Look at what I've just bought...

[Ashmore]

A whimsical purchase I can ill afford, but it is a beautiful object and life is short.

It'll be my first experience of valves!

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/7267/romulus.jpg

[Barry]

A whimsical purchase I can ill afford, but it is a beautiful object and life is short.

It'll be my first experience of valves!

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/7267/romulus.jpg

It looks lovely and I'm sure it will sound great.

With all that polished chrome, you will need to wear lint-free cotton gloves when operating the amp, otherwise you will be constantly polishing out the fingermarks!

Well done!

[IHP]

Spotted one of these on ebay recently (maybe the same one), couldn't help thinking it was indeed a lovely thing.

but it is a beautiful object and life is short ...The motto of the fallen, I salute you sir !

[Marco]

A whimsical purchase I can ill afford, but it is a beautiful object and life is short.

It'll be my first experience of valves!


Very nice, Simon, but what exactly is it? :D

Marco.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

its a valve amp marco ... blimey, senile or what ... yours is that shinny copper thing that gets a bit hot when music is coming out those bog boxes you sit in front of! ;)

[chelsea]

Looks like the cr developments romulus.

I just bought a similar one.

http://www.audiocostruzioni.com/r_s/ampli/amplificatori/cr-developments/kalipso.htm

[Ashmore]

It is indeed a Romulus. I'm sorry Marco - my thread title is ambiguous (I was just excited!).

[freefallrob]

Nice, you can pluck your eyebrows and touch up your lippy while your adjusting the volume..... ;-)

[Reid Malenfant]

:lol:


Nice looking amp :)

[Jonboy]

:lol:@ Hamish and Rob

[Marco]

Very good, Hamish! :D


It is indeed a Romulus. I'm sorry Marco - my thread title is ambiguous (I was just excited!).

Thanks for the clarification, Simon. That was the bit I didn't know - Enjoy! :cool:

Marco.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

You know me, I'm all about the useful and or insiteful contributions ;)
Actually, emailed nick with somthing of interest today, ask him ...

[Ali Tait]

Very nice Simon, let us know what you think.

[Ashmore]

Thanks Ali. I hold you responsible for this little experiment ;)

I'll report back on how the cr romulus fares in my system. The chap at hifi emporium has been excellent.

[Ashmore]

I promised to post an update once the Romulus was in place, but unfortunately something got damaged in transit and it's off for repair. It looks nice though!

In the meantime Hughie at Emporium has lent me something called a Nightingale Armonia. It's a 20watt pure A class jobbie with four EL84 valves per channel (I presume this will mean something to valvers here ;)) Retail £3k. Eek.

I'm just putting it through its paces. Early impressions are very positive - even though I'm sure it's being strangled in several places in my rather modest system. Nevertheless, it transpires that most of my recordings feature rather more instruments than I was previously aware of, and in comparison with the Sugden A21a (which I enjoyed) treble is extended, bass is extended, and everything is 'sharper' somehow.

It's bloody ugly though.

[Ali Tait]

Thanks Ali. I hold you responsible for this little experiment ;)

I'll report back on how the cr romulus fares in my system. The chap at hifi emporium has been excellent.

Who meee? :eyebrows:

Glad you're enjoying the valve sound. Only problem is your loaner might be distinctly better than the romulus!

[Jonboy]

I suspect you will prefer el84's over el34's or is that a bit of a sore point for some

:sofa:

[Ali Tait]

Just personal taste I think, and system matching of course.

[Ashmore]

only problem is your loaner might be distinctly better than the romulus!

Yes, this has ocurred to me. I wonder whether it's part of the upselling strategy. ;)

[Ali Tait]

Aye, maybe!

[Ashmore]

Ok just to conclude this utterly self serving thread. I now have the Romulus in place and Hughie has the Nightingale back (great to have experienced such a super bit of kit).

The Romulus is very revealing. It has much more detail (particularly in the top end) than the Sugden it replaced, which was almost comatose in comparison.

I'm starting to really enjoy it. So far so good..

I have some mark grant stuff and a belkin mains filter on order and am looking forward to hearing them in the new-look system.

[Ali Tait]

So I haven't wasted yer money then. :eek:

[Ashmore]

Would you like to make a contribution to my nightingale fund? ;)

[jandl100]

Is the Nightingdale better? I've not come across one before.

I had a CR Romulus for quite a while, the export version with lovely gold trimmings :eyebrows: - lovely amp, excels at midrange detail and openness, and is pretty damn good at all the other stuff, too!

