Dennis Had Inspire Amps

[Analog Addict]

Originally Posted by FloridaBoy

AA the OP is a tube Noob and, IMHO, it may be better to return the gear while he can.

Which is why I offered him detailed instructions. The choice is his.

[AMammal]

Originally Posted by Analog Addict

I agree with bearcity, although it may help to post a full sized image of the pre amp to flickr in order to be able to fully examine the innards. The amp looks unmolested and I don't see any obvious component failure. Without a tester, here's what I would do with the rectifiers. Obviously, make sure both the pieces have been powered off and let sit for awhile, because you don't want any nasty surprises. Make sure they are unplugged before starting in.

1) Tighten the rectifier socket. This is the white ceramic socket with 4 triangular shaped contacts. I vastly prefer digging up old Amphenol 4 pin sockets for my purposes, but Dennis can't source these and regularly gives me $hit for my old recycled sockets. That being said, IMO the old sockets are made of superior materials and better constructed. Anyway, use a fine needle nose plier and gently squeeze the triangular shaped pin sockets from the underside. They should move closer together and grip the pins better. You should definitely notice a better grip on the tube.

2) Clean the contact surfaces. This can either be done with deoxit sprayed on the pins on one of the tubes and then the tube gently slid in and out of the socket in order to remove any potential oxidation. Another more decisive method of cleaning is to take a small round jewelers file and gently abrade the inside contact surfaces of the pin connectors.

3) Rather than have you test B+ voltages, I would grab pieces of your SS gear and test the pieces individually. Retube the pieces, and hook a SS amp up to the pre amp and listen. Hook a SS preamp up to the amp and listen. Any difference? Switch the rectifiers between the two pieces and listen again. Finally if everything sounds good, hook both Inspire pieces back together again and listen.

See what you come up with....

Hallelujah! The amps are back to their true form! All it took was tightening the sockets on the rectifier tubes. Thank you so much for the suggestions. The sound is fantastic. I have gotten goosebumps writing on my laptop in the kitchen passively listening while the system is playing. Not to mention the emotional impact my wife and I had when we hooked them up for the first time after the sockets were tightened. As my wife put it, "The soul is back!". We listened all day to them. We're definitely keeping the amps as the presentation, separation, resonance and warmth is definitely as good as all the posts say.

This forum has been so helpful to us as a new to tubes family. We look forward to enjoying every step through this hobby, tweaking, adding, and learning.

Now we're just going to enjoy listening to them for a bit, then I'm sure the rolling and tweaking the system will begin.

Originally Posted by FloridaBoy

AA the OP is a tube Noob and, IMHO, it may be better to return the gear while he can.

This thought was STRONGLY swimming around inside of me. However, my inability to process living without knowing what the amps are supposed to sound like overcame my fear of tightening the rectifier sockets. (After much internal deliberation, I decided gently squeezing some contacts with needle nose pliers is within my skill-set)

We wish everyone here the best, I'm going to get back to reading through the whole thread.. page 129 here I come!

A big personal thank you to Masterlu for allowing me to seek the expertise of the forum members here and come to a fantastic outcome. Also, to Analog Addict, Bearcity, and Florida Boy for your input and advice. It was all taken into careful consideration, and your assistance led to a wonderful outcome. We are so excited to join the high praise for what Mr. Had has been doing during his "leisure" years!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

[Masterlu]

Outstanding!

[FloridaBoy]

Originally Posted by Analog Addict

Which is why I offered him detailed instructions. The choice is his.

Well...he's no longer a Toob Noob.

[Analog Addict]

Originally Posted by AMammal

Hallelujah! The amps are back to their true form! All it took was tightening the sockets on the rectifier tubes. Thank you so much for the suggestions. The sound is fantastic. I have gotten goosebumps writing on my laptop in the kitchen passively listening while the system is playing. Not to mention the emotional impact my wife and I had when we hooked them up for the first time after the sockets were tightened. As my wife put it, "The soul is back!". We listened all day to them. We're definitely keeping the amps as the presentation, separation, resonance and warmth is definitely as good as all the posts say.

This forum has been so helpful to us as a new to tubes family. We look forward to enjoying every step through this hobby, tweaking, adding, and learning.

Now we're just going to enjoy listening to them for a bit, then I'm sure the rolling and tweaking the system will begin.




