My new amp

Huston the i12 has landed.

So i made an unboxing video, ill post it asap.

First song played was Simon and Garfunkel Bridge over Troubled Waters.

The Surface noise of the LP was enormous and the music sounded somewhat congested, i think its the rest of the system.

Currently listening to Rumors, Fleetwood Mac, Very much better. The flow of the music is so beautiful.

Never going back again has always been a reference for tonal clarity and transients, all the guitar work is spectacular. Currently sounding boxed in, bout 10 minutes in so what do i expect.

The midrange is nice though so smooth, i'm going to try some usb input stuff off my phone, i have some 24/96 FLAC of Amy Winehouse.
 
The USB port on the side only does MP3, just so you don't pull your hair out trying to play FLAC files with it, you need the TubeDAC-11 for that. Enjoying your story :)

Cheers,
Ian
 
The mp3 input sounds so good, shows off how crappy my vinyl setup is.

Guess a Realistic phonograph preamp and dollar store cables do impact sound.

Listened to Ella and Andrea Bocelli, the smoothness is so nice. Like the music is flowing downhill.

That must be the liquidity everyone talks about, there's no strain to the sound.

I can't wait to hear the changes as the tubes break in.
 
Oh ya, its loud!

Listening to New Order Substance LP it sounds smooth and this little amp cranks!

Nice bass and smooth mids especially considering its an electronic album.

The flow of the album, it just seems to pour out, nice to be able to listen with such joy.

The speakers have some big reinforcement from being on a lowboy cabinet and only 6" from the wall, the right speaker is somewhat corner loaded by a sidewall about 11" away.

Ill admit to being a basshead so I don't mind, but my turntable is in the lowboy so I need to decouple the speakers from the stand, some spikes and cups are in order.

Another thing I've noticed, the soundstage is so wide its almost as if the speakers are wired out of phase, I've toed them in a bit and I move around until I can't see the sides which seems to help.
 
Headphone listening.

My 201's let me hear stuff I might not pay attention to otherwise, there's a distortion there on vinyl playback.

Ravel Bolero beginning solos sound okay, clarinet, flute,Alto sax. Maybe its just some discs? See if its overload in the phono preamp.

Well it seems my turntables speed issues are resolved, this song has marched along like quartz watch.

Nothing happens in the centre of the soundfield in this song, all either left or right.

Perhaps its overload somewhere, the massed strings are sounding a bit rough, almost crunchy.

Ya it sounds like overdrive, maybe ill download a good copy of this and listen on the mp3 input. Just to be sure.

This sound is still so awesome though, that snare drum is ANNOYING! I love this song!
 
System synergy is important. I just picked up a used GF amp with a pair of 2A3's in push pull arrangement with 14wpc. They sounded good on my Klipsch speakers and amazing on my Altecs. Vocals and details sound like the performer is in the room. Listening to Gordon Lightfoot right now and I've never heard this cd sound this good. The bass is way better than I had been led to expect. It's a keeper. Give your amp a good 50-100hrs on the tubes before you decide on it's performance. The top end will open up and transparency will increase.
Hibuck...
 
The USB port on the side only does MP3, just so you don't pull your hair out trying to play FLAC files with it, you need the TubeDAC-11 for that. Enjoying your story :)

Cheers,
Ian

Ya, it just ignored that folder.

Got to let it run overnight for background music, first time in a long time, must be the smoothness.

Ella discography is a wonderful thing, all at 320kbps. Sounds good.

I'll have to try playing my Amy winehouse from the headphone output on my phone.
 
System synergy is important. I just picked up a used GF amp with a pair of 2A3's in push pull arrangement with 14wpc. They sounded good on my Klipsch speakers and amazing on my Altecs. Vocals and details sound like the performer is in the room. Listening to Gordon Lightfoot right now and I've never heard this cd sound this good. The bass is way better than I had been led to expect. It's a keeper. Give your amp a good 50-100hrs on the tubes before you decide on it's performance. The top end will open up and transparency will increase.
Hibuck...

Sometimes the 4 ohms taps can make a nice synergy improvement, I ran my KG2 and KG4s on the 4 ohm taps, just seemed to wake the KG's up more on lower powered amps.

