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The magic of Parafeed.... who needs that big ole iron anymore? heh.... You spied the top.. Now here's the interior. Some people can get a their entire amplification taken care of for the price of that Cerafine, Mundorf, and Jensen Copper Oil. DC anyone? heh. Jeff likes the hum pot for keeping alert.....

Let me sell it before...Ahhhhh... That brings up the next stage: Seller's Remorse, bringing the well placed, "Lord, I cant believe I sold those amps! They were the best amps I ever made. They make Horus sound like Man falling down stairs while wrapped in a copper robe! I am clown!" Although it upsets me to place these beasts within a thread dedicated to measurements, especially since these amps appear to measure so imperfectly, here they are. The YASA. Special points will be awarded to anyone that can measure what the name stands for... (of note, the strange plugs in the front were to fill in a spot for a planned pot to be).

I'm still under the shock. It's been the first time experimentation with loading inductors worked the way I planned it. Don't worry, one month from now, you'll be saying it sounds like a tin whistle in a Bathysphere....kh

Parrot, you seem to doing a lot of these type posts lately... The ratio of troll to even "dog" posts is getting lopsided. Is your system doing OK? On another front, I cant remember a post from you on SACD lately....this was your mantra for a long while; you had more ad material than Sony. They could have used you I guess. On the headphone subject, I find that even the good models to sound subpar and rather unnatural. In the studio they can be useful and if you need to listen without bothering a sleeping tike... but I have found them unappealing for a long time. The last foray involved a pair of Sennheiser HD-600 phones and the ASL MG-DT/OTL tube headphone amp. It quelled my need to drop big duccats into a new phones rig to replace the old. I prefer the open phones to the closed any day - much more natural sounding, IMO. And ANYTHING to tose earbud horrors. kh

Looks like Samuel Clemens to me....a fitting avatar.kh

Horrible news. My father had Pancreatic Cancer as well, which had also spread. Like Lynnm, he was gone in a short while. The only positive, if there can be one, is that it's a cancer that does not prolong suffering. I also never met Lynnm but did share quite a few exchanges with him both here and via email. His sense of humor stood out as a great attribute, one that I remember from his time here. I surely wont forget his great signature line: It is meet to recall that the Great Green Heron rarely flies upside down in the moonlight Hope his family is handling well. He seemed like a genuine person and will surely be missed.

The problem with the old classic Discwasher system is it can end up pushing dirt and refuse DEEPER into the grooves. I think some of the other brushes do a better job regarding this liability. I still have my old Discwasher from years ago but dont use it anymore. Nothing beats a quality record vacuum and if you DO have a ton of vinyl and buy used often, it's worth the investment. I've had a VPI HW-16 for over 20 years and besides replacing the wand and dealing with the subsonic sound when engaged, it's been a great cost effective investment. Can be found on the used market but unfortunately, is not that much discounted over the new if you find a good deal online. kh

Sorry to hear of this, Dee; hope you're feeling better soon... When you got that shortness of breath, you werent looking at that Lamm ML2.1 picture again, were you? Go easy on the "Hospitalists" and take care. Know we'll see you soon! - Kelly

Excellent advice, even if we run into the ugly quandary once again: Where does that extra sock go after a cycle in the dryer? kh

Surprised about the sorbathane as a wedge. I guess I came from the Linn background of the rigid coupling from cartridge to tonearm to plinth. Seems to me that using Sorbathane would be problematic here with the lack of rigidty here. Also, there is a chance for it to get tightened in an uneven fashion. A headshell upgrade would be another good option as Allan mentioned.On the mat thickness to vary the VTA, that is something I was going to suggest after looking at the shot. What mat are you running anyway? The mat also can really help or hurt sonics and those stock ribbed mats STINK..... Replacing the stock rubber ribbed mats that come with most tables of this ilk can be a big help sonically depending on choice. The good thing is at least you dont appear to have far to go although many mats tend to be thicker.

Indeed. There is a big difference between "ole" and "old" and today, it's "ole" Allan. How can it not be?Anyway, take Allan up on his offer if it will work in your TT application. Really, if anything, I think it's just a tad bit low but that's a helluva lot better than too high, which is a common error. Really, listening is the ultimate test for the VTA angle as some cartridges prefer different setups. You start with it level and then tune by ear. If you look at the stylus itself, it's slightly lower but very close. I prefer this in general.

Sounds like a good offer from ole Allan. I would say that some cartridges bodies get really close depending. It's slightly better to err too low than too high, where the sound gets peaky quickly. 1. How does it sound? Does it sound slightly rolled off and a bit dull? This is usualy sign you have the VTA too low. Too high and it would become pretty annoying, especially with horns. It's really hard to tell from the pics, especially since that's an S shaped arm and you didnt get a truly accurate shot from the side, parallel with the cartridge. Though looking at the full size shot, it's not that far off, based on the pic. Perhaps ever so slightly low but not far off.

