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Inspire by Dennis Had Enjoying Vacuum Tube Audio

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  #5241  
Old 04-03-2019, 08:05 PM
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BearCityUSA BearCityUSA is offline
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I was able to make another trip to Cary last Friday. My brother was celebrating his 50th at the Durham Widespread Panic shows. A great excuse to take an afternoon to visit the Factory. As usual we started with lunch at Dennis’ favorite sandwich place. Tony (Straitwire) was able to join us. Sadly, Allan (Analog Addict) had just left town. Lunch was great. It is fun listening to Dennis and Tony talk shop. Supply details, orders to be filled, which OPT goes where. Of course most if it is over my head by a mile. Stuffed with a Club sandwich we headed to the shop.

I had talked Dennis, earlier in the week, into keeping one of the new LP-3.1s around. It was sold and ready for shipping but he was nice enough to keep it around for a little longer. I told him I wanted to bring my LP-27a to compare. It turns out he wanted to compare them himself. Also in store was a new creation he has been fine tuning of late. An SET 45/2A3. A really cool addition to Inspire line. Dennis really has made great leaps with his Triode designs. They are no longer the ‘old man’s amp’ of the past with beautiful mids but no sparkle or punch. Somehow he has gotten those flea powered tubes to really provide a complete and rounded presentation. He really is a genius when it comes to audio. This 45/2A3 runs 2watts and 5 watts respectively as I recall. If I was in the market for another amp. This would likely be it.

Back to the preamp comparison. The shop lp-3a was there. The one with the 3 gas regulators. We compared the lp-3.1 with the 3a to start. The dynamics of the 3.1 were markedly better. A very noticeable improvement. Another Inspire winner. BTW, tube complements were identical as I recall. Then we plugged in my lp-27a against the 3.1. Now this was a close match. We were listening really closely. We probably A/B’d them a dozen times. Ultimately they were equal but different. I’m rather tone deaf so your typical audiofile lingo I cannot regurgitate. I did feel that the 27 handled vocals slightly more realistically and the 3.1 the distortion of an electric guitar. Of course this this entire comparison listening to one song over and over. It is likely that another song may have yielded different impressions to my ears. If walking in to buy a preamp and both were sitting there on the shelf I would likely have to flip a coin. When I went I was seriously considering trading in my 27a for a new 3.1. In the end I left with my 27a and no regrets.

We had a ball discussing different subjects and listening to a few other albums. An old friend of Dennis’ dropped by. We played with some DIY folded horn single drives speakers I brought. More on that later and likely on another thread. Much fun was had. As always, I strongly suggest if any of you all are in the Raleigh, NC area, do make it a point to visit the shop. It’s a blast.

Scott
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  #5242  
Old 04-03-2019, 08:14 PM
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BearCityUSA BearCityUSA is offline
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I would post Picts but it is to much a pain on this forum.
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  #5243  
Old 04-06-2019, 05:08 PM
oldtech0 oldtech0 is offline
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I currently have a 5/2016 HO Firebottle and 3/2019 PSE Monoblocks. I changed out the coupling caps in all units today. The monos especially sounded very dry? using the larger tubes (KT88/120/150). The KT150s with a 5AR4 rectifier were just not a good thing in my system. I am curious if the cathode bias is optimum for the larger tubes in the monos. The cathode bias resistors in the monos are twice the value of the HO. I will fire em up and document with different tube alignments and see if anything makes sense.
The 6F6s with a 5R4GY in the monos sounded great. Your mileage may vary.
I will put them back in the lineup next week and see what happens. The monos just may not like my speakers with the higher output tubes.
I love this hobby!
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  #5244  
Old 04-06-2019, 06:35 PM
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straitwire straitwire is offline
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Default Back from the powder coater.

The PSE stereo in Satin Black...

[IMG][/IMG]

6V6 headphone, Satin Black...

[IMG][/IMG]

807 FireBottle SE in Almond...

[IMG][/IMG]

And Analog's preamp, Satin Black...

[IMG][/IMG]

Gotta stuff them and then take them to the people who make our faceplates so they can take measurements...
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  #5245  
Old 04-06-2019, 07:03 PM
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straitwire straitwire is offline
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Default Stuffing the 807 FireBottle...

So clean and shiny...After I took this picture I used the Dremel tool to remove the powder coat where the terminal strips bolt into the chassis...

[IMG][/IMG]

Stuffed, except for the 4 pin rectifier tube socket...

[IMG][/IMG]

Front... needs a special faceplate because of volume control...

[IMG][/IMG]

Back... an extra binding post per channel for different output impedance's...

[IMG][/IMG]

I'll post more pics later...straitwire
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  #5246  
Old 04-07-2019, 07:53 AM
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GeAllan70 GeAllan70 is offline
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__________________
David St. Hubbins "I believe virtually everything I read"
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  #5247  
Old 04-07-2019, 10:16 PM
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straitwire straitwire is offline
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Default More stuffing...

PSE Stereo with vol pot and selector switch...

[IMG][/IMG]

Stuffed, except for choke and selector switch sub assembly...

[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]

Dual inputs...

[IMG][/IMG]

6V6 headphone, I forgot to take a before stuffed picture, check out the volume pot...

[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]

Front...the final build uses one 1/4 inch XLR jack and one 4 pin XLR jack like the IHA-1.

[IMG][/IMG]

Back...one set of inputs...

[IMG][/IMG]

More pics later...straitwire
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  #5248  
Old 04-08-2019, 04:41 PM
Comzee Comzee is offline
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@straitwire
Ha, that 6v6 headphone amp is the one requested by me. (Going to run kt66 in it tho)
I figured Dennis would think I was crazy when I shipped him that RK40.

That satin black looks amazing. Thanks for the pics.

p.s. Whoever ordered that 807 amp is going to be very pleased.
I ran 807 tubes in my kt88 amp (before I found out they're too out of spec) but while I was running them, probably the best output tubes I've ever heard in my amp.

Last edited by Comzee; 04-08-2019 at 04:56 PM.
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  #5249  
Old 04-09-2019, 02:30 PM
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straitwire straitwire is offline
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Hey Comzee, Sweet volume control and no selector switch (nice!), I might have to make one of these 6V6 headphone amps for myself...straitwire
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  #5250  
Old 04-10-2019, 10:13 AM
decooney decooney is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by straitwire View Post
Dual inputs...
Do tell. Interesting. Is that so you can run two different preamps/front-ends (at different times) to the same amp and switch back and forth, or something else ???

Also, is there a new transformer layout or larger transformers coming for the PSE/Stereo amp?
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