twu Posted August 27, 2010 Share Posted August 27, 2010 I finally got my first tube amp, a pair of MK III's in fairly good condition. I'm so excited! It's been slightly updated but since I'm completely new to tubes, I'm not sure how much more work is needed to get them to sound their best. They have the 6AN8 stock board, updated caps and power cords but that's about all I know. They're bit noisier than what I would like. Is it possible to get them to be "dead silent" with La Scalas? I think I need to edumacate myself a bit. My first goal is to get them to sound their best, then work on cosmetics later and learn a thing or two along the way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twu Posted August 27, 2010 Author Share Posted August 27, 2010 another photo underneath... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryO Posted August 27, 2010 Share Posted August 27, 2010 Describe the "Noisy" you speak of. IS it hissing, hum, or what? Does it sound like a cat screaming??? EX WIFE bichin? BOSS Naggin? Nice amps. Noise could be from tubes, cables, ground him, yadda, yadda, yadda. Mucho possible causes for noise. We'll need a description of the noise you speak of sir! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted August 27, 2010 Share Posted August 27, 2010 Those look great! Remember, with efficient speakers, you'll always get "a bit" of hum (heard ear close to the speaker, during quiet passages). What is in the rest of your system? Preamp? Ol' Harry'll figure it out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanO55 Posted August 27, 2010 Share Posted August 27, 2010 Look pretty good, nice middle of the road signal path caps, what type of drivers. Get steady clean 117 ac volts versus the average 122-125 volts coming from the wall will reduce some hum. Known for physical hum from transformers, rubber grommets beneath the mounting screws can help there. Mark IIIs can be made very quite, however, as we all know, Klipsch are pretty revealing. Nice start in the tube journey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchist Posted August 27, 2010 Share Posted August 27, 2010 You want them to sound their best? Easiest thing to do is send them to Craig at Nosvalves and have him upgrade them. Wanna do it yourself and have the necessary soldering skills and patience? Look on here for info related to power supply upgrades and driver boards. Fun stuff to do and a number of possibilities. Myself, I upgraded the driver board with a Poseidon driver board and upgraded the power supply to use an SDS board with appropriate values. You can find threads on this and Craigs approach to upgrades on here as well (his leverage an even larger power supply). What you will hear almost universally is to replace the stock can with either a new version with increased capacity or bypass it altogether and put in your own power supply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twu Posted August 27, 2010 Author Share Posted August 27, 2010 As always guys, thanks for the great advice! Describe the "Noisy" you speak of. IS it hissing, hum, or what? Does it sound like a cat screaming??? EX WIFE bichin? BOSS Naggin?Nice amps.Noise could be from tubes, cables, ground him, yadda, yadda, yadda. Mucho possible causes for noise.We'll need a description of the noise you speak of sir! Harry, it's your typical hissy white noise with a slight hum, nothing out of the ordinary. I expected some level of hiss/hum but with my ears close to horns, it's louder than what I'm used to, even for La Scala. I can hear it sitting at my normal listening distance with the volume turned down. The physical tranformer hum doesn't bother me, can't really hear it unless I'm an inch away from it. Those look great! Remember, with efficient speakers, you'll always get "a bit" of hum (heard ear close to the speaker, during quiet passages). What is in the rest of your system? Preamp? Ol' Harry'll figure it out! fini, thanks for the comments. I'm using a Carver C-4000 preamp, interconnects from monoprice and 10 gauge speaker wires from bluejean. My source is a Thorens 160 MK II and a squeezebox I did the basic troubleshooting steps, regardless of source, I can still hear it so it's coming from the amps. It does not seem to be a groundloop hum as I can hear it using a cheater two pronge adapter. You want them to sound their best? Easiest thing to do is send them to Craig at Nosvalves and have him upgrade them. Wanna do it yourself and have the necessary soldering skills and patience? Look on here for info related to power supply upgrades and driver boards. Fun stuff to do and a number of possibilities. Myself, I upgraded the driver board with a Poseidon driver board and upgraded the power supply to use an SDS board with appropriate values. You can find threads on this and Craigs approach to upgrades on here as well (his leverage an even larger power supply). What you will hear almost universally is to replace the stock can with either a new version with increased capacity or bypass it altogether and put in your own power supply. Who's Craig? Never heard of him. [] How are your khorns with the MK III's? Are they fairly quiet? Thanks for the suggestions, I'll look into it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryO Posted August 27, 2010 Share Posted August 27, 2010 The "hissing" i'll venture a guess on is a tube. Tranny hum? I think it might be over stated and maybe some people just settle for the noise instead of taking the time and steps required to get their system quiet. Other hum could be cables. Not to start crapola but I've used monoprice cables before. You get what you pay for.. Other lighting or ac draw in the room can cause hum also. Isolate your wiring and cables away from each other. You can get the Dynas quiet and don't have to put up with the hum. Mine have always been "dead quiet" with absolutely NO hum. I have clean power and I can't think of any amp I have with any noise at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JL