Chris Robinson Posted May 16, 2003 Share Posted May 16, 2003 Tony, nice comments there about your music selections. Some of those ring true with me, but now that I'm sneaking up on 50, I have to at least give the appearance that I'm not having a mid-life crisis Let's see ... fast car, rug for the bald spot, lose more weight, order Viagra in bulk, listen to killer rock 'n roll. Yeah, that's it! I totally echo your sentiment about Jeff ... He knows what he's doing. Not only that, he emails me EVERY DAY with a one or two liner about what parts have come in, what he's working on with the assembly, how things look, how things sound, etc. etc. When the Pantheon is finally tweaked, and the Horus' are finally finished, he said he and his wife would personally deliver them to Boston where I live because they wanted to spend some time there anyway! He'll probably bring Edster's Horus' as well to save time in transporting. And he even answers my stupid, ignorant questions without poking me with the nearest sharp stick. The bottom line on all this is that he's a "poor" Ph.D. student with cubic FEET of brains, a nice sense of humor and a big - no, make that huge - heart. If you have a little more money available to buy an original amp new, you'll get twice the value and something that will last a lifetime. I don't think I could give a better endorsement of an individual as that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnalOg Posted May 16, 2003 Share Posted May 16, 2003 Heres a little someting I stumbled upon you all might be interested in reading. http://www.magnequest.com/diy_lessard.htm Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted May 16, 2003 Author Share Posted May 16, 2003 Mike LaFevre at MQ thinks the world of Jeff, high praise indeed. Chris I think you are right something like the Horus (or my head-banger 2A3 beauty) should cost multiples of what Jeff charges, it would if he was trying to sell in the open market I expect. the trick here is as you said, he is still studying, loves to make these amps and needs the cash....lucky for us I say, if he ever "goes pro" we will be in trouble! lol! My problem is just as he keeps trying new amp configurations (he just dropped the bomb on me that he may start a 2A3 or 45 PP MONOBLOCK project) I may end up with a collection of JL amps! My wife will flip, I will have to simulate an amp "melt down" to justify my future amp purchases from Jeff! warm regards, tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edster00 Posted May 16, 2003 Share Posted May 16, 2003 Man, I don't even want to hear about a Lessard PP 2A3 monoblock project! I love my Moondogs! I love my Moondogs! I love my Moondogs! I won't sell the Moondogs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted May 16, 2003 Author Share Posted May 16, 2003 "sell the wife , sell the kids, I ain't never coming home" -apocalypse now never say never ed...you either dean! LOL, tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnalOg Posted May 16, 2003 Share Posted May 16, 2003 Man, I don't know the best of both worlds PP & argueably the best sounding tube in audio, all in one neat package, it has got to be one hell of a sweet combo, I'm wetting my shorts!! Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted May 16, 2003 Author Share Posted May 16, 2003 wish you guys could come down to el salvador and here this! oh baby it's heaven! tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted May 16, 2003 Share Posted May 16, 2003 10 watts huh? Hmmm...just enough to run my tweeters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Robinson Posted May 17, 2003 Share Posted May 17, 2003 I know I'm in the minority in having all these "SET dreams" ... with you PP guys wanting more low end and the ability to remove wallpaper ... but Jeff's 2A3 SET design with the nickel chokes and cobalt OPTs addresses the oft-discussed shortcomings of SET ... i.e., low end. He says the bass on these amps is large and lightning fast. You just need 100db+ sensitivity in your speaker selection. The result is the best of the PP and SET combined into one package. (Frankly, the low end on my Wrights is more than enough for me with the Klipschorns; the room MOVES on really low notes) When I heard Leo's modified Moondog gear I was convinced. It was a totally different sound than I heard on the previous visit. As Leo so conservatively said, "The difference in sonics (with the parafeed/cobalt combination) is NOT subtle." If any of you guys within driving distance to Boston want to join us for a weekend of amp and speaker rolling (I'm going to pull the Cornwall II's into the 2-channel room to A/B with the Klipschorns), please come on in. It will be a great chance to meet Jeff and Leo, have some top shelf meals and wine (I'm cooking), and listen to some fun gear. The weekend is still "TBD" but it will most likely be mid-June. