My new amp

[etocynned]

Here's a shout out to AK, GF and all the participant's in this forum site.

I'm enjoying, exploring and sharing my love for hi-fi and music more than I have in years since I got this amp.

this is the type of gear and community hi-fi needs to keep growing as a hobby, as a passion.

To Ian and Rachel, THANK YOU for carrying these products here and backing them up the way you do.

I got PMed about buying "Chinese" and how I was destroying lives and jobs and blah blah.

Its okay though, the hobby needs these people too, how else are we going to know how deep our love of it goes unless were asked to defend it?

I can see myself investing, yes investing, in my system over time. Building it up so I can enjoy it, share it.

So thank you, all of you.

[etocynned]

Listening to Tangerine Dream "Lily on the Beach"

Never noticed the sounds panning so much before.

Alot of the synth work is so crystalline, used to sound harsh, not any more!

"Too hot for my chinchilla" has some serious bass too, sounded mushy through my HD201 phones driven by my phone. The i12 grabbed the 50mm drivers and make them move. Much more intelligible bass.

With the DM302's upper off the lowboy by 12" or so they sound great, and the sound opened up again. I'm still amazed at the bass, substantial and coherent.

Midrange is smooooooth and the highs don't bite at all.

It reminds me of the Sunfire Classic Pre and Sig 2 channel through the ML Monolith 2's.

Damn I love hi-fi again, thx GF!

[etocynned]

I have a supportive gf, hooray!

really interested in building a pair of these:

http://www.frugal-horn.com/spawn.html

One of my best memories is building my own speakers, everything from triscuit boxes to two way fourth order towers, what awesome fun!

[etocynned]

Was reading an article written by Nelson Pass, of Pass Labs fame, about when their amps leave Class A operation and their bias currents.

What is the threshold on my i12 for class B mode?

[iGrant]

Your amp is a Class A/B amp.

Most designed for high-end amps will do part of the first watt in Class A then the bias will move it into A/B, depending on your speaker load and source volume that could happen at say anything above a quarter volume on the I-12.

Cheers,
Ian

[etocynned]

Have you any idea the bias current on the output tubes?

Class A operation is usually double the bias current, I realise this may not be relevant as the article discusses ss amps.

This amp has inspired me to look into whole new areas of audio, thank you Ian!

[etocynned]

Here's a link for a site I'm reading about transformers, interesting stuff, and informative for newbies to the glass envelope.

http://sound.westhost.com/xfmr.htm

It occurs to me that if you understand how a thing works you can appreciate it more, I do.

I also read a review on 6moons that compared the Consonance 211 monoblocks to the legendary Audio Note Ongaku integrated, which was in the Guinness book as the most expensive amp in the world at one time, I'm impressed.

I'm obviously on the right path here.

[iGrant]

Originally Posted by etocynned

Have you any idea the bias current on the output tubes?

Class A operation is usually double the bias current, I realise this may not be relevant as the article discusses ss amps.

This amp has inspired me to look into whole new areas of audio, thank you Ian!

Being Auto Bias I never thought about it as there isn't much you do about it. If I'm ever inside one I'll measure it for you. Principle is the same no matter tube or SS, most keep their bias tricks under wraps, Nelson Pass doesn't always which is cool.

Bias in a tube amp is set for the amp at idle in an A/B design, in a A design it set for maximum.

Cheers,
Ian

[etocynned]

Ya, from my understanding in the article I read the idle current is used to minimize the crossover notch distortion when the amp switches from class A to class B at a preset current level.

the crossover distortion is caused by nonlinearities in the devices as their output approaches zero so the bias current prevents this happening, hence lowering distortion.

Read another awesome article on transformers, really cool stuff, its cool to be able to see thebusiness end of the amp!

btw, is tube rolling possible with the output tubes or just the preamp tubes?

Im trying to wrap a label, so to speak, around the sound of this amp but I probably won't be able to untilled I change something.

[iGrant]

We have a complete upgrade set of Pavane tubes for the 1-12, since you are new to tubes we suggest you just do the 12AX7 Pavanes first, get used to the difference a tube roll makes, then do the power EL84 tubes.

Cheers,
Ian

[etocynned]

Was scrolling through Audiostream.com and saw a link about high rez downloads for free!!

24/96, 24/192 and straight DSD as well.

Listening now through the amp with VLC player as a source using the headphone output of the computer.
The tubes sure smooth it out, the hd201's are nice!

Go check it out.

[etocynned]

Nice to listen to some pink floyd. 320kbps mp3 so it lacks dimensionality, its like a photo of an oil painting. The tubes sure make the top end easier to listen to though

[komoyuki]

You should try a FLAC file...

[etocynned]

Ya ive run flacs thru my phone and pc headphone out, very very smooth.

cant wait to get a proper DA converter, a DAC11 when i can.

[MelodyMaster]

Originally Posted by etocynned

this is the type of gear and community hi-fi needs to keep growing as a hobby, as a passion.

To Ian and Rachel, THANK YOU for carrying these products here and backing them up the way you do.

I got PMed about buying "Chinese" and how I was destroying lives and jobs and blah blah.

Its okay though, the hobby needs these people too, how else are we going to know how deep our love of it goes unless were asked to defend it?

.

Originally Posted by etocynned

Ya ive run flacs thru my phone and pc headphone out, very very smooth.

cant wait to get a proper DA converter, a DAC11 when i can.

Everything's made in China anyway, the advantage of buying from Grant's is that there is direct vendor communication with the manufacturer of the products, you know what you're getting. Anyway good Chinese equipment still uses the best suppliers for components, German and Polish capacitors, the best-qualty resistors etc. And leading-name Chinese tubes are becoming very very good, since it's the only part of the world pursuing the manufacture of NEW tube equipment for everday audio.

Get the DAC-11, the DAC-09 and 11 add immensely to the audio quality of digital to analog stuff. I'm using a DAC-09 with the coaxial input connected to a JVC DVD player for CDs, SO much better sound than the analog RCA outs! Plus the tube cathode-follower removes the digital harshness.