tube fanatic
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Posts posted by tube fanatic
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Jeffrey, to me the salient point is your incessant bashing of any amp design which does not conform to your vision of what an amp should be. Your designs may sound terrific, or they may not. That is a purely subjective assessment and will not be universal. I have never discredited your recommendations but have questioned them from technical viewpoints.
For me to have a technical discussion with you about what you promote you will need to present supporting information such as measurements, or computer simulations which prove that your assertions work. An example of the latter is how a choke input filter with inductance way below critical value, and low value caps, does not have high ripple. I believe our past discussions about such matters amounted to a dog chasing its tail. But, I am willing to listen...
Maynard
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Jeffrey, bashing every amp out there because it isn’t constructed as you see fit does not endear you to many who follow your posts. It is not necessary for a person to hear your, or Dennis’, amp to know that they are totally satisfied with what they have. Do you remember saying this on another forum:
“Of course as soon I write I think that 99.99% of the amps are unsatisfactory I have just alienated myself to anyone who reads my post, and has carefully, thoughtfully paid their money for whatever amp they own.”
The presumption from your statement is that you have indeed heard 99.99% of the amps out there. Forgive me for finding that a bit hard to believe. I’m sure that the followers of this fine forum are just as astute as those on the forum where you made that statement and were ridiculed for doing so.
Maynard
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Roberto, with all due respect for Jeffrey who is very passionate about what he believes, I urge you to seek advice from others before you implement his proposed changes and modifications. I can’t count the number of amps out there which do not utilize the Medwin/Fraker philosophy which are truly outstanding in every respect.
Maynard
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Self explanatory!
Maynard
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If this is anything like his GG preamp, it should be a real winner. I was astounded at the bandwidth and performance of the one I built for Carl years back. For the price, I don’t see how you could go wrong with it.
Maynard
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I exist in a world where 1 watt is high power. It all depends on listening level and distance from the speakers when listening. Speakers with fairly low sensitivity can often be used very successfully in small room or near-field applications. One does not need to reproduce the levels of live rock concerts to enjoy the music, and the guys I know (except for the guy down the road whom I have mentioned in the past) cannot even tolerate such levels at this point. My own listening requires only a few milliwatts, so a 100mw capability provides all of the headroom needed. I will gladly post the link to the thread on how to measure the power you require if anyone is willing to do it. You could be very surprised at how little you really need!
Maynard
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Joseph Marshall, who was very prominent in the audio world of the 50s, said this in 1956. I agree with him based on my own experiences through the years, particularly when Klipsch speakers are used.
Maynard
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Jeffrey, you suggested replacing parts under the chassis where there is risk of shock or electrocution from power supply capacitors which have not discharged.
I will be busy the rest of the day so you have free rein to give advice without worrying about any counterpoint from me !
Maynard
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In electronics there are often multiple solutions to problems. I urge you to research them before you accept the opinions of one person as being the only option.
I agree with Erik about the wire, and echo his question about high voltage experience.
Maynard
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A significant cause of nighttime driving issues is a dirty windshield. Outgassing of interior materials deposits a film on the glass while exposure of the outside completes the process. Try cleaning both surfaces (use cloth, not paper towels) until the glass seems to disappear and then go out for a night drive to appreciate the difference. You will want to repeat the cleaning at least weekly. Remember, even a slight film will cause a great deal of light scatter which is why oncoming headlights can blind you. Smoking even one cigarette in the car can place enough film on the interior to destroy your nighttime driving ability.
A reflection free coating can be applied to any ophthalmic lens which also helps hugely. Whenever you see someone who seemingly has no lenses in their frames it is because of this coating.
The criterion for cataract surgery is when your sight is no longer satisfactory for your needs. The days of waiting for them to reduce your vision to some arbitrary level have been long gone (back in the day it was called waiting for cataracts to be “ripe”). Neil, I recommend you get another opinion. Multi focal lens implants allow many to be glasses free as well.
Eyeglass lenses need to be cleaned daily. Liquid dishwashing soap and water works great. Dry the lenses gently with a well washed, soft, cloth.
Maynard
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Welcome to the forum Henry. It is nice to have another tube enthusiast participating.
In regard to the Edcor OPTs, I believe they rate the frequency response at only 1 watt. The response will decrease as power increases. Other companies, like Hammond, specify bandwidth at full rated power.
Maynard
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This doctor from the UAB has expressed concerns:
Duke University has found some commonly used masks are ineffective. So why are they still being recommended as being “better than nothing?” If the object is to contain the virus, the only masks which we use should be rated for filtering virus sized particles. Unfortunately, they can not be found anywhere.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/08/us/duke-university-face-mask-test-trnd/index.html
Maynard
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Personally, if I had school age kids I would keep them home. In normal times my wife’s class experienced colds, bronchitis, strep throat, ear/sinus infections, stomach viruses, and other nasties by the 3rd week of school. Some kind of protocol has to be created to differentiate other fever causing illnesses from this coronavirus. Listening to the school board meetings about this via Zoom has not left parents with a good feeling about ensuring safety.
