AudioAficionado.org - Dennis Had Inspire Amps

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- Inspire by Dennis Had (https://www.audioaficionado.org/forumdisplay.php?f=184)

- - Dennis Had Inspire Amps (https://www.audioaficionado.org/showthread.php?t=24170)

John,

That is a nice color! Yesterday, Dennis sent photos of my LP-2 pre under construction and mixed in a couple of your photos, so I got a preview of both. :) He expects it to be finished today and setup for listening in his room for an evening before shipping out. Could be he's listening to my pre and your amp at the same time - small world!

I should get a pic of it finished sometime today.....

.

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/382/6jeg.jpg

Peter - Also very nice!!
What is the tube complement in the SP-2?
Am guessing that it is not remote capable?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2 (Post 589311)

Peter - Also very nice!!
What is the tube complement in the SP-2?
Am guessing that it is not remote capable?

Hi Glenn,

Here it is in Dennis' own words:

Quote:

The LP-2 ( Line Preamplifier, second version) uses a pair of 6FM7's in the gain buffer stage with another 6FM7 in the DC high voltage circuitry. The rectifier is a 5Y3. The 6FM7 are a dual dis-similar triode vacuum tubes. One section is the equivalent of a 6SL7 for gain and the other section is a lower impedance 6SN7 for the current source output buffer.

Unfortunately, no remote. I had to think about that one. The thought of getting up and down to change volume was discouraging. But I love his amp enough to want the matched pair as I think these will be long term keepers. I have the SLP05 and will very likely keep that as well. I ordered a decware.com/newsite/ZSB.html . This will allow me to switch between the two preamps going to the one amp. So I can have my cake and eat it, too!

When listening with the LP-2, I can set it to the volume sweet spot and do some limited level adjustment in two places: My streamer/DAC has a preamp mode that engages a level control for the signal it feeds to the preamp. And the tablet app that controls access to my NAS storage has level for the signal fed to the streamer/DAC. So I think I can live with it! http://smiley.nowdararpour.ir/evilgrin/1.gif

Quote:

Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2 (Post 589304)

Very nice!!
Cannot decide if I want to pick up a Cary SLP 98 or one of Dennis' new preamps.

You probably can't go wrong either way. Dennis' new one will probably be a less expensive alternative I would imagine. An Inspire will not have a remote, but you also get a tube rectifier, which the SLP-98 does not have.

Decisions, decisions....:scratch2:

Quote:

Originally Posted by pstrisik (Post 589305)

WOW! That looks very cool too! I'll be very interested to hear how you think it compares to your SLP-05 preamp.

Peter, I've been chatting with a gent on the Audio Asylum forum who claims he has the first KT-150 amp that Dennis built. He said he was infatuated with the KT-150 tube, and asked Dennis to build him an amp based on that tube. He has an E88CC as a driver and is very, very happy with his amp. He says that his 12 wpc KT-150 Fire Bottle sounds more powerful than his previous 25 wpc tube amp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justlisten2 (Post 589348)

Good words to read! Have him chime in over here...

I bet the photo I included in the opening post is his amp and the same design as mine. Is his white?

Quote:

Originally Posted by pstrisik (Post 589358)

Good words to read! Have him chime in over here...

I bet the photo I included in the opening post is his amp and the same design as mine. Is his white?

Yes, he has the crème white chassis. I thought you had a 6H30 driver tube, his driver is a E88CC (6922). Snowflakes...lol!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justlisten2 (Post 589371)

Yes, he has the crème white chassis. I thought you had a 6H30 driver tube, his driver is a E88CC (6922). Snowflakes...lol!

It will run a number of input tubes including the 6922. Again, in Dennis' words:

Quote:

The 6H30 is a low mu driver capable of actual power drive. The 6N1P, 6H1P, 6922, 7308 and 6CG7 are just a few tubes that will function well in your amplifier as the driver. Personally my favorite is the 6H1P (6N1P) for the weight in the lower registers I hear.

Yes, I just heard back from him. He said he doesn't like the 6H30 tube that came with his amp. He said it was "soft and unclear". Then he said he went through a half a dozen 6922 variants before he settled on a Telefunken E88CC. He says he's running a Philips 5R4GYS rectifier tube. I sent him a link of this thread, maybe he'll join in the fun.

John