erik2A3

Hey, Dean! You hang in there, okay?! I have no doubt you are in the best of hands. Very Best, erik (THAT one!) edit (what would one of my usually way too long and overly-hyphenated posts be without the edit!?) I rebuilt an "A" network for my La Scalas with.....now hold on.........an AUTOFORMER! I think my hearing is going, or something, because I just was having a hell of a time figuring out if I had the outputs matched using that infamous focus of many forum "discussions," the adjustable resistive L-pad!

Michael: I was reluctant to mount and align my cartridge, too....it had been far too long since I'd done, but vinyl is so incredible; I feel like I have missed many years of really great listening. Seems to me, as others have also said, the nuts protruding upward might not look as good as they way Fini likes them (meh! but it's as functional as the other way around. But back to alignment -- it's really worth practicing, such as with an old cartridge to experiment with how slight changes in VTA, tracking force, etc., can effect palyback and ultimately adjust to what sounds best to you. I hadn't realized how really quite small changes can make interesting changes for both better and very much worse. Listening to Baroque lute music right now with Lowther horns ( what I use almost exclusively for strings and acoustic jazz), Moondog 2a3 monoblocks, Ray Samuels F117 Nighthawk phono stage and Clearaduio Performance with a Dynavector MC cart.

He was a very clever and colorful personality. Thanks for sharing that.

Did any of you find the McIntosh, H.H. Scott, and Marantz amps and tuners in those pictures of the stores? Wouldn't it be amazing if one could do that right now -- make a short trip down the road, stop off at Starbucks, and then pop into Radio Shack....wait, sorry...THE SHACK, for an 8B or a couple of MC 30s?

Memory is a little foggy on this one, but I think I recall a Vacuum Tube Valley (for thosenof you familiarmwith that publication) issue that included an interview with Paul W. K. He (Mr. K.), I believe, mentioned working with Radio Shack on....what was it..... A kit version of the Klipschorn, I think. Something like that, anyway. I obviously remember it less clearly than I thought! I can go dig it out of my very slightly organized stacks of Glass Audio, Speaker Builder, Positive Feedback, etc., etc. There are one or two small REAL electronics stores here -- they're quckly going over the horizon, unfortunately. I enjoy the way those places smell (nothing like the fragrance of vintage electronics) as much as hunting old bins for parts. That's the part I hated when I was a little kid. God, my dad poked around for hours..........and it all came back to haunt me as a bigger kid. He still has the soldering he used as a ten or twelve year old building tube radios. Giant soldering that was as big as a torch, and still works!

Our house was full of electronics when I was growing up -- I got sick to death of it, but was often the only way I got to spend time with my dad. Least I learned to solder about the time I learned to tie my shoes. Tying shoes was harder by a long shot. Of course that old amp is worth fixing up, Bruce! If you don't want it I'd be interested -- I love that old gear regardless of the size of its OPTs, which by the way, I have learned, can be quite misleading as a sign of performance. Fixing up an old amp like that is worth it for its own sake (for me at least).

If Craig can't help ya, which I know he can, Radio Shack probably sells that model. While you're there, you might also want to check out the Marantz 8B or the McIntosh monoblocks.

http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/html/catalogs_extra/history_stores/hindex_050_101-150.html

I know some of you will find this fascinating. Look very carefully at some of the audio components -- these stores were filled with tubes, transmitters, receivers...and some now very highly regarded vintage hi- fi -- kits and finished amps, and horns galore! How I hated it as a kid when my dad dragged me to these places for capacitors, resistors, transformers, tubes (more tubes...ugh), and how I would love to go back. How times have changed, no? http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/html/catalogs_extra/history_stores/index_all.html