Sargent Posted August 27, 2010 Share Posted August 27, 2010 Take a pencil and lightly tap that metal can "sectoral capacitor" in the back of your picture while listening. If the tone changes or disappears then your on to something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rplace Posted August 27, 2010 Share Posted August 27, 2010 >>my first tube amp, dynaco MK IIIActually its your first TWO tube amps, right? Congrats. I had a pair after my Scott. Very nice...I am sure you will love them. Send them to Craig if you really want them to sing, but for now enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twu Posted August 28, 2010 Author Share Posted August 28, 2010 When you put that way, I got a pretty good deal! Listening to Jewel with them hooked up right now, can't believe how open the sound stage is, not the mentione the bass. I'm loving it. Hard to believe this can get any better. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchist Posted August 28, 2010 Share Posted August 28, 2010 When you put that way, I got a pretty good deal! Listening to Jewel with them hooked up right now, can't believe how open the sound stage is, not the mentione the bass. I'm loving it. Hard to believe this can get any better. Common ground! When I got my first tube amp - an Eico integrated - and used it with a set of Heresies, I put on Jewel (my other reference is Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms). I was blown away. The detail, the soundstage, and the presence was unbelievable. When I hooked the Eico to the Klipshorns, all of those qualities became larger and more intimate. The Eico suffers from a lack of power and can't quite drive the volume levels I like so it was relegated back to the Heresies for a two-channel bedroom system. I replaced it on the Khorns with a Consonance Integrated which could drive the system to ridiculous volumes and life was good albeit the Consonance was not as airy as the Eico. When I first got the Dynaco's, it was 6 on one hand, half a dozen on the other. I would have been satisfied with either and frequently substituted them but neither really matched that presence of the Eico. When I upgraded the Dynaco's with the new board and the power supply, the bass became tighter, separation increased a bit, and you could almost taste Jewel. The upgraded Dynaco's have never been "switched" and I completely lost the upgrade bug. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twu Posted August 28, 2010 Author Share Posted August 28, 2010 When you put that way, I got a pretty good deal! Listening to Jewel with them hooked up right now, can't believe how open the sound stage is, not the mentione the bass. I'm loving it. Hard to believe this can get any better. Common ground! When I got my first tube amp - an Eico integrated - and used it with a set of Heresies, I put on Jewel (my other reference is Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms). I was blown away. The detail, the soundstage, and the presence was unbelievable. When I hooked the Eico to the Klipshorns, all of those qualities became larger and more intimate. The Eico suffers from a lack of power and can't quite drive the volume levels I like so it was relegated back to the Heresies for a two-channel bedroom system. I replaced it on the Khorns with a Consonance Integrated which could drive the system to ridiculous volumes and life was good albeit the Consonance was not as airy as the Eico. When I first got the Dynaco's, it was 6 on one hand, half a dozen on the other. I would have been satisfied with either and frequently substituted them but neither really matched that presence of the Eico. When I upgraded the Dynaco's with the new board and the power supply, the bass became tighter, separation increased a bit, and you could almost taste Jewel. The upgraded Dynaco's have never been "switched" and I completely lost the upgrade bug. "taste Jewel" huh? What a description. I'm sure it's common knowledge here but which "new board" and power supply did you get? Seems there are so many out there. I would die a happy man with updated dyncos and La Scalas...uhhh...maybe Khorns. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchist Posted August 28, 2010 Share Posted August 28, 2010 Poseidon boards SDS Power supply My build Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Dubay Posted August 29, 2010 Share Posted August 29, 2010 Good luck with the MKIII. I have been using a stock pair with my KG5.5 for a good number of years. Mine have always been quiet, so I can't offer too many suggestions. How long have the 6AN8's been in this amp? It could be a microphonic tube. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest " " Posted August 29, 2010 Share Posted August 29, 2010 you might need a cheater plug on your pre-amp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twu Posted September 6, 2010 Author Share Posted September 6, 2010 Poseidon boards SDS Power supply My build Anarchist, thanks for the info. I was out of town for a week and didn't have internet access. I'll take a look at the links and post my progess depending what I decide to do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twu Posted September 6, 2010 Author Share Posted September 6, 2010 Good luck with the MKIII. I have been using a stock pair with my KG5.5 for a good number of years. Mine have always been quiet, so I can't offer too many suggestions. How long have the 6AN8's been in this amp? It could be a microphonic tube. Mike, The guy I got them from said the 6AN8's have been in there for less than a year so he expects they still have some life left. Pardon my ignorance, what's a "microphonic tube"? Is that the 6AN8? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted September 6, 2010 Share Posted September 6, 2010 Pardon my ignorance, what's a "microphonic tube"? http://tubedepot.com/microphonics.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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