Charles, I'm trying to reconcile what appears to be theoretically disparate end results - a change in the centre of gravity of the sound to a more bass propulsive presentation that I noticed with my couple of hours with the NATs, simultaneously enhancing the see thru nature of the mids and top end sparkle. My concious mind tends to equate more bass with likely obscuring of detail. And certainly with the NATs I was drawn strongly to the phenomenal bottom end performance.
My guess it will be analagous to going from typical tipped up xover-based spkrs I had previously to my tone dense xover-less full range driver-based Zu Defs - I certainly initially thought I was losing some mids based info with all the extra tone and solidity going on, but then realised it was being enhanced, and then I 'got' the Zu sound. Even more so moving from the 2s to the 4s.
Move from ss to SET will be similar but prob more radical. And I'm sure 2-3 weeks to immerse myself in the SET sound will be telling.
But I'm sure my Hovs will not be embarrassed.

spiritofmusic July 05, 2013 06:48

Spirit,
I suspect this upcoming SET amplifier evalution is going to be quite a bit of fun and discovery for you.Your Hovland amplifier has served you well and made you happy for a while now. Each of these three amps are unique, it will be interesting to read your impressions and your final choice.I went from a 100 watt push pull amp to SET, the differences from SS amp to SET is likely a larger gulf to cross.You certainly have the system to sort it all out.
Charles,

charles1dad July 05, 2013 06:18

Charles, the big countdown to my SET shoot out has started. Week after next, Audion Black Shadows, followed a week later by NAT SE2 SEs. Then, back to my humble Hovlands.
I'd put money on SETs winning the day over my Hovs, just intrigued by possible paradigm shift in how I'll go on to listen to my music.
Leaving the Duelund cap upgrade well after this particular path is decided on.

spiritofmusic July 04, 2013 18:09

I'll get that, I'm a big Burrell fan. Carman Mcrae was fantastic at first listen and you know how the good stuff continues to grow on one!

isochronism July 03, 2013 22:54

Isochronism (Brett),
I received a "Blue Bacharach" CD today via UPS. If you sent it, thank you very much! Jwm and I listened to it tonight and enjoyed the music (I really like the Grant Green and Stan Turrentine tracks).

I'll strongly recommend Frank Morgan's "Listen to the Dawn" it features Kenny Burrell. I think you'll like it.
Charles,

charles1dad July 03, 2013 22:39

I listened to these CDs last night and would recommend them to fellow jazz lovers.
1. Sarah Vaughan "How long has this been going on" features Oscar Peterson and Joe Pass.
2.Kenny Burrell "A Night at the Vanguard"
3.Duke Ellington "Volume six Dance Dates California 1958" beautiful sound and music from this legendary band, live recording.
4."Chet Baker in Paris" he's in top form 1955-1956.
5.Carmen McCrae "Velvet Soul" she's my girl, what can I say.

Two others I really like,
"Bobby Broom plays for Monk"
Doug Raney "You go to my Head"
Both of them are excellent but under appreciated jazz guitarist.
Regards,

charles1dad June 27, 2013 00:21

Brent,
Thanks for the recommendation, I think you'll really like the Carmen CD .
Charles,

charles1dad June 26, 2013 16:48

Charles & Jeff,
I am awaiting a copy of Carmen's Alone JVC CD per your recommendations. This stuff is right up my alley for late night beauty!!
Blue Bacharach "a cooler shaker" for you. Enjoy

isochronism June 26, 2013 16:04

Hi Spirit,
I`d agree that with the capacitor upgrade and final amplifier selection you`re pretty much done! You can just forget about components and simply explore and enjoy your music.

As far as comparing amplifiers there`s no single correct method and your plan is a good one. I`d probably would choose to compare the SET amps back to back one week each.Going from one directly to the other would really reveal their differences.Following this stage then you go back to your reference amp and decide.I think you`re in store for a lot of fun and interesting listening.
Charles,

charles1dad June 25, 2013 06:18

Charles, I've just received the Duelund VSF Black Cu cap network upgrade kit for my Zu Def4s. Think I'm going to hold back on installing them until I complete my NAT/Audion SETs v existing Hovland SS comparisons. Esp. since it'll take a couple of hundred hours for the caps to sound of their best.
Re my auditions - I'm going to have both SETs for about a week each. I'm thinking of listening to the Black Shadows first, then back to SS for a week, then the NATs for a week. Do you think this is preferable to back-to-back SET demos over a fortnight? The Hovlands are still my reference, and a midway familiar comparison point I think makes sense.
The Def4s are just SO impressive, that it's strange to think this potential amp change and spkr cap mod is going to complete my core component line up, with NO more changes, save to system-wide tweaks like supports/cables/power matters. Good thing too, since I turn 50 next year!

