Listening to Thebes's scott 299, sweet!!!

[33klfan]

First of all Thebes is a really decent guy for letting me borrow his 299. I met him yesterday and picked it up to borrow it until this upcoming wednesday. I've listened to a few cd's and it sounds pretty decent. It doesn't have a 'wow' difference over my sx-980, but it does seem like more of a joy to listen to. There's plenty of bass. I thought there would be a lack of it. There's almost too much and sometimes it sounds a little muddy. I would like to integrate my sub with it but then there would probably be too much bass between the amp and the sub working together. I wish it had tone defeat. I have my sf-1's plugged into the 8 ohm tap. Should i try the 4? He said he usually uses the 4 but i wasn't sure since my speakers are 8 ohms even though i've read people do the 4 ohm thing. One thing i love is the glow of tubes at night, so cool!! O yeah, which input should i put the turtable into? I think i have it in mag 1. I haven't tried it yet. This is definately cool though to finally audition tubes in my room. I have to go listen to more music now.

[LarryC]

33 -- doesn't the 299 have a loudness control? There will be plenty of bass if it's on, and you might experiment with it on and off along with the bass control. Scotts seem to sound better with it on, though in theory they aren't "flat" that way.

I think I recall the Pioneer sounds quite good. Tubes, however, have their own distinctive quality and benefit.

Larry

[lwhaples]

Great hearing that you are enjoying tubes! I had two Scott 299's before going to Dynaco's. The Pioneer has plenty of power,but once you get used to the tube sound you will miss it.Let us know after you've had more time to enjoy.

Larry

[jcmusic]

Larry,

It might be the difference in speakers, I run my 299 dead flat. I have all the tone controls set to flat on all of the filters off and without any loudness. I am using Forte II's for speakers in that system. I am really happy with the overall sound, I do have nice tubes in it and it has been to Craig's @ NOS Valves for his magic.

Jay

[33klfan]

There's plenty of bass with loudness off. I actually want less bass for some music, which i cut down on the tone control but then it has too much treble. Also, is mag 1 right for the turntable? Is 8 ohm or 4 ohm better for connecting speakers? Thanks.

[NOSValves]

Try the 4 ohm taps. Like I said in your other thread the Scott should sound hugely different then the Pioneer. In the end this would have nothing to do with what you like it better but it should sound very different. SF-1's are going to be a somewhat difficult load on the 17 watt amp so the 4 ohm taps may help it out some.

Craig

[3dzapper]

Some will probably argue with me, but here is my take on those vintage amps (not the sound of them):

Those "lines" being straight up on the tone pot knobs mean little. Years and old manufacturing tolerances have moved the null point away from dead center of the pot's rotation. My advice to owners of these type amps is to remove the knobs, manually center the pots, and then slightly adjust the controls until the system sounds and/or measures flat. At that point reinstall the knobs with the indicator lines straight up. Now, the lines mean something!

Rick

[NOSValves]

Actually in testing with a scope I have found those tone controls usually have a dead flat position about half way from +1 to -1 on almost all Scott amps. If I rebuild them and find it off with a scope I adjust the controls via set screw to correct it. If they have not been removed from the amp since it was here straght up is straight up..........LOL!!! 95% need no adjustment.

[lwhaples]

At times,when reading threads about the Scott 299's. I wish I kept one.Just remember,if you go tubes you can never look back!

Larry

[3dzapper]

Actually in testing with a scope I have found those tone controls usually have a dead flat position about half way from +1 to -1 on almost all Scott amps. If I rebuild them and find it off with a scope I adjust the controls via set screw to correct it. If they have not been removed from the amp since it was here straght up is straight up..........LOL!!! 95% need no adjustment.

I figured that you would do that when you went through one Craig. Of course, the operative is "about half way".

I don't know the history of the 299 in question.

Merry Christmas.

Rick

[NOSValves]

Rick,

No I think I'm confusing you with my superior writing skills[] I mean the tone control is flat from about 1/2 to -1 to half way +1 in other words the controls do almost nothing until you move them to +1 or -1 huge window that is flat. Now some of the other less expensive integrated the story is very different.

