newbee

Responses from newbee

Where is my weakest link?
Your listening position can greatly effect the amount of bass you hear - have you optomized that yet? 
If you can only choose one of these Amps
Like others I am not familar with all of the amps in your list, however I have very revealing speakers with a nominal impedence of 5 ohm and 86dba and I use a Muse 100 as my summer amp in leiu of 160wt tube monoblocks. Except for some loss of uppe... 
Impedance problem with Rowland model 5?
To me it sounds as if your problem is simply that the phono pre amp/cartridge has insufficient gain to drive the amp. This doesn't sound like an impedence problem - usually impedence problems are evidenced by a loss of high and low frequency info,... 
Eva Cassidy Catalog
I thought I had them all too. Now I find I'm missing "No Boundries". Method Actor is a 1988 recording - frankly, it reminds me of some kids recording in their garage, but Eva's raw talent is still worth hearing. I assume you have "The Other Side" ... 
Tube ---- Ei 12ax7
I use and find the recent production EI's to be excellent in all but two respects - they are not overly warm but they produce a very clean clear sound. They are not etched or cold sounding. The currect EI's are having quite a bit of quality contro... 
Four front main speakers for 2 channel listening?
Four idential speakers, two each side, will only screw up the stereo imaging. At best, you only increase the volume of out put 3db. I wouldn't bother. 
Tube Pre Amp + Tube Phono Section
An SP 8 would really be an excellent choice, as would an SP 6, however, unless you are lucky, at their age you might need to get them serviced at ARC - but I wouldn't let that stop me! For something modern, with excellent sound, and minimal tube m... 
Review: Audio Research SP-6b Tube preamp
Glad you are enjoying this nice old preamp. I too love ARC's from the SP10 back in time. I believe the gain reduction built into the SP6 effects a reduction in gain from the source - it does not actually effect the gain of the line stage out to th... 
No Feedback Flakes
While I understand that this can be a pain in the ass, as a buyer I'm not sure how sympathetic I am. Are you aware that the sellers here only seem to post feedback after the buyer does, if at all. So if the seller commits some sins, but not great ... 
Vocabulary question
Both tube amps and SS can be slow or fast sounding - a lot has to do with how they integrate with your speakers. I think speakers are a bigger problem than amps - one reason that a lot of folks like panels and electrostats - they are faster and do... 
Vocabulary question
For me an amp which is fast is one in which the leading edge of a note (burst of sound) rises from nothing to full reproduction in a very short time. Think of a graph with a flat line which, when there is a burst of energy, can move perpendicular ... 
Ported Speakers and Tube Amps??
Sean, When you talk about bass what range are you referring to hz wise? When you talk about large drivers what sizes are you talking about? I have ported speakers with a 9" dynaudio driver, driven by 160wt mono tube amps and the bass sounds about ... 
Help Troubleshoot - Left Ch. Louder than Right Ch.
You may have just had a pin on the tube in poor contact with the socket. If it were me, I wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth - but what I do, so I won't get upset when tubes die, is keep a pair of spares for emergencies. 
Help Troubleshoot - Left Ch. Louder than Right Ch.
No, I was referring to the small tubes, the 12AU7's. It is not unusually at all that when small tubes die that you start to loose volume before they go dead. The 6550's are usually referred to as the power output tubes. 
Help Troubleshoot - Left Ch. Louder than Right Ch.
Try switching the drive tubes first - you don't have to worry about the bias settings on these.