HarryO Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 My new McAlister preamp arrived today. I ordered this custom from Peter McAlister. I've been playing it out all evening. The NOS tubes are starting to come in nice. Full range and extraordinary sound. The phono section is super. Peter is well known for the headphone and phono amps. I had a line pre built but immediately missed the phono section. Sooooo... well you know how it is. Couldn't help myself. Like OB says, "Voices" in my head made me do it. Definitely worth the wait Harry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryO Posted September 10, 2007 Author Share Posted September 10, 2007 Tube compliment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian_Dude Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 So how often do you tube guys have to replace those tubes? It looks like there's a lot of em on that preamp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryO Posted September 10, 2007 Author Share Posted September 10, 2007 The McAlister design allows for 20,000-30,000 hours on the tubes. Basically never. I had to replace an original 7199 on my Heathkit AA-111 saturday. Grid leakage was high and was getting a slight noise through the tweeter. It's the first bad tube I've had in years. Maybe decades. I use only NOS tubes. No reissues or new manufactured tubes. Only vintage NOS. I don't overdrive my tubes and keep my gear in good condition. I DO however have a very bad habit of "rolling" tubes and spend a lot of money trying to find a sound that suits me. Versatility in tubes lets you tune your amp to your personal taste. It's really a positive and not a negative at all. Harry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 Which are phono and which are line tubes? Phono seems to take more tubes in the preamps I've had. How much line and how much phono gain, if you have figures handy? Thanks, nice looking unit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryO Posted September 10, 2007 Author Share Posted September 10, 2007 I haven't got that far yet. I always read the instructions last. Here's his site link. Different designs way off the grid by normal tube thinking designs. This is my 5th McAlister piece now. I'm ordering the 130 watt monoblocks as soon as I have a chance to get hold of Peter M. http://www.mcalisteraudio.com/ Harry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsp1068 Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 Congrats Harry. I have never heard any of his pieces, but have a couple of (on-line) friends who have had his offerings for a couple of years, and addore them. I guess they mate quite well with Polk speakers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago_Pete Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 Congrats, very nice. Reasonably priced as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 Way to go Harryo, but don't blame me for your voices, mine are driving me to drink lately..........Enjoy Bud !!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryO Posted September 11, 2007 Author Share Posted September 11, 2007 "I have never heard any of his pieces, but have a couple of (on-line) friends who have had his offerings for a couple of years, and addore them. I guess they mate quite well with Polk speakers." thank you. The Polk are a speaker that shines with tubes. I was never a big fan of the Polk Audio line until I heard them on tubes. It's where I learned about the McAlister line. The Polk went from an average speaker on SS IMO to a very good speaker when tube driven. Then again, my Cornwalls took a pretty good jump with good tubes too. Harry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryO Posted September 11, 2007 Author Share Posted September 11, 2007 "Which are phono and which are line tubes? Phono seems to take more tubes in the preamps I've had. How much line and how much phono gain, if you have figures handy? Thanks, nice looking unit!" The phono tubes are the 12AT7, 6DJ8. This pre was shipped with NOS Amperex BB Holland, and RCA clear tops, RCA disc getters, and a Realistic regulator tube. Nice tube compliment for a Preamp. All tubes NOS in original boxes also. It was extremely bright for the first couple of hours last night. It started smoothing out about the time I hit the sack. I'll run it more today and burn it in good. It's just getting better. I'll leave it alone for a week or so and if it doesn't tone down a bit I may pull the BBs out and put in a pair of used Seimens to tone it down a bit. The horns and BBs are bright on this pre. Kickin bass and the top end is off the chart. I'll just have to wait before I start switching things around to suit my tastes. I'm not good with the whole patience thing though. I just got off the phone with Peter. He's running a bit behind and the MB-130 watt monoblocks order will have to wait a couple of weeks at least to order them. Peter is sending me the complete specs later today when he gets time. Harry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nu2toobs Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 Congrats Harry, I know I'm enjoying the Dodd ELP you sold me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryO Posted September 11, 2007 Author Share Posted September 11, 2007 Thanks, It's sounding better already. I did pull out the PP-150 last night and put in my Baldwin monoblocks. Between the two McAlisters there was too much power going to the speakers for this small apartment. This pre is much more efficient than the old one. I sold the PP-150 so I could afford the MB-130 monoblocks from Peter M. I'll be totally moved out in a week or so and I'll be able to utilize the power then. The Dodd has a very nice sound. I just wanted more versatility. I miss my vinyl at times. Harry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kkerley33 Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 Harry, Glad to see your baby finally came in. I have now had two Anthem Pre 2L sales fall through so still running SS to my Amp 1. I am about to cut my losses and buy a Sonic Frontiers Line 1. One of these days I will have my Tube Pre... KAK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfandbark Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 Lotta bulbs in that preamp. Mighty pretty. 130watt glowtube monos? Lordy! Gonna give Bob's woofers a workout. I recommend ultra,ultra expensive speaker wire and "Magic Pebbles" to keep your Walruses intune........ You're gonna need two big buckets of pebbles for that setup. And "Magic Pebbles" don't come cheap. I'd send you the link but I can't afford to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryO Posted September 12, 2007 Author Share Posted September 12, 2007 "Glad to see your baby finally came in. I have now had two Anthem Pre 2L sales fall through so still running SS to my Amp 1. I am about to cut my losses and buy a Sonic Frontiers Line 1." It's hard to match up gear sometimes. I don't have that many components that do match. I've got the ML-33 preamp from McAlister also and love it. It's got the power supply and phono/headphone section as a seperate unit and the "box" makes for a lot of room taken up. The new series is all one unit and does save some space. I'll have to play it out for a while before I have a chance to know what it really is. I'm liking it so far. Tube rolling on a new pre can be bothersome. There's times I miss bass and treble controls that don't burn my fingers. There's a few good preamps around if you don't have to have all matching gear. Juicy Music has an excellent sounding pre. I got to hear the BB a few months back on Craigs VRDs and was impressed. I almost went that route but I lost out on the VRDs on Agon to a fellow forum member. I see he was selling them here recently. The VRD kicks some butt with nice detail. Can't go wrong there either. I like the McAlister line a lot. I've gotten used to them and they're trouble free and tubes last forever. I don't like working on my own gear. I work on too many other peoples equipment and just flippin' switches is a big plus. Pricewise it's hard to beat the McAlister for what you get. Excellent sound and power from tubes that's almost unheard of. Must be a "guy thing". MORE POWER !!! Faster cars, bigger gun, uglier dog stuff. And I like the way they look. I'm having new face plates made for the pre. Gloss black with gold inlay to match more of my gear. I'm also having nice wood shaped and routed out as I'm going to have everything open in my living room on a large audio table instead of a stand and I'm matching the wood with my furniture scheme. My gear takes up a full room and I want it all looking very nice. This crappy little apartment has served it's purpose well to be close to my dad but now I'm free of this place and moving back home to larger and nicer quarters. I'm never done buying, trading, selling, and listening to audio. To me it's a big part of the attraction. I love music for it's own merits but I also love playing with all this stuff. I may be an old fart but I'm still a big kid at heart. Harry. Harry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryO Posted September 13, 2007 Author Share Posted September 13, 2007 The pre is really starting to come in. It's smoothing out very nicely. Yesterday I popped in a pair of NOS 6SN7 RCA smoked glass and it really woke the pre up. Today I swapped out the BB 6DJ8s for RCA Black plate disc getters and it tamed down the harsh highs of the horns. I went ahead and put in the RCA BLack plate disc getter 12AT7s in the phono stage output while I was doing the rolling. It's coming in nicely. Warming up and the harshness is gone. Now I've just got to wait until the tubes burn in good and enjoy it even more. I've been using a lot of the old RCA tubes lately. I've found the sound to be extremely "Vintage tube" in every aspect. Rich and clear with excellent range. Priced extremely reasonable. Great for many applications. I did have a problem with a volume control yesterday. One of the 24 "click" position controls went bad and was "cracking and static laden". When I ordered the amp I asked Peter to use individual volume controls for each channel instead of a balance control. Luckily Peter used a stereo volume control for each channel and all that was required to fix it was move the wires on the bad volume control to the other channel pod of the stereo switch. Working great now and Peter is sending me a new matching pair of the NON click controls. Per my request. I've never liked the click controls anyway. There's plenty of room underneath to work on this beast and changing the click controls out will be easy and shouldn't take over 15 minutes or so. I've noticed the fit and finish on the new pre is much nicer than his older models. This uses a welded chassis and it's heavy and solid. One of his better efforts for sure. The sound I wanted is just a couple of burn hours on the tubes away. I'm happy I spent the bucks. It's nice buying new gear and getting all you had hoped for and expected. In this case it's actually much more than I'd expected or hoped for. Harry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfandbark Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 I'd unplug that preamp as soon as I could, put it in a double box and send it to me. Then order the monoblocks,pay for them and ship directly to me for extensive review prior to forwarding them to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryO Posted September 14, 2007 Author Share Posted September 14, 2007 " I'd unplug that preamp as soon as I could, put it in a double box and send it to me. Then order the monoblocks,pay for them and ship directly to me for extensive review prior to forwarding them to you." Thanks Mikey, "If a man has friends he doesn't need anything else". Looks like audio gear could be included in that statement. Harry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfandbark Posted September 15, 2007 Share Posted September 15, 2007 Dear Harry It concerns me that you may think I'm not keeping your best interests in mind when I suggest that I preview your equipment prior to you using it. I know that you have a tendency to "roll" in differant tubes before you give the issued items a fair chance. This may be costing you valuable dollars that you could spend elsewhere(magic pebbles). I'm merely attempting to make your audio endevours more finacially sound. My only concern is that you get the most value for your spent dollar. If you are happy, then I am happy. Let me make sure you will be happy by previewing that Canadian equipment. My offer stands. I'm trying to look out for you, my friend. We need to work together on this. Mikey P.S. Do tube amps have loudness buttons? If they don't I'll install a couple in those monos for a minimal fee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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