WopOnTour

The Burr-Brown 2702 even with it's paltry 16bit 48KHz sampiling seems to do fine in well regarded DAC equipment like the Sutherland 12dax7 ($1600) , the PS Audio CGHA ($995), and numerous expensive ($500-$600) "Red Wine" upgrade mods for media devices such as the Musica Olive and Slim Device's Audio Squeezebox. So I figure to have it INCLUDED it in a $300 12AX7 based headphone amp was nothing but gravy. WOT

Yup, $299 - it IS a fetching little unit and very well built! Here's a review at 6-moons http://sixmoons.com/industryfeatures/dared/dared.html The SQ is excellent IMO. Especially using headphones , the speaker might be a bit weak in the bass department but it definatley adds some tube attitude to an iPod or other digital sources. As I said drives my Lascalas nicely, although the little Dared these days sits on my night-table so when the old girl starts to snore, I just plop in my Shure E4s and pick a play list on my ipod and doze off to the pale green glow of the dancing magic-eye tube... WopOnTour

You TX boys may be interested in this mis-spelled auction for set of Cornwalls Local pickup Only (taking offers) http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-KLISPCH-CORNWALL-SPEAKERS_W0QQitemZ290099565904QQcategoryZ61378QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Well that pretty much eliminates cabling or a major problem with a speaker itself. Given the lack of selectable impedance the pairs of speakers should have at least the same impedance rating. Even if they do the true impedance being reflected to your amp is obviously different (not that unusual) and it's having trouble driving both pairs of them equally.Or maybe more correctly stated, your amp IS driving them equally but the differences in the speakers themselves (impedance, sensitivity etc) is resulting in diffferent output levels.So I would recommend you use 4 identical make/model speakers for this application. If these are in the same room it should be pointed out that this type of connection wasnt really designed for bi-amped (or multi-channel HT?) single room listening, Sorry I cant help much more than that.. Good luck with the system WOT

My "tubed DAC" is a little Dared MP-5 headphone amp. ($299 street) The USB DAC is excellent (Burr-Brown 2702E) at this price point and the 12AX7 tubeset provides drippy rich output. (The dancing "Magic Eye" tube is pretty cool too) But alas there's no pre-outs (although I've been thinking of adding some) However it DOES have speaker jacks and the 13 wpc OTL actually drives my Lascala's pretty well! Definately a versatile little guy and for the $$ a pretty good value. WopOnTour

Well I'll just defer my own worthless opinion until I can hear an SPU equipped 124 for myself I guess. (not very likely if all it's good for is mono-jazz) In the meantime, in my quest for more hard data on the Thortofon combo I did manage to find this 2006 write-up in Stereophile.It's not like I'm blindly agreeing with some of their more subjective positions and comments either of course, - But it was an interesting read none-the-less http://www.stereophile.com/artdudleylistening/506listen/index.html *** out

Hmmm not really Running out of options Does each individual pair of speakers work 100% when connected to A (leaving B disconnected) then B (leaving A disconnected)?? WOT

If it happened right after switching tubes, are you sure you dont have a shorted 6550? Or maybe one with a damaged alignment spline on the guide pin (and it's turned into incorrect pin orientation) Does they Jolida have a standby switch or use a "delay" relay ? WOT

Are you sure? Most Sonys have them. It's kind of hidden with a small "slider" switch you have to move with a screw driver (kind of like the 120/220 switch on a PC power supply) The "jumpers" are also used on some Sony amps and bridge the A/B amp sections together to get full max rated power. They are usually just a pair of U shaped devices that pushes into a pair of holes in the back of the unit. WOT

Does your Sony amp an impedance switch on the back? To drive both (A+ channels that switch should be in the 4-6 ohm setting, irregardless of your actual speaker iimpedance. Another possibility is issues with the bridge jumpers that some Sony amps have on the rear of some units. HTH WOT

That makes total sense to me. Good luck on your quest. If you dont have any luck and you're perhaps willing to drop down a notch, I have a minty Garrard Type A I'd be willing to part with at a very reasonable cost. PM me if interested. WOT

