Next step, Diamond 802's?

zaikesman April 28, 2006 23:11

Thanks Nick for the clarification, that's a tube I haven't heard. I guess if you're going to that trouble you must prefer it to the current SED EL34?...Alex

zaikesman December 24, 2005 05:57

Oh OK, the link for your amp up at the top still states Sovtek/Reflektor 6CA7's. If what you've got are the newer Reflektor Svetlanas then they're made in the same factory as the Sovteks, and you may want to try out the "Winged-C" SED EL34's which are made at the St. Petersburg factory where the old Svetlanas were made (only the US names have changed). Those tubes were certainly the best EL34 I found at the time, though some of the Reflektor power tube product may have improved since then, as evidenced by the Electro-Harmonix KT88's I'm using now.

zaikesman December 21, 2005 23:05

Sounds like there's no reason not to make it balanced.

BTW, back when I was running my CJ amp that used EL34's I tried three kinds and settled on the SED (then Svetlana) as the best-sounding, followed by the Tesla (which wasn't acceptably reliable) and then the Sovtek. Is the version you're using now the new Electro-Harmonix 6CA7 (which I haven't heard) or the regular Sovtek EL34, and what else have you tried?

zaikesman December 20, 2005 21:29

Doug, will doing so also provide balanced AC? And BTW, is there any web info up about your friend's amp products? (PS -- I've never been able to bring myself to want to unload my PV-8 either, tho I have a hard time seeing its sculptural value...)

zaikesman December 13, 2005 18:02

Doug: I had a similar epiphany with my power conditioners not too long ago. Don't know why I never fooled around with this when I first added the Exact Power in front of the Power Wedge Ultra, but when I finally got around to experimenting with bypassing the PW where the monoblock power amps are concerned and running them directly off the EP, the PW was revealed as having choked off the sound to a not inconsiderable degree, despite the manufacturer's claim that it handily accomodates high-powered amps. Fortunately, the PW still benefits the source components beyond just plugging them straight into the EP as well (that balanced AC, which wasn't provided on the power amp outlets anyway). But the EP + PW is all the lightning strike protection I have -- I normally unplug the system altogether when thunderstorms are near.

zaikesman December 11, 2005 21:47

...discounted by 2/3 in the case of the CJ and about 1/2 in the case of what replaced it, because naturally everything was used! But you get an Io + Callisto, and I'll send you a record or two myself (also used), just to tide you over 'til lottery day :-)

zaikesman September 25, 2004 02:39

At the time, the .8mv Glider was used straight into my PV-8, and based on previous experience I wouldn't have tried to go much lower, but it seemed comfortable. My conclusion was that operating under similar conditions (no step-up, both set to 47K, gain within a few dB's, compensated for at the listening position via the PV-8 linestage's volume control), the Lancelot + interconnects was a superior head amp to the PV-8's internal one. (After the switch was made official, loading was optimized downward to considerable additional benefit - love those socketed resistors!).

The PV-8 wasn't embarrassed or anything, but there was no doubt either, something that wasn't preordained going in since I had considered myself a tube kinda guy. Which led to me reconsidering tubes in the linestage as well, which ultimately led to me settling on the Levinson 380S after one false start in between. So I'm backwards relative to the majority of mix'n'match guys like yourself, running as I am SS in front of tubed power amplification. (I had grown tired of the little nigglies somewhat inherent with high-gain small-signal tubes, but realize that quieter-operating tube gear is available, and if I were shopping today the baby Aesthetix stuff would probably be on my audition list.) A part of my decision was based on shared criteria, like repeatable volume settings, a full-function remote - y'know, all the modern conveniences. But yeah, the CJ was revealed as being warmly colored and a limiting factor in other ways by comparison, if pleasantly so (it's only fair to note that I have about 5 1/2 times the amount invested now though, or 6 1/2 X including the phonostage).

zaikesman September 24, 2004 02:00

Hey, not only does that sound like you "describing ZYX vs. Koetsu", it sounds like me describing my present vdH DDT-II vs. my old B-M Glider M2... :-)

