newbee

Responses from newbee

How to diagnose the need for room treatment?
Re distance - 10 ft from the plane of the speakers (10 1/2' from each speaker itself).Re takaways - IMHO, yes. 
How to diagnose the need for room treatment?
Shadrone/Almarg - Good point about beaming in HF and the effect of tinkering with toe-in. But with speakers 11 ft away, and with only a six ft spread, you really are not that far off axis to begin with.Shadrone, "The bass response is superb...". O... 
Primaluna opinions wanted
Primaluna amps, pre-amp, and integrated amps are cost effective and dependable units. If you like the sound/synergy with your other stuff. If.......It is excellent product at a modest cost. It ain't a giant killer, as you put it, but then I think ... 
How to diagnose the need for room treatment?
SPL meter readings could be a LOT worse - a few observations.....1)5db bump at 32 hz will add just a little sense of deep bottom end, not a bad thing actually for many.2)3.5 db boots at 85db will add to the sense of bass, again not a bad thing, an... 
Speaker noise - hissing
Rockyboy, When you changed out the tubes, did you replace the tubes with tubes tested for low noice? Lots of NOS, and new production tubes are not all that 'low noise' in demanding applications like your AA. 
Hum in VTL 125 mono block amps
Couple of other things to try...1) Disconnect the amp from the pre-amp, muting may not be enuf.2) Makes sure that all unused PC's are disconnected from outlets (believe it or not another hum I had was sorced to exactly that!).3) If that fails, bit... 
Hum in VTL 125 mono block amps
Could be you are getting some low level hum from the small tubes? I've had that problem recently and solved it with new/different small tubes. 
Recommendation for vacuum tube CD-player
Don't laught too quickly when I recommend an old California Audio DAC (with or without the Delta transport). I use mine specifically for jazz/vocals because it is a bit forward in the mid-range and if anything (compared to my other stuff) a bit co... 
Testing speakers in room
"What is good enough".....For me, +/- 3db is good enuf, but I have mine down to +/-2db except for a room dimensionally induced dip of 4/5db at 45hz (depending on room temp I think) which shows up in tests at 40/50hz levels, and this is referenced ... 
Which tubes to roll
Tube rolling priorities -Power tubes make the bigger difference which can be good if you are looking for major tonal changes.Small tubes are more for fine tuning than major changes BUT, proper selection can make or break the sound of the power tub... 
Would you buy used headphones?
Actually, you could probably get new pads and clean everything else except the 'drivers' with alcohol and be fairly safe. Fairly, except I don't know how you would clean the diaphrams with out damaging them. And as they say, you just don't know we... 
Tube Amp,Solid State Preamp.
FWIW, think of a tube amp with a passive line stage ahead of it. That would (optimally) be the same as a tube amp with solid state pre-amp, except for with the solid state pre-amp you would have gain. In a perfect world. The real magic of tubes is... 
What piece of music can you play over & over?
I listen to mainly classical and jazz. I've learned that it is best with music that I could 'play over and over' to not do so, once I understand the piece or the performance. Familarity can breed boredom, even with the greatest music. I now rarely... 
Integrating sub via Bryston 10b crossover
"...should the high pass also be at 60hz?"Normally yes, but FWIW, unless you listen to high volume music, you might just try running the main speakers full range, and setting the sub at either 60,50, or 40 hz and see how that blends with the main.... 
will adding a subwoofer improve overall audio
"....would a sub help?"Maybe.............Depends on the size of your roomDepends on the dimensions of your room......Depends on the set up you can facilitate......Depends on what sounds you are trying to add or correct....A sub could add some bass...