My wife and I recently received our pair of M40 headphones, which we will be using for traveling -- and as It turns out, also at home. Once the noise cancellation issue was resolved (in our case, as simple as installing a fresh battery -- so you might want to check that before taking more drastic measures if you get a pair and have problems), this is one amazing pair of headphones, and I am comparing to the likes of upper end Grado and Sennheiser. Every aspect of this package is so well thought out, IMO, from the functional and elegant case, the overall physical design, the comfort, and sense of -- as my wife indicated, having a group of musicians playing in the same room and just for you. Money extremaly well spent! I would suggest some attention be given to confirming a fresh new battery for each pair before leaving the factory. I asked years before Klipsch headphones arrived on the market if they had ever contemplated introducing such a product to the public. My question has been answered, and we love the way it sounds! erik2a3 (Erik Mandaville)

As someone who loves vintage equipment, I can't help but mention the Lexicon DC-1 DSP I bought years ago, modified by Shawn Fogg for multi-channel SACD use. Even as a stand-alone two channel preamp it's transparency leaves many other designs wanting -- of course just in terms of what I like to hear and for its seemingly never ending flexibility.

Transcendent Sound Grounded Grid; the Dynaco PAT 4 (a NOS kit I recently built) and best of all - no preamp. Had a chnce to hear the JM Peach years ago and liked it also very much indeed. Would have preferred chassis mount inputs and outputs, but one constantly has to make compromises here and there. Build quality was otherwise very good.

Bruce Thanks for posting a copy of the schematic for your crossovers. I recall it now from years back, and it always looked like an interesting design. I prefer the tweeter on its own branch the way its done above, and soit seems there is an actual bandpass on the sqauwker. Great! Listening to our Heresies right now with Moondogs. This combination has always had amazing synergy, with the slightly brighter Heresies giving a verynnice balance to the warmer, but very rich and complex tonal quality of the Moondogs. Maybe I'll seriously try that crossover in the La scalas. It really does look like an excellent design. Erik

Bruce: I mentioned at your request a number of times since you received the amplifiers that they had Magnequuest output transformers. I found them a little on the warm side of neutral compared to EP in the same circuit, but there were other differences in terms of parts selection that influence final voicing, too. Like virtually every word mentioned above in this thread reagrding the 'better' or 'worse' aspect of equipment performance, it's essentially what one prefers to dine upon at a buffet of many offerings -- and then feel the need, for some reason, to defend our choices. I'm speaking in general terms, here, and not referring to any specific element of this thread. BTW: you can identify your OPTs by the color coding on the primary and secodnary winding -- it's different from what EP uses. Hey, don't your crossovers just use a simple swamping resistor across the autoformer? That's been used on Lowthers for many years to help calm some pretty drastic impedance swings. For some odd reason I often prefer the Lowther horns without them because they sound more lively. Others differ on that opinion -- the audio buffet personal preference syndrome at work again.... Safari must be the issue with my paragraph break situation.

If one were so inclined, there is a place on the chassis behind the power transformer that could be punched for a valve rectifier, such as possibly a 5Y3. A filament transformer would likely be needed too, but could probably be installed on the inside side of the chassis. Very neat little amp just on its own.

What a cool looking little amp! Simple but still very presentable chassis, too. Thanks for providing the link, Maynard!

Apologies for lack of paragraph breaks in comments above. Someone kindly explained how to make them, but I've completely forgotten.

