Congrats Joe! They will be stunners. I will look forward to your review. Dennis sure is proud of the design. Says it is his best in his career. You will be running them with Proac Carbon 8's? Four ohm, 91.5db. I read somewhere, I think an interview with Dennis from some years ago, that Proacs were his favorite (at least at that time).

Please ask your friend to join us here as well. :thumbsup:

Hi peter

The other pair is mine in harley black :D I've been looking for an amp to match my SLP-05 and the quadra monos fit the bill perfectly. Dennis said it is his best design to date, plus they look stunning. Can't wait!!!

Andy

andytts... Welcome to AA! :wave:

andytts.......Welcome to Audio Aficionado. :wave:

Thanks guys

I'm also a mcintosh fan!

Andy

Welcome Andy! Congrats to you too on the Quattros. I have the SLP-05, but had Dennis make an LP-2 pre in red for me to match the amp and that's all I've been using!

What tubes are you running in the SLP-05?

Stock tubes! I don't intend to roll tubes, pretty happy with stock. How does the LP-2 compare to SLP-05?

Andy

Well, I keep switching back and forth using a Decware, good quality switch for level matched comparison, trying to find a reason to keep the SLP-05. The LP-2 just seems to edge it out in musicality and smoothness. I've not wanted to believe this since the SLP-05 cost me five times what I paid for the LP-2. It should sound better. It seems that every time I move towards simpler designs, I am rewarded. From Conrad-Johnson push-pull to the single ended Inspire KT150, the three way AR2ax' to the single driver, crossoverless Omegas, and the SLP-05 to the LP-2.

Dang it. You're going to make me buy a Sophia mesh plate 274B - just when I thought the holy grail was the 60's vintage Mullard 5AR4 and I was *done* with rectifiers...:music:

I popped the KT-150's back in tonight. I'll see if they have the same effect as the 6V6GT's I've been listening to for months.

Using the Mullard and a Tele E88CC driver.

Speaking of listing under-used tubes - Does Audio Aficionado have a Buy/Sell/Trade section? I have never found it, it would be nice...

I just received the Sophia 274B in the mail today. I have it at home playing for a few hours and will listen to it tonight. Dennis commented that it largely sounds like the Shugang/Tube Store one he included with my amp, so I'm not sure it'll blow me away. It is amazing looking though, both in its profile and in the unique glow it provides. Definitely an "art" tube. I'll let you know how it sounds. I've got the Popes in currently, so it will be with those initially.

Let me know your experience going back to the KT150s. I keep thinking I'm going to prefer one or the other, but I really like them both for different reasons. One is like a cold beer on a hot day, the other like a hot toddy on a cold day. :smoking:

As far as selling stuff, you have to be a subscriber on AA to list in the marketplace. I'm not sure how much traffic they get if you can only market to other subscribers (compared to more open boards that is).

Later.....

First night with the Sophia 274B running with the Popes........ really, really good! I'm going to give it a few nights to make sure it's not all placebo. Though, I went in not expecting a lot of improvement. I had that feeling about the Popes when I first listened to them and was blown away. They have continued to seduce me, so I'm hopeful about the Sophia.

I'm interested now to try the other, Shugang, 274B in the LP-2. Endless combos! But tonight was one of those, "This is what it's all about" nights!

The holy grail to many is the metal base Mullard GZ34.

Photography question......... Anyone have expertise enough to know how extreme I need to get with a digital camera to get good low light photos - like of glowing tube equipment? (Beercan?).

I'm point and shoot. My research has led me to the Nikon P7800, but it may be overkill. It has aperture of F2.0-F4.0 with max 200mm zoom. I'd probably shoot these at 50-70mm or so. I really like its flexibility and features, but it is big for general travel use and about $550. Would a smaller, less expensive, smaller camera with max aperture somewhere around 3.0 be adequate for low light shots like this?

Thanks for indulging a bit of off topic.

Peter,

All u need is a camera that can do manual aperture setting. This way u mount the camera on a steady platform then let the big aperture longer exposure do the job. No flash.

Then the tube glow will come up nice & toasty

Regards,
Joe Ling

PS : BTW did u just mentioned that the LP2 is better than a SLP-05 ?

Hmm. I guess I'll try manual aperture on my existing 7 year old Kodak and see how it does. I do have a tripod. Thanks for the tip.

I'm not prepared to say that the LP-2 is better than the SLP-05. Only that I keep going back and forth trying to make sure I don't make a mistake if I sell the SLP. I'm consistently finding the LP-2 edging out the SLP-05 in sound, at least to my ears - slightly more of that intangible musicality and sense of presence. I have a NOS Mullard 5AR4 and various combos of NOS Sylvania Chrome Domes and NOS RCA grey glass in the SLP. I will probably try the stock EH tubes again as well. I thought I would miss the remote volume control going with the LP-2, but I'm using the remote controlled signal level in my DAC which works fine for overall sound level.

I don't think I would be able to tell much difference between them if I didn't have the switch. I have zero lag time with the switch. It would take a minute or more if I had to swap cables. It's that close. Still, even at a draw, it is quite surprising. I have to attribute it to the circuit simplicity. The LP-2 even uses $2 tubes (three 6FM7) plus a rectifier - I've got a NOS RCA 5Y3.

Well. My extremely unscientific findings are that the vintage 6V6GT's sound better than the KT-150's. I bought a pair of Sylvania 6V6GT's on eBay (cheap, like $40 incl. shipping from Canada) and they just sound so much smoother to my ears/system than the KT-150's. I feel like the 6V6's sand off the round edges and it sounds more musical than the new Russian tubes.

I thought these were kinda cool because they don't have the usual gray/black inner layer on the glass. Just the chrome-dome getter. I like 'em. They'll be a great back up set if I don't *LOVE* my vintage TungSol 6550's that are en route! Hard to fault what the 6V6's do in the Inspire amps, for sure. Such a pleasure to listen to.

http://home.comcast.net/~cryptcl/Sylv6V6GT2.jpg

We are tube gluttons!! http://smiley.nowdararpour.ir/character2/15.gif

The 6V6's are smoother/warmer. I can't recall what else you've run for 6V6 - have you tried the popes - my favorite of that tube so far? The 6550 didn't do it for me but, no vintage Tung-Sol to try - had Tung-Sol reissue and Winged C's.

Another variety to try might be the 6L6 - oh nooooo! More tubes!

BTW, I read somewhere that the solid grey in the Popes and some other 6V6's was for RF shielding - don't know if that's been mentioned here.

Yes, without a doubt warmer and smoother. That suits my ears better.

Yes, I've tried and still own: Popes, pair of JAN/RCA 6V6GT VT-107, pair of RCA 6V6GT from Brent Jesse, pair of Sylvania/JAN 6V6G's. The Popes started me down the 6V6 path but sadly don't see much playing time.

Yeah, I think the TungSol vintage 6550's are similar to the reissues in name only. I have high expectations, but we'll see. I might end up back with the 6V6GT's!

I've probably recommended this before, but if anyone is looking for a geniune Delta blues experience, pick up a copy of Lucinda Williams '98 release "Car Wheels...". Great musicians and peak songwriting from Lucinda. One of the few CDs I push play and just let it finish.

Mark, Are those Sylvanias 'G' or 'GT' (or GTA, GTY)? The G spec I think was from the 30's and had a different shape.

The ones in the pic above are the GT bottle, straight sided and the "standard" look.

I did have some of the cool 30's "G" coke bottle shape, but they seem to break up sooner and have a bit too much distortion compared to the later GT versions. I love the look of those G's though. Here was my Fire Bottle with a pair of the 1930's etched base Zenith (round logo) 6V6G's with a vintage Sylvania 5Y3G rectifier. Uber cool, in my book.

http://home.comcast.net/~cryptcl/6V6Gss.jpg

What do you like about the Sylvania's over the Popes? Wondering if I should try a pair.

Not sure that I would rank them any differently than the Popes or the RCA's. My most recent audio memory was with the KT-150's, and all of the 6V6 variants suit my ears better. I think the Sylvanias were a surprise just because they were pretty cheap, from an unknown source (eBay) and still perform wonderfully.:tresbon:

The real test comes when the 60's era Tung-Sol 6550's arrive!

Good answer! Lets me refrain. I really like the Popes, so not in search, just get tempted. :yes:

Though, I await your impressions of the vintage 6550's.

In a weird way, I'm not expecting to like the 6550's more than the 6V6's. I expect them to be *different*, but I'm not sure I'm going to prefer that difference. Vee shall Zee!

Made the commitment - put my SLP-05 up for sale.

Able to use my DAC remote volume control and have a Decware switch that allows a home theater bypass (easy to do if anyone is interested), so the LP-2 is no longer a sacrifice in functionality/convenience.

What kind of DAC do you have with remote volume control? Wadia?

No, it's the DAC Magic Plus within my Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6. The standard DMP doesn't have remote volume, but the streamer version does.

