Deang Posted July 23, 2003 Share Posted July 23, 2003 I know everyone here has just been holding their breath in anticipation, waiting to see what I would decide to do. I know Craig especially, has just been sitting back waiting for a chance to drop kick me. Since Dave Sheltie had the good sense to jump on my offer almost immediately, and that I didn't have the good sense to think things through before posting the ad -- I felt selling my Quicksilvers to Dave was the right thing to do. It also gave me an exuse to cave in to my desire to try and up the ante. "Upgrading" is like walking through a mine field. Basically, you really don't know what you are going to end up with until you plug it into your system. I've been thinking about where I've been, what I've tried, what I know, and what I have strong feelings about. I know for my music and general listening habits -- good power is the order of the day. There is no cheating here for good Rock-n-Roll, Alternative, and Metal. Good drive and accurate reproduction of dynamic peaks at 90db and above is found with 50 watts or better. Even the Superamp DJH, using KT-88's and 35 wpc -- could pinch somewhat at the higher levels. The RF-7's are not Klipschorns. If I had K-horns, my system would be completely different -- and I fell back on this fact continually while thinking things through. What did I want? I wanted Class A, or more of it, and I wanted fixed bias. I wanted tube rectification, simply because I've never had an amp that used it -- driving the RF-7's. Tube type? Well, I'm totally addicted to the EL-34, and wasn't ready to give up the lush midrange or fat soundstage. Overdriven guitar amps sound just like overdriven guitar amps. I played through a Fender Super Reverb, and the chunky grinding stuff sounds as real as real can get in my room. It's liquid brown -- and it IS the Sh!t. I shouldn't have been surprised to see what made my short list -- and man, the list was short. The fact is, there really isn't a whole lot out there that gives you about 15 to 20 watts of Class A, 50 watts plus total, fixed bias, tube rectification, EL-34's, AND affordable. I finally decided that I might not have to stray to far from home, and so I emailed Mike Sanders of Quicksilver. I should have these Mono-80's by next week -- and I'm looking forward to the go around with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted July 23, 2003 Share Posted July 23, 2003 Them damn blue caps !! This is the only reason you bought the darn things Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted July 23, 2003 Author Share Posted July 23, 2003 Yeah, I know -- this time I'm spray painting them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1stcav Posted July 23, 2003 Share Posted July 23, 2003 All I can say is good luck with the new Quicksilvers. You'll never know how good they can improve the sound of your RF-7's until you try 'em out on your own system...hope they measure-up to your expectations. Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnalOg Posted July 23, 2003 Share Posted July 23, 2003 Damn, all this talk of upgrading amps is startin to make me think! Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkrop Posted July 24, 2003 Share Posted July 24, 2003 Now repeat after me: Hi, my name is Dean and I have a problem... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted July 24, 2003 Author Share Posted July 24, 2003 Good luck "upgrading" from a Mark III. Ready to go back to 3 watts? How about 10? That is the real "problem" -- finding transparancy without giving up dynamics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted July 24, 2003 Share Posted July 24, 2003 So Dean how many controls for this fix bias design are there ? Will he actually give you a schematic on this one ? Is this amp 100% Class A ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike82 Posted July 24, 2003 Share Posted July 24, 2003 Congrats, Dean. You made a wise choice. The Quicksilvers are fine amps. I used to own the 8417 monoblocks a few (12 actually. Damn, I'm getting old!)years ago (w/Audible Illusions 2C, Spendor SP1/2) and, as I noted in a previous post, the QS are superior to the AE stuff. The sonic character of the EL34 makes it a nice match for the RF7. Make sure to give us a report. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted July 24, 2003 Author Share Posted July 24, 2003 I didn't ask for a schematic. They don't do me any good anyways since I don't work on amps. There is one bias pot for each pair of tubes being run together. Mike said as long as the pairs are not miles apart, this setup works very good. 80 watts total Class A/B. The M-60's were designed to push out between 9 and 12 watts of Class A -- these will give me between 12 and 15. Not ideal, but better. A few other things did better, but either used cathode biasing, solid state rectification, or were to expensive. These amps are direct coupled. There are no coupling caps. These amps originally retailed for $3000, a $1000 more than the M-60's -- and I was able to land them for $1300. Not to painful. For tubes we have the four EL-34's, 12FQ7 x 2, 12BH7 x 1, and 5AR4 x 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted July 24, 2003 Share Posted