Cal Blacksmith Posted July 21, 2004 Author Share Posted July 21, 2004 Inside looking at power supply showing 1988 date Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Blacksmith Posted July 21, 2004 Author Share Posted July 21, 2004 Thinking about the 12ax7 swap, I remembered that I have a Fisher reciever that needed to be re-capped and that thing is FULL of good ol us made, vintage 12ax7's! So while I had it appart, I took some better pictures of it. It is hooked up now and playing with the tubes swaped and I tell you, I thought it sounded good before! WOW it has more gain and a even more detailed, crisp sound. The bass now gives a thump out of the Forte speakers that was never there before! It was a bit hard to get used to, I was looking for things in the room that were moving but it was in the speakers! The highs are very bright and when the system is at 100 db spl, the highs are ear pearcing make you wince high! (I didn't stay there very long!!) but even at that spl, it was clean, crisp and detailed. WOW! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Blacksmith Posted July 22, 2004 Author Share Posted July 22, 2004 Well it is now morning and I was forced to tear myself away from the music to go to bed. The last thing I listened to last night was an LP from RCA pressed in 1963 to showcase and demonstrate the new dynagrove process they came up with. I must say that the record was recorded and mastered to make an impression and IT DID! It is a compilation of then current hits of the day, I left my heart in SF Moonlight Serenade etc performed by an orchestra. The clarity and lifelike reproduction of the music left me floored. I had to force myself to get up and lift the stylus at the end of the record, I just wanted to relax and stay in the afterglow. An old saying about aviation is: Flying is better than sex, it lasts longer! The same can be said about a great audio system! I know there are systems better than mine out there, but this is by far the best I think I have ever heard, it surpasses my memories of the first time I heard Khorns driven by Mac amplification in a high end room of a high end audio dealer in Fayetteville N.C. in 1977. (Sound systems inc. if they are still there?) Perhaps someday I will want to upgrade (it is part of the disease isnt it?) but for now, the bleeding of money for audio equipment is at an end. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Landau Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 I'm glad that you're enjoying your system. I've checked with my friend and his unit SN is 0168 so you've deffinitely got the 12ax7 version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Blacksmith Posted July 22, 2004 Author Share Posted July 22, 2004 Guy: any ideas what the "rec" jacks are for? (see photo back right) I am at a loss. I take it that the second output is for the tape loop or second amp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Landau Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 The REC jacks are for tape loop. Output A & B are for amplifiers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Blacksmith Posted July 22, 2004 Author Share Posted July 22, 2004 Many thanks again for everything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Blacksmith Posted August 21, 2012 Author Share Posted August 21, 2012 Well, it has been 8 years and I still have the VTL. It has proven to be a very well designed unit, one that I am still deeply enjoying though it is now driving a Sonic Frontiers Power 1 and a pair of Cornwall 2s. There has not been a need for service in any way with this unit, it is still quite happy running on the tubes that were in it the last time I posted to this thread. I know this thread goes back a ways and has been lost to the sands of time here, but I was doing a search on my preamp and this thread came up near the top of the Google list of links. At least for me, it turned out to be a wise investment to spend the most I could at the time on a quality used pre amp. The $/time factor is very low indeed and I am still enjoying the sound. How many here can say the same thing? I wonder, it would be fun to find out! It was also fun to see some names I have not seen for a long time, such as Guy. He was the driving force behind me gtetting this preamp and I am very thankfull to him for the great advice![] 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredbracht1 Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 Hi Cal, I own an Ultimate and would be intrested to have a copy of the manual you are referring to. Are you able to send me that? I will pay your for the effort. Thanks in advance. Best regards Fred Bracht Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted January 17, 2022 Share Posted January 17, 2022 On 7/22/2004 at 12:20 PM, Guy Landau said: I'm glad that you're enjoying your system. I've checked with my friend and his unit SN is 0168 so you've deffinitely got the 12ax7 version. So many years and VTL is still kicking !!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the real Duke Spinner Posted January 17, 2022 Share Posted January 17, 2022 All of my stereo is at least 25 years old My experience is the best equipment just is a spec race Quality be dammed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawnwes Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 First post on the site and unable to message members directly yet. Found it as I was searching for VTL Ultimate on the web as I've just purchased one and am looking for available documentation such as owners manual, schematic, etc. It's an early one - #106. Cal Blacksmith if you happen to see this post I know you still owned it as of a year ago and was wondering if you had any documents, and have the ability to scan, if you'd be willing to share a copy of whatever documentation you might have. I have found a copy of the VTL book vol 1 by David Manley and there's apparently some documentation there - hasn't arrived yet. Couldn't find anything on their site and have read they don't really make info avail or even sell it. anyways it would be nice to hear about your experiences with it over the years & what if anything you've had to repair or modify, tube experience, etc. Cheers, Shawn Kelowna, BC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KT88 Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 12 hours ago, shawnwes said: First post on the site and unable to message members directly yet. Found it as I was searching for VTL Ultimate on the web as I've just purchased one and am looking for available documentation such as owners manual, schematic, etc. It's an early one - #106. Cal Blacksmith if you happen to see this post I know you still owned it as of a year ago and was wondering if you had any documents, and have the ability to scan, if you'd be willing to share a copy of whatever documentation you might have. I have found a copy of the VTL book vol 1 by David Manley and there's apparently some documentation there - hasn't arrived yet. Couldn't find anything on their site and have read they don't really make info avail or even sell it. anyways it would be nice to hear about your experiences with it over the years & what if anything you've had to repair or modify, tube experience, etc. Cheers, Shawn