This thought was STRONGLY swimming around inside of me. However, my inability to process living without knowing what the amps are supposed to sound like overcame my fear of tightening the rectifier sockets. (After much internal deliberation, I decided gently squeezing some contacts with needle nose pliers is within my skill-set)

We wish everyone here the best, I'm going to get back to reading through the whole thread.. page 129 here I come!

A big personal thank you to Masterlu for allowing me to seek the expertise of the forum members here and come to a fantastic outcome. Also, to Analog Addict, Bearcity, and Florida Boy for your input and advice. It was all taken into careful consideration, and your assistance led to a wonderful outcome. We are so excited to join the high praise for what Mr. Had has been doing during his "leisure" years!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Congrats! Now you know what the fuss is all about.

One last thing I forgot to mention. Tubes have certain idiosyncratic properties, including needing added attention to areas not seen in SS gear. For example, in SS gear the issues with proper contact are for the most part mitigated by a 60/40 mix of tin and lead. But, in your journey to toob proficiency, keep this in mind....

Most all metals suffer from oxidation. Any surfaces that rely on metal to metal contact for transmission of electrons can develop oxide coatings of some sort, including rust. If you want to have the best transmission of electrons, keep your metal surfaces in good contact, which is a combination of clean metal and amount of surface contact. You have increased your surface contact by tightening the sockets. Make sure you clean these surfaces as well. (see prev. post)

The new Chinese sockets in that amp haven't really been around long enough to develop any significant oxide, but if you're running old stock 80 tubes, they will most certainly have developed oxides on the pins.

So here's what you do. Take your 80 tubes and a small piece of extra fine steel wool. Gently clean all the pins to remove any oxides. Deoxit spray will facilitate this process. Do this with any old tubes you decide to use in these amps to minimize contact problems.

[AMammal]

Originally Posted by Analog Addict

Congrats! Now you know what the fuss is all about.

One last thing I forgot to mention. Tubes have certain idiosyncratic properties, including needing added attention to areas not seen in SS gear. For example, in SS gear the issues with proper contact are for the most part mitigated by a 60/40 mix of tin and lead. But, in your journey to toob proficiency, keep this in mind....

Most all metals suffer from oxidation. Any surfaces that rely on metal to metal contact for transmission of electrons can develop oxide coatings of some sort, including rust. If you want to have the best transmission of electrons, keep your metal surfaces in good contact, which is a combination of clean metal and amount of surface contact. You have increased your surface contact by tightening the sockets. Make sure you clean these surfaces as well. (see prev. post)

The new Chinese sockets in that amp haven't really been around long enough to develop any significant oxide, but if you're running old stock 80 tubes, they will most certainly have developed oxides on the pins.

So here's what you do. Take your 80 tubes and a small piece of extra fine steel wool. Gently clean all the pins to remove any oxides. Deoxit spray will facilitate this process. Do this with any old tubes you decide to use in these amps to minimize contact problems.

Definitely going to be cleaning the contacts. I appreciate the advice. I have a can of contact cleaner but did not have it handy yesterday. I do have some foundational electronic knowledge, but this tube thing isn't something I ever expected to get into... Fortunately, the wife was all about tubes, so here I am!

[FloridaBoy]

Originally Posted by AMammal

Definitely going to be cleaning the contacts. I appreciate the advice. I have a can of contact cleaner but did not have it handy yesterday. I do have some foundational electronic knowledge, but this tube thing isn't something I ever expected to get into... Fortunately, the wife was all about tubes, so here I am!

Here is a link to a tubes book:

http://ken-gilbert.com/images/pdf/taste_of_tubes.pdf

[AMammal]

Originally Posted by FloridaBoy

Here is a link to a tubes book:

http://ken-gilbert.com/images/pdf/taste_of_tubes.pdf

Uh. THANK YOU! This is exactly what I was looking for and will be devoured quickly. Checking out his website as well. Thanks for pointing me down the road!

Cheers!

[booangler]

Good morning all,

I just recently purchased a used Fire-Bottle SE HO. I love it by the way. The previous owner indicates that in 2018 this unit was sent in to Dennis for a PS Upgrade. As the new owner I have some questions:

1. How can I confirm the PS Upgrade?
2. Where can I get a list of matching requirements?
3. What driver tubes can I use?
4. Does this amp support the use of 6F6 and KT-150?

I guess what I am looking for is a tube rolling chart for the amp.

Thanks in advance.

Alan

[Masterlu]

Alan... Welcome to AA!

And, for your Support!