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jazzmessengers

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  1. jazzmessengers
    The top ones look like they were done by Harman.
  2. jazzmessengers
    For single ended Michael R (won't attempt to spell his last name!) has some designs with the Sony VFETs. If you replace the light bulb version with large power resistors that is similar to the SIT-1 schematic. My theory is it is the output transformer that is the limiting factor. The 300B is indeed incredibly linear but then it is has this huge air gapped output transformer coming after it. The amp was running WE 300B, driver was JJ ECC99, interstage transformers were Tango NC20. These days for a "no-compromise" SET or DHT P-P (ala Lynn Olson Karna) I would probably go for transformers from Monolith Magnetics. I am keeping my eyes open for a used SIT-1, unfortunately I don't have as much free time to spend online and these are usually bought up quickly. I may ask Reno hifi to let me know the next time he gets a demo unit. Years ago before I got into DIY I experienced the incredible customer service of Pass Labs with the old Aleph 3.
  3. jazzmessengers
    It's in his first post.
  4. jazzmessengers
    Yeah I know these are high quality cases. They are actually from Hifi2000 in Italy, and I've bought direct from them before the DIY Audio store existed. After that experience I would much rather order from someone in the US. I was going to go with the 5U deluxe since the 10 mm front panels are incredibly nice. I have them on my 2U case that I use for a headphone amp. I was actually in touch with someone from Thailand that sells FirstWatt clone cases but they are pretty expensive and I don't know what the dissipation rating on the headsinks is. I personally like the look of these more and I was eventually going to buy Pass' commercial SIT-1 amps to use on the midrange/treble horns. I heard those amps back to back with a high end custom built 300B SET amp using nickel output transformers and all of us thought the SIT-1 was more transparent and much better on complex symphony music.
  5. jazzmessengers
    @justinsweber why wouldn't you recommend the DIYAudio store chasis? I was considering one for a build because with their PCBs it would be pre-drilled. I don't have the tools to do that myself and places like FrontPanelExpress charge a decent amount for that.
  6. jazzmessengers
    The VFET FirstWatt amp that was sold as kits via DIY Audio is another incredible sounding amp.
  7. jazzmessengers
    The "SHM" is just some marketing thing that was invented by the Japanese. You specifically want the Platinum series, otherwise the number of regular SHM releases are probably over 1000 and the mastering on these type of discs is more often compressed with the treble boosted. These are just regular reissues with the "super high material" designation applied to them. The very short lived Platinum series were genuinely flat transfers from either US or UK master tapes and verified by the engineers that people have contacted them about (it is also written in the booklets). These were basically created as archives of master tapes (some other labels are digitizing their analog master tapes like Blue Note and Decca) that the Japanese released on CD and SACD. Sorry didn't see this or your message earlier, my practice has been incredibly busy this year and I haven't had much time for message boards.
  8. jazzmessengers
    Here is the thread, but I don't think it will be all that helpful unless you have loads of time http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/platinum-shm-cds-launched.323981/ I say this because the forums there have very low SNR and the actual useful information is in the 5% range. Please feel free to message me if you'd like samples of any of these, I bought them for all the bands I was interested in and compared them to numerous versions (as well as emailed some of the mastering engineers who as usually forthright and happy to talk about their work). Note that if the mixes are unbalanced sounding there is not a whole lot good mastering engineers can do to try and fix them, and the good ones I've spoke to pretty much leave them alone instead of trying to create huge boosts/suckouts in EQ. I avoid remastered CDs as well, particularly those released by the major labels, these are often remastered in a way to sound good in car stereos or low quality headphones.
  9. jazzmessengers
    For popular classic rock (ie Allman Brothers, Cream, Grateful Dead, etc) there are actually many audiophile versions of these albums on CD or SACD (with redbook layer) that are pretty damn close to flat transfers from the master tapes or only have 1-3 db of boost/shelf in some frequencies to massage errors in mixes according to the mastering engineers I've spoke to and they never use compression. There was also a series of CD/SACDs released by Universal Japan several years ago that were purely flat transfers of the master tapes with nothing else done to them, many popular classic rock albums were done in this series, there is a huge thread on the Steve Hoffman forum about them. In the liner notes they included the tape source (some albums have master tapes stored in the US some in the UK), mastering studio and mastering engineer name and a few of them verified that they didn't do anything to them per Universal Japan's wishes. I will have a read through Toole again on reflections, guess I misremembered on when the reflections are happening. With regard to surround, I would say at least 95% or more of the music I like is stereo mix only.
  10. jazzmessengers
    Now this might be a controversial opinion but I think the vast majority of popular music (ie multi tracked rock, pop, etc) needs some help from early reflections to sound "good". Othewise you get a flat, forward image. Where I loved the full Jubilee system I heard was with non-popular music (jazz, classical) that is well recorded where it truly felt like a live like experience from soft/small dynamics (I guess what audiophiles call microdynamics) to full scale dynamics. With this music the recording microphones have already picked up any depth/image cues so this doesn't need to be artificially painted with the speaker/room interaction.
