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Old 09-01-2019, 03:28 PM
pechelman pechelman is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bearcity View Post
I do not own the 3.1 but do the 27a and 3a. I can say that neither is dead silent. As I understand, as Dennis revised his preamp circuit beyond the lp-2, the improvements in dynamics and soundstage also came with a hum and that was my experience. As the efficiency gets toward 100db/... this hum starts to become actually bothersome IMO. I had a ~99db/ efficient setup in a bedroom which I ended up abandoning and using the equipment elsewhere. Anyway, Dennis can confirm but, the hum is inherent as I understand it so tube and cap swaps l doubt will have much effect.

I am sure some may see this as a flaw in the design and maybe they are right, but as I have read and listened to interviews with Dennis over the years I can appreciate that he refines by ear and not by test bench readings. That being said his reference speakers are in the low 90s efficiency and therefore the 120hz hum is barely noticeable. I recall he has had a couple khorn owners that have had issues.

As before best to contact the man himself and discuss.
Thanks for that reply. It's really a very minor buzz. Mostly I wanted to make sure it wasnt something on my end. If it's inherent to the design, then cool, because I do notice a good improvement in staging and dynamics compared to what i had before (nothing). With a little tube swapping, the hum is definitely a little less and not as distracting between tracks. Pretty happy right now. I think the biggest change was from the rectifier. Maybe a slight improvement from the buffer. Will leave well enough alone. Thanks!


Quote:
Originally Posted by decooney View Post
Re: Interconnects between preamp-to-amp

I have a sidebar question (understanding it's all system/other electronics/speaker dependent), I'll ask anyhow. With my former Inspire there really was no chance to try difference ICs, just a few types. Wish I had tried more. I'm curious to know what some of you are using for ICs between your Inspire Pre and Inspire 6V6 based amps, (copper, silver, silver over-copper) and length (1M, 1.5M, 2M) etc. And characteristic of "clear" or "rolled off" type of cables you prefer with the Inspire and 6V6 family tubes - if you can share.



Why Ask?
Recently, I've gone back to experimenting with other tube Monoblocks and found a bit more resolution and sound stage I was looking for trying some different ICs I did not try on the Inspire. Not only has transparency changed but so has output level detail and musicality at very low volumes levels.
Can really only answer your question about cables between dennis' pre and power amp as I have a 45 firebottole. I'd love to be able to spend hours and thousands on cables to find the "best" but I neither have that time nor the money. After a lot of reading, I decided to go with cables made with Magomi 2549 (non-plated OFC) and terminated in neutrik gold rca's. Seemed like I kept seeing those 2 popup in the discussions about neutral sounding cables of good quality and from people who spent a lot of time making their own cables. Ended up going with them premade from the "worlds best cable" guy on amazon who also came recommended. He also makes them directional by only terminating the cable shielding on the source side. No idea if that makes any difference, but whatever. Seem to sound good to me. Would love to try out more expensive, better?, cables, but not going to buy any.
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