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted May 17, 2003 Author Share Posted May 17, 2003 no doubt trannies make a world of difference...I had to stay with "run of the mill" MQ trannies becasue I couldn´t swing the nearly $400 a piece for the upgraded models. when my "ship comes in" it will be reflected in a pair of JL 45-based PP monoblocks with cobalt all around for me (and the blackgates in the PSU for another $250!)...meanwhile I will just have to suffer through with 90% of the SET magic but with no compression at high voumes, dynamics top to bottom to match my k-horns! wish I could be at chris´s for that meeting! oh well....warm regards, tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Robinson Posted May 17, 2003 Share Posted May 17, 2003 I'll post pics ... It will be a fun weekend I'm sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted May 18, 2003 Share Posted May 18, 2003 Sunny, What is the entire tube compliment of this amp. It sure looks interesting ! Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Bey Posted May 18, 2003 Share Posted May 18, 2003 Holy Mackeral Tony! (!!!!) I am green with envy. What did I tell you about low watts not being a problem? My humble 8 watters put out NIN till the rafters drop dust and this is a fairly large room. Arrrgh. I love my Laurels but oh you babe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted May 18, 2003 Author Share Posted May 18, 2003 Craig, a pair of 6SN7 (one for each channel) as input and driver (sections run in paralell) a quartet of 2A3 (two per channel run push/pull) a single 5U4G as a rectifier (can take 5R4, 5AR4 or any 5U4 variant) and....that´s IT! simplicity itself...lots of trannies though (you can see that in the botoom photo)... Randy, I admit a chickened out about SET...I think ti was a good choice because these sound absolutely fantastic and have real balls down low and loud..Jeff says he is going to make himself a pair now, but as monoblocks! warm regards, tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted May 19, 2003 Author Share Posted May 19, 2003 craig, here is a photo of the box, believe it or not I could not open it for these photos becuase of the tamper proof screws that jeff used, I pulled it out of storage and did not have anything that could open it! lol! inside it has blocks of styrofoam glued together and to all the sides that have been cut to match the amp...easy and nice...it worked quite well all the way form Canada to the third worold country of El Salvador in Central America. tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Robinson Posted May 20, 2003 Share Posted May 20, 2003 I've been pinged recently by a "lurker" who is dabbling in SET with a AES AE-1. He is considering joining our "APB" weekend in Boston in June with Jean Francois, Leo K, and whoever decides to show up. He is feeling like his SET amp doesn't have enough power for him, and I'm wondering if it's the quality of the amp or just the topology, i.e., SET vs PP. Tony, you've heard both, right? Any thoughts on this? Personally, my Wrights have enough guts to pull tractor trailers out of ditches ... but I'm getting a little older so I'm wondering if I'm just off base here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted May 21, 2003 Author Share Posted May 21, 2003 I guess it depends on the speakers principaly. When I was considering a SET amp I had a friend bring over a cary 300B integrated amp to my house, it was after that listening session that I had second thoughts about SET in my system. not that the volume was not there...the cary could knock me out of the room through my k-horns, but I felt there was more compression than I liked at volume, less dynamics. I was comparing them at that time with my EL34 PP amp, the cary's had nice SET midrange but some compression with certain music at hiugh volumes. Now that I have the 2A3 PP amp I feel I made the right decision. it compresses less at high volumes, has the dynamics I crave and beats the EL34 hands down in the midrange... so if the lurking guy has anything other than a k-horn or lowther, etc. at above 100db sensitivty AND he listens to anything other than chamber music and jazz combos I might suggest he carefully audition both options before deciding. the SET crowd is right about the magic, but you need to carefully design the system around it and have the musical taste in harmony with it. IMHO of course. I LOVE my PP! LOL! Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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