Since you have invested so much in your analog front end - and despite the CJ letting you "hold off for a while" re balanced AC - I feel duty-bound to let you know my Camelot Lancelot handily displaced the PV-8's phono section in the chain (this with the loading matched). The PV-11 phono section is largely identical save for a couple of the tube types. (As mentioned, my CJ's since been retired from linestage chores as well, but I don't think I can bring myself to sell it yet.) Not that the Lancelot is SOTA or anything - and of course I'm not using a step-up tranny in-bewteen like you - but it did make many of its improvements in the very qualities where we seem simpatico (noise floor, focus, neutrality, tautness, clarity, extension), so I'm prompted to ask what your plans are in this area?

zaikesman September 22, 2004 21:24

"At the time I bought our EP-15A I asked the dealer about the balanced power unit. He actually discouraged me from buying it by saying the EP-15A yielded 95% of the benefit in his system and the SP15 only gave another 5%."

With the advantage of being able to use my Power Wedge's independently-switched outlets to choose between balanced +60/-60 and conventional +120/0 AC for each source, I've learned that not every component is equally responsive to this parameter. Looking at your system, I recall that my old CJ PV-8 preamp, very similar to your own PV-11, was as far as I could tell impervious to this factor. Yet with the Innersound preamp that followed, it made a large difference (positively on the balanced side). My current Levinson preamp cares only slightly, and my Camelot phonostage is battery-powered and therefore excused from consideration (and the turntable doesn't register a difference). The most consistent benefit has accrued to the digital front end separates (by Theta). One thing I can say is across the board, choosing balanced AC has never, ever caused degradation of any sort (though in fairness, that's vs. remaining plugged into the same isolation transformer with its center tap lifted, as opposed to removing the transformer entirely, which I haven't tried).

"Presumably the EP's clean sine wave and steady voltage help each component maintain its neutrality."

I agree that it's hard to imagine how a device like the EP or a Power Plant, which verifiably provides a better and more stable AC waveform (something I see the evidence of on a meter every time I bias my VTL amps' output tubes - much easier now!), could ever produce less accurate sound from attached components. After extensive auditioning, I concluded if I ever hear something that sounds subjectively less pleasing with the EP in-line, it's only because I'm receiving more of the truth.

For instance, after I posted above, I went down and listened to a disk I happened to have on with and without the EP, just to reconfirm my impressions because it had been a little while since my tests. The record was of The Romeros playing Vivaldi concerti transcribed for guitar and orchestra (on a Mercury import reissue pressed by Dutch Philips, with typically quiet surface and slightly dry, hard acoustic). With the EP out, the violins had a pleasantly congealed massed quality to them, very smooth, large, and agreeable. With the EP in, they sounded brighter and took on a touch of steeliness, with less apparent reverb, but were now much better individuated - they no longer sounded like a single mass but rather several slightly separated instruments playing in close unison, although not as expansive in sum. I probably enjoyed the violin sound without the EP a bit more.

But the when the guitars entered, it was no contest. Compared to with the EP in, taking it out left the strings rubbery and the fingering vague. Doubled runs got somewhat congested, and everything sounded slower and more boring, yet the piece seemed over too quickly. Put the EP in, and all the specifics and exitement returned - strings snapped instead of going 'bbboing', fingernails returned, positions on necks were made clear, and fast runs in unison or counterpoint made for twice the dynamics instead of half. Everything was infused with passion again, and the performance seemed to build and extend for longer as I listened, undoubtedly because my attention was more securely grabbed.

So I figure the touch of steel on the violins is what's on the recording, for better or worse, and the EP is simply letting that come through along with the individual action of the separate players. Maybe when I listen to this disk next time I'll take out the Telefunkens and put in the Mullards in the VTL's inputs, but the EP stays because it prevents the Romeros' guitars from being robbed of some of their vibrant life.

zaikesman September 22, 2004 10:30

Hi Doug, congrats on your new TP arm. Just thought I'd add my commentary on the Exact Power unit in response to DTM. 10 miles up the road from him here in MD, we do have the occassional brown-out, but I can't actually recall one impinging upon a listening session since they're fairly infrequent. Nevertheless, even if they occurred twice as often, this still wouldn't have been a reason in my estimation to spend the money on the EP.

