Born2RockU Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 I can finally say BYE-Bye to my S.S. preamp. I am the proud owner of a Peach. Just won a unit on Audiogon . ....How did I do on the price? http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/auc.pl?preatube&1124759356#bid SEADOG's brother Scott (... hello David ) kindly came over last Friday morning and demonstrated his VRD's w/ a Scott 130 tube preamp. W O W !!!!! In all of the 46 years of my life have I heard ANY system in my life sound the way mine did that Friday morning with an all-tube signal. I was blown away ! The VRD power w/ the Klipschorns roared ! I can't put into words how much better my system sounded w/ those 60 watts per channel, versus my older McIntosh MC30's. As soon as Scott left...I contacted Craig at NOSValves and ordered me two VRD's . Now comes the wait. Luckly, coming this Friday, I start a 17-day tour of Japan and Singapore... and a little r+r on the island of Bali , SCUBA diving. By the time I get back home, I expect some boxes to be waiting at my door step. Can you believe I got a PEACH for $707 ????? ~ Rock On ~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 Congrats! Great price, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BS Button Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 I gotta go with Colter's standard response here. "I hate you". Great find...good job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Born2RockU Posted August 22, 2005 Author Share Posted August 22, 2005 BS Button : I hope that's a good hate? Daddy Dee : Thanx ...my jaw dropped when the price never rose higher. ....now, I got money to buy more Sushi in Japan this weekend !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BS Button Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 It is a real good kinda hate. I'm about to plop down on a Merlin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Landau Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 ---------------- On 8/22/2005 9:43:21 PM Born2RockU wrote: ; ...my jaw dropped when the price never rose higher. ....now, I got money to buy more Sushi in Japan this weekend !!! ---------------- The Audiogon market price and the Klipsch forum market price are different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Born2RockU Posted August 22, 2005 Author Share Posted August 22, 2005 Guy Landau: Actually I expected the price to go much higher. I feel lucky that I got this incredible deal . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Born2RockU Posted August 23, 2005 Author Share Posted August 23, 2005 BS Button: I got a Peach on a Merlin budget. I am still in shock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjgeraci Posted August 23, 2005 Share Posted August 23, 2005 Wow - congrats. Welcome to the Peach/Blueberry/Merlin family. As you already know, you are in for a treat. Carl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Born2RockU Posted August 23, 2005 Author Share Posted August 23, 2005 cjgeraci : Thanx...I can't wait. Oh, I see you have a tube cd player, JoLida 100A , ...how much did your get yours for and is there a ugrade model out or is your the top model. I assume you would recommend it ? Any pro's and con's on tube cd players ?????????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Blacksmith Posted August 23, 2005 Share Posted August 23, 2005 Congrats on the Peach! I got to listen to Toms Blueberry and VRDs at Andys little get together and those are nice preamps. Not quite the same as my VTL but quite nice just the same. I did not say mine was better or worse, just a little different and to MY ear I like mine just a tad more. Congrats again on the preamp I am quite sure you will love it and for that price, you could not go wrong!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piranha Posted August 23, 2005 Share Posted August 23, 2005 ---------------- On 8/23/2005 10:26:44 AM Cal Blacksmith wrote: Congrats on the Peach! I got to listen to Toms Blueberry and VRDs at Andys little get together and those are nice preamps. Not quite the same as my VTL but quite nice just the same. I did not say mine was better or worse, just a little different and to MY ear I like mine just a tad more. Congrats again on the preamp I am quite sure you will love it and for that price, you could not go wrong!! ---------------- Wayne, I must respectfully disagree with you on the Peach/VTL comparison. To me there really is no comparison. Personally I think the Peach sounded much better. And looks wise, it's really a no brainer IMO. To me the Peach was more detailed, had a larger soundtage, better imaging etc. Your ears are obviousy different than mine and I can certainly respect your opinion. That's what's great about this hobby. Remember, the Peach was only hooked up for 45-60 minutes max before you wanted to roll in your VTL. I hardly think that's an adequate amount of time to really make a good comparison. At least that is MHO. I would love to A/B the same CD on the VTL and Peach. Maybe we can get together again and do that with my Blueberry Xtreme and your VTL? Heck we can even do a vinyl comaprison. That would be fun! I am curious, how do you think my VRD's compared to your Sonic Frontiers? Which did you prefer? Cheers! Born2RockU, Congratulations on your Peach! You'll be extremely pleased I can assure you. There is no way you'll find a better sounding trimode linestage at that pricepoint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Landau Posted August 23, 2005 Share Posted August 23, 2005 ---------------- On 8/23/2005 11:00:07 AM Piranha wrote: Heck we can even do a vinyl comaprison. That would be fun! ---------------- Any news regarding your turntable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjgeraci Posted August 23, 2005 Share Posted August 23, 2005 ---------------- On 8/23/2005 10:06:59 AM Born2RockU wrote: cjgeraci : Thanx...I can't wait. Oh, I see you have a tube cd player, JoLida 100A , ...how much did your get yours for and is there a ugrade model out or is your the top model. I assume you would recommend it ? Any pro's and con's on tube cd players ?????????? ---------------- Some have said that the Jolida JD100A was not detailed enough on the high end for them. I heard a stock unit on a non-Klipsch system and did not hear any real upper deficiencies, but maybe I could have heard them on more revealing speakers such as Klipsch. I own an Underwood modded JD100, level one mod. Copy and paste this link - http://www.underwoodhifi.com/mod_jolida.html I paid about $1200 for mine and have been very pleased with it. It took about 200 hours to break in, but after that, it has worked like a champ for a year. I have plenty of detail on the upper end with mine and a large soundstage (with Belles). I have had no complaints. The other CD players I have had in my system have sounded "drier" than this player, and