Yea, that's true. It probably didn't have all that much in common with the 124 after all. It was 25 years ago, so long ago I cant even remember that it was't even a rim drive, but I've had numerous old Garrards as well that definately were.But once again, I'm just trying to figure out the appeal based on SOMETHING other than someone (or even a large cluster of individuals) saying they just sound better. I'm not attacking anyone, just trying to understand it based on some physical attributes. Maybe I've missed a large number of older threads on this and the animosity is based on "Sigh... Not again" type forum attitudes. I'll do a search. But the archival search features in here are poor IMO. WOT

LOL Give me a break.My opinion is "worth" the same as yours or anyone else's in here. That's why it's called OPINION! WRONG! My opinion is worth something because I have acutually owned and listened to both of the tables. You have not. Therefore your opinion is worthless--complete nonsense. Again, your opinion of the new Thorens when compared with your old TD-125 is valid because you have OWNED both tables. If I chimed in about THAT comparison my "opinion" would be as worthless as your "opinion" of the relative merits of the TD-124. OK fair enough, I "get" that. But I was referring to the technology comparisons in general not the subjectivities of the human ear.[*-)] My old 125 was all stock, had noisy electronics and as you know, didn't have the same type of arm-board design as the 124. Don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing that YOU believe that your TD-124 has superior sonics to any of the other decks you've owned. I wouldn't question that. I'm just trying to rationalize it with some sort of physical quantifiable characteristics.If it's not measurable or quantifiable in some way, then IT TOO can be complete nonsense.To what specifically do YOU attribute it's superiority? Besides the arm and plinth are you making any other major changes?? WOT

I dunno about that (had a TD-125 for a number of years) I see nothing superior at least electrically in these old decks, compared to current technologies. Certainly if there was something that significant there would be an idler model offered by the all of the current big players in the TT arena. I've yet to hear any real quantifiable evidence to their supposed superiority.Older 4-pole AC motors, complex linkage mechanism, idler wheel size and concentricity issues... If these issus are being addressed somehow through modern upgrades, that's different then (similar to spending many hundreds to upgrade older vintage tube amps with modern passives for instance) But I certanly wouldnt go back to my TD-125. But maybe it was better than I recall. JMO WOT LOL Give me a break.My opinion is "worth" the same as yours or anyone else's in here. That's why it's called OPINION!

Ok so sorry to keep resurrecting this old thread, but it's the only one with any continuity with my current amp modifications that many people here have been helping me with.So I need a bit more advice from some of the more electronically inclined here... The pic below reflect the Jim Mcshane PSU upgrade I have been installing in my old 1960 model A-260. At this point I have 1 main question. Unlike the SAMs diagram which is for a 1961 model (and on which the attached schematics are based) I actually have TWO selenium rectifiers in the -36V DC generator (one as shown the other connected in series referenced to GND on the anode) Would switching to a single soft landing fast recovery diode actually provide me with MORE available peak negative bias voltage? or LESS?? I would prefer to have MORE B- to work with, so by my way of thinking, my current plan is to replace the two SRs with a single Hex-Fred. So I guess the old thread title still pertains: Good God, Someone talk me out of this one... WOT

Looks like a good time was had by all [] So what speaker pair won the shootout?? WOT

I have no doubt the idler/wheel Thorens/Garrard are nice tables with a neat retro "look" and decent performance once fully reconditioned. But I would much rather pay $400 for a belt-drive TT with more modern motor electronics that sold for $700-800 in the early 90s (TD318/320) than $1000-1200 (what 124/301s have rediculously been going for on eBay as of late) for a table that was $89-99 in 1960. I mean I understand inflation but... The performance difference certainly isnt aligning with the cool factor IMO. I guess it's just supply-demand?? But I suppose if you're looking to keep "in theme" with your mono-phonic aspirations it may make historical sense. JMO WOT

