justinsweber

Dean, your thread about the little amp you tested is the reason I am hell bent on tring one of these tube amps....The thing is I want to buy ONE and not have to go through 3 or 4 before I find one that suits me. I have just "upgraded" to parasound amps on the whole system and noticed a HUGE gain in low frequencies but at the same time has the high end a little on the grainy sounding side compared to my yamaha receiver....not as smooth. So, in a nutshell, I am after the perfect amp that I can have the best of everything and be able to tailor it to my taste!! But that sounds too easy!! I wish you luck with finding the 1 amp that fits your needs and never upgrade, Of course you are already well on your way with the upgrade bug, "just upgraded to parasound" and now looking into tube amps. I started the exact same way and i will say this My priority in buying any gear was resale value in other words if i bought it and did not like it i had to be able to sell it and get most of my $$$ back, I am an hourly wage guy and only had the $$$ for one system. It is pretty easy to find out which gear holds its value, and you will recoup your investment. I personally never bought a piece of Chinese gear and could not tell you if it holds value, There's lots of american gear that allows you to try and then resell if you find its not for you for instance the dynaco mono blocks mentioned here, you could use those for a couple years and if you kept them clean and in good shape you would recoup likely 90% of your investment The amp that dean reviewed is by Jweber here on the forum, he makes more than 1 amp. Justin is also one of the finest people i have ever dealt with (I am waiting on my se84 to deliver from fedex tomorrow. link to Justins web site http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://ampsandsound.com/ Sooo incredibly kind! Hope the amp and speakers rock.

Dean can give you an exact measurement.. I have them all boxed up. If needed, I can unbox. The power transformer is just under 4" tall and the chassis is 2.5"... as long as you have 7" youre good.

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your speakers.. .they are iconic and simply bad ***. You can run both your speakers happily. What has been suggested is that you’ll have your speakers crazy loud by using your amp and won’t hurt anything. These the Cornwall is both durable and completely rebuildable if ever you needed to… think Abrahams tank. . By eventually upgrading the amp, it may not get louder but will sound better while doing it.

True dems are 11.5" x 8.5" the wood base add 1.5" and the hight is between 6" and 7" if I recall. They are all boxed for shipping. But that should be pretty close

Justin how would you rate the sound from the modi, I thought it was very good,and well worth the 100.00, it was a major improvement over my sound card. Frankly I am not sure the upgrade to the Uber Bifrost with USB (530.00) was a big step up, I believe the Bifrost did smooth out some grain,extended the bass, and perhaps added some clarity but it's certainly not 5 times better sounding Joe Joe, I wouldn't buy the Bitfost at @5x the cost. I have a $350 emotiva which I think is similar from a spec sheet/ parts perspective... though they are nicer than the Modi... the Modi is sooooo much simpler and punches above its weight.

Im not 1 to set up my own carts... don't have the tools. But The Grado is going to be put on my Classic 1. I had sumiko blue point 2 which worked great, but wanted to setup to MC. As Dave Said the Grado has high output and low output. I emailed VPI and got a lot of recommendations... you might try.

Warm up I understand perfectly, capacitors, resistors and other solid state devices charge fairly quick. By the time the amp is warmed up, you are getting most of what you are going to get from the amp. Anything else is a bonus. Whether it be break in, satisfaction, atmospheric anomalies, whatever the phenomenon may be, if you hear it and like it - its all good. Dave :-) I don't want to start cable, tube or cap debates... But use and enjoy :-).

I was never one to believe about break in... But I have come to accept that amps, crossovers, drivers and tubes all sound dramatically different and improved when they have hours of use on them. I try pretty hard to give most of the amps 10 hours of playing before they leave. Even with that, I know they will require another 20-50 before they settle into their own sound. The SE-84 was built in a run of 6... Im down to my last 2 being on the shelf. Im trying to get to a place where I have at least 1 of everything all built and boxed but kinda a pain when you're have more than 1 product.

Schiit DACs are all really impressive. I do wish there high-end dacs had an upgrade to allow for DSD too. That way, 1 box, 1 solution. I like there 2 solution idea... will prob buy and pair with my emotive DAC, but I don’t even have any DSD files yet. I know many love FLACs... I’m a AIFF guy... when an algorithm removes zeros... it’s not a PCM copy... its a really close approximation and it requires some processing. WAVs and AIFFs require less processing. AIFFs allow for track info to be encoded which is why I love them. Now, has anyone heard a AIFF vs DSD… that’s worth knowing. The more I read about DSD… I think Im a PCM camp guy and not DSD… Seems the prices have really fallen for PCM based DACs while the quality continues to rise. The C-media USB receive used by almost everyone appears to be the only bug I’ve encountered with USB2.0 DACs which is why I’m pulled back to USB1 DACs like my XDA-1, HRT or the Modi.

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2013/01/schiit-audio-modi-2496-dac-review/ Ive been listening all weekend to this DAC... really enjoying... As nice or nicer than the HRT I used to have. Reading all this stuff about DSD... going inexpenisve for a while seems a good choice. Long story, short... I do wish it had digital volume control, but love that it doesnt need a power cord.