  11. jazzmessengers
    I have just ordered the third edition, the second edition served as a fantastic resource and I've gone back to it many, many times. IMO this is essential reading to anyone that is looking for high fidelity sound. It's also much cheaper than an AES subscription
  12. jazzmessengers
    I haven't considered this, I haven't looked into any K-402 replacement, right now it's basically what I'm "building around". I have a decent amount of space that I can work with, for instance 4 foot depth is quite manageable, I wouldn't really want to go deeper than that.
  13. jazzmessengers
    Primary reason is I am really not a fan of the way they look Second is I've heard the K-402/Jubilee in a rather live sounding room and absolutely loved the way they sounded, so this is a safer choice and I can mess around with diffusion or absorption at the side walls when I get to that point. For now the midbass horn/bass solution is most important.
  14. jazzmessengers
    Well I need to start somewhere, being an MD I don't have any engineering/professional audio background and I think him and Olive's papers/book are a good starting point. One specific area I do agree with him is lateral reflections adding to perceiving better sound. He is a primarily classical listener like myself and in my own experiences with all speakers (controlled directivity and not) these are desirable. And I think evidence from controlled blind listening tests are very important, which he has plenty of data on. No doubt there is still room for plenty of improvement which is why I didn't just go out and buy a pair of Revel Salons The array sealed subs is also interesting. What do you think of PPSL? Cost of drivers/building isn't an issue at all. I am really going for as few compromises as possible. Back to the issue of tapped horn subs, the very small mouths on them for the low frequencies they reproduce has also been something that has bugged me.
  15. jazzmessengers
    For front loaded horns these tend to become enormous (even say ones that load down to 50 Hz) unless you were thinking something like an array of multiple woofers horn loaded so the increased radiating area at the throat allows for a shorter length (ie pictures below if I didn't describe it correctly, I know these are more upper midbass type horns, just using them for illustration)? I have no "as much horn loading as possible" dogma I'm an AES paper/Toole fan just trying to put something together for music use only that is objectively high fidelity.
  16. jazzmessengers
    Do you think tapped horn subs on either sides (or behind) of the main speakers operating up to 100 Hz would be high fidelity? All of the ones I have looked at require a decent amount of EQ to flatten the response.
  17. jazzmessengers
    I thought the research showed that bass localization couldn't be detected below 80 Hz which is why I set that as my cut off. If it's 100 Hz then that does make it much easier.
  18. jazzmessengers
    Will give this a bump, and add a picture- visually this is basically what I am trying to achieve, a midbass horn that keeps the K-402 at a reasonable height. This is just for illustration only not to show the exact type I'm looking for. I don't think Tractrix or other rapidly expanding throat horn is the way to go for my application. This came up on a Google image search originated from this forum.
  19. jazzmessengers
    There was some discussion about this in the "dissect polar patterns" thread. Bass horns to operate below the K-402 beside the Jubilee bass bin for a couple of reasons. To get the K-402 at a lower height to facilitate listening to the speakers closer and still get a point source image. There are a couple of designs that I can think of that do this and I think that 3 feet tall bass horn is a decent upper limit to shoot for. For instance Inlow Sound has a dual 15", 60 Hz straight horn that is 36x36 at the mouth and 48" deep. And a horn that can match the wide polar pattern of the K-402 at its lower limit. For me 60-80 Hz lower cutoff for the bass horn is fine because I will be using multiple tapped sub horns to fill in the bass below that as well as smooth in room response. And my preference is for straight horns to cover that critical 60-450 Hz region. @Bjorn created a 100 Hz horn that had very nice response, and started a thread about it, I'm looking for something that will extend lower.
  20. jazzmessengers
    It's fine, I'll start the thread if not tonight then this weekend. It's a different enough topic to warrant it. I see @Chris A has already touched on the Jub bass bin sitting a bit too high and I thought the same thing when I heard the full Jub/K-402 system.
  21. jazzmessengers
    Why would a design like this allow the bass bin to have wide coverage at say 450 Hz (using your steep crossover to K-402) and have the deep bass extension of the Jubilee bin? Maybe this is a discussion for another thread, hope the OP doesn't mind! Actually I might start a thread on this in the technical discussion forum this evening.
  22. jazzmessengers
    Wouldn't it be pretty difficult to design a bass horn that extends as low as the Jubilee bass bin that would have wide pattern control at the lower limit of where the K-402 is crossed over?
  23. jazzmessengers
    Personally I would only do a setup where the K-402 sits above the bass bin or horn to get the most coherent point source image.
  24. jazzmessengers
    @Chris A what is the lower limit that you run your TAD drivers at and what sort of a crossover slope does it use to the Jubilee bass bins?
  25. jazzmessengers
    I will suggest asking at Headfi since Moth Audio made many headphone amps, so there might be some owners that have their speaker amps over there.
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