Dennis Had Inspire Amps

[decooney]

Originally Posted by pstrisik

Well, I've been running NOS Amperex EL84's with proper adapters in my KT150 and they are right up there with my top favorites now! Kind of surprised at what this dainty tubes can do. Anyone know roughly what power output they provide?

So, now my favorite power tubes are these EL84's, =C= EL34's and =C= 6L6's. Modern Gold Lion KT77's after that.

Interesting. That's cool you tried that in your DH KT150 amp. It kinda goes along with what a nearby audiophile friend tells our local audiophile society group about one of his smaller amps. He owns some Audio Note 300B amps, Sun 2A3 amps, and a smaller EL84 amp he says likes a lot and often times comments it offers a type of sound he likes as a close comparison with his 300B and 2A3 amps. Some in this group run original WE300B tubes in their AN amps for comparison. I enjoy having NOS EL84s as part of the input / front-end tube in my big V12R amp, you can really tune the sound with them. It would also be fun to run a quad of EL84s per channel as a higher power amp too just to see what it sounds like. Good fun.

[FloridaBoy]

Originally Posted by pstrisik

Well, I've been running NOS Amperex EL84's with proper adapters in my KT150 and they are right up there with my top favorites now! Kind of surprised at what this dainty tubes can do. Anyone know roughly what power output they provide?

So, now my favorite power tubes are these EL84's, =C= EL34's and =C= 6L6's. Modern Gold Lion KT77's after that.

I believe you are getting about 5 watts with single ended EL84's.

[pstrisik]

Originally Posted by FloridaBoy

I believe you are getting about 5 watts with single ended EL84's.

That was my guess, thanks for confirming.

[pstrisik]

Originally Posted by decooney

Interesting. That's cool you tried that in your DH KT150 amp. It kinda goes along with what a nearby audiophile friend tells our local audiophile society group about one of his smaller amps. He owns some Audio Note 300B amps, Sun 2A3 amps, and a smaller EL84 amp he says likes a lot and often times comments it offers a type of sound he likes as a close comparison with his 300B and 2A3 amps. Some in this group run original WE300B tubes in their AN amps for comparison. I enjoy having NOS EL84s as part of the input / front-end tube in my big V12R amp, you can really tune the sound with them. It would also be fun to run a quad of EL84s per channel as a higher power amp too just to see what it sounds like. Good fun.

I suspect the sound characteristics are quite different when the EL84 is run as pentode than when run as triode as in most EL84 based amps (I think!).

[Analog Addict]

Originally Posted by bwilson51

Dear AA ,I was looking at your pictures of the new Inspire amps and preamp and it looks like the preamp is an LP-3a,but it seems to have more tubes,is it a special edition.

The LP-3.1 is, according to Dennis, the next step up in the LP-3 line. If you're talkining about the pre-amp in the middle of that picture, I believe that's a prototype preamp using three 0A3 voltage regulator tubes as the second row of tubes. Straitwire can potentially shed more light on this.

[Analog Addict]

Originally Posted by decooney

heheh, has anyone looked on the back of the new 3.1 preamp yet, maybe there is an RCA center channel and sub output on it. Uh, NOT! just kidding

You laugh, but my next build is a preamp with a center channel. Dennis was kind enough to show me a scheme for mixing stereo sound back into mono with a dual triode tube.

[Analog Addict]

Originally Posted by Loudinny

I recently purchased an AE Superamp MKII, what inspire preamp would pair the best? I believe I’ve seen LP1 LP2 LP27a and now the 3.1. Anyone know the differences between models?

That's a tough question to answer, partly because I don't ever remember directly comparing the two. But keep this in mind. The 27 or 56 is a single indirectly heated triode, while the 6S*7 is a pair of indirectly heated triodes in the same bottle. The 6S*7 preamp, assuming it uses one 6S*7 per channel, gives the builder a second stage to play with, and it can be used in a number of different ways. I've never asked Dennis about the design/schematic of his LP-3 series of preamps, so I won't venture a guess what he does with that second section. I suppose we should look at having a shootout one of these days....

[BearCityUSA]

Originally Posted by Analog Addict

That's a tough question to answer, partly because I don't ever remember directly comparing the two. But keep this in mind. The 27 or 56 is a single indirectly heated triode, while the 6S*7 is a pair of indirectly heated triodes in the same bottle. The 6S*7 preamp, assuming it uses one 6S*7 per channel, gives the builder a second stage to play with, and it can be used in a number of different ways. I've never asked Dennis about the design/schematic of his LP-3 series of preamps, so I won't venture a guess what he does with that second section. I suppose we should look at having a shootout one of these days....

I’ll bring my lp -27 SE and my upgraded lp-2 to lp-3a with Russian 6h1n. It should be fun.

[Analog Addict]

Originally Posted by BearCityUSA

I’ll bring my lp -27 SE and my upgraded lp-2 to lp-3a with Russian 6h1n. It should be fun.

Well, you should have an opinion.....

[BearCityUSA]

Originally Posted by Analog Addict

Well, you should have an opinion.....

I guess I do. Lp-27 is the best sounding IMHO though the difference b/w that and the lp-3a of mine is subtle. The lp-3a has significant more gain. Maybe necessary if running less efficient speakers. On the other side of same coin is the fact that both the 27a and 3a are not silent. Both generate a very subtle hiss. I recall my lp-2 being absolutely silent. No longer after the upgrade. Now this noise is subtle and not audible with mid-high efficiency speakers unless ear is right up on the driver. Now with high efficiency speakers, said noise becomes significant. Noticeable from across the room with no signal and sometimes noticeable during quiet passages. System synergy necessary as always.

I would say the lp-3a was a significant improvement over my lap-2. Detail was much improved as I recall. It has been a while. But as with Dennis’ amps, the similarities are greater than the differences. All come from the same ‘ear’.

So in the end I do think my lp 27SE has a slight edge over my 6h1n based lp-3a but matching with right speakers is necessary for both.

I would look forward to a shootout since I have yet to hear anything from or about the 3.1 other than of its existence. And any excuse or opportunity to visit the Toy Factory is looked for.