The Modi DAC is new to me but so far I really like. It has me considering buying my an HRT like I had and just using it for me main rig. (It being powered by the USB Buss is a plus). I have seen 1st issues raised by multiple grounding schemes. Some powered DACs ground, some don’t… like CD players. The self powered DACs and older Redbook DACs tend to be rock solid performs. The Gen 2 DACs are great sounding but sometime fickle. Regarding sound quality. I won’t use my soundcard directly as it can be prone to a great deal of noise. The Modi DAC is great… You can’t beat its build quality, sound, or ease of use for the price. It’s as nice a piece as my HRT was, though much more shelf friendly as all connections are on the rear. The HRT did provide LED info which was nice though. I do prefer my Emotive for the added convince features, but wonder if I’m missing the point as well. The Modi gets me 85% of the way there… enough to be really happy and doesn’t require a plug… a serious upside when considering I have my TT, DAC, power conditioner, integrated, mac mini, external drives… bla, bla, bla. The 2nd system is DIY SS Pre, SE amp of choice, Logitech Bluetooth adapter and Modi dac. I may try the Modi DAC in my main rig and see if I can hear the diff… 1 input for emotive, 1 for Modi… all into itunes with Amarra. The question for me is to go with Amarra Symphony or not.

Your question is a complex one. How many Jub owners are using passive crossovers. If passives are used, then a single amp is a great choice. But as I assume most Jub owners are running actives, I think a SS amp in the 50watt high current variety or 300watt AB (Like from emotive) would be my choice for bottom end and Single ended (any variation) would be my choice for the top end. (I generally like my sound more rolled and relaxed so a SE amp would give me the lush sound I’m after. If the buyer wanted a faster more taught sound, P-P tubes would be my recommendation. I think the Top Hats sound best with tubes… but that’s me. Among SE amps I’ve built or heard and enjoyed. 1626 Darling circuit… So my favorite if you want warmth. .75watts (NOS BABY!) 6L6 SE (No feedback, massive power supply) ran off an ipod. 3watts RCA circuit SE EL-84 no feedback (RCA manual) NOS Tubes (RCA of course). Easy to drive. 6B4G SE no feedback, massive power supply, NOS tubes (If I only could afford NOS for every tube). Easy to drive… benefited from pre. Built 8 so far…2 as 300b variations. Not in love with the 300b but it could have been the EH300b that I took issue with… Didn’t seem better than the 6B4G but had added cost. (No I didn’t need the extra 3watts). J. 6L6/KT88 SE (mild feedback, UL, massive power supply). This is my all around choice… 6l6s from more midrange bloom and KT88s if you want more authority/grunt. 6T9 from Tom McNally… can’t get this tube any more… but was pretty amazing. 6LU8 UL build and had several of these… can be very quite and tubes are inexpensive, but not nearly as sweet a sound as 6T9. Chinese 845SE Way cool, too complex for me. Chinese 6V6SE.. I didn’t like the low end extension, but that was transformers. I love the 6V6 sound… little more lush than el84 and more rolled, but just not wanted by buyers.

I too second the emotiva XDA-1 and XDA-2. Having owned both... I perfer the XDA-1... Both do not require use of external drivers, but the XDA-1 was a bit simplier... (Both plug and play). That said... I use my XDA-2 daily. Both the XDA-1 and XDA-2 allow multiple inputs... CD player and Compuer... and have full func remotes. For my 2nd rig, I just bought a Modi USB Digital/Analog Convertor by Schiit. (Schit has a good rep. Super simply... no extra power suplies and does Red Book 16/44.1. I used to own a HRT+ and loved it too... again for simplicity. The HRT is $70 more. The Modi is $110 to the door.

To add one more wrinkle. It’s a SET or a different flavor… Single ended tetrode wired as a triode with ultra linear operation and 6db of feedback. The Stereo 15 is push pull pentode.

Thanks man!.. I woke up and put bob marly on the 2nd upstairs rig with the 2way cornscals... your plywood horns! Watching the little one dance to it :-). Off to the pound to convince the wife its time for a puppy.

Hope the additional info documents, my not trying to put one over on anyone... Super small fry who works 3 jobs with wife and 21mo munchkin. I worked from 7am to 3pm at the prison, drove to the hospital yesterday and then did 4pm-1am.... super bad day, left the unit cause if I didn't Id be living there... took a consult at 3am and was typing notes while falling asleep at the keyboard at 430am. All that said... love what I do. I do wish I had more dedicated time to family and ampsandsound. As they say, all things in time :-).

I don’t place the pics up for all to see as I don’t want to get into the kind of discussions that Dave alluded to. Regarding the workmanship. Have send examples to potential customers. Regarding specs, I can place a basic blurb as to how measurements were done on the site… its right along with trying to get a digital shopping cart too. I’m getting a lot of great advise on what to include… I appreciate it, I don’t think it’s been the pivotal factor. When I have been asked individually, I tell me. Much of the disconnect is born of my inability to do this on my own and use of friends to help. I’m not building the site on my own and have to wait for a buddy to help me with wordpress. So… with much frustration…. This info has been avalible to anyone directly asking me for it, IE not on a forum. · The amplifier was set to 1 volt out across a resistive load of 8 ohms and swept downward to 20 hz and there was no change in amplitude. · The amplifier was then swept upward to 20 khz and the voltage out dropped to 740 mv p-p. · The signal generator is a wavetek 98 power oscillator, the resistive load is a home built unit with dale 50 watt non inductive power resistors, the scope is an hp 54602B. · We usually do a -1 db down point when using the gr loads and that shows when the amplifier is just beginning to come down on both sides. · Noise at idle is measured with the input shorted to ground and residual amplifier noise measured on a scope in p-p mv. · I will not send an amp out which measure will more than 12mv p-p · Power supply ripple is 4mv at idle and 35mv at full power. Long story short… it does as I purported.