Enjoy - and don't fret about a Nightingale upgrade, you'll be too busy rediscovering your music collection with the Romulus! :thumbsup:

[Ashmore]

Is the Nightingdale better?

Well 'better' is a difficult word. The nightingale was effortless, smooth but certainly not dull, it created a big soundstage. Everything just sounded great and you could listen to it endlessly. When you switch it on your foot starts tapping along (Really. I saw three people do this). Bear in mind that it was by far the most expensive element in the system (so may be capable of even more) and I didn't have long to listen to it.

The Romulus is also great but has a different character. It is more explicit - there's a lot of detail I hadn't been hearing on the Sugden I had. The soundstage is narrower than the Nightingale. It's less forgiving of bad recordings. It's very musical and I've spent the last few nights going through loads of stuff and loving hearing how it presents music I thought I was really familiar with. It's early days and I need to live with it longer to get a full picture.

When the bank balance recovers I might be up for a bit of tube rolling. I know you did a bit of this Jandl. Any recommendations to expand the soundstage?

[jandl100]

It is more explicit - there's a lot of detail I hadn't been hearing on the Sugden I had.

Ah well, that's Sugden for you! You've got a proper amp now. :eyebrows:


When the bank balance recovers I might be up for a bit of tube rolling. I know you did a bit of this Jandl. Any recommendations to expand the soundstage?

What valves are in the amp now?

[Ali Tait]

Get used to it first, then perhaps look at changing the coupling caps. This can make quite an improvement. Trying new valves is good too.

[Ashmore]

Good advice Ali. Fear not, I have no intention of changing it all immediately. I really do intend to evaluate over a period of time. It's just good to know there's a route for further exploration.

I'm at work at the mo so will check out the resident valves later.

[jandl100]

:hmm: looking at your system in your siggie, the first thing I'd do is change the speaker cable.

For not much money, I'd recommend this (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Belkin-AV53001-Speaker-Cable-4M-Wire-12-FTHigh-End-OXYGEN-FREE-QUAD-SHEILDING-/200668042714?pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL&hash=item2eb8bf55da) stuff. :thumbsup:
Belkin. It's been an AOS fave for quite a while! I'd be amazed if you weren't amazed at the improvement over Van Damme.

Hmm - in fact, I've got a couple of spare sets - if you want to try it out (and purchase it if you like it ;)) - let me know your name/address and I'll pop a pair in the post.

[Ashmore]

Thanks Jerry - as it happens speaker cable is next on my list and I've been monitoring ebay for bargains in a rather uninformed and haphazard "this stuff looks a bit sexy" sort of way. I'll pm you.

[Ali Tait]

The Belkin is good - I'm using it myself at the moment - but if you can strech to the Tellurium stuff, it's much better. I've heard the blue and the black in my system, both are good, though the black is better. It is considerably more expensive though.

[jandl100]

Hi Simon - I got your PM - a 3m and a 6m cable? :eek: - nope, that Belkin is way too short for the longer leg! "Only" 12 foot.
You want off the reel, I guess. What sort of budget were you allocating?

[Ashmore]

Ha - well I dunno. I'd thought maybe 60 quid or something for second hand. I can usually be tempted to spend more if presented with suitably enthusiastic testimonials. We're moving in a couple of months and then I plan to need much more reasonable cable lengths...

[jandl100]

It's worth waiting a couple of months, I reckon.

[Ashmore]

Yes I agree about the cable.

Valve-wise they are (please don't laugh if i get this wrong - the amp is on, a bit warm, in a cabinet and I've had a couple of pints)

4 big ones: electro harmonix 6l6eh
a couple of ecc82eh harmonix russia
one, possibly two (I can't read one of them as it's facing the other way) jj ecc883
and in the front centre, a little one with green writing that says USA jan5751

[The Black Adder]

I promised to post an update once the Romulus was in place, but unfortunately something got damaged in transit and it's off for repair. It looks nice though!

In the meantime Hughie at Emporium has lent me something called a Nightingale Armonia. It's a 20watt pure A class jobbie with four EL84 valves per channel (I presume this will mean something to valvers here ;)) Retail £3k. Eek.

I'm just putting it through its paces. Early impressions are very positive - even though I'm sure it's being strangled in several places in my rather modest system. Nevertheless, it transpires that most of my recordings feature rather more instruments than I was previously aware of, and in comparison with the Sugden A21a (which I enjoyed) treble is extended, bass is extended, and everything is 'sharper' somehow.

It's bloody ugly though.

