Deang Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 Hmmm. Did you read the ad? I do get the jist to what you're saying though. True, we don't know what's under the paint, but it looks like he does real nice work. I'm not about to contest your opinion though since you know these circuits backwards and forwards. The only thing I know about them is they light up my life when I stick my fingers in them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drawtheline77 Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 I have fooled around with a few tube amps, VTL works great with khorns, so does a restored dynaco st70, and of course Mcintosh....A VTL IT 85 int. amp really sounds quite good....simple 1 box too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dflip Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 Dflip - Just as an FYI, I am probably going to offer a separate Canada Roadshow, wherein WE will take on the cost of getting it into the country and back out at the end. Not sure when, but fairly soon. Mark, glad to hear about the possibility. The Peach and Blueberry have great reviews and the roadshow is a great opportunity for people to listen to it. The forms I posted the link to are those for a temporary permit which makes them tax exempt. They may be of some assistance to you. If dr. hug wants a Peach then he is going to have less money for a good amp. A McIntosh MC-30 will run him $1600 or so Canadian, so he will be left with very little for an amp. The other option for a preamp would be a Mapletree Audio 2A or 4A SE with a tube power supply. It would cost less and give him more money for an amp. The Mapletree products are manufactured by Lloyd Peppard, just northeast of Kingston, Ontario. http://www.mapletreeaudio.com/ These are much more functional in appearance, but sound very nice. I currently own a 4A and am very happy with it. Craig (NOS valves) also owns one and made several mods which Lloyd has encorporated in his design. A very nice unit for the money. From Craig's comments, definitely not a Peach or Blueberry, but with 12SX7 tubes, a pleasure to listen to. Low distortion NOS octal tubes (2 x 12SC7, 2 x 12SN7GT switchable for 6SN7GT). Hybrid passive/feedback RIAA equalization. Low impedance cathode-follower outputs. Two line inputs with 20 dB gain. Parallel line outputs for bi-amping or driving a headphone amplifier. Source selector switch, volume, and individual channel level controls. All point-to-point wiring using silver-plated Teflon wire. Uses PS 1 or PS 1t power supply. High quality components are used throughout: Beyschlag-Centralab film resistors, Solen polypropylene film capacitors, and Clarostat potentiometers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 Actually Lloyd has sharpened up the looks ! I think it looks great with the new face plate and dressing. They do sound very good ! Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr.hug Posted January 1, 2005 Author Share Posted January 1, 2005 Again I have to thank you all for your help. (The Peach pre is very high up their in reguards to all) I guess from what I can gather is I have to have more money for the amp I don't want to keep spending money upgrading I want something that will make me happy for a long time. Or at least till the wife forgets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 Start with The Peach, and you won't have to worry about upgrading the preamp later. I would by the Quicksilvers. I think they will keep you happy for a long time. When you are ready to upgrade, you only have to deal with the amps, not the amps AND the preamp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piranha Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 Yep, I would again agree with Dean. But, if you decide you want to go with more economical but still very nice preamp, I have a Mapletree Ultra 4A SE that I'll sell you for a fair price. Certainly for less than a new one. It's hardly been used, and the power supply has been beefed up by Nosvalves.com and has been upgraded with a few of his other tweeks. Please email me if you or anyone else is interested. I am willing to part with the Mapletree only because I own a JM Peach. It is as everyone says a great preamp for the price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klipsch RF7 Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 I would highly consider this Preamp, it is made by Audio Experience. The maker is in Hong Kong and a very nice man, I own his Symphonies + preamp and it is a steal for $660 that i paid for it shipped for it from Hong Kong about 7 months ago. Read all the reviews from the following link below and you will see what i mean. Make sure to read each and every review on it, they are all positive. I also recently demoed the Juicy Music Peach preamp for about a week, it was a very well built unit, very heavy and the internals were very nicely laid out and designed. I did a sound A/B between the two and to me sounded about the same, I got about the same bass response, the highs were extremely close. Also, the Audio Symphonies has two preouts for a sub in the future. The Peach only had one preout and I had to use a Y cable if i wanted to hook up my sub, i didnt have one on hand so i demoed it without my sub. http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1027189615&openflup&1&4#1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audio Flynn Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 Mapletree pre is very nice at that price point. If you are worried about a tube amp running out of gas go straight to the VRDs. Have heard them both. Only concern is the Mapletree pre may be light in gain for low output moving coil cartridges in the phono stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 Ignore everyone. I've wasted more money on the gear merry-go-round then all of them put together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audio Flynn Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Dean; that only means you should be ignored... about turntables and cartridges for certain... