Cody_Mack

You mention Mac so you must be thinking substantial power. However, you also mention frequent headphone duty, so don't overlook the Bottlehead S.E.X. amp. With the right speakers, this little 2 watt integrated SET is quite the performer. And the plus is that its claim to fame is as a headphone amp. The downside is that it has no line out to drive a sub. Maybe another downside is that you will have to build it. But at less than $400, this is probably one of the better values in Hi-Fi. Rick

Indeed....state where you are located and just maybe a local Hornhead would hook up with you for a demo...... Rick

I know he said no Heresys, but in my 10 x 12 room (study/computer/audio room), my Heresys driven by a 2A3 amp, and a sub doing bottom duty is just right. Especially for jazz and other well-recorded music, this sytem really excels! The Heresys are on stands. Not only is this a better fit in the room arrangement, it seems to also improve the soundstage and tonal quality. And I tell you, the Heresys love what tubes have done for them. The sub is just slightly turned up at its lowest adjustment; the bass sounds like it is coming from the Heresys. I am constantly amazed at the sound for the $ invested. Rick

Gonna cast out one more time. Rick

I hate it worse when they applaud during the song; kind of a kumbaya thing where they insist on merrily clapping or singing along, or worse screaming. Of course you won't get away from this at a pop or a hard-rock, etc. concert, but then it is usually too damn loud you may not notice anyway. But when a nice artist is in an intimate setting, shut up and let them perform! I will turn off most music that has this. The wife bought for me a John Mayer Live CD and I have listened to very little of it, because of the over-driven teenie-bop screaming, all the way through it. I have been wanting to start a thread on this. I believe someone brought it up a while back; someone performing in Vegas, I believe. I guess I am just getting old! Rick

Pics of the DIY Horns, please []

Looks like it has 1/4 connections for line out. How did you get around that? Cost? About $150? Rick

Knocking again...maybe the DFW Hornheads will be on this weekend. Rick

OK, I will PM you a few days ahead of the show. Rick

Bump

The Lone Star Audio Fest is coming up the first weekend in May. Anyone in the DFW area gonna participate, or otherwise attend the show? I was thinking about getting a room and showing off some of my DIY stuff, but probably not this year. I am for sure, however, traveling with a Houston buddy and he (we) will be setting up his Hawthorne Audio OB system with various electronics. I am also interested in after-hours events. I know there are some things planned with the show participants, but I would really like to get around and experience a nice home setup or two. I would particularly be interested in a certain large, butt ugly system that has been discussed frequently on this Forum, seems like it may be located in Arlington??? There is also a killer home theatre setup discussed on this Forum frequently, also highly recommended. Plano? Jeff? Any other killer systems in town? I don’t get to hear Khorns often enough either. I will gladly bring beer & steaks to throw on the grill, and some music to sample. Rick

Yer gittin there. Just another 698.2 watts per channel and you'll be able to play real music. Someday........someday. So that makes the pCAT only about 675 watts per channel short of being a real amp, capable of playing real music, eh?

Bottlehead makes a very nice phono stage (kit). It is $279, and now or later you can add the C4S upgrade for another $75. If you can't DIY, get somone to build it for you. Excellent sonic quality for the money! Actually, I need to add mine to my signature http://www.bottlehead.com/et/adobespc/Seduction/seduction.htm Rick

Sorry if this has been posted already. Crutchfield may be leaning back towards the higher end. http://www.crutchfield.com/S-zsdZNWDEdbN/specials/landing/klipsch.html?omnews=6613741 Rick

Send those 6DN7s my way; perfect fit for my S.E.X. amp! Thanks! - Rick

Yep, the Paramour uses a choke to load the plate; a large one. The choke is physically much larger than the output transformer. I am reaching for the soldering iron to change the output taps and try that. However, as in my post above, I am running in the new Straight 8s presently, which are 16 ohms. I guess I could rig it up temporarily and try the 4 ohm on the Heresys to see if there is any difference.

So when you gonna pull the trigger on that order. A disadvantage of Bottlehead is the sometimes long delivery time. Yesterday I took my amps over to a guy's house who wanted to hear tubes in his system. He has 2-way Altecs with 806/811 and 416s, 16 ohms. The S.E.X. sounded very nice on them. He was pretty impressed. They will sound even better on your Khorns. That amp is a very economical way to get into DIY, and the result is a nice integrated that actually sounds good, especially when matched with hi-efficiency horns. Rick