Bruce: As a fellow Moondog owner (with ElectraPrint OPTs, by the way), I have built a couple of parafeed amps, one of which was by the same person who designed the Seth 2a3 in push pull. Bottlehead, formerly Electronic Tonalities, was among those in part responsible for rejuvinating the parallel-feed (aka shunt-feed) output topology. They are fast sounding amplifiers, and I thought nothing could sound as good as my then-and-still-beloved Moondogs. The ouput transformers on the Welborne amps are enormous because they have to be; they are simultaneously dealiing with power supply and music sginal components. Parallel-feed amps separate the two, and instead use a large choke on the output tube plate (as in plate choke). And this in turn allows for a much smaller output transformer for coupling with the loudspeaker. There is of course a smallish value, high quality capacitor that fugures into the parafeed equation. Many people love the Bottlehead amplifiers, though. If one is using large, airgapped OPTs, another option is direct coupling where even the finest (taste dependent), most expensive capacitor would not only not be an improvement, but not even needed.. You can do this both between sections of the 6SN7, as well as between the voltage gain stage and the 2A3 -- though both of these, particulalrly the latter, require some circuit modification. I also got some pretty good sounding results by paralleling the two input stage sections on the Moondog, and this circuit in conjunction with dedicated 5 volt filament transformers sounded truly even better and more lively to me than the 2a3 version. In other words, I optimized the same circuit to be used with 300Bs and it was really fantastic sounding! The Moth si2A3 I bought as a box of parts and a schematic (it also uses very fine ElectraPrint OPTs) uses a paralled 6SL7 direct coupled to the 2A3, and is very nearly on par in terms of perceived frequency response. I still really like and use my Moondogs often, and they are wonderful and rich sounding with solo classical guitar. Totally agree with you on the 6L6! The Baldwin organ amp I rebuilt (now residing under another forum member's roof) is just a great amp, period. It sounds good with all types and genres of music. With our La Scalas, I really think on par with the Transcendent OTLs, with which I have much personal experience. But my moods change, which is why it's so great to have some different options. Another possible thing to try with the Moondog, which I have in fact done, is the so-called Ultrapath output connection ( a term coined by Jack E. at Electra Print). Like parafeed, it also has its roots that go back to the very early decades of tube audio design. I tied my brain in knots tracing current paths of a combined ultrapath-parafeed amp, and though I'm still not sure what I actually ended up with, boy was it good sounding. So many good sounding ideas. Ultrapth is a breeze to do, though.... BTW: LeoK hasn't posted here for a long while, but he also had Moondogs. However, he went to the effort to incorporate the parafeed output stage into the venerable old Moondogs, and loved it.. I guess Bottlehead still sells the MagneQuest parafeed OPTs....maybe not. It's been years since I've looked there. Though I preferred the EP OPT in the Moodnog, the MQ parafeed tranny, particulalrly the cobalt version, was killer. Erik

Hi, Maynard Just got home, but will check in a bit. You mention receivers with which I'm very familiar. I grew up in a family of expert class radio operators,and though I had memorized code to take the test (which I don't think is required now), the bug mever really got me. My dad is thenone Iearned most of what little I knowmaboutmallmof this, and Imused to hate electronics when I was little. But it's how I learned to solder when I was five, making little animals out of pieces of tin can. My dad used to drag me to Radio Shack when it was a store that sold somepretty cool stuff. Thanks for sending that message about the AK breadbaord. I'll check it out!

Maynard sounds like we share a coomon ground node! Imout together a small system for my wife, as well, though we have another, which is actually comprised of two, with a dreaded system A and system B switchbox . And like you I love old radios -- Crosly, Atwater Ken, Philco, etc. What I have to get my hands on sometime is an AK breadbaord style receiver, but those things, particulalrly if they have their original 01As, can bring a very dear price! But they are so cool! And then there are the Hallicrafters, Hammarlunds, etc. And for some strange reason, old radios sparked an interest in old clocks. After completely destroying a movemnt by taking it apart with the main springs still wound up (the parts flew all over my work room), have since been able to take them apart and get them back together again. It's interesting that I've ran in to a few people who experienced the same valve amp or radio craze who also got into old time pieces. Maybe it's because of how that vintage stuff smells, and I say that knowing you know exactly what I mean. I enjoyed your post!