July 24, 2003 are those the M80s he made in the mid 90s? if so they are supposed to be great amps! I will be very interested to hear if you fell they sound better in your system than the Horn Monos. please let us know as soon as you have them in your system. you could also swap some parts out of that amp. BlackGates in PSU caps, etc. to give you an "ultimate" version. I was going to suggest you try that on the Horn Monos but...alas, too late! tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZAKO Posted July 24, 2003 Share Posted July 24, 2003 Deang...What a piece of GLASS TRASH, send them to me Ill make boat anchers out of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted July 24, 2003 Author Share Posted July 24, 2003 Hi Tony -- I didn't have the Horn Monos, though I did post a link for the Stereophile review...was it yesterday? I thought the review would interest those Heritage folks who don't really need more than 25 watts, and don't want to break the bank digging out some great sound. I was using the Mono-60's, which can be seen in the thread, "Testing the Waters". Like I said, the 60's are going to Dave Sheltie, who I'm sure will be very pleased with the sound. I responded to an email from Dee this morning telling him that the plain jane vanilla M-60's sounded better than anything I had in the system to date. I did go through a preamp change however (AE-3 DJH to Cary SL-94), and so it very well may just be a synergistic thing. Yes, Mike made these amps from 1994 to 1996, and they pretty much run the EL-34's to the limit of what they can handle. I was told they are great amps, and Mike concurred. I did wonder since they are tube rectified, if the capacitance on the B+ would be in the area of where I could plug in some Blackgates -- we'll see. Still, I think those blue Spragues are filled with Pixie dust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted July 24, 2003 Share Posted July 24, 2003 yeah but blackgate (and the now defunct cerafines) have a better class of pixie dusting their caps...tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted July 24, 2003 Author Share Posted July 24, 2003 LOL, yeah, I suppose they do. What's wrong with Maron today, do you think he forgot his Geritol? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted July 24, 2003 Share Posted July 24, 2003 Dean, It would be simple to add a control for each tube if the chassis space allows ! This seems like a smart buy for you ! I was crusing the QuickSilver site and noticed he now is using Black caps this guy may be alright after all. Craig Maybe after those amps settle in we can cross ship are amps and I can do the extra controls and audition your amps and you mine ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZAKO Posted July 25, 2003 Share Posted July 25, 2003 DeanG ...My geritol supply is fine. I just feel you threw away perfictly good amps. @ might be sorry later. A better up grade in speakers shows your system off better. What happend to your dream of JBL 2445, 2225, in a new system? Wont this push back time table in this direction? Im not pushing JBL. Nothing can replace my K-horns (all of them). My amps are 20 yrs old @ will set the standard for newer ones to test agenst. Its like your first kiss although not great but all others will be compared. I just seen this happen few months ago A guy with Quicksilvers just crawled back to his first love 2 WATT SET. Always hold on to early units for awhile They may prove to be most loyal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnalOg Posted July 25, 2003 Share Posted July 25, 2003 I have to agree with Maron here. The only "upgrade", for lack of a better word, would be more wattage & tube rectification, unless I'm missing something. Happy you will be, you're basically getting what you had, with a little more head room, and smoother (maybe audible) presentation with the tube rectification. So you say you like the EL34 topology fine stick with it. I think you needed to take a bigger leap though, possibly considering a different manufacture so to have a whole different set of garden variety parts & circuitry. I think that will yield you a change for the better or worse, but atleast now you would know what you like or may like more if not worse, HUH, I lost myself there for a second. I think you get were I'm coming from. If the argument is "I like QuickSilver", Then I think you should have stuck with what you had. JMHO Now on the other hand, try a three way horn loaded speaker, thats what I call a upgrade!! Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted July 25, 2003 Share Posted July 25, 2003 The only "upgrade", for lack of a better word, would be more wattage & tube rectification I'm pretty sure he did both of these with this purchase. I hate giving Dean a pat on the back but.......he did well on this one. Not a major cost upgrade but indeed a upgrade. Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted July 25, 2003 Share Posted July 25, 2003 I just seen this happen few months ago A guy with Quicksilvers just crawled back to his first love 2 WATT SET Now this guy was indeed sick !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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