Firebottle
15-09-2015, 06:56
Well it has certainly been a long journey when one looks back.
I have very clear memories of acquiring an 8 inch speaker when I was a spotty youth in my early teens. One of the 45's bought at the time was 'Purple Haze' by Jimi Hendrix so that puts the date at 1967 :eek:
At last I'd got proper bass (ooh er, lock up your daughters....this is exiting), or so it seemed at the time compared to whatever it was I was using previously, probably a smallish elliptical speaker out of an old telly. Talking of old tellies I have been trying to remember what the cabinet was that this wonder 8 inch speaker was mounted in and I think it was the cabinet of an old floor standing TV.
What stunning bass response I thought, in all reality it was probably a peaky 80 hertz or so, rather different to the 25 Hz I can now enjoy :)
Ancillary equipment you ask? Hmm, here's where the memory is decidedly fuzzy. Again probably ex TV, the valve audio stage most likely, mono of course.
Didn't every spotty youth of this era strip old tellies for their 'spares' stock :mental: The TT was probably an old BSR deck of some sort, almost certainly with a ceramic cartridge.
Move on a few years through a motley collection of stuff and one of the stand outs for looks was a Lecson AC1 preamp, bought from a junk shop for £25.
http://img0109.psstatic.com/158196344_lecson-ac1-pre-amplifier-control-unit-boxed-pre-meridian.jpg
A real pity the circular power amp wasn't available at the same time. Performance wasn't that good though, in fact the phono stage was decidedly shite. I eventually swapped it with my brother for a Quad 303 power amp, wish I'd still got that.
A little later and I built a 405-2 clone with some 405 amplifier pcb's that I bought at a radio rally for £30 the pair if memory serves me correctly. I was told they were going to be used in an active speaker system but the company had folded. The boards were fully assembled but without the protection system. This amplifier served me well for many years but I always had a niggling doubt that it wasn't as good as it could (should) be.
I proved this when I built my first OTL valve amp in the Millennium year.
The 405 is still in use today as the 'workhorse' for general listening but now re-capped and re-chipped to give the performance it always should have given :eyebrows:
The speakers have been unchanged for the last 22 years after buying a tired pair of ESL57's for £150 from a friend of my fathers, then updating and respraying the grilles.
http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt97/Paramotorpilot/ESL57.jpg
Stunning performance when hung in plenty of free space as well.
Much more recently since my valve design re-awakening I have had the privilege through this very parish of getting to hear some splendid kit. One of the systems that has impressed has been Jimbo's, probably helped by his shared goal of achieving great transparency to the sound.
I now feel I have achieved the level of transparency that befits having electrostatic speakers on the end of the system.
So the equipment line up is now Sansui DD platter, RB300 tone arm with Ortofon Samba MC, Firebottle KIN pre, AXOLOTL pwer amp, Quad ESL57s.
http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt97/Paramotorpilot/P1050122.jpg
Note the important plastic crate between the KIN preamp and the prototype AXOLOTL power amp. As sod's law would have it the power amp mains transformer is directly underneath the sensitive phono stage in the KIN :doh: A bit of an 'orrible 'um was the result without the separation afforded by the said crate.
Well it can't all be perfect can it? I've even been playing new vinyl (shock horror) as well as revisiting the old collection.
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRsnrnw2j4MOYgYysxoq_Z8iq59FBXxN zGewtNJ9mE1z_1bDsRkvg
Now there is even a noticeable improvement in clarity to the radio reception via the Sky box, as enjoyed last night listening to the Paul Jones blues show.
:yay: I'm just a bit chuffed...................:yay:
I have very clear memories of acquiring an 8 inch speaker when I was a spotty youth in my early teens. One of the 45's bought at the time was 'Purple Haze' by Jimi Hendrix so that puts the date at 1967 :eek:
At last I'd got proper bass (ooh er, lock up your daughters....this is exiting), or so it seemed at the time compared to whatever it was I was using previously, probably a smallish elliptical speaker out of an old telly. Talking of old tellies I have been trying to remember what the cabinet was that this wonder 8 inch speaker was mounted in and I think it was the cabinet of an old floor standing TV.
What stunning bass response I thought, in all reality it was probably a peaky 80 hertz or so, rather different to the 25 Hz I can now enjoy :)
Ancillary equipment you ask? Hmm, here's where the memory is decidedly fuzzy. Again probably ex TV, the valve audio stage most likely, mono of course.
Didn't every spotty youth of this era strip old tellies for their 'spares' stock :mental: The TT was probably an old BSR deck of some sort, almost certainly with a ceramic cartridge.
Move on a few years through a motley collection of stuff and one of the stand outs for looks was a Lecson AC1 preamp, bought from a junk shop for £25.
http://img0109.psstatic.com/158196344_lecson-ac1-pre-amplifier-control-unit-boxed-pre-meridian.jpg
A real pity the circular power amp wasn't available at the same time. Performance wasn't that good though, in fact the phono stage was decidedly shite. I eventually swapped it with my brother for a Quad 303 power amp, wish I'd still got that.
A little later and I built a 405-2 clone with some 405 amplifier pcb's that I bought at a radio rally for £30 the pair if memory serves me correctly. I was told they were going to be used in an active speaker system but the company had folded. The boards were fully assembled but without the protection system. This amplifier served me well for many years but I always had a niggling doubt that it wasn't as good as it could (should) be.
I proved this when I built my first OTL valve amp in the Millennium year.
The 405 is still in use today as the 'workhorse' for general listening but now re-capped and re-chipped to give the performance it always should have given :eyebrows:
The speakers have been unchanged for the last 22 years after buying a tired pair of ESL57's for £150 from a friend of my fathers, then updating and respraying the grilles.
http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt97/Paramotorpilot/ESL57.jpg
Stunning performance when hung in plenty of free space as well.
Much more recently since my valve design re-awakening I have had the privilege through this very parish of getting to hear some splendid kit. One of the systems that has impressed has been Jimbo's, probably helped by his shared goal of achieving great transparency to the sound.
I now feel I have achieved the level of transparency that befits having electrostatic speakers on the end of the system.
So the equipment line up is now Sansui DD platter, RB300 tone arm with Ortofon Samba MC, Firebottle KIN pre, AXOLOTL pwer amp, Quad ESL57s.
http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt97/Paramotorpilot/P1050122.jpg
Note the important plastic crate between the KIN preamp and the prototype AXOLOTL power amp. As sod's law would have it the power amp mains transformer is directly underneath the sensitive phono stage in the KIN :doh: A bit of an 'orrible 'um was the result without the separation afforded by the said crate.
Well it can't all be perfect can it? I've even been playing new vinyl (shock horror) as well as revisiting the old collection.
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRsnrnw2j4MOYgYysxoq_Z8iq59FBXxN zGewtNJ9mE1z_1bDsRkvg
Now there is even a noticeable improvement in clarity to the radio reception via the Sky box, as enjoyed last night listening to the Paul Jones blues show.
:yay: I'm just a bit chuffed...................:yay: