SET12

I have attended EAA in Oshkosh,WI here and have certainly been on the flight line enough the SPL's of a jet is listed at 130db + in my Radio Shack sound level meter book I believe and I think that is on the idle side of a jet engine I know its painful to be sure! SET12

I would as it loads the amplifer with a set amount of inductance and capacitance with different lenghts you have dissimilar loading chacteristics lets put it this way I have known some amplifiers that have destroyed them selves over the issue I'd also rather have amplifier channel crosstalk even as well when I build amplifers or preamps my wiring is the same length and symetrically laid out as well channel to channel. I guess the choice is yours and how much you believe in wires influence to sound! SET12

Edwinr, An excellent post I am at about the same levels probably a little louder at 90 to 95db once in awhile to a 100db at my chair in my system this puts the speaker at 110db when at 100db at my chair. With 10 watt amps I might add! And still room to spare! SET12

I see you are already using a top grade phono stage. My first moving coil experiance was some 30 yrs ago which made a very strong impression on me for its listenability and very strong dynamics. I have had good impressions from from the grado line especially from Grado's top performers like the Statement. My current cartridge is the Benz Micro M09 a .9mv output that I voiced my 6 tube 50lb phono stage with I like the Benz Micro line and especially their service. It is first rate their replacement tips are half as much as anyone elses! Meaning if you have a 2000$ cartridge it is only going to cost you 500$ to retip now if you want to change output levels say you start with .4mv as I did and you wanted to move to a .9mv you can make the trade even up within that line as I did or trade outside the model line plus some cash. This a great company and the Benz that I have is one of the smoothest MC's around. So few MM cut it for me I'm sure there are some that I haven't heard. If I had to replace my Benz on the cheap it would be a Dennon MC for 2-300$ hands down! A know wonder why the Japanese have strong interest in its sound. A good friend uses this with a pair of step up transformers and his all tube 300B system and LaScala's. So it's something to experiance especially with the Phono Pre that you have! SET12

That works out to 48db of gain is that the spec given for your phono stage? So a high output moving coil would be fine! SET12

It tells me it was an interesting time, the 70's a great period for music, and a greater time for equipment......the Market exploded...trying to draw everyone in....You have to admit, the equipment was nice......The stuff you had was considered Top shelf in that day.....the high wattage had more to do with speakers, than just brute force, most speakers liked goobs of power........I couldn't afford Klipsch back then, not that I can now......and the Market was flooded with Sansui, Pioneer, Advent, Avid, Bozak,Marantz, and last but not least Fisher speakers, some good, most bad speakers...3,4,5,7 way speakers.....yikes...thank god for speaker only companies.......I just have fun looking at the Old Gear......Old Guy just thinkin' back to a simplier time....I mean no harm.......... I second you for the speaker companies I also owned Magnapans, and AR LST's these could really goble the power they were rated for 25 watts continious before the fuse would start to think of going and a rating of 180 watts for thirty seconds the AR's had some of the best bass I ever heard at the time they required a special dealer franchise over the other AR line and LST stood for Labortory Standard Transducer they touted very low distortion. in the mid 70's these were 1200$ a pair and beautifully made. The first amp to catch my ear was a Sansui 9500 integrated at 75 watts/ch playing into double Advents which I owned also, My first amp was a 1060 Marantz a great looking amp first preamp a Marantz 3300 it sure was nice looking a friend of mine owned a Marantz 500 power amp talk about powerfull! He tried out a SAE at 400/ch the Marantz with 250/ch just blew it away! So yes don't we all think of those yrs but all in all I think we are hearing more imformation today then of yesteryear!

OB, Doesn't that tell you something! I went through the same erra I never owned any recievers just seperates I never thought they could hold a candle next to the seperates that I owned! in the late 70's I started thinking more about quality then quanity I went from a Phase 400 and a Dynaco ST400 to a Yamaha C2 preamp , B2 power amp, And the pride and joy I still own a Rare Black CT7000 tuner I used this with Dahlquist DQ10's the Yamaha stuff was pretty amazing at the time so I went from 200/ch to about 130/ch with out any regrets it sure was alot of money at the time to be sure that B2 was some power amp! For me at least. SET12

Thanks Craig, I should of thought of that aspect also in my explaination to him[] SET12

