Site Owner/Administrator
Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK
Posts: 110,453
I'm AudioAl'sArbiterForPISHANTO.
LOL. Ali, never say never, mate, or at least add a "so far" to the end of that statement. I won't ever completely rule out SE until I've heard all there is to hear with it, which will probably be never! You should do the same with P/P KT88s.Marco,yes I haven't forgotten! Yes your amp has huge amounts of headroom,and there is no shortage of "balls" but I still prefer se.
Bring all your amps to mine and we'll have a shoot-out and see what happens
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & regulator mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat with Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight. Isonoe feet & boots. Ortofon RS-212D tonearm with Denon DL-103GL, in a Denon PCL-300 headshell, fitted with Funk Firm Houdini and Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp and 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. 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.
Senior Member
Posts: 329
Bought a CD of Hermann Prey singing the Peter Cornelius Weihnachtslieder ( including the famous "Kings" ) , a 1971 recording
The singing is so beautiful and pure that I don't want the amplifier to change anything and make it more musical
I'm not happy with the sound of my own ampolifier on this record but would it be better with valves ? I'm not so sure. I will use it as my reference recording for the next few months.
Hans
MBL 1531 -> Allnic L-4000 -> Audiolab 8000S used as power amp only -> Quad 2805. Cables: Transparent Ultra
Senior Member
Location: Cheshire, UK
Posts: 2,832
I'm Clive.
Have you only heard this recording via your amp? If the answer is yes then using it as a reference may well mislead you. Indeed it's not unusual to setup a system around a few recordings. Feeling confident it's been done well, you then play some other music and you discover that all you've done is to setup your system for a few specific recordings....Originally Posted by Togil
Don McCorleone
Location: Galashiels
Posts: 14,030
I'm inthescottishmafia.
Good question Steve! Same reason most of us do I suspect.There's something special about se that pp just doesn't do.
That describes my Chord MOSFET SS amp perfectly. I have gone the other way, from valves to SS but I am open minded and can hear the merits of both technologies. Previous valve amps have been a Croft Series 4S and a fully rebuilt Leak Stereo 20. The latter has a sound to die for, but unfortunately its power envelope is a bit limited.
The Chord has headroom to spare and allows my system to soar. That's important at the volumes I choose to play at.
Senior Member
Location: Chester
Posts: 429
Another possible factor in deciding which amp to use.That's important at the volumes I choose to play at.
Marco wouldn't be happy with my 4-5 watt SET, because it wouldn't give him the high sound levels he enjoys. However it's good enough for me, most of the time.
Therefore the choice is limited to many push pull amps or a few powerful single ended models.
Site Owner/Administrator
Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK
Posts: 110,453
I'm AudioAl'sArbiterForPISHANTO.
Hi Al,Marco wouldn't be happy with my 4-5 watt SET, because it wouldn't give him the high sound levels he enjoys...
You're absolutely right, but that situation might change with a pair of 100db+ efficiency Bastanis!
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & regulator mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat with Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight. Isonoe feet & boots. Ortofon RS-212D tonearm with Denon DL-103GL, in a Denon PCL-300 headshell, fitted with Funk Firm Houdini and Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp and 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. 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.
Senior Member
Location: Cheshire, UK
Posts: 2,832
I'm Clive.
They went reasonably loud with my 2W 45 amp but now that my 8W 300B is fully fettled, 8W into 100db speakers should work for most people......Hi Al,
You're absolutely right, but that situation might change with a pair of 100db+ efficiency Bastanis!
Marco.
Senior Member
Location: east yorkshire
Posts: 527
I'm steve.
it would be very interesting Clive, to hear how your bastanis compare with my goodmans based baffles, there are not that many 100db baffles about..
steve
collector and DIY user of old british triode valves
Open baffles / single ended diy px4 and px25 valve amps
Site Owner/Administrator
Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK
Posts: 110,453
I'm AudioAl'sArbiterForPISHANTO.
Well I'll let you know Steve once I've heard both
I know what your babies can do in my room and I'll soon hear what the Bastanis can do in a mate's room I know very well - heard them at Clive's and loved them, though
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & regulator mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat with Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight. Isonoe feet & boots. Ortofon RS-212D tonearm with Denon DL-103GL, in a Denon PCL-300 headshell, fitted with Funk Firm Houdini and Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp and 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. 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.
Reply With Quote
