salectric

Responses from salectric

Capacitor log Mundorf Silver in Oil
Volleyguy, it appears we are hearing the same things with the CAST caps. As good as they are, and overall they are the best sounding cap I have ever used, the CAST caps are not perfect. We both notice less air and sparkle compared to some other ca... 
Tonearm for London Reference
The Decca International sounded great with my old Decca 4RC and Mk5. So did a modified Rabco ST-4 linear tracking arm. 
Best step up transformer for Benz Micro LP S
I have a Benz LP which has the same electrical specs as the LP-S. It is not a low-impedance MC, and it seems to work best with loading equivalent to 500 to 1000 ohms. I use Jensen 44DX stepups which have a 1:10 ratio. When connected to a standard ... 
Capacitor log Mundorf Silver in Oil
Grannyring, I agree that in some instances the cap values can be responsible for a change in tonal balance. The smaller value cap has a higher -3db frequency. But in my test I used a very high impedance load (330K) so this shouldn't be a factor.I ... 
Capacitor log Mundorf Silver in Oil
I forgot one to mention that the CAST caps do not all sound alike. I recently swapped my 1.0uf for the .47uf. Both were fully broken in. The .47 is thinner in the bass, not as warm, not as much body. The 1.0 however is a bit darker and less lively... 
Capacitor log Mundorf Silver in Oil
I agree with Volleyguy's hierarchy for the most part. Improving couplings caps in the upstream electronics makes the biggest difference. I would probably tweak the ranking just a bit. Going from biggest improvement to less:1. Coupling caps in line... 
Acoustic Zen Crescendo
Sksos1, I will be interested to hear your longer term reactions to the Crescendo. After they are fully broken in, perhaps you can try them with a lower powered SET. 
Solid State to replace Audio Research REF110?
Bifwynne, you clearly like your ARC gear and the helpful service over the phone, and that's great. Nothing wrong with a happy customer. However, your note actually proves the point made earlier about the reliability problems with ARC power amps. F... 
Solid State to replace Audio Research REF110?
I have wondered why reviewers don't comment more often about reliability problems with ARC amps. My guess is that they don't have the amps long enough to experience the melt down problems with output tubes that are past their prime.And I want to e... 
Solid State to replace Audio Research REF110?
Your problems are not due to having a tube amp but rather to having an Audio Research tube amp. If you do a little reading on the Agon forums, you will find many, many accounts similar to yours---a burst of sparks (if not actual flames) and a burn... 
ARC Vsi60 with KT120 valves - issues
For what it's worth, in my Emotive Audio Vitas, I liked the KT-120 best at 65ma. This is with a B+ of 500v so it's not running the KT-120's anywhere close to full power. That said, in the same amps I prefer the sound of the KT-77 Genalex reissue. 
SET amps ?
Thanks Larry for sharing about the massive OTL amp from Greece. Very interesting!Whenever I read one of these SET vs. PP threads, I am always left shaking my head. There is just so much more to the sound of an amp than this one aspect. Most of the... 
Can good IC's be used instead of dedicated phono's
The wires were all about the same length---3 feet or so---and were all positioned about the same. The preamps are all on wood shelves and tables, not near any metal surfaces other than the equipment itself.The ground wires didn't go near any power... 
Can good IC's be used instead of dedicated phono's
I agree it doesn't make logical sense (at least anything that makes sense to me). That's why I mentioned it. I didn't notice any correlation between wire gauge and sound qualities. I tried about a half-dozen wires including solid silver, solid cop... 
Can good IC's be used instead of dedicated phono's
If you use a separate ground wire for your phono interconnect, be sure to try different types of wire for the ground. I recently discovered by accident that the type of ground wire made a significant difference sonically. In my case, the ground wi...