Mike Dubay

GGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!! Got to get that in vynl for the large image format....

I would say let your ears be the deciding factor. I have listened to various CD players and can hear differences in quality, and not necessarily in relationship to cost. I have an older early 90's Sony with Burr Brown A/Ds that continue to sound great, on par with my newer Marantz CD player. I receved a freebie Sony multi CD player that gives acceptable results. For a short time I used an inexpensive Sony DVD player that sounded horrible. If you are going to move into the $1K+ range any reputable shop will allow an in home listen with some A/B testing at no cost. I previewed a show room example of the Marantz for a weekend which helped seal the deal.

My album score from last weekend: Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet (bit of popcorn on 1st side, but still sounds nice) (guess who) - The Best of Wes Montgomery Verve Santana (Waiting/Evil Ways) The Steve Miller Band - Brave New World The Moody Blues - Long Distance Voyager John McLaughlin - Between Nothingness and Eternerty The Who - The Who By Numbers They are on tap for listening tonight. With the tough economy here in Michigan, weekly 2 to 3 entire album collections are showing up at my local record store. Give up all of my records at $1 each? I think not. I would rather give plasma...

Steelie Dan - Aja Wayne Short - Highlife

For the lowest of budgets go with a passive attenuator, even for about $20 of Radio Shaft parts you can make a decent passive. An Alps potentiometer is the next step up. Then stepped attenuators and gold plated rca plugs are a step further, maybe in the $100 range. I have done each of these myself along with a Halfer preamp kit. Added an inexpensive solid state phono pre on one system, other system has a home built tube phono preamp.

#2 for sure. So how are you going to keep the little fingers away from those prettly glowing shiny tubes? When I have my solid state stuff, my 3 year old daughter kept playing with the knobs for a few days. Finally I gave up and she finally turned the volume to about 8 and shortly found the volume switch. Volaire! No more touchy daddies shiny stereo stuff.[:'(]

I'm of the school that if your caps are not shot now, brining them up to voltage will do them in. Since this has a tube rectifier, I like to pull the rectifer, then slowly bring up your voltage. Monitor the tube heaters and if you smell any thing burning. When up to 100% on the variac check to see if the transformer is providing high voltage ac, pins 4 and 6. Check to see if your output transformer is not shorted, there should be a small resistance in both the primaries and secondaries, and make sure they are not shorted to ground. Replace all of your electrolytic and metal film capacitors, those multi can capacitors are prone to failure. Ceramic capacitors seem to last forever. Check you tubes, and you should be good to go. That looks like a very nice mono amplifier project, tell us how it goes.

Swapped out my Sanyo TT with a Yamaha 583 TT and Audio Technica cart. Along with about 100 albums to go along with it. Much smoother upper base and midrange. Might be looking at a cart upgrade in 2009.

I personally agree fully with items 1 and 2. I get excited heading out to the local used record store each payday with in a month. Gives me the satisfaction of earning something. Else, all bill paying and pay checks are done electronically. I never get to 'see' the results. I read that children have to hold something for a period of time to feel that it is theirs. I see how far I have progressed. I do love having my two other down stairs systems, I feel free to tweek, swap, and modify. Have my one and only system down for days/weeks would not be pleasant.[:^)] But they are out of sight and not prone to having to deal with WAF.

Oldtimer, The album is Misterisos, which is several tracks recorded live. Besides the artist, it was produced by Teo Macero, who got the best out of Miles. I don't like to use hyperbole, but Monk is a genious. The album had a pretty bad scratch on one side, but when I played it on the stores turntable you could barely make it out. Best $6 spent this month. Can you recommend other albums? Many thanks. - Mike

There is a "golden ratio" for applying capital investiments to you system: Spend 50% on source material. Spend 25% on speakers. Spend 25% on every thing else. If you have a system that gives you great satification, it is a shame to not have enough music to appreciate it. Valves sound better to my ear. You don't have to spend mega $ to get great sound. Listen to music new to your ear. Worst case, you don't listen to it again. Best case you have a new genre or artist you enjoy. I scored a T. Monk album last week. There will be more to follow.

I used a Halfer preamp for many years, and was quite pleased with the sound. A concern I would have is the age of the capacitors, it might be time for replacement. But since this was a kit, you could easily specify and acquire replacements. I would low ball them with a $75 offer and see if they bite. Use the capacitor age information as a lead in for your lower offer.