this is one example I suppose of adding more of the good tube thing to your system (without being syrupy). I have tube rolled it twice, and the right choice of NOS tubes can make a pretty smooth player sound even better (the best I have found are Mullard CV4004s). Underwood also offers a level 2 mod that they claim is 25% better than their level one mod so the only way I would ever get rid of mine would be if I found a good deal on a preowned level 2 modded one. Here is a nice review of a level one modded JD100: http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/jolida/jd100.html Carl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Born2RockU Posted August 23, 2005 Author Share Posted August 23, 2005 mdeneen : You got that right. No demos needed anymore. Mark, I truly appreciate all you help and reply's to my emails this last week. I just can't wait to hear a Peach for the first time w/ my new VRD's, which will arrive in three weeks from Craig. The only tube preamp I have ever heard was last week and it was a Scott 130. So I haven't a clue what could possibly sound better because I have never heard a tube preamp in my system , and have NEVER heard any system carress my ears, ...such as those tubes did last week w/ AUDIODAD's (Seadog's brother Scott's) VRD's an Scott 130 . ANYONE : What differences will I hear in the PEACH vs a Scott130? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Blacksmith Posted August 23, 2005 Share Posted August 23, 2005 Wayne, I must respectfully disagree with you on the Peach/VTL comparison. To me there really is no comparison. Personally I think the Peach sounded better. And looks are a no brainier. I will agree with you on looks, the VTL was not made with looks as a top priority, just a black box with knobs and some white lettering but then again, I listen with my ears and either am in the dark or close my eyes so the looks are only a problem when the system is off. BIG GRIN As to sound, part of the problem we had at Andys is that the source material was so varied. This provided a good sample of music types but made it hard to compare one unit to the other. I will admit to a less than perfect audio memory so for me to notice a subtle difference from unit to unit, I would need to have both units fed the same source and have both units adjusted to the same volume and routed through a switch box for INSTANT changing between them to hear differences. This is what I did when I compared my SS pre-amp section to the VTL. To me the Peach was more detailed, had a larger soundstage, better imaging etc. Your ears are obviously different than mine and I can certainly respect your opinion. That's what's great about this hobby. I also agree that one great aspect of the hobby is that we can each like different things and can respect each others choices. I did not hear much of a difference in sound stage, imaging or clarity between the two units but then again, see the disclaimer in my answer above. Remember, the Peach was only hooked up for 45-60 minutes max before you wanted to roll in your VTL. I hardly think that's an adequate amount of time to really make a good comparison. At least that is MHO. I will plead guilty to being eager to hear what I brought to the mix. I thought I was able to hold out longer than an hour but perhaps you are right, my apologies to all if they felt they were shortchanged in getting to listen to the Peach. I would love to A/B the same CD on the VTL and Peach. Maybe we can get together again and do that with my Blueberry Xtreme and your VTL? Heck we can even do a vinyl comparison. That would be fun! You bet it would be! I am open to location and time must be made for the event as I have many projects at home to do but ABSOULTLY! This should happen! I am curious, how do you think my VRD's compared to your Sonic Frontiers? Which did you prefer? Hmmmmm Tough question. I love the look of mono-blocks (though the transformer covers could have been better (wink wink grin grin) but then the looks of the SF amp has had my eye since it first came out about 8 years ago. So for looks, either would fit nicely in my rack 50/50 a tie. Sound wise, my memory has faded a bit though I do remember the VRDs sounding sweet. I like the option you have to go P/P or triode, an idea that Guy Landau has mentioned in my question on how to tame the excessive gain I have in my SF amp. He suggested to rewire it to triode mode, an idea that has me interested. My overall memory of the event though was that I would be quite happy with either amp. I was neither overly impressed with either amp OVER the other nor was I disappointed with the performance with the SF amp compared to the VRDs either. This board has a bias for supporting the products made by members of the board and while I agree that they are indeed fine products and all things being equal, I would rather support a member of the board with a purchase over a company that is not represented here, there is a underling current of PC that seems to place the products of the boards members above most other products. It may well be that their products are better but it is very UNpc to say anything against or even hint that other products could be as good or liked more. This is not to challenge your or my views at all, we each hear and value different things more or less and no one can say that their view is more important or better than anyone else, we each come to the table with our own physical problems, mental problems, stresses, prejudices and values. I just believe that for a while it has been frowned upon to say that you like product X when product Y was made by a board member. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo33 Posted August 23, 2005 Share Posted August 23, 2005 "This board has a bias for supporting the products made by members of the board" Deja vu??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted August 23, 2005 Share Posted August 23, 2005 Just about everything I own was made by a boardmember! I've owned other brands (many that cost considerably more) and they just don't compare. I think there's a reason for the bias. I highly doubt folks here would spend that kind of money for amps, preamps, crossovers, etc. unless it was worth it and trust me, it is. Board loyalty only goes so far, especially when it comes to our hard-earned cash. BTW - Congrats on your Peach score! You'll love it!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Landau Posted August 23, 2005 Share Posted August 23, 2005 board loyality? good joke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted August 23, 2005 Share Posted August 23, 2005 Sheesh guys, if you can't tell offhand after an hour of listening, then you can't tell... I wouldn't have waited THAT long, well, ok maybe ONE SONG. Then it's A/B time! DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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