I have a moving coil one warming up nicely as we speak. Nobody tell anyone I have a valve amp in my system...
Location: Granes - Haut Vallee de l'aude - EU
Posts: 2,831
I'm Richard.
I have a moving coil one warming up nicely as we speak. Nobody tell anyone I have a valve amp in my system...
Aye, we'll make you a bottle-boy, yet!
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
Location: Granes - Haut Vallee de l'aude - EU
Posts: 2,831
I'm Richard.
I seem to remember that it was a bit 'warm' when I had mine but that was in direct comparison to the Technics. I have played my 205 through a Firebottle (I think it was a previous prototype, not the production version) and it is all plain neutral to my ears. I agree with all the positives that Martin described.
Location: Granes - Haut Vallee de l'aude - EU
Posts: 2,831
I'm Richard.
I tell you Gordon - that Alans a brave chap. If Arthur or Owen found out what he just did, the screams could be heard in your garden...
Location: Granes - Haut Vallee de l'aude - EU
Posts: 2,831
I'm Richard.
You'll have to ask Alan
Strong men could weep...
Paid off though
So what do you think of the stage Richard?
“Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of fuel. Sentimental people call it inspiration, but what they really mean is fuel. I have always needed fuel. I am a serious consumer. On some nights I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio”
Hunter S Thompson
I hope you're all sitting down, Oldpinkman has done a modification to a valve amplifier
I asked Richard if he would make a small modification to the Firebottle MC, it has both lowered the noise and increased the gain on the MC input.
The power pack I have sent with it does not really have low enough noise to be used on MC although it is absolutely fine for MM use.
I'll let Richard tell you how he has found it to be.
Cheers, Alan
I love Hendrix for so many reasons. He was so much more than just a blues guitarist - he played damn well any kind of guitar he wanted. In fact I'm not sure if he even played the guitar - he played music. - Stevie Ray Vaughan
Location: Granes - Haut Vallee de l'aude - EU
Posts: 2,831
I'm Richard.
Ali
I've been feeding back to Alan. This was a first MC version he asked me to trial, and we have been learning as we go. We have fixed a couple of issues, and I'm pretty sure its "right" now. It is beautifully made, and I think extraordinary value at the price I believe he is building them for, but as I said to him, I am a bit out of touch and naieve. In my day, everyone had records, so all amplifiers had phono stages, and plenty had MC stages. The whole concept of a phono stage is a bit alien to me. It is hard for me to comment at the moment, without commenting in the context of the Pip which is the only other source I have. But the Pip, whilst obsolete now, was one of the most significant phono stages commercially produced. For all the comment on this forum about it being bettered, and it probably has been, it was a few leagues above "normal" and therefore where the Firebottle would fit in. I plan to try to get my hands on a Quad 44, Audiolab 8000 or similar for a more sensible comparison.
All that sounds like an excuse for damning with faint praise - but its really just a reality check. There are doubtless many fine amplifiers and stages out there I have never heard, but my home reference is still the very finest I have heard, and by quite a margin.
So - I roped in the Mrs and stepson as well, who auditioned sort of blind. In reality Sue pretty quickly worked out which was which because Firebottle was noisy to start with. We have fixed that now, and whilst its now not quite as quiet as Pip - at any sensible volume in any sensible auditioning environment, it is silent. But it wasn't - and so blew its cover on the blind auditions I was trying for. Both amps are quite distinctive, and Mrs S can pick em in a bar, and knows what she likes.
As I said to Alan, had i been in the situation I thought I was going to be in, of needing to find a new phono preamp, I am pretty sure if I had auditioned I would have bought the Firebottle. I am working from memory of the Quad 44, and I am bound to offend a few of its friends again saying this, but whilst neutral, and polite, and vice free, I'm sure I heard one yawn. You are never going to say that about the Firebottle. Whilst it has a slightly delicate even distant quality, it is ringing clear and articulate, and has a rich bass I would pretty much swear is missing from the Quad (or audiolab). It certainly presents detail well, and can distinguish the instruments being played, and is vice free.
As a "normal" device - rather than the sort of esoteric wealthy mans indulgence being discussed on another thread at the moment - as "real" hifi - it's as good as I can conceive of it getting. I'm a very lucky boy. I have better. But if I didn't, this would be likely to come home with me.
Last edited by Oldpinkman; 22-10-2013 at 17:38. Reason: yawn not snore!