Craig

.

[DoubleJ]

At times,when reading threads about the Scott 299's. I wish I kept one.Just remember,if you go tubes you can never look back!

Larry

Larry: I can sell you your old one back for...

Onebezilliangazillion $'s []

JJ

[lwhaples]

At times,when reading threads about the Scott 299's. I wish I kept one.Just remember,if you go tubes you can never look back!

Larry

Larry: I can sell you your old one back for...

Onebezilliangazillion $'s []

JJ

[H]

[33klfan]

Connecting my sf-1s to 4 ohm taps won't hurt the speakers? I know people do this, but it just sounds odd to that because i thought impedances should match. I'm not too tech savvy in this department. I'll try it though.

[NOSValves]

No it absolutely will not hurt the speakers! That is what your trying to accomplish match the impedance. The 8 ohm rating is nominal on the speaker. This work Nominal means the impedance actually varies up and down from that center point. Very few speakers have a constant impedance and most Klipsch speakers of the era the SF-1 were made dip pretty low. So the amp may see a more friendly impedance on the 4 0hm taps. If it sounds better to you it is better. If it sounds worse then switch back. No harm done.

I would like you to answer my question about where on the volume control your using the 299A at. It will help me advise you. So to get satisfying levels you mentioned 2 did you mean 2 as printed on the 299 face plate or 2:00 ?

[33klfan]

Ok, i had on 4 ohm all day. There isn't much difference i don't think. 8 might be a little better. I listen to it on number 2 written on the faceplate. It goes up to 10. Some times i turn it up a little louder. I haven't gone past 4.

[NOSValves]

Well it sounds like you have a very high source level being presented to the Scott. You should be able to turn it up a good bit more then that before it becomes loud. At 2 on the face plate it you should only be at levels that would be very easy to carry on a conversation without raising your voice at all.

Let's go through what you have the source plugged into and what this source is.

1) What input on the back do you have your CD player or whatever source you are using plugged into on the Scott?

2) What brand and model is this source you are using?

3) What input are you using with your turntable?

4) With the turntable how far do you have to turn up the volume control to achieve the same comfortable listening levels?

5) How is the sound when playing LP's compared to CD?

Craig

[33klfan]

2 to 3 on volume control is relatively loud for cd's. I haven't had it past 4 for lp's. I have a rotel rcd-1072 cd player that is connected to tape input, and pioneer pl-560 turntable with stanton 680 hifi, plugged into mag 2 low. Some records sound about the same level as cd's. The loudest i had to play any cd or lp to sound loud is 4. So i guess the range is 2 to 4 differing, depending on cd or lp and their recordings. Some are quieter and louder than others. My room is only 10.5'x11.5'. I don't know why it's odd to sound decent at 2 to 4. What i found with this tube experience is i don't have to have turned up so darn loud to enjoy the music.

[NOSValves]

Your room must be fairly small and it sounds like the CD player has a pretty high output level causing you to use the lower settings on the volume control which happens to be the worst area to be using it. It will thin out the sound pretty good, hold back detail and collapse the sound stage. The problem in your situation is that because you are getting such volume at the lower settings the loudness switch is putting too much boost in the LF and HF region so it sounds like dung also. Not much you can do in just a few days. I had this problem a long time ago with a CD player I had and I made some attenuators inline in a pair of RCA interconnects. But we have no time for such things.

You may want to revisit your LP's and put the loudness switch to the "in position" at 4 on the volume control it will just have a slight effect and may sound a bit better. The loudness circuit on the Scott is completely self defeating when you reach 45% of the controls movement it is out of the circuit. The percentage of effect lessens as you turn the control up from zero. At 2 it's nearly all in the circuit and if you are reaching loud levels it would sound horrible.

Craig

[33klfan]

Hmmm. So, what am i suppose to do? Does that mean a scott isn't a good match for me? I leave the loudness off at all times. I dont understand why it matters that it's at 2. I mean is the cd player suppose to be low output level, then volume increased on scott to sound better?