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 ---------------- On 1/1/2005 11:46:13 PM DeanG wrote: Ignore everyone. I've wasted more money on the gear merry-go-round then all of them put together. ---------------- Wanna bet, deano I had the quicksilvers, shanling sp-80, pathos, scott 233, 272, bez 2a3, wavelength cardinal x1, exemplar 2a3, b&k, eastern electric, jj 828, and a few other amps this past year. I also have owned many pre-amps. IMHO, to get the best MUSIC from Klipsch speakers, I use the NOSValves VRD's, and they have made more difference in my system than the best pre-amp. IMHO the pre-amp will help tweak the sound, soundstage, imaging, ect. But you need the right amp..... Of course, getting both ASAP will make you immediately Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwinr Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 After reading these threads about how much gear you guys have gone through, I don't feel bad about my 2 to 3 amplifier changes every year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwinr Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Craig, your VRD mono blocs look sensational in Alder. What are the chances of 240 volt for Australia? Just out of interest, what do you recommend as a pre amp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Yeah Steve, but you hadn't posted yet! The way I listen to music, the stylus would never stay in the groove. Been there done that and I ain't going back to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Quicksilvers should have good resale value, might be able to use them for several years for free, I still like the refurbished vintage amps that NOSvalues offers for tube newbies, these should also sell for about what you pay for them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Also heard Cayin TA30 on RF5s briefly and liked what they did for the money, very impressed with ASL 1003 DT, both are EL34 tubes, though you might waht to look at 300B tube models as they would have more head banging power... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 what size room? what kind of music? how loud? tubes for mains on HT? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjgeraci Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 ---------------- On 1/2/2005 7:52:48 AM mdeneen wrote: "Also, the Audio Symphonies has two preouts for a sub in the future. The Peach only had one preout and I had to use a Y cable if i wanted to hook up my sub" ================= This issue of number of outputs comes up frequently and is sometimes perhaps misunderstood a little. 1) When you see a preamp with 2 main outs, they are simply parallel connected jacks - wired together - EXACTLY the same as using a "Y" cable - no difference whatsoever. 2) The Peach SuperLoZ mode will drive 10 amplifiers if you want. The number of output jacks has nothing to do with the DRIVE capability. Just real estate. You can even drive Sennheisers to excruciating volume off the SuperLoZ mode. Or, you could drive a 100-foot long shielded cable with no affect (or effect) on signal. And yet, if driving a single tube power amp (or crossover) the HiZ mode will provide the shortest, simplest, most elegant signal path possible. You get BOTH modes - user switchable - which is like getting 2 preamps in one. (You also get "HT Bypass" mode) In some future revision we will no doubt add a passle of output jacks as this feature is currently not obvious. Hmmm, perhaps I should add a set of "Y" cables to the accessory pack? mdeneen ---------------- Mark is accurate. My current system uses various amps run off of different preamps for various two-channel setups (and for 5.1), and I have split the two outputs of my Peach by using simple "Y" adaptors (Radio Shack Gold Series) without any loss of signal quality. Others such as Sheltie Dave have also done so with the Blueberry - with great success. I also recommend him putting more money into a preamp like the Peach that he will not have to upgrade later and get what amp he can - for the money. As mentioned previously, he could always pick up Dynaco ST 70s or Mark IIIs and get them rebuilt reasonably and still make budget (or find a reasonably-priced one already rebuilt). Carl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 ---------------- On 1/2/2005 2:14:12 AM edwinr wrote: Craig, your VRD mono blocs look sensational in Alder. What are the chances of 240 volt for Australia? Just out of interest, what do you recommend as a pre amp? ---------------- Edwin, I would have to special order a 240V capable transformer it would probably be just as cheap to purchase a step down transformer that you could also use with other gear that runs on 120V. As far as a preamp all I can tell you is what I use which is a Blueberry. I have used a good number of other preamps with great results also and so have some of my customers. Steve who posted above uses CD direct into the amps and loves it. Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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