Cheers,
Ian
 
I'm hearing a quiet buzzing when I put my ear within 15" of the speakers.

all components, phono pre, turntable, amp are plugged into a power bar.

Bus doesn't change with input switching or presence of signal, or change of volume except on an open headphone input.
 
try powering everything down and unplugging the RCA's from the back of the amp and see if it goes away, If so add one source at a time and see if it is the source or RCA cable from the source. 15" from the speakers lots of amps makes a little noise (lots depends on speaker efficiency) but shouldn't be noticeable between songs from your listening position which we hope is further that 15" :)

If you are still getting this buzz and it is at objectionable levels you need to investigate your power, good audio gear ccan expose power issues you didn't notice before.

Could also be a tube, but usually a hum or hiss, or snap crackle pop during playback and only on one channel, if the buzz gets louder in the next little while then likely a tube.

Cheers,
Ian
 
Thxdenny for the tips Ian, ill go through it.
I did notice something really interesting though, using the mp3 input to power my cellphone and driving the CD input from the headphone output of same cellphone makes a wonderful ground loop.

oh I can't hear the buzz from the listening position its only barely audible at 15".
I noticed it when I was staring into the amp the way I stare at the fireplace channel at Christmas time, the toasty warm glow, and it sits beside my left speaker so I noticed it.

about the volume thing these speakers crank on about 3/4 volume, wow I'm a bit scared to turn it up any louder.

I have been noticing the sound changes, smoothing out, just waiting for it to fully let go. It seems to be holding tightly to the music right now, can't wait for it to bloom.
 
try powering everything down and unplugging the RCA's from the back of the amp and see if it goes away, If so add one source at a time and see if it is the source or RCA cable from the source. 15" from the speakers lots of amps makes a little noise (lots depends on speaker efficiency) but shouldn't be noticeable between songs from your listening position which we hope is further that 15" :)

So true. I like a full 16 - 24" with your LS3/5As! :) The detail, balance and soundstage are phenomenal at that distance, provided the grills are off and your head is in the correct spot...
I have settled on 42 - 42 - 42" well away from any walls with the RFS-1 (grills off) for my preferred balance of detail, soundstage and frequency response. My therory is that human hearing is most sensitive in the mid-range, so we can balance the lows and highs to the mid by our distance from the speakers. Not sure if that theory holds water, but it works for me in practice.
 
Good morning536!

Flipped on the amp, Ella sings Gershwin spinning on wax.

Smooth vocal, her voice is like velvet in her lower register.

There's a steel muted trumpet in there, I remember that sound, etched andpinched but tuneful, nice.

Still sounds a bit crowded but I've played it very little these last days.

Over and over I love the way this amp lets go of the sound, it think the word valve is so appropriate, like water from a tap.
 
Switched the speakers to 4 ohm outputs, havent noticed a big difference, guess i should wait till it settles in to really expect to be able to atribute a difference to one thing or another.

Going through my little vinyl collection, leaning towards my female jazz tho, Ella Fitzgerald, Della Reese.

Spun some Phil Collins No Jacket Required, Take me Home sounds nice and powerful.

This amp Cranks, its so cool. :tresbon:

Too bad there's not more tubes tho, it almost makes a cool night light!

ill let you all know about the unbox video i made, just waiting to see if its cool with GF to share a link.
 
Got me thinking...

This sounds so good, smooth, musical.

listening to the Color Purple soundtrack, its nice.

there's so much potential here, I can hear the AT&T and phono pre limiting the system!

I want to put my laptop into it too, see what it can do! I have mediamonkey for high rez playback of Amy Winehouse and Pink Floyd, grr need a good dad, of ya, new releases of 180 gram remasters of Floyd as well so I'd need a good Phono pre and AT&T as well.

this was SUPPOSED to be a simple system, Hah!

well I'm enjoying music again, that's what counts.

is a 5m pair of Ultralink RCA's better than a 24" pair of dollar store rca's?

They're between phono pre and amp?
 
Oh ya!

YouTube "Shuguang i12 ub1" and "Shuguang i12 ub2" for the unboxing vids I made.

sorry for poor production quality, first video ever on the Tube, shot with stepsons dig camera on video mode.
 
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