Maynard
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More reason to be concerned about schools opening:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/within-11-days-schools-opening-191000276.html
Our local district has not disclosed what they will do if anyone tests positive. They are relying on parents signing in to a web site everyday to state that their child is healthy. From experience my wife knows, as a retired teacher, that parents are not always truthful.
Maynard
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You need to find a way to audition a prospective amp in your system as that is the only way for you to know if it will satisfy you. Some companies, like Decware, offer a return option:
https://www.decware.com/newsite/homepage.html
I recommend calling Steve Deckert to discuss your goals with him. His products have withstood the test of time, don’t require component changes to sound well, and rarely show up on the used market. The lifetime warranty isn’t a bad deal either.
Maynard
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Here is another reason that school reopening may be dangerous:
Even Fauci admitted during a virtual town hall meeting the other day that opening schools may have a degree of risk but that it will serve to generate data about spread of the virus. Do you want your kids or grandkids to be part of a lab experiment?
Maynard
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NJ teachers are becoming increasingly concerned about returning to school for many reasons including lack of PPE. The local district, with 3700 kids in 6 schools, has only been able to obtain thermometers. Everything else is on order with no specified delivery date. What’s going on with this in the rest of the country?
Maynard
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55 minutes ago, CECAA850 said:
You ever wear a mask for 8 hours?
Yes, I have! And it was while working in a hot attic in the spring.
My point here is that the guy was breathing all over his hands and then touching merchandise as well as money and the receipt. That puts the customer and himself at greater risk. Employers should give their people frequent mask breaks to alleviate their discomfort. There’s also the issue that freely breathing discharges huge amounts of virus into the air. It isn’t just droplets that are of concern. Just my take on the situation.
Maynard
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Some NJ school districts are going against Murphy's orders and will be 100% virtual for the first quarter at least. Good for them! Another district is “complying” by allowing students to come in only one half day per week.
Went to Lowes yesterday, and while waiting to check out for 5 minutes, watched the cashier pull his mask below his nose and then pull it back up again at least 15 times. Unbelievable.......
Maynard
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8 hours ago, garyrc said:
A tone, or a sample of pink noise (usually 500 Hz to 2,000 Hz) is, IMO, continuous, not peak.
The SPL of a sample of music played as loud as we ever would depends on:
- Mood
- The amount of distortion in the recording. IMO, the more distortion on the recording, and the more noxious the type of distortion, the lower the the preferred SPL, and therefore the lower both the watts and volts. I guess I'd play the cleanest, least distorted recordings I have, and select the loudest, if I wanted to know the max amp power and voltage I needed.
I don't have a working multi meter right now.
BUT:
- Can it be that the Crown calculator is not working properly right now? With the Khorn sensitivity re-rated at 101 dB (since Crown probably assumes anechoic chamber measurements, at 2.83V, at 1 M, rather than Klipsch's rating of 105 dB in a typical room ) at 4 meters distance tells me I need 40 watts to produce the 102 dB peaks THX recommends, in my 4,257 cu. ft. room. I could swear it gave me 6 watts in the past.
- Another calculator says that 10 watts will do the job. That's much closer to what I thought. Wouldn't that be about 3.16 volts? That calculator is at: http://myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html
- When I used to have a power amp that had a (supposedly) peak reading meter, once in a while it would reach 25 watts, just for a moment. I think that would be about 5 volts.
Anything subjective is going to have some variability which is why Pano recommended setting the maximum subjective level by using multiple recordings. His method, which I have tried in many systems, has been excellent. Calculators are fine, but can only provide very basic information and guidance. The thread on DIY is still active after 8.5 years, and should be read in its entirety by anyone interested in actually measuring their equipment.
Maynard
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Instead of debating how much power is needed, why not measure it?
That said, I have powered LS systems with as little as 300 milliwatts per channel and it was far more than needed.
Maynard
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7 hours ago, Jim Gregory said:
Since rectifier was brought.... I have Cary 805C monoblocks that have one rectifier in each amp. Cary states as 1629/6U5. Researched and find that the 1629 and 6U5 is the same “if I am understanding it correctly”. One of the amps has the rectifier going out. Should I replace both ? They are both the same age.
The 1629 and 6U5 are not rectifiers. They are “tuning eyes.” Their filament voltages are not the same, and require different sockets.
Maynard
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Sent you an email a little while ago.....
Maynard
SCHITT SYS DEMO by Carl
in Talkin' Tubes
Posted
I still remember my amazement at the astounding bandwidth of Carl’s GG preamp. When inserted between my CD player and any of my amps there was no change at all in sound quality. I’m not easily impressed!
Maynard