Bet that sounds superb matey... Hughie is great to deal with too.

Your valve cherry has certainly been popped! lol :eyebrows:

[Ali Tait]

This the same amp Simon?

http://www.crdevelopments.com/romulus.htm

[Ashmore]

That's the one Ali. Beautiful ain't she?

[Ali Tait]

Yes, nice amp. OK, so the valve complement is- four 6l6's, two ECC82 and three ECC83. The 5751 is a lower gain equivalent of the ECC83. You would probably get a useful gain in sound quality by swapping all the small valves for NOS. You could check with CR, you may be able to try 5881's or KT66's for the power valves if you fancy changing them as well, or of course NOS 6l6's. Could get pricey though. I got a nice pair of NOS M8136 (ECC82) Mullard 1967 vintage from the bay for £65, which are very good. NOS 83's can get quite pricey.

[jandl100]

4 big ones: electro harmonix 6l6eh
a couple of ecc82eh harmonix russia
one, possibly two (I can't read one of them as it's facing the other way) jj ecc883
and in the front centre, a little one with green writing that says USA jan5751

Electro Harmonix. Hmm. Swap 'em out! ;) You'll be most pleased, and you will get a soundstage!

KT66, Ali? I don't know if the amp can take them, but I'd stay with the 6L6 power valve anyway, at least for a while - they have a wonderful midrange magic!

If you swap the "big ones" you will have to re-bias the amp - you know how to do that, Simon?
If you change the small ones they are just fit and forget - no technical twiddling needed.

Let me know your address by PM, Simon, and I'll pop some nice small (input) tubes in the post for you to try. :) I'll want 'em back, mind! :D

[Ali Tait]

That's why I said to contact the maker, to see what can be used. The 845 amp I used to have could use all three as a driver valve. As for sound, s'all system dependent innit, Simon may prefer another valve type.

[Ali Tait]

Simon, I've used these before in a WAD amp. Sounded very good and are cheap as chips-

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6P3S-E-5881-6L6GC-tubes-Lot-2-NIB-/330540731215?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cf5c34b4f

[Ashmore]

Thank you Jerry and Ali for your continued interest and advice. Jerry I'll pm you for a valve lend (don't worry, I shan't leave the country).

I recall a couple of months ago someone tried unsuccessfully to start off a thread (I can't find it now) on the basics of valves: how they work, what valves do what, which ones to get, identify some classic amps, what is meant by valve terminology such push-pull etc and - more importantly - what quality of sound you might expect from each type of amp. Maybe this information already exists somewhere and I've missed it, but if not I think such a resource would be really valuable to thick, inexperienced people like me.

Also Jerry I don't know about biasing. I read that the romulus was auto biasing, but I guess you're going to correct me... Should there be a button somewhere? :)

[jandl100]

Also Jerry I don't know about biasing. I read that the romulus was auto biasing, but I guess you're going to correct me... Should there be a button somewhere? :)

Mine wasn't auto biasing. I suspect you'd have to take it to a friendly dealer or get a nearby and competent AOSer round to help you out if you want to change the power (big) valves.

Just play with the small valves for now! They have as much or more impact on the sq as the power valves, ime. :)

[Ali Tait]

Yes, agreed. CR may provide details on biasing if you ask them Simon.

[Ashmore]

Alas CR are no more, but I could probably get in touch with the designer. My amp is a version 3. Perhaps it was built in to this model number.

[Ali Tait]

Does your amp have sockets for biasing on the sides or the bottom?

[jandl100]

Valve-wise they are (please don't laugh if i get this wrong - the amp is on, a bit warm, in a cabinet and I've had a couple of pints)

4 big ones: electro harmonix 6l6eh
a couple of ecc82eh harmonix russia
one, possibly two (I can't read one of them as it's facing the other way) jj ecc883
and in the front centre, a little one with green writing that says USA jan5751

I'm loaning Simon 3 ecc83-type valves to try in the centre input valve socket - that's the one in the pre-amp circuit, all the other valves are to do with the power amp section.

He'll have .... a Groove Tube 12AX7, a Telefunken 12AX7 and an Amperex 7025 by the middle of next week. :) I'm sure Simon will have fun - just plug and play, no adjustments needed!

[Ali Tait]

Looks like one 83 is the input valve, the other two are the phase splitters. The two 82's are the driver valves for the 6l6's.

[Ashmore]

Thanks Jerry, got your pm and I'm really looking forward to playing.

As for the biasing issue, the amp has one 'medium-sized' bolt in a recess on the underside to the right rear of the amp.