I have heard original Tung-Sol's and I recall them as some of the nicest sounding of the 6550's indeed, Some of my friends have had the most damage done to their amps by 6550's which is why they like to stay clear of them. My self I have only ever heard one 6550 amp that I really took a likeing to. A Russian designer with a name that began with an A. I can't remember the name they were 100 watt PPP monoblocks just beautiful sounding and at 5000$ a pair they should be. EL34's are nice but for the most part the 88's and the 90's are where its at IMO. And I'm sure NOS Valve is under the same assumption for sheer dynamics these tubes rock! SET12

No Problem Jack, Many of these tubes belong to the same family meaning they have the same pin out or with pin 1 tied to pin 8 for the EL34 it allows you to run 6550's 6L6's KT66's KT88's KT 77's KT90's this entire family of tubes providing that the amps biasing and plate voltages are within range meaning you don't exceed the tubes specifacations like its plate dissipation which is a product of plate voltage and plate current. You can run a KT90 with a plate dissipation of 50 watts at 25 watts but you can't run a EL34 with a plate dissipation of 25 watts at the KT90's 50 watt dissipation and so on! One friend of mine has a Jollita 6550 amp that he runs KT90's in it! not that I care for the Jollita but it sounds considerably better with the KT90's in it! The Horn Mono is such a design! NOS Valve amps are another that allows this! Sounds like fun huh! The Horn Mono's are self biasing which makes things easy just plug n' play! A fixed adjustable bias is another story! One just dial's the correct bias current sometimes thats just a voltage drop across a small value resistor this sets the bias current or think of it as a fixed idle power setting that all the tubes will operate at. If the design allows for a range of bias current then it is that much more versitle. SET12

With 25 watts I don't see a high plate voltage and after looking at the owners manual I see the amp was intended for this entire family of tubes. I do agree with Duke here one does have to pay attention to high plate voltages especially with the EL34's and when its high one might use the Industrial EL34 "6CA7" which can handel high plate voltages. As for the 88's I've always enjoyed these tubes. The sound you should find warmer with more dynamic impact the KT90's are another favorite with the same characteristics with a 50watt plate dissipation v.s. the 88's 42watts. EL34's are 25 watts and 6550's are my least favorite and some of my friends won't even touch them. New Sensor does 24hr burn in before matching BTW where as Mike does 10hrs Enjoy! SET

Thebes, I am using a pair Furman Power Factor Correctors the cheapest verison retails 315$ I paid just 196$ for my last one from Full Compass a pro sound cataolog company. On their web site it goes for 260$ with a phone call I got it for the 196$ This a unique design as some designers feel this is a more important issue to go after this device can source current up to 45 amps peak it is ratted for 8 amps continous unlike many others that use current limited transformer couplings and other tactics. Power Factor Correction in now mandatory on all computer power supplies in Euroupe and Japan due to largely poor quality power cause by line becomeing highly inductive which is bad for sourceing current needs for music! Nagra Electronics has designed this into their Referance Power Amps. Furman uses this in their referance conditioner retailing for 2500$ and this is available for 200$! A no brainer for me! Here is some comments on my experiances with my second Furman. SET NEWAS Exhalted GURU SET Gender: Posts: 355 Re: Furman Power Factor Correc « Reply #25 on: 25.08.2006 at 16:18:51 » Quote Modify Remove Well people I have purchased a second Furman! I was not prepared for its benefits! and I have been impressed enough that I will purchase another one for my front end componets! The best way I think to describe its effect on my system is to say that it enhances the effect of having monoblocks to a larger degree then I have previously ever heard puting more isolation between them perhaps preventing crosstalk on the AC line and of course each amp has its own AC current sourceing of up to 45 amps each! Way over kill but it is very audiable! This further enhanced the systems lateral imageing expanding more of the stage size bringing more recorded room ambiance out. It also makes everything more solid and rounder. SET

High gain SET Monoblocks, Source direct. [] SET12

I'm with you Bro! But its awfully cold on this thread []

Dump the IC 150, Go back to the Phase 400 I'll second that! But tubes are great for Klipsch's! SET12 Oooohhhh .....Dan ...... itsa ICY..150 ......[] ton's a negative feedback in that baby ...... Duke, What's the difference I have never heard of a ICY 150 is it a Pro Sound piece?