Joe! Are these your red chassis? They're gonna be stunners!



http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps5622a82b.jpg

Yes they indeed are. :D

My vintage Tung-Sol 6550 experiment has been delayed. The pair that I got in weren't to my liking. One of them looked brand new but the other looked like it had a lot of hours on it with receding getters that looked thin compared to the other. I returned them and will wait for a more time-in-use (er, hopefully true NOS) and output matched pair. So for now I'm back to a pair of Zenith 6V6G's I got on eBay. Maybe have the replacement pair of the 6550's by the end of the month.

That's a bummer! :sigh: Are you buying these from a reputable source or more of an ebay kind of thing?

My progress continues. I sold the SLP-05. I'd like to trade up the Omega speaker line with the proceeds. I better do it quickly or I could find myself buying some NOS 350B's - not really -- I hope!

I ordered a second Sophia 274B since the results from the first were so positive. I now have that rectifier in both the KT150 and LP-2. Quite striking in sound and looks. My only complaint is that they don't seem to pay attention to lining up the insides with the bases, so the two tubes don't look precisely aligned. I think I'll mention that to them, though I don't expect an exchange. I'll try to get a photo up here tonight.

I also ordered a pair of Valve Art (chinese current production) 350B's while exploring the 6L6's online. They are Western Electric 350B replicas. They weren't very expensive ($45/pr), so I thought I would give them a shot. Only last night so far. Initial impression is positive. Very clear and transparent top to bottom. May have a slight high end grain, but we'll see after they get at least 10 hours on them. Makes me want to try a NOS 6L6.

I finally put away the KT150's (for now anyway). I revisited the =C= EL34's and found them better than I recalled. But they feel slightly fuzzy. I don't know if it is worth trying another EL34. My "best" tubes are still the Pope 6V6's.

And..... I've thought about trying a 6922 input tube. I have some left over from a CJ17LS that is long gone. I just read somewhere that the 6N1P/6H1P has more of the warmth and the 6922 has more of the dynamics, so we'll see.

The thing that I am very happy about is that I seem to have passed a threshold above which everything sounds good enough for me to get lost in the music and not be so obsessive about analyzing the sound. Any obsessiveness seems to come thinking about it all when I'm not listening. It's like I'm circling in a tighter and tighter circle with fine tuning instead of drastic changes.

Later.........

Here's a photo of my LP-2 and KT-150. Sophia 274B rectifiers in both. The power tubes are the Valve Art 350B's.

Would you live with the different alignment of the 274B's or ask for an exchange of one?



http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/a...psebb9cc8a.jpg

That amp looks so sexy.

Thanks, but you should see me!! :banana:

Here's a pic that I actually like a bit better. The other one highlights the alignment of the 274B's. This one shows off their glow.



http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/a...psa6ff10e0.jpg

[QUOTE=pstrisik;628768]Here's a photo of my LP-2 and KT-150. Sophia 274B rectifiers in both. The power tubes are the Valve Art 350B's.

Would you live with the different alignment of the 274B's or ask for an exchange of one?

I wouldn't sweat the alignment. They look nice from a few different angles with this setup. It just might not be your listening position!

[quote=Aercool;629018]Yeah, you're probably right.

Yes, reputable but I'd rather not say who it is at this point. Don't want to disparage. These vintage 6550's are getting harder to pair up with perfect aesthetics, similar specs, etc.

With all of the tube-rolling that I've been doing lately, the one tube that hasn't gone anywhere is my Telefunken E88CC that I got from Kevin at Upscale. I wouldn't hesitate at all in using a 6922 type tube. I like them best in this spot.

That's where we all want to be! Myself (and I suspect you may fall victim from this from time to time...) I can't help thinking - wow, I wonder what this would sound like with the Popes/TungSols/6V6G's/etc and a different rectifier...? But that's what makes the Fire Bottle amps so much fun! It's the Swiss Army knife of amplifiers.

Understood.

Stay tuned. I also have a Matsushita/National PCC88/7DJ8 I can try as well, but I found them a bit hard sounding in my Conrad Johnson. Did you consult with Kevin to decide on the Telefunken given all the choices he has for the 6922 variants?


It is what makes it fun. I look at other single ended amps and they seem so limited now! Even when I get into tube experimentation, I have my best configuration to fall back to if things aren't sounding right. I'm a happy clam right now!

I found an interesting article about our hobby that just came out in the latest issue of Stereophile:
Know Thyself: Audio Existentialism | Stereophile.com. (Mods - I reread the FAQ and don't see any prohibition against articles - please don't scold me again for not reading the FAQ!)

.

Still enjoying my favourite two setups in my 6V6

RCA 6SN7, RCA vt-107-a, Holland made Mazda 5y3

And

Full music 6SL7, Penta kt88, gold lion gz34

One is smooth and just "right" the other is hifi and spectacular. Waiting to see what DH comes up with next regarding pre amps!