A pre cristmas HIFI gift, to myself!

[spool]

Noise, in all forms really, also some kind of noise called music, that exists to.
Ever since the dawn of man, music has been and still is a joy to experience.
Besides my passion for cars, I have quite the passion for HIFI and all its aspects.
I have a small tube amplifier, a headset amplifier actually. Diz 'ere:


And today they dropped down in my snailmailbox:
My new/old(very old...) set of 40 or more years
old vacum tubes.

Ahem:

Russian Military type 6H23-EB small output triode. 2 of 'em
Mullard M8162 Driver tube (triode as well) 1 of 'em

Ah! Thank you santa!!! About 95£ for the lot of them.
The improvement over stock bottles is absolutely insane!!!!
This is by the way the second best headphone amp ever.
They've just realeased a special limited version, but I think this is good enough.

Ah! The music, the emotion, the absolute joy of it all!
Pardon me for totally loosing it here, but this is AMAZING!!!

[zcacogp]

Spool said:

...lots...

Er, yes, lovely ... I tend to see valves as being interesting things to have in car cylinder heads, but maybe that's just me ...

As you were.


Oli.

P.S. Actually, I built a valve amp for a mate - with instructions, of course - and have to say it sounds very much nicer than any other amp I have ever listened to, so I guess I know what you mean ...

[wedg1e]

Valves tend to have a 'warm' sound that suits some music, and some people's ears, more than others.

£95 is a bit bloody steep, but that's just supply and demand I guess. We occasionally need valves for old kit at work, and they all seem to be made in Russia now...

[spool]

Well, 40-50 years old valves are quite rare. At least the ones I got myself!
This amp does not sound "warm" but totally clear and very very silent in operation.
Bass is killer bomb like, almost nuclear in your 'cans.
I suppose I should add that this is the best recordingstudio monitoring equipment.
It isnt just some "amp". But the very best there is.

[Plotloss]

Looks lovely.

I suspect you'd be a man that likes this sort of stuff Spool

www.transparentcable.com

Had a play with some of their gear recently, all hand made, utterly amazing both in sound and cost...

[Pigeon]

wedg1e said:

Valves tend to have a 'warm' sound that suits some music, and some people's ears, more than others. £95 is a bit bloody steep, but that's just supply and demand I guess.

Of course, you could always build a transistor amp with a control to introduce variable amounts of second-harmonic distortion.

[spool]

Plotloss said:

Looks lovely. I suspect you'd be a man that likes this sort of stuff Spool www.transparentcable.com Had a play with some of their gear recently, all hand made, utterly amazing both in sound and cost...

Expensive stuff for sure.
I, eh, ahem, make audio cables myself actually.
And restore studio monitors on a slight hobby basis.
I think that there are better and cheaper stuff to be had.
But these guys (transparent)have been the kings for about the last 10 years now, agreably.
The box on the cables is a time correction filter. Rather nifty stuff.

[dieseljohn]

Pigeon said:

wedg1e said: Valves tend to have a 'warm' sound that suits some music, and some people's ears, more than others. £95 is a bit bloody steep, but that's just supply and demand I guess. Of course, you could always build a transistor amp with a control to introduce variable amounts of second-harmonic distortion.

For once I disagree with you Pigeon!

I am usually the first to shout 'emperors new clothes' at hi-fi nerd but coming from an electric guitar background I can assure you that it is absolutely impossible to make a tranny amp sound like a good valve amp.

I did my A-level physics project about the clipping behaviour of valves and tranny's.



>> Edited by dieseljohn on Monday 12th December 16:52

[Pigeon]

dieseljohn said:

Pigeon said: wedg1e said: Valves tend to have a 'warm' sound that suits some music, and some people's ears, more than others. £95 is a bit bloody steep, but that's just supply and demand I guess. Of course, you could always build a transistor amp with a control to introduce variable amounts of second-harmonic distortion. For once I disagree with you Pigeon! I am usually the first to shout 'emperors new clothes' at hi-fi nerd but coming from an electric guitar background I can assure you that it is absolutely impossible to make a tranny amp sound like a good valve amp. I did my A-level physics project about the clipping behaviour of valves and tranny's.

Ah well, guitar amps are a totally different kettle of fish, since driving them heavily into clipping is part of the name of the game. This is a reproduction amp for headphones, so it's right at the other end of the scale - should be nowhere near clipping at any point, especially in these days of digital sources with rigidly-defined maximum output levels - the low power levels required for headphones make it trivial to avoid the headroom compromises you often get with reproduction amps for speakers.

[dieseljohn]

Pigeon said:

dieseljohn said: Pigeon said: wedg1e said: Valves tend to have a 'warm' sound that suits some music, and some people's ears, more than others. £95 is a bit bloody steep, but that's just supply and demand I guess. Of course, you could always build a transistor amp with a control to introduce variable amounts of second-harmonic distortion. For once I disagree with you Pigeon! I am usually the first to shout 'emperors new clothes' at hi-fi nerd but coming from an electric guitar background I can assure you that it is absolutely impossible to make a tranny amp sound like a good valve amp. I did my A-level physics project about the clipping behaviour of valves and tranny's. Ah well, guitar amps are a totally different kettle of fish, since driving them heavily into clipping is part of the name of the game.

Yes and no, you can't reproduce a valve frequency spectrum well enough to fool a human ear even non-clipping.