spiritofmusic June 24, 2013 18:58

Hi Gary,
You`re welcome and I`m glad you like it.Carmen is one of my very favorite jazz artist-musicians,her emotion and talent really gets to me. Thanks for your XRCD suggestion.
Charles,

charles1dad June 16, 2013 17:43

Thanks for the tip about the Carmen McCrae XRCD disc. Really, really good! I have other XRCDs. The Oistrakh recording of the Bruch Scottish Fantasy is also worthwhile.

Gary

gsm18439 June 16, 2013 16:17

Brf,
Beautiful! Congratulations, what a nice looking boat.
Charles,

charles1dad June 04, 2013 22:21

Normally I would agree, but I just took delivery of my 2013 MasterCraft XStar. http://www.mastercraft.com/boats/overview/xstar

brf June 04, 2013 18:08

Isochronism,
My thoughts exacty! LOL.
Charles,

charles1dad June 04, 2013 16:23

Brf,
what kind of audiophile are you if you let a little things like nice weather, life, etc stand in the way of analyzing your rig? :)

isochronism June 04, 2013 14:06

Brf,
The Duelund CAST does deliver!
Their effect on my speakers and DAC are very considerable.
Charles,

charles1dad June 04, 2013 13:52

The nice weather has prevented me from spending a lot of time listening to my main rig, but with limited hours on the new caps they continue to improve. Very highly recommended.

brf June 04, 2013 13:26

Brf,
How are your Total Eclipse currently sounding/evolving as you acquire more hours of burn-in on the Duelund CAST caps?
Charles,

charles1dad June 02, 2013 06:57

Charles is right the Carmen CD is wonderful. If you want to hear what a live natural all analog XRCD sounds like this is it. I have not heard a better recording especially in the digital recording era. Why can't other engineers hear what this Japanese company got on tape in 1973.

jwm June 01, 2013 17:32

Hi Jeff,
If was fun having you over,those 3 1/2 hours zoomed by didn`t they? thanks for bringing that Carmen McCray "As time goes by" that`s one of the best sounding recordings I`ve ever heard,digital or vinyl.This is a live recording of Carmen and the sense of palpable presence and naturalness was stunning,totally engaging,we were in the club with her. There`s something definitely right with the JVC K2 method.

You heard what I was attempting to explain in an earlier post when comparing these two 300b tubes.Both are excellent at reproducing music yet they clearly have distinct and alternative presentations. It`s a genuine pleasure to have both of these fantastic tubes to choose from.

I`m ordering the Carmen McCray K2 CD today!

Charles,

charles1dad June 01, 2013 09:43

Charles, thanks for the great evening last night. Your AVVT 32 SL tubes are wonderful. They have such a beautiful tone and weight in the lower mids upper bass that are wonderful. I feel the TS 300B's are more transparent and linear from top to bottom, but with certain cd's I think I actually like the avvt better. Its nice to have a collection of tubes and folks these two tubes are both great and they sure do not sound the same. It would be nice to see where the Royal Princess would fall into the mix.

jwm June 01, 2013 09:00

Onemug,
Thanks for the rectifier tube update, my Frankensteins use that same tube but that's a pretty steep price. I'm not familiar with Chuck Loeb.
Regards,

charles1dad May 24, 2013 22:44

Charles,

"Onemug,
Any further impressions with your EML 5u4 rectifier tubes? Do they justify the premium cost?"

I'm still tweaking my vintage system but I got some time in this week on the big system so here is the update:

I do like the sound of them more and more as they age and they are keepers. As far as justifying the $$$, I think they are a poster child for diminishing returns. They are one of the best I've heard but at 250 per...yikes and my amp is dual rectified so it's...yikes, yikes, but I got past that pretty quick and now it's pure enjoyment.

Been listening to Chuck Loeb lately. Have you heard him?

onemug May 24, 2013 21:30

brf, enjoy, I know how much better charles1dad speakers improved with these caps. I think you will also notice that it will improve with a couple hundred hours on them.

jwm May 22, 2013 11:15