Neurochrome Modulus-686

[Jimbo]

You are quite right. May be I should have waited.
It adds quite a bit to the price though, even when considering the parts cost.

Yeah even with a cheaper case I was looking at £1400 - £1800 for a decent build.

[Jimbo]

Well regardless of the science or listening ears (or both) I'm looking forward to hearing the 686 Alan kindly built for me. Not had a chance yet too listen (in the middle of a house move). The amp is currently with a friend who reports things like "massive 3d soundstage", "very smooth", "real sense of power" "bass very well defined" "effortless" and so forth. It will be interesting trying it with different preamps. Probably the main pre will be the Phast 6SN7 pre and secondly the passive LDR.

It is a superb amp Edward I am sure you will really like it. I have obviously stated it is a very neutral amp and I have also used the word souless but that is to imply neutrality, it has no real character of its own and is probably the most uncoloured amp I have heard.

I like distortion and colour (valves and vinyl) in my audio so ultimately it was not for me.

[killie99]

Like everything in hifi, it all comes down to what an individual likes and how each piece of equipment interacts with each other.

I'm sure most of us have bought kit we've heard which we thought was the dog's danglies and plugged it in to our system and just been depressed by the sound which has come out the speakers.

Take everyone's opinion with a pinch of salt and make up your own mind, that's what I do.

I remember being told Impulse H2's were the most coloured and bland speakers which were ever produced and my only chance of getting any decent sound out of them was if I used a 4W SET valve amp. I bought a pair and had them in my system for 13 years - for the vast majority of that time with BIG solid state amp's rated in excess of 100W.

[Edward]

It is a superb amp Edward I am sure you will really like it. I have obviously stated it is a very neutral amp and I have also used the word souless but that is to imply neutrality, it has no real character of its own and is probably the most uncoloured amp I have heard.

I like distortion and colour (valves and vinyl) in my audio so ultimately it was not for me.

Thanks. I can very much relate to your point about something sounding soulless. Likewise I need the sound to have 'life', it needs to have an emotional engagement where I feel drawn into the music, a feeling of 'being there'. Another way of characterising things is having texture and a richness, but not muddled. And yes these attributes are readily achievable with excellent valve based amplification, or well executed class a solid state (I'm looking at you Sugden). I would not describe the sound of valves as having distortion or colour, I would describe valves having an organic tonality which gets closer to how we experience real sound. So it will be interesting to see if the 686 gives that - of course married with a decent pre and downstream with decent speakers.

[CageyH]

I have no complaints with my 686.
It is not soulless in my opinion.

[Jimbo]

I have no complaints with my 686.
It is not soulless in my opinion.

Sorry Kevin, I think I should have used the word Character rather than soul, I was trying to convey the fact it has very little imprint on the sound of its own ie it is invisible in the music chain because of its low distortion and neutrality, in effect it is doing an almost perfect job as i think Peter Walker once quoted "a straight wire with gain"

As others have pointed out if you want to influence the sound and atylor it to suit your own tastes then you have to use other components in the audio chain. In that respect it is a perfect amplifier as this would be exactly what i think most designers would like to achieve. It is very difficult to do this with say transducers such as cartridges or speakers as these nearly always tend to impart their own flavour or some character.

[Macca]

Impossible to do with carts or speakers, But then when you think that the recording itself was monitored, mixed and mastered using loudspeakers that were probably significantly different to what we are using it all starts to seem a bit pointless. You can only ever get in the ballpark with regards to 'accurate' replay no matter how perfect the amp. And it's a big ballpark.

The 686 measures very well but there are even better measuring amps like the Benchmark AHB1. And lots that measure worse but still measure well enough that they are a 'straight wire with gain.'

Once you're past a certain point on the road to perfect amplifier performance I think it would be difficult if not impossible to tell the difference. The 686 is overkill in that respect but then there's nothing wrong with a bit of over-engineering as any Victorian will tell you.

Personally I think it is for the music to have soul rather than the replay equipment. On the other hand we've probably all owned or at least heard systems that did nothing wrong but which were a little 'bland'. All depends on your expectations, what you're used to, and your mood. Imbibing alcohol is still the biggest system upgrade you can do IMO.

[CageyH]

I think it all boils down to what you want from your system, or what particular sound you are looking for.
We are all different, which is a good thing. If not this forum (and others) would be a pretty dull place.

[Opti-cal]

Probably the main pre will be the Phast 6SN7 pre and secondly the passive LDR.

My instincts would suggest the Phast will be a very satisfying listen but always worth trying with others, you never know until you try. I'm excited for you Edward, considering it's a quality pre using 6sn7's.... Hope your mate isn't enjoying it too much!

[Edward]

Thanks Chris.

This is the amp. I'm sure it will make some nice noises.