Went over to Dennis' shop to drop off the parts for my next build and see what Dennis is up to. He was messing with a new pre amp and amp he is calling part of his "Nineteen series" for new 2019 builds. The preamp is a "3.1" using a pair of 6SN7s and a 6BX7 as a buffer/cathode follower. The amp is a 6550 SEP design with a 6SL7 up front. Neither has VR tubes, so I assume he's using SS voltage regulation. Together they make a really nice combination with a ton of bass and woofer control. Everything sounds clear and clean with a huge sound stage and plenty of dynamic headroom for big transients. We also played with the Inspire speakers, with Dennis tweaking the crossovers with a potential eye for tossing them up on that auction site for general consumption. Overall, a fun afternoon. Some pix...
Untitled by
Analog Addict, on Flickr
From right to left - the new 3.1 pre, a current 3 series pre with VR tubes, and my knockoff pre. In the back, my phono pre
Untitled by
Analog Addict, on Flickr
From right to left - an unknown and unused amp, a 300B SET, the new Model 19, and an older 45 SET amp. We ran the last three amps, and the 19 blew away everything else.