So based on what I've read here so far I'm going to remove the horn and make sure the front flange mounting is a precise flush fit, and seal with putty Then I'm going to add the Dynamat sheets to the outside of the large bell portions of the horn (using the roller) and finally I'll use a large roll of 2mm soft rubber tape I found to add a few wraps up'n'down the round pipe/neck portions of the horn, replace the seals (cleaning out any internal flash at the seams) and carefully tighten the drivers equally. Then remount paying attention to making sure the mounting is secure. We'll see... WOT

I own a CS-606 (use it mostly for ripping LP to CD) almost with the same Kardon ULM (Ultra Low Mass) tonearm as the CS5000 IIRC the effective mass of the 5000 arm (that uses conventional 2 fastener cartridge mounting) is 6.5g (The the single fastener mount version of this arm used on my 606 has I believe a paltry 5.1g effective mass) Based on the carts you mention, you dont really commit that you are specifically looking for a moving coil cartridge so I'm going to assume that's not the primary criteria. As most all have confirmed the Denon is really a "Rega arm" cartridge and not a good match for the Dual arm with respect to resonance. IMHO you should be looking for a cartridge with a high compliance of 18-25 um/Nm AND a relatively low cartridge mass say between 4-6grams . Then just pick a price range.(and/or MM or MC which is basically equipment dependant) The Shure V15vmxr WOULD fit this bill of course (6.6g / 25um) as does the tried and true Ortofon OM series which come standard with the original CS-5000 (OM10?) which is 5g and 25um. As someone else mentioned the OM30 nude line (35um?) is a significant upgrade. A special single fastener version of the OM20 known as the TKS55E came standard with the ULM arm on my CS-606 and weighs in at only 2.9g! Other good mathematical matches would be: Dynavector 10x3 HO MC (4.8/24) - if you can find one Goldring Erocia MC (5.5/18) - excellent choice for MC ~$450 Grado Prestige MM -Gold/Silver (5.5/20)- meh Grado Reference MC (6.5/20)- sure if you can afford it, perhaps overkill on a $500 TT?? But my personal moving magnet recommendation for the Duals using the ULM arm is the Roksan Corus-Black (made by Goldring UK) It has a mass of 6.5g and a compliance of 24um/Nm. IMO it's easily one of the best MM carts under $500 and retails for $350 (although they go for much less on eBay) I had been using an OM20 with my Dual for a couple years but was totally blown away by the Corus http://www.roksan.co.uk/cor_cartridge.html Good luck and enjoy the Dual , they are a nice deck HTH WopOnTour

Wow! I'd love to see the amp graveyard under Tom's bench! Huge shelves labled 1 thru 10 (insert Homer gurgle here) WopOnTour

What do you define as "big power" ? Tubes or solid state? I'm going to assume tubes for true "vintage" sound I'm a huge fan of the Harman Kardon Citation 2 as a "big power" tube amp 4x KT88 in Push Pull rated (and quite conservatively IMO) at 60 watts per channel and weighing in at 70 lbs! It's the Chocolate Monster!! Combining this amp with Heritage speakers is sure to loosen up a few kidney stones! JMO WopOnTour

OK I've been reading old threads on using Dynamat to add damping to the K400 horn I've purchased a few sheets of Dynamat Xtreme commonly used to add damping to car doors What's the general concensus with respect to HOW to add the dynamat - between the horn and the cabinet like a mounting gasket OR - cover/coat the entire outer surface of the horn itself? BOTH?? Appreciate advice that have done this modification themselves Thanks WopOnTour

I would make sure the "crackle" isnt the PT a boilin' due to filter cap issue Is the PT getting extremely hot by any chance? Since we're in Fender town, does anyone here have a Reissue Bassman they would like to sell? (need one before summer) Many Thanks and good luck with the amp WopOnTour

Wow that's unreal, and well deserved Congrats to EVERYONE Klipsch and at JuicyMusic ! (and esp. Mr Deneen of course) TAKE A BOW ONE AND ALL!! WopOnTour

Please let me know how you like the VA KT66. I'd like to hear someone's impression of them before I order a set. I cant seem to find a data sheet on them (with complete specs) Do you have one? Thanks WopOnTour