I have heard only one SET amp with two single driver speakers. The SET is shown to the left, my home brewed system. Sovtek KT-88's in triode mode. Some of this winters experiments are to upgrade the preamp tube from russian to either Mullard 12AT7 or 12AX7's that I have come across. There are so many heritage fake tubes out there, I have been reluctant to move on them. Might upgrade to JJ or Gold Lion reissue KT88's... Someday build a true triodes amp? Not sure yet. I did build a speaker pair with the of the Bamboo Tang Band drivers mentioned above. The best vocal/mid range detail that I have heard, but very bass shy, and not that efficient. A steal at this price. I have them at my experimenters work bench as my 'test' speakers in a ported enclosure. Been considering building a horn loaded cabnet. The other full range speakers are Audionirvana 10 inch Standard drivers. Higher efficiency, around 100 db/watt. Better 3 dimensonality, maybe just slightly less detail the the TB drivers. But adequate bass, maybe down to 100hz, can follow the bass lines. Been listening them for a year and just now getting to build a sub for the system. Some people like these, other hate them, I'm a fan. Both speakers give that midrange detail, and better spatial quality to the music. They provide extended listening sessions with no fatigue. Since they are in my Man cave were I work out, I end up listening to them more often than my Klipsch. I continue to follow the 'audio cheapskate' path with this SET system. Not in the same league as some of the other posts, but I enjoy listening to them.

Last winter I build a pair of MK IIIs from Dynakit. Very happy with the results. I have not done any modifications, but plan on replacing the existing pp caps with high end replacements, maybe this winter. You don't need much tube back ground, can be assembled 'cook book' style. A week of evenings and they were assembled.

I have been looking at getting into an inexpensive IR thermometer. My power trans runs warm on my SE amp, but less than 100C, does not boil water.

And your 999th post, what will be your 1K subject?

I have been using the Pro-Ject above for a couple of years. I am happy with the sound and it is up your alley price wise.

I second that suggestion. I have done my burn in periods at low volume, but for exteneded periods.

OH, BTW, I have been lurking in the weeds for several years now also, just starting to post now. Kind of fun just watching, eh, eh....[6]

I had a similar problem. Wanted both a nice 2 channel and HT. Ended with two separate systems, with my HT LF and RF speakers sitting on top of my 2 channel KG5.5s. My room is slightly larger than yours.

[H]Nice post. Reminds to step back for the building and technology and listen to the music. I did not have much money to purchase albums when I was young. But I feel I get a second chance at youth going to the used record store and pick up titles from my middle and high school years. Scored a couple of Rolling Stones and Dire Straights titles. I get transported to the days spent in my Firebird at the park listening to the AOR radio stations.

CT Very slick job on the cross overs! Nice idea to use the solder lugs to make a solder connection and affix to a non insulator. It gives you a test point also to boot. Sweet. I'm considering doing a pair of corn scalas next year, based of some of the builds I have seen on the forums. I'm still in the process of learning how to use the audio transformers shown. I have built several speakers with cap/choke x-overs. What drivers did you use?

Two years ago I spent time listening to several integrated recievers for my home theater system. I ended up with a Dennon 7.1 reciever, which in my ear just eeked out Pioneer and Yamaha recievers.. I do see that when you put them in 2 channel mode you can bridge the two left and right channels for stereo. It was rated at 75wpc, which would be ample for your speakers, and was on sale for less than $300.

With the great efficiency of the Corns or LaScalas I would vote for Single Ended. They give a more detailed sound compared to push pull, but can be a bit shy in the bass. If you are a bass nut such as myself then add a subwoofer in the future. If a sub is not in your future, then a lower powered push pull would be a good choice. The ST-35 or ST-70 would provide enough watts IMHO.

I would say building kits is generally most cost effective way, and you can control the quality of the components. I guess you need to decide if you want to go Single Ended or Push Pull. Each has a sound to themselves. SE tends to be more detailed, but requires speakers with high sensitivity. At the $1000 price point there are lots of options and good equiptment. Careful, amplifier building can become an addictive hobby. After I built my first kit I continue to want to build another after another. I have built a pair of Dynco clones, see the web site dynakitparts.com. I have built a pair of the MKIII and was delighted in the quality of the kits. These kits at this site are push pull amps in the 17 to 60 watt range. I would second the notion, these are put together cook book style. There are several SE builds on the internet, I have completed this amp http://diyaudioprojects.com/Tubes/KT88/, This would give you a better understanding of the amplifer design. This is around 5 to 10 watts. Also in this web page is a simple single ended 50eh5, which uses low cost tubes and transformers. Building this would give you a good understanding of assembly techniques before you step into a high dollar kit. All of these kits are well within your price range.