Rest assured, the name NOSValves had zero to do with Sound Valves. It's a strange coincidence though. kh

Kudret, I'm a bit taken back as well. In my view, you should keep at least one vintage EL-84/6BQ5 amp and/or integrated as a sampling of of a piece of gear employing this excellent tube. These amps seem to have their own unique take on things that I have always found enticing and worth as a keeper, even in a steller lineup of modern separates. If you DO keep one, I think it's worth seeking out a better sample than the Sovtek. kh

Why would you cut the bias way down? Amps biased high in Class A run hot - seems cutting the bias "way back" would take away some of the very properties that make it desirable (although where is the recommended setting?). I had some B&K Sonata M-200 Monoblocks that benefitted from increasing the bias higher into class A at the factory. I wouldnt be worried about the amp running hotter (One interesting point, it's one if the few SS amps I have seen that is apparently easily user adjustable for bias). But If you've felt a Class A amp before, they usually run far hotter (extra ventilation space is helpful). I've noticed this in every Class A SS amp I've used. I've never heard the Forte 1a but have heard the Forte 4a. It's also a 50Wpc Class A amp that runs very hot and sounds extremely nice for SS. It's another bargain on the used marget. On preamps, I have had a handful of passives and still own a Creek OBH-12. Excellent transparency for the ducats although I think a quality tube active stage is an excellent combination with a SS amp like you now own. In my view, you get more midrange warmth, drive, and a certain harmonic richness that is a good compromise. I like passives but always find myself going be to a good tube "active line stage" preamp, even if all the qualifications for a passive are met. On the other hand, if your system/setup meets all the requirements, a good passive is the cheapest way to this level of transparency (the transformer passives are the latest passive rage). kh

Please Larry....say it aint so? Not the Telarc 1812...

On another front, I would think the ratio for trolls to lurkers might be even better, so the luck appears to be spreading for all.

Indeed, I agree. Listen to Parrot's quote here. There is nothing like some serious watts into a pair of Khorns to make the cannon blast in the Telarc edition of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture come to life in your own room. Drop a pair of the Klipsch Forum A List Dynaco Stereo 400s with the MBI-400 Bridge Kits to produce 600 glorious "straight wire with gain" watts! Why pray to the Lord when you can hear him speak in your own home?

I dont think I have ever seen anyone else mention Sumo in here before. I had a sampling of Sumo gear from the mid 80s. Actually, only have one piece left, which is the Sumo Aurora tuner, which was supposedly an upgrade of their famous "Charlie" tuner. The beast is sitting behind me - sounds very nice in "Wide" mode but a '59 EICO HFT-90 Mono FM tuner is more musical and gets used in the main system (no range or selectivity to speak of so outer limits country & city dwellers need not apply). At one time, I had the Sumo Polaris and the Sumo NINE PLUS in house. The NINE PLUS was the more natural sounding amp of the two and had the right stuff for specs if that happens to float your boat. It was supposedly a Class A, Direct Coupled from input to output beast that doubled its output of 65w when moving from 8 to 4ohms. It was a very sweet amp when used within its limits. More musical than the beefy Adcom 555 or 535 of the day with a better top end. The SUMO Athena preamp was also a nice sample with passive switching capability, bypassing the active line stage. The MM phono was ok, too. With the active stage switched out, it was a decent SS preamp. I sold all of this stuff except the tuner. In my view, the cheaper 140Wpc B&K ST-202 Mosfet amp was a better deal and surely better for rock. Two better, though more expensive, amps at that time were the Class A Forte 4a (a Threshold design) and the Classe DR-9 - both made major steps up and are good in the use market. The vintage SS receiver stuff is fun and seems to have something going for it but in my view, it's not in the same league as any of the above. While others disagree, I think that some of vintage tube integrateds from the era back do a better job at reproducing instruments' natural tone, timbre, and color. Specs and blindfolds notwithstanding, a sax sounds more like a sax, a Stratocaster more like a Stratocaster. kh

Not that it matters one bit but I actually DO think Rick is a good guy.....Hell, he's a GREAT guy. Pretty open minded about all things audio as well. Nice to see. kh

Edmond, that's the first I've seen the new JJ 2A3. You evidently bought a pair. Any first impressions? IF they are like the rugged Sovtek 2A3, they need some time in action before passing too much judgment. Jeffus thinks it's a another monster with a 2A3 badge....heh. Jean-Francois, you just wish you had a quad for your SETH bombers so you can listen to Iggy Pop blow a gastket.... I want to also publically thank ole Edmond again for sending me the very nice Denon 103D MC for a whirl on this side of the coast. I currently have it playing as I type on the VPI HW-19 Mk III provided by way of another forum member. This is a sweet cartridge that seems to never sound bad no matter what system it's in. IF any faults exist it's really sins of ommision rather than anything overtly negative. It's very smooth, dimensional, and natural sounding although I think it needs something more than the AQ PT-6 with junction box and so-so (albeit rare) Carver Step-up transformer. Planning on moving it to the Linn LP-12 next to see how it does there. One of the problems with seemingly all the HW-19 VPI is the rather mediocre motor they use. At least a new one is a paltry $80 direct from VPI but you're no more likely to get a perfect sample. It's adequate but surely can be improved. I just inserted my Moondogs back into the mix after a summer of Tripath heat relief courtesy of Leo's Waltham Integration P6D 6w beast. Fun while it lasted and a nice break but the little tike isnt tubes. Then again, nothing like leaving it on and forgetting about it (then again, I find myself doing the same with the MD Mono heaters).

Sounds like chickin to me...