Take a look at some of this which can be had used at a very reasonable cost and if you didn't like it resold for what you paid for it! http://www.caryaudio.com/products/classic.html

Dump the IC 150, Go back to the Phase 400 I'll second that! But tubes are great for Klipsch's! SET12

is this configured like a Berning Siegfried, or you got some other trick up yer sleeve ...?? Duke, You have a PM. Berning Siegfried I am not familiar with the design. SET12, Thanks for the message. THAT was some interesting reading...looks like you have some really interesting developments of ideas borrowed from some of the best. I've only heard the 811 in a Wavac design and it didn't really light my fire. I would very much like to hear your amps some day. Thanks for reading my thoughts on my work! I just read the review of the Wavac at positive feedback the reviewer basicly never liked SET's till he heard them with Horn's The amp looks small next to my Monos and yet the Wavac has some 15 watts of power ! I am curious as to what speakers you heard the Wavac with and how efficient were they! It would be interesting for you to contrast mine to the Wavac or any other SE for that matter! I would be Honnored if you did! Especially in contrast to a company like Wavac. Just what was your thoughts on the Wavac! Remember I would certainly put you up for a night comfortly if you had an interest in hearing mine and certainly would not be offened by any of your opinions. As a designer I like to listen to opinions. Good or bad! SET12

is this configured like a Berning Siegfried, or you got some other trick up yer sleeve ...?? Duke, You have a PM. Berning Siegfried I am not familiar with the design.

Hey Duke! Thanks for asking! I use the Hammond 1642 SE I love this transformer! They are currently 500$ a pair. It's wieght is 28lbs for my 811-10 output tube running just about 100ma 1/3 of the 1642's capacity, I just had a 4 hr listening session it was great spent most of my time with the Rippingtons Wild Card, And Russ Freemans Drive CD Talk about Bass Geez it was good! SET12

Edwinr, First Class electronics to be sure lots of warmth for SS congrats I have always liked their products! Duke I think think his amp is a CA200 correct me if I'm wrong Edwinr! It retailed I believe for some 3400$ new that buys alot of Iron for a DIY guy like me! But even so it is a great amp! I also Edwinr saw your C.E.C. Transport awesome! You have very good taste! Like I said in an earlier post somewhere my Citation 24 was so close sounding to the Classe I couldn't tell the two apart! It goes to say that the Citation 24 was very very good way better than most SS in its price class of under 1000$ and yet at least match the Classe! SET12

Kev313, Coda, and Dr Who You all should have PM's from me! SET12

Duke you crack me up this morning![]

Steve, I am using Idigo for my tweeter and mid-range from my outboard crossover my speaker is wired with it internally I use Midnight for my woofers internally as well and to the crossover and I use Clear from my monoblocks to my crossover I will likely never buy any real expensive stuff as it can be found used for pennys on the dollar same with interconnects, your assessment of the differences is my conclusion as well it's a matter of taste and system matching and of course highly debuted to its worth among engineers and others as you can see! SET12

DC 300 Series 2 ..?? still, never meant to be a home "playback" amp Phase 400 sound's great in the "sweet spot" of the S.O.A..... 'bout 1/3 power try a Crown Studio Reference, D-75 series2, K model .. for decent SS sound why do you think Crown publishes milliwatt I.M. and THD spec's ...?? the DC models .. have Ton's of negative feedback ... not great for a "playback" amp Hmmmmnnnnn ..... any experience .... w/ Classe, Krell....... wondering the same about You ... SET 12........[] P.S. research LeoK's review of the Crown D-45 before we continue on " SS vs. SET " Duke, The D-45 sounds like it is a different animal and thats good! Glad to hear that the it has some warmth I had a friend with that has had a couple of Classe's and my experiance with Krell has been limited with a local dealer with B&W's a nice combination. I use Klipschs because of their high efficiency not because I think they are the best speaker in the world! They do alot of things very well with SET amps. If I wasn't using tubes I wouldn't even be useing Klipsch's at all its just a preferance of mine I've enjoyed solid state but I enjoy tubes even more and especially SET's for their harmonics and warmth I also can design and build them which is even more satisfaction and I am good at it. I personally will never likely own another SS product as I can build a new amp if I want and go on to other different tube designs such as an 833 project I'm glad you enjoy what you have as much as I enjoy what I have and thats what counts most! SET12