Heavily clipped signals are what you get for a distorted guitar tone but valve amps sound far better for 'clean' (unclipped) signals as well.

[Pigeon]

dieseljohn said:

Yes and no, you can't reproduce a valve frequency spectrum well enough to fool a human ear even non-clipping.

Fool, perhaps not; provide equal pleasure, more chance. John Linsley Hood designed his 10W Class A transistor amp as a "soundalike" replacement for a Williamson valve amp, and he reckoned that he could barely tell the difference, nor could others who made the comparison, though I appreciate that this is a decidedly informal evaluation as well as being a bit old.

dieseljohn said:

Heavily clipped signals are what you get for a distorted guitar tone but valve amps sound far better for 'clean' (unclipped) signals as well.

Ah, here I think it depends on how you define "better". Personally, I take the view that the signal on the recording represents the music as the artist intended it to be heard, and therefore I want to reproduce it as accurately as possible, without introducing any distortion, euphonious or otherwise.

(In cases where the music has not been recorded as the artist intended, it is generally beyond the reach of any reproduction equipment to correct the error )

[dieseljohn]

Pigeon said:

dieseljohn said: Heavily clipped signals are what you get for a distorted guitar tone but valve amps sound far better for 'clean' (unclipped) signals as well. Ah, here I think it depends on how you define "better". Personally, I take the view that the signal on the recording represents the music as the artist intended it to be heard, and therefore I want to reproduce it as accurately as possible, without introducing any distortion, euphonious or otherwise. (In cases where the music has not been recorded as the artist intended, it is generally beyond the reach of any reproduction equipment to correct the error )

Fair point, it depends on whether you want something that sounds 'good' or 'accurate' I suppose.

[Plotloss]

spool said:

Plotloss said: Looks lovely. I suspect you'd be a man that likes this sort of stuff Spool www.transparentcable.com Had a play with some of their gear recently, all hand made, utterly amazing both in sound and cost... Expensive stuff for sure. I, eh, ahem, make audio cables myself actually. And restore studio monitors on a slight hobby basis. I think that there are better and cheaper stuff to be had. But these guys (transparent)have been the kings for about the last 10 years now, agreably. The box on the cables is a time correction filter. Rather nifty stuff.

Ahh I did wonder what was in the 'matrix'

I had it down as some sort of boron magnet or similar.

[Spaceframe]

Hey Spool,

Any idea where i could source an output transformer for a Williamson amp? I've been trying for ages and can't find the right one.

Lovely setup by the way - ignore all comments about BJT's and FET's - they don't even come close!!

[spool]

Is that an 9 section transformer you need?

The guy who knows just about everything about that here in norway is away on holiday 'till after 4.jan 2006.
I'll ask him when he gets back.
'cos that is a tricky question for sure!

Uhm... hang on a sec! I think Plitron can help you with that!
Give 'em an e-mail
They do have thousands of models, and a massive custom build capacity.
www.plitron.com/


>> Edited by spool on Tuesday 13th December 16:08

>> Edited by spool on Tuesday 13th December 16:11

>> Edited by spool on Tuesday 13th December 16:20

[spool]

I'm guessing you're feeding a Quad with it... Nice!

I' found this on the web now:

www.sowter.co.uk/specs/8950.htm ..a williamson (partridge?)

www.sowter.co.uk/acatalog/SOWTER_CLASSIC_AMPS_15.html ..a williamson

www.eminentaudio.co.uk/Systems/Mesmerised/Mesmerised.htm ... stuff to read.

www.shinrock.com/Audio_Transformer/Audio_Transformers.html ...more possible stuff

And I think that VAC-amps thats www.vac-amps.com/ may have something like
or maybe a williamson in some of their designs. Worth checking out!

[spool]

Anyway. I use the fab Grado RS-2 Headset, the handmade mahogny one.

I just saw a quite good review of it... hehe.

"Reviewed by: John Edinburgh, Casual Listener, from sydney

Price Paid: $1500 at DME hifi

Product Model Year:
2001

Summary:
The mahogany earpieces sound great, but mine contain termites

Strengths:
The termites sing to me (they love my michael jackson cd's)

Similar Products Used:
rs2 - very good also"

Hehe. LOL

[wedg1e]

I have a pair of what were billed as a new reference standard in studio monitors when they appeared - B&W DM4.
Paid £60 for them as a Xmas pressie to myself in 1986 when they were already 12 years old...

They're rather bass-light by modern standards and need a good poking to make them sing; don't like being used quietly which is a p155er as I have two old fogeys next door who rarely go out.

I even used to use them as my stage monitors when I sang with a band.... in a former life... ldgit:

[RobDickinson]

wedg1e said:

I have a pair of what were billed as a new reference standard in studio monitors when they appeared - B&W DM4. Paid £60 for them as a Xmas pressie to myself in 1986 when they were already 12 years old... They're rather bass-light by modern standards and need a good poking to make them sing; don't like being used quietly which is a p155er as I have two old fogeys next door who rarely go out. I even used to use them as my stage monitors when I sang with a band.... in a former life... ldgit:

Studio monitors are always light on base arnt they, nearfield/enclosed space etc, and I've found modern B&W's great but need lots of volume to bring out the detail, poor low volume speakers.

[Spaceframe]

Thanks for the links Spool