Tubefanatic I honestly have resisted analyzing and measuring anything -- nothing, which has never been the case with me. It was a gift, and sounded very right just out of the box, and I wanted to enjoy it that way without the usual dissection and analysis. But you do have a point. I have some of the tubes that can be used with it, which I can yank out of some old radio chassis I have. The circuit has evidently been optimized for the 6v6, and as I mentioned I'm just sort of inclined to use it this way -- though I do want sometime to check operating parameters. Over the years I have spent so much time experimenting that I often neglect music listening. Our system has also at times been so complicated -- switchable battery bias, standby switches, remote power supplies, etc, that my poor wife was so confused by the insanity that she was afraid to play a record unless I was at home so I could show her the fifteen switches that had to be thrown, and the order to throw them in, before music would come out of the speakers. I have two organ amp rebuilds to look forward to, so can leave this little amp as it is as the gift it was and will continue to be. I don't have a schematic for it, and don't know if they aremavailable. If need be, I can draw it out by hand if I get motivated enough. Erik

Ski bum: I don't take it the wrong way, and if there is one thing in life I'm sure of (lots I'm not!) it's that. She collects hand made Teddy bears, I tube amps and old radios...and we support one another. I used to dislike putting ANYTHING on top of speaker cabs, particulalrly plants (still refuse that one), but these neat stuffed bears, as 'uncool' as they may look to some as far as a 'serious' audio system appearance, arguably provide some very good room dampening effects. It's a good match! Tube regulators have been used for a long time and certainly don't 'sound' out of place in this true, dual mono amplifier. Of the other amplifiers we have, the sound of the Mini-Torii is probaby most like the Baldwin organ amp I rebuilt for another forum member....just less powerful.

I've watched Decware come a along way over the years since its first introductory amplifier. Over those years I've built a number of both lower powered, single-ended triode designs with 2A3s, 45s, and 300Bs (parallel/shunt feed, Ultra-path, etc. versions, too) as well as modified and rebuilt a number of higher powered push-pull pentode designs. OTLs have been another area of great interest, and the Transcendent Amps have been really great with all Klipsch Heritage. My wife gave me an absolutely fantastic little amplifier built by Decware, a small company of which I know some of you are aware. It's probably the first amplifier I haven't built myself (or had to fix or repair), and it is a marvelous amplifier with, in particular, our La Scalas and Lowthers. All of my amps are quiet with clean output, but the Mini-Torri, which uses a single 6V6 per channel wins in terms of power supply rejection with our most sensitive and notoriously transparent speakers, the crossover-less (thankfully) Lowthers. I was very, very impressed. I've heard lots of inexpensive output tubes that in specific circuits sounded incredible, and have heard many in other designs that bordered on unlistenable. At a handful of watts and not in the high power category, I will say it sounds much, much larger than its small weight might suggest. Well-built in the United States, a real gem of an amplifier that has been fantastic with our usual musical diet of acoustic jazz, classical Baroque, solo guitar -- and does truly surprisingly well with heavier program material, too. If looking for an all-tube design and you're not too hungry for power (some here understand that), and you're not trying to pressurize a really large listening space you might have a look! erik

As Craig implies, there are many factors that contribute to noise and hum in tube components. As he also points out, the amount of power supply noise rejection is not always directly related to the amount plate voltage filter capacitance. Preference for one component over another or valve vs SS is highly subjective -- my point here has to do with an amplifiers's self noise. Directly AC heated triodes tend to have more hum than inderectly heated push pull output stages, which suggests circuit topology is very much a contributing factor, too. Vintage tube amps can be incredible and extremely quiet with horns, as can modern counterparts.

Well this a great idea! I am SO glad I have gotten back into vinyl, and now feel like something had been missing for years and years. Many here quietly always knew it, or at times not so quietly. No matter. But I have to give this jacket cleaning a try! I have found dozens upon dozens of old records in thrift shops that were just dusty but otherwise in great shape, and inside jackets could surely use, if not a new sleeve altogether, at least a quick dusting. And now for my contribution! I found the perfect holder for the carbon fiber brush I use between full baths: a glass butter dish with lid! One should probably keep it up out of the way of little ones, or in our case, dog tails, but it keeps the brush clean and kind of looks like it was made for it. The plastic version just wasn't as good, and soundstage height and depth suffered with the plastic butter tray holder thingie vs the heavier one made from 100% silica glass.