Leo - The Bottlehead gear is my first adventure into the "higher end" of audio. I have yet to hear any Wellborne gear. I am still just a little behind on being able to talk technical about these amps. Bottlehead provides an add-on board that provides a constant current source. Is that what you mean? Is that the difference in the two amp designs? I thorougly enjoy the Paramours driving my Heresys. I use a sub to fill in the bottom. All my gear is still stock, so I am excited about some upgrades. I think about going to a 300B for some more punch, but right now in my small listening room I really don't need it. I read in some circles that the 2A3 reveals a little more sweetness than the 300B, and then the 45 is even better than the 2A3. Everyone's mileage will vary, of course. With my present setup, I would often run out of gas with 1.8 watts. I roll in the S.E.X. amp periodically; it sounds very good for what it is but I am often reaching for the volume control on some recordings. It puts out about two watts. I also just a few days ago completed a pair of Straight 8s. I got quite a bit of serious listening on them Saturday night; these speakers are amazing! A (slight) problem is they are 16 ohm and all I have on the Paramour is 8 and 4 ohm outputs. I just picked up a loaner Scott 222c and it has a 16 ohm tap. Hooked up the Straight 8s to the 16 ohm tap but the amp had some scratchy noise and the sound level was intermittent. I couldn't judge the sound quality. I moved to the 8 ohm tap and after the amp warmed up it started sounding pretty good. I do think the Paramours easily won the battle of resolutiuon, hands down. I will do some more evaluating this week. Oh, the S.E.X. amp drives the 8s pretty decent. That little amp has very good bass. As it's claim to fame, it is also very quiet, mostly intended as a headphone amp. And those speakers have excellent bass! Unblievable what those 4" cones can do. Rick

While I was typing that last post, I was thinking about kev313 and his experience with Wellborne; dang if he didn't beat me to the punch.

Oh no, not another SET thread! OTOH, what is the latest story with Wellborne. Is it still risky doing business here? His amps always get very favorable reviews, but from the buzz lately, it is like rolling the dice ordering anything from them. I have been thinking about Doc B's new Paramour II that has the 2A3/45 option with a couple of parts changes. Rick

In my experience, this same described noise was caused by noisy driver tubes in my Foreplay III; these are/were 12AU7A, not branded, that came with the kit. Was kinda weid though that they both started doing it at about the same time. Replaced them both (several months ago) and have not noticed that noise since. Rick

Thanks for the reply. The console is pretty nice looking; very well taken care of. That's kinda what I thought, that I will not be able to separate the power amp. From what I have come across on the web, I don't think there is much 'sonic' value in it, so I would probably be wasting my time messing with it. My DIY experience is so far limited to the Bottlehead kits I have put together. I may post some pics in a day or so. Is there any market for these (consoles)? Rick

Scored? a RCA console over the holidays; appears to be a 1964 model equipped with FM Stereo Tuner, Phono and Aux Input. The power amp (RS203A) uses a 6BQ5/EL84 tube per channel. I have heard of some console amps being in demand, so I am wondering about this one. Question: does this amp have any potential? Also would like one of you gurus to gander at the schematic and see if I can pull the power amp and make it work stand-alone. I can read the schematics, as far as finding and identifying components, but I cannot always tell what does what and when. There are numerous interconnections between the power amp and the pre-section. I can see that some of these are for power distribution (from the power tranny), but I don’t know if some of the components in the pre section are required for operation of the power amp. The power tubes are the only tubes on the amp chassis, so I guess what you call the driver tubes are on the pre-amp chassis. Dang, I guess I just answered my own question! Schematic and layout is shown here: http://techpreservation.dyndns.org/schematics/64/64_RCA_RS203A_140.djvu You may need an additional browser plug-in to view it. At worst I guess I can just tune it up and sell it, for probably nothing, which is what I currently have in it. The console will play music through the tuner, although there is a very loud hum once it warms up after a few seconds. Thanks for any feedback, Rick

I put in a plug for you on our electronic BB at work; although most of the folks are uneducated Blose consumers, I am trying to change that! My computer room is also where I listen to music (tubes and Heresys), otherwise I would jump on this deal. Looks like an outstanding product! Oh, yeah, and I don't have an iPod either [:^)] Rick

OK, you are talking over my head with all the terms like tailboard, etc. This was my first time, other than listening, to get up close to Khorns. He also had a third bass bin in its ‘still under construction’ state and I got to view all the inner workings and chambers. Very cool! There is a removable panel one side, sort of triangular shape, and that indeed is to access the woofer compartment. There was also a loose board that the woofer mounts on; thus you mount the woofer onto the board and then install that inside the bass bin. Didn’t measure that, and didn’t really think to consider the driver size. From what I remember it may have been sized for a 15”; although it could have been for an 18” as well, which may be what the Patrician uses? He said his dad still has the plans; I am very interested to see them. Rick