving equipment". Power transfer is not a requirement in this application. It's an interesting article and I'll read it, but I also think... 
Why Don't you hear more about Audio Physics Speakers??
My dealer used to carry AP, but now I haven't seen them in many years. I remember being pretty impressed by a smallish AP tower with dual front-firing midrange cones, some kind of side-firing driver, and the cone tweeter. I don't remember the mode... 
Does anyone have Audioquest red wild or wel speaker cables?
Can’t see myself spending a sports car on the new dragons @joey_v Definitely not! The new Zero tech’s "magic" didn’t reveal itself sonically in Thunderbird Zeros, at least for me. I still heard "too much copper, I want some silver" there. I th...