I've had mine for a couple of months now, and use it in conjunction with my trusty API Power Wedge Ultra, which follows the EP. Since all my components are plugged into the PW, I can't comment on the EP's ability to isolate among various components plugged into *it* - the iso trannies in the PW making this a non-issue in my system if it ever was one.

Following the EP with the PW and its balanced power transformers means all the source components can get balanced AC, which from what I've been able to discover experimentally is often equivalent in importance to powerline filtering and voltage/waveform correction. EP does offer a separate BPT to use in conjunction with their AC correction unit, but it doesn't have the individually isolated outlet architecture of the PW, or of course the PW's ability to switch on-the-fly between balanced and regular AC for each source independently.

I haven't yet auditioned my EP without my PW in place, so I can't talk about how it handles PLC chores alone, but I did do quite a bit of comparitive auditioning of my normal setup with and without the EP in-line, and ultimately decided it was worth keeping in the system purely on sonic merit. Like many PLC treatments it seems, the EP's effects can appear frustratingly subtle at first, but only, I believe, because they are spread out over the whole of the presentation. Put another way, its action is comprehensive rather than concentrated in any one area, and therefore can seem hard to pin down at first blush, until you get more acclimated to experiencing its overall impact on the sound quality.

In my system, the EP contributes improvements in what I call specificity - the ability of the system to maintain resolution and individuated spatial relationships among competing sonic images within the soundstage, without losing its grip on the various dynamic envelopes and unique tonalities in play. Take the EP out of the chain, and the soundstage becomes broader but flatter, with images more amorphous, vague, and subject to change under dynamic musical conditions. Put it back in, and it's like fine-tuning an aural focus control of sorts - more physical clarity and definition, increased tonal color intensity, heightened expression of fine dynamic shadings, and more 3D depth perspective - in other words, more realistic life and action. But I don't mean to imply that there's little benefit when listening to solo or quieter performances; even one singer accompanying themselves on acoustic guitar can ably demonstrate the EP's advantages of increased see-around 'thereness' and more complete excavation of fine 'touch' detail.

Another thing I notice with the EP is increased purity. The soundstage atmosphere is more crystal-clear, textures are more finely resolved, transients are defined with more pinpoint precision. Bass is also tightened-up a bit, and sounds less like it's associated with the speakers themselves - an unexpected change you could almost swear must be caused only if the speakers were to suddenly become endowed with less resonant cabinets or something, but obviously is attributable to improved operation of the electronics, most likely that of the power amps. The treble also sounds more effortlessly extended, with cymbals taking on truer tonal character and displaying less white-noise hashiness. The EP doesn't seem to have much impact on the overall tonal balance or harmonic structure as such, but rather on the systems's capacity to fully eludicate what's already there. The entire presentation displays more transparency and less veiling, smearing, or compression; you could call it more explicit, more embodied.

Again though, the changes aren't of the knock-you-over-the-head variety (especially at lower volumes, where the EP's benefits become increasinly submerged in the ambient noise floor of the listening environment), and my system still sounds good without the EP in use. In fact, it took me a while to determine that I considered the EP's action always a positive, and I can even imagine some folks not preferring its sort of effect in all circumstances. Those who value 'bloom' over focus or 'relaxingness' over detail might not entirely like the view the EP provides. And I'm sure there will be some listeners who just feel its effect is too subtle or tough to discern in their systems - or with their preferred music - for the unit to be worth the not-inconsiderable money spent. (Though I can imagine some listeners not pairing the EP with a preexisting PLC unit as I have may well find it even more efficacious than I.) But I'm convinced that it increases the overall fidelity of my system, its accuracy and ability to retrieve and transmit more of what is encoded in the source material fed it.

P.S. - Steve, I made you a CD-R we discussed a while ago but put it aside and forgot to ever label and send it, and am reminded of it now (I've been pretty scarce around a here for a while, at least compared to the way I used to hang out - not that that's an excuse for general lameness - sorry!). If you're still curious about the EP, we could even meet up so you could borrow mine for a while and determine its prospects in your system for yourself...

zaikesman September 21, 2004 19:30