Kelowna, BC @Cal Blacksmith Hi Cal, please see above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawnwes Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 I hope it's ok to post this here. Well the VTL Ultimate arrived a couple of days ago. It would be an understatement to say that all the tubes arrived in less than ideal condition. It's a shame as they seem to have been Ei tubes which are apparently nice European tubes. Luckily the rest of it seems to have survived intact! I have a set of 12ax7 The Fisher branded Telefunken that a CAM member was nice enough to sell me from his private stash. Now I'm just waiting for the arrival of a pair of Brimar 12at7 and I'll be ready to see what I've got. I picked up a VTL ST-85 (with the triode/pentode switch) to pair it with. Hopefully it will be a good match. No response from Bea & Luke at VTL regarding purchasing a copy of the manual. It's mostly for the MC dipswitch values I'd like it but I can probably figure them out by reading the resistor values and assume they would be wired in parallel so whichever ones are turned on would sum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebse2a3 Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 3 hours ago, shawnwes said: No response from Bea & Luke at VTL regarding purchasing a copy of the manual. It's mostly for the MC dipswitch values I'd like it but I can probably figure them out by reading the resistor values and assume they would be wired in parallel so whichever ones are turned on would sum. @shawnwes You can find more pictures here if you haven’t seen these before that might help you. https://www.stereonet.com/forums/topic/248051-withdrawn-or-relisted-fs-vtl-the-ultimate-preamplifier/ Here are a few pictures of a VTL Ultimate Pre-Amplifier and the schematics I was able to see before I was locked out and requested to join the group. This one was on another topic post on the same website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawnwes Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 Thanks mikebse2a3. I did see those on Stereonet and saved them to my computer. I actually am heading out to the post office this morning to pick up a copy of The VTL Book Vol 1 that I found on Ebay. I believe that's where those pictures are from. I thought I'd be able to just look at the resistors on the dip switches to figure out what the values are for each of the 8 switches but I see that they're encased in the plastic housing. I've got an XV-1s cartridge that's being rebuilt by Steve Leung at VAS at the moment and was wondering what switches would equal about 100 ohms as that's generally a good setting for it. I suppose I could put a test meter on either side of each switch while it's in the "on" position and just measure each value? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebse2a3 Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 20 minutes ago, shawnwes said: I actually am heading out to the post office this morning to pick up a copy of The VTL Book Vol 1 that I found on Ebay. I believe that's where those pictures are from. I hope it does…. I have the “The Vacuum Tube Logic Book - Second Edition” and none of the resistors or capacitor values are on the schematic and it also appears to have a mistake (ie: connection line is missing from 2.7k resistor to DIP Switch Resistors) as seen in the schematic drawing above where the DIP Switch resistors are not shown as being in parallel when in the “ON Position” with the 2.7k resistor shown in the above schematic. Yes you should be able to determine the values with a meter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawnwes Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 (edited) I found out from a CAM member that due to the implementation of the dip switches assy that we should be able to just measure across each switch individually, when it's in the "on" position, with an ohmmeter to ascertain the value of each one. They do sum if in the "on position". I'll try it tomorrow and will post the values I find. Edited February 10 by shawnwes clarification Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Blacksmith Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 On 1/31/2024 at 10:14 PM, shawnwes said: First post on the site and unable to message members directly yet. Found it as I was searching for VTL Ultimate on the web as I've just purchased one and am looking for available documentation such as owners manual, schematic, etc. It's an early one - #106. Cal Blacksmith if you happen to see this post I know you still owned it as of a year ago and was wondering if you had any documents, and have the ability to scan, if you'd be willing to share a copy of whatever documentation you might have. I have found a copy of the VTL book vol 1 by David Manley and there's apparently some documentation there - hasn't arrived yet. Couldn't find anything on their site and have read they don't really make info avail or even sell it. anyways it would be nice to hear about your experiences with it over the years & what if anything you've had to repair or modify, tube experience, etc. Cheers, Shawn Kelowna, BC Shawn, welcome to the club. I have the data ......somewhere. I moved from CA to Georgia a couple years ago, a lot of my stuff is still packed up and I have no idea where it is. I still use my VTL most every day. I have it in my den/ listening room along with my Sonic Frontiers power amp and khorns which I use for serious listening as well as TV audio and gaming. The VTL is still going strong and I can't see any reason to nor do I have any plans to replace it. Sure it is getting up there in age but it still is just as awesome as it was the day I bought it. If I find the documents I will digitize them but right now I'm not in a big hurry to find them. Enjoy the pre Amp! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawnwes Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 On 2/14/2024 at 11:18 PM, Cal Blacksmith said: Shawn, welcome to the club. I have the data ......somewhere. I moved from CA to Georgia a couple years ago, a lot of my stuff is still packed up and I have no idea where it is. I still use my VTL most every day. I have it in my den/ listening room along with my Sonic Frontiers power amp and khorns which I use for serious listening as well as TV audio and gaming. The VTL is still going strong and I can't see any reason to nor do I have any plans to replace it. Sure it is getting up there in age but it still is just as awesome as it was the day I bought it. If I find the documents I will digitize them but right now I'm not in a big hurry to find them. Enjoy the pre Amp! Thanks Cal, I was hoping you'd see the post. I have the origl VTL book and it does go into some details regarding the Super Deluxe phono stage and states the Ultimate and SDL have the same phono section. I'm primarily interested in finding out the values of each of the dip switches in the mc settings. I'm getting conflicting values on some switches between the 2 switch banks when I measure from 1 to 8 in the "on" position. Unfortunately I haven't received any response from VTL. My MC cartridge is being rebuilt atm. Here's an excerpt from the book on the SDL & Ultimate preamps... Shawn 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.