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Thread: Amp to match my Tannoys ?

  1. #61
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK

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    I'm AudioAl'sArbiterForPISHANTO.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ali Tait View Post
    LOL yeah, that’s because you listen at PA levels!
    Nah, not at all. I just don't like my amps running out of steam at bake-offs, when used in bigger rooms, simply because of their weeny-boy power output!

    I still remember sparks flying out of 'statics, at Owston, when being asked to play at more than whisper levels, by a 3w SET amp!!

    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!!!


  2. #62
    RothwellAudio Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pharos View Post
    ...they have technically been surpassed by bipolar SS amps; inefficiency, aging changes, microphony, limited power availability, low damping factor, and at best slightly under 0.1% distortion...
    Quote Originally Posted by Marco View Post
    Well, Dennis, that's the problem with adopting an 'objectivist' approach to audio, and attempting to use numbers to determine sound quality... Thankfully, there's a lot more to making a piece of equipment sound good (with music) than measurements alone, which only ever tell part of the story.
    And so when you're only in possession of part of the story, it's no wonder you fail to understand the 'plot'...
    Numbers can be very revealing - but they have to be the right numbers and they have to be interpreted correctly. To me the "0.1% distortion" figure is misleading because it's the distortion at full power output. The distortion at low power outputs is much less, unlike a transistor power amp (or some transistor power amps, at least) where the distortion is worse at low power outputs than full power output.

  3. #63
    Join Date: Feb 2008

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    I'm NotTakingLifeTooSeriouslyTheseDays.

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    Couple that with the fact that many loudspeakers can easily add as much as 5% distortion to the final equation, and it should be quickly understood that its not all about distortion!!!
    Quote Originally Posted by RothwellAudio View Post
    Numbers can be very revealing - but they have to be the right numbers and they have to be interpreted correctly. To me the "0.1% distortion" figure is misleading because it's the distortion at full power output. The distortion at low power outputs is much less, unlike a transistor power amp (or some transistor power amps, at least) where the distortion is worse at low power outputs than full power output.
    "Today scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality"
    Nikola Tesla



    Its now a conspiracy theory to believe that the Immune system is capable of doing the job it was designed to do.
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  4. #64
    Join Date: Mar 2017

    Location: Seaford UK

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    I'm Dennis.

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    I think that Marco's post 60 is largely assumptive; just because I sate all the numbers does not mean that I am blind to other factors, or deaf.

    I admit to being more of an objectivist, but the knowledge we have by no means defines all, they merely state factors which we understand to a large extent, and which we then try to minimise.

    Pass has worked a lot on low O/P level distortion.

  5. #65
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK

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    Quote Originally Posted by anthonyTD View Post
    Couple that with the fact that many loudspeakers can easily add as much as 5% distortion to the final equation, and it should be quickly understood that its not all about distortion!!!
    Indeed!

    I do agree with Andrew's point about numbers only being useful if they're the right numbers and you understand them... Trouble is, most punters don't, but regardless they make their (often ill-informed) buying decisions based on them - and that's when the wrong conclusions are reached!

    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!!!


  6. #66
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pharos View Post
    I think that Marco's post 60 is largely assumptive; just because I sate all the numbers does not mean that I am blind to other factors, or deaf.
    I never said that, but you *appear*, from what you wrote earlier, to be heavily influenced by them, to the point of now dismissing the use of valve amps on that basis... Seems to me to be quite conclusive and 'final'!

    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!!!


  7. #67
    montesquieu Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by petrat View Post
    IME, valve amp performance is 90%+ about the circuit & transformer design, and only a few % about the particular valves utilised. For instance, Radford and EAR both have (very different) designs that use EL34s, both giving results superior to the majority of 'bog-standard' KT88 amps. Similarly, the MacIntosh 275 uses a different circuit design to raise it's performance above the norm. for KT88 push-pull amps.

    My Leben power amp has the facility to re-bias across a wide range of power valves (KT120, KT88, KT66, EL34, KT77, 6L6GC, 5881, 350B, etc), and although I haven't tried them all, there is a lot less difference than most people would imagine with the ones I have tried, the overall performance being overwhelmingly determined by the circuit topology and the o/p transformers. In fact, I suspect a blindfold test would show it'd be quite difficult to reliably, repeatedly, identify which valves were being used.
    Totally agree when I had the Leben 660p I bought every possible set of valves listed for it and TBH apart from some cheap Russian jobs they all sounded, well like a Leben 660p.

    Valve types have sounds only in as much as the way they interact with the amp in question - I was surprised to find that the little Radford STA25 was more robust in the bass than a KT120 amp used in the same setting. But I shouldn't have been - the Radford had bigger output transformers for starters. Also the wattage was similar, KT120s were running about 40w, the Radford (amazing for the size of it) puts out about 38w (not 25w as commonly believed). It's all down to the transformers and how they are utilised.

  8. #68
    Join Date: Dec 2015

    Location: Alicante. Spain.

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    I'm Adrian.

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    I think driver tubes have a greater impact on sound than power tubes. IMO
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  9. #69
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK

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    Quote Originally Posted by montesquieu View Post
    I was surprised to find that the little Radford STA25 was more robust in the bass than a KT120 amp used in the same setting. But I shouldn't have been - the Radford had bigger output transformers for starters. Also the wattage was similar, KT120s were running about 40w, the Radford (amazing for the size of it) puts out about 38w (not 25w as commonly believed). It's all down to the transformers and how they are utilised.
    Indeed. It's also no surprise that the Radford 'won' in the areas you've mentioned, especially against a KT120 amp that was clearly its inferior, despite it using bigger and (on paper) more powerful output tubes.

    However, that doesn't mean that if you put the Radford up against a KT120 amp that's just as well designed, and has been fitted with transformers large enough and good enough to optimise KT120s, the results would be the same

    As ever, it's a question of context. You have to compare 'like for like', before making any meaningful conclusions in these matters.

    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!!!


  10. #70
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK

    Posts: 110,012
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    Quote Originally Posted by farflungstar View Post
    I think driver tubes have a greater impact on sound than power tubes. IMO
    Yes, that can happen. However, it depends on the design of the amp and how the driver tubes are used.

    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!!!


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