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UPDATE: October 11, 2018 McIntosh Laboratory, Binghamton, NY Skip to page ___ for photos of the McIntosh tour Great American Audio Factory Tours Many, many of you have taken tours of the premier American Audio factories across the USA, including the tour of the Klipsch factory in Hope Arkansas. I started this thread for people to share their American audio factory tour experiences with us, both narrative and especially with photographs. Richard Groves @guywithwine (Klipsch Museum of Audio History Founders Circle member and Fundraising Standing Committee Chairman) recently took a tour of the Cary Audio factory in Raliegh, North Carolina, so I thought we would start with Cary Audio because it is recent, and Cary Audio has been a great partner with Klipsch at shows such as CES when they both want to show off their great sounding stuff. Bruce @Marvel is going to try and set up a tour of the Western Electric tube making factory in his area and, if they let him, share his experiences and photographs here as well. Back to Cary Audio. When Richard was taken into their the listening room at Cary Audio he was pleasantly surprised to see that he would be listening to the highly regarded Cary amps and preamps through a set of of handmade in the USA speakers a few of you might be familiar with. American high-end audio and the factories they are made in. More to come . . . .
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Now that I've got your attention, let me tell you my story. I'm into tubes. This last month I've purchased 6 vintage tubes. And a tube tester. I already have two other testers. I put in my new tubes, hoping for the glorious sound I hope to achieve. Not sure I like the sound. My tube pre quits two weeks after I put new tubes in it. I replace the tubes with the ones I took out, change the blown fuse, and nothing. Now I have to send the pre in for repairs. Last year I had a tube short out and take out my amp. I was able to repair it myself. Here's the dilemma--I love the sound of my tube system, but I'm thinking that the constant cost of upkeep may not be worth the aggravation. I'm getting older, my ears aren't getting better. Technology is going forward. Is it time to cut my losses and go back to solid state? Would I find the same satisfaction as I do with tubes? Would I be trading convenience for sound quality? I know there are people on here who have gone from tubes back to solid state and never looked back. Obviously there are people like me who have gone from solid state to tubes. I'm looking for advice from people who have been in my predicament.
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Folks, Note: I am a newbie so if this post doesn't exactly fit the website, please excuse my lack of experience or maybe lack of judgement. So, I saw an article in Stereophile sometime back about a solid state amp by Akitika.com that could be built at home similar to a Dynaco or Hafler. Stereophile gave it a really favorable review, so I decided to give it a try. The kit cost me $340 all-in including shipping, plus about an additional $50 in soldering tools and materials. You can buy it assembled for a little over $500, but I opted to watch a few Youtube videos on soldering and take the plunge. It was surprisingly easy to build the kit and the assembly instructions are incredibly detailed. I don't know how many hours I actually had in it, but I did it in my spare time and enjoyed it. My soldering looks like crap, but it works! It's worth pointing out that the fellow who sells this kit (Dan Joffe) backs it with awesome support and he sources as much material from USA manufacturers as possible. In addition to his well documented assembly manual, he answered about two dozen questions I emailed him. Plus, he walked me through fixing a couple of mistakes I had made. I should mention I had never soldered anything aside from plumbing fixtures before this. So you are probably asking, "How does it sound?" The answer is surprisingly musical! It doesn't sound quite like a tube amplifier, but it is pretty neutral and really pairs nicely with my Cornwalls. It also sounds good on my KG 5.5s, but the Cornwalls really bloom with this amp. I was surprised when the music came out sounding pretty close to my little First Watt J2 (Nelson Pass designed amp). I am not saying it's the equal of the First Watt J2, BUT considering it cost me about 5x less, I find myself impressed. It certainly sounds better than my mid 1980's Denon gear, which is still pretty nice stuff. So, if you are looking for a fun project to do by yourself or with your kid, this just might be the trick. Plus, if building this kit with a family member hooks them on 2-channel hi-fi and gets them to pair the amp up with some of PWK's fine products, then that in my mind is a project worth doing. Gotta get the next generation interested in real hi-fi! Here are a couple of links which will take you to the Akitika web page and the Stereophile review. https://www.akitika.com/index.php https://www.stereophile.com/content/akitika-gt-102-power-amplifier Best, Frozmeister P.S. Here's a picture of the finished product.
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Asking $995 with Free Shipping. The original Aleph sold for $3,000 and is out of production. Modified from the original design by Nelson Pass, this is the best sounding amplifier I've ever owned for Horn Based Speakers like Klipsch. Being a Single Ended Class A design, it will easily drive Khorns, LaScalas, Cornwalls, Heresy's, Chorus, and Forte speakers to ear splitting levels without clipping. It has double the output devices of the original (easy to do with MOSFETS). It's EXTREMELY revealing from top to bottom. Deep, tight bass, and Crystalline/delicate high end, but incredible midrange detail especially on female vocals like Diana Krall's. The original design was rated at 30 Watts per channel, this one is 40 Watts per channel because of double the output transistors and lower source impedance. It's front end impedance easily accommodates a Tube Pre-Amp for those who like tube sound. This is the closest you will get to tubes with SS. PM me here or eMail claudej1@aol.com. For serious buyers, I'll provide my phone number if you want to have a conversation about it.
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Hi, all! Today I've run into a problem with my GFA-535. When I went to switch back to it from a different amp, I noticed an unusual buzz start to come from my subwoofer when I turned it on. Not wanting to risk my Heresies in case something was wrong (glad it has speaker selectors!), I plugged one of my B-10s into the left channel on the other set of outputs. Once patched in, it revealed a loud, nasty static buzz (I also tested the other channel.) It only does it when it has something connected to either input. It could be a bare wire and it happens. I connected my iPhone as a source when trying to single out the amp from the preamp and it still did this, without seeming to react to the signal from the phone. It also seems to certainly cause feedback back through the inputs, as my subwoofer only buzzed when the amp and preamp were connected. Now, a few things that happened recently. First, one of the metal rings surrounding the right channel RCA plug had come out when unplugging it recently, leaving just bare plastic. I always assumed these were cosmetic, since the other one was never there (I received the amp that way) and it was never a problem. I also I believe I plugged the pre back in with the preamp still on (and the amp off). How could I go about diagnosing this, and does it seem like something I could fix myself? I like the 535, and while it would be fun to shop for a new amp, I wouldn't be happy to trash this one. Thanks!
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I have 2 amps that are in excellent condition that I am selling. 1: Lexicon NT-512 SOLD 2: Sherbourn 5/1500A SOLD 3: Krell Showcase 7.1 preamp processor SOLD Pricing doesn't include PayPal fees.
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List your favorite solid state amplifier links here. It seems appropriate to list a few other forums that are dedicated to solid state amplifier and preamplifier designs: diyAudio: Solid State, Pass Labs, Chip Amps, Class D, Power Supplies, Headphone Systems (Amplifiers) AudioAsylum: Amp/Preamp Audio Roundtable: Silicon Valley AudioCircle: All Solid State AudioKarma: Solid State Audio Heritage (Heritage Altec/JBL): Consumer Amps, Professional Amps
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