Dennis Had Inspire Amps

[Masterlu]

Whitesix... Welcome to AA!

[FloridaBoy]

Originally Posted by Whitesix

Hello to all,
I have been a tube amp lover for years and foolishly parted with a HK-CII and CV a couple of years ago. I have a Don Sachs 6SN7-based tube preamp that is even better than the HK-CI I had, with all the HK gear upgraded by Don with Jim McShane mods. I recently got a pair of Spatial Audio Hologram M4 open-baffle speakers and wanted to make the foray back to a tube amp. I auditioned a Musical Paradise MP-310 with an unfavorable impression of its sound so I casted about for an affordable ~12 wpc tube amp and ran across a Dennis Had Inspire Bottle-Fire amp. It came with new JJ EL34 tubes which, after a few hours on them, sounded quite good at low SPL, but at maybe 85 db, just sounded awful, with the bass distorted as hell. Well, a buddy laid a pair of KT120's on me to swap for the EL34's, and holy hell, the sound is just fantastic! OMG, I can drive them very nicely to 90db with negligible distortion. Here is my take on them, which might be different than others on this long, and very interesting, thread. With the KT120's, and a 274B rectifier, this is a quintessential "tube" sounding amp. It gives up a degree of accuracy and control compared to my CJ MF80 SS amp, but ah, Dennis's amp creates such a luxurious warm and euphonic sound, like a "warm wet wall of sound". Honestly, I have been in search of exactly this sort of sound for decades and the pairing of Dennis's amp with my OB speakers, which are very conductive to a low-powered SET amps, is just a supreme match. The vast array of power tubes and rectifiers available to roll through this little gem very well might tailor the sound to benefit of many listeners. My best advice is that if you have compatible speakers, you would be smart to acquire a Dennis Had amp. I feel fortunate that all the knowledge and skills he applied to his Cary Audio line of tube gear is still available to us tube-amp lovers in his current line of tube equipment.
Cheers, Whitestix

Sums it up nicely.

P.S. Get a preamp too!

[robert_kc]

I’m writing to provide an update regarding my Inspire amp. I recently had a minor epiphany, and a breakthrough in enjoying the amp.

As I’ve written before, I have multiple systems each equipped with multiple tube amps. In 3 of the systems, I have a tube power amp that is driven directly by an Oppo universal player’s variable output (i.e., no pre-amp). (I own Oppo BDP-105, BDP-95, and DV-980H.) The reason for this is that I like to have an option of a “minimalist” configuration – i.e., the fewest components in the signal path when playing high-res digital audio (e.g., 24/192 FLAC or SACD). Why? Just for fun. (I understand that vinyl lovers might argue that AAA is the purest sound. I occasionally listen to LPs, but I prefer high-res digital.)

For years I’ve believed that a subwoofer isn’t necessary for the classical music and opera that I enjoy. (My speakers are all full range speakers.) I regularly attend symphony concerts and opera, and the only thing missing from my hi-fi systems has been the full impact of the bass drum, and the lowest pedal notes of a pipe organ.

I enjoy reading forums such as this, and over the winter I read about subwoofers. I wasn’t seriously in the market, but I stumbled across a great deal on a “decent quality” 15” subwoofer that was new, had minor cosmetic damage, and was local. I bought it. I became a convert re subwoofers. I discovered that a subwoofer not only provides deep bass, it off-loads the main amp and speakers, and allows them to play complex loud passages with less “congestion” (i.e. distortion). I subsequently bought subwoofers for 2 other systems. But that’s not the point of my rambling story.

The point of my story has to do with amplifier gain / input sensitivity. As I’ve written before, my Inspire amp driven directly by an Oppo player has ample gain for big band recordings, but for high-res classical the quiet passages sometimes weren’t quite loud enough. Based on someone’s helpful advice herein (sorry – I don’t remember who) I substituted a 6N2P-EV for a 6DJ8, and realized marginally adequate gain for high-res classical recordings. (I run a 5AR4 rectifier, and Groove Tube Gold Series GT6L6 GE.)

In the process of configuring my various Oppo players for a subwoofer, I had to set parameters for “audio processing” that I hadn’t had to deal with before. It took me a while for the “light to come on”. The Oppo units have parameter settings for “trim levels” for the various speakers. In my situation (2.1) this means l/r and subwoofer. My epiphany is that I realized I could set speakers as high as 10dB above the default setting (i.e., +10dB vs. 0dB). I found that when I set the “trim level” to its highest setting, there is now ample gain for all recordings. WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THIS BEFORE????!!!! Moreover, I was able to switch back from a 6N2P-EV input tube to an Amperex 6DJ8, and realize excellent sound quality.

Bottom line, my vote for best quality sound in a music reproduction system for approx $4k - $5k is a TOTL audiophile-grade Oppo player (currently BDP-105 – soon to be replaced by a UHD compatible unit), Klipsch RF-7 II speakers, and an Inspire “Fire Bottle” SE Stereo Tube Amplifier HO. If you want more deep bass, employ a subwoofer via the Oppos’ support of 2.1.

Does anyone else employ an Oppo player with their Inspire amp?

Your thoughts?

[pstrisik]

Hi Robert,

I'm a great believer in subs and an active crossover to relieve the Inspire and main speakers of the work of the lowest frequencies. Not only is there a much better low end and midrange benefit from more focused power, it seems to increase imaging and sound-stage as well.

My source is a Cambridge Audio Azur 851N streamer/DAC with digital files all coming from a Synology NAS. It has a preamp mode which I do use to control volume with the remote. I still have my Inspire LP-2 in the chain as the system sounds better with it than without it.

I have a thread about my system with photos here:
audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=134489.0

The earlier posts are hypothetical so you might skip ahead to where I've actually received and setup the speaker system.

[Simonatsea]

I am using an Oppo 103 as my digital transport/DAC at the moment. Using the app on my phone it is the easiest way to stream Tidal and digital files to my system. I will be upgrading to an outboard DAC again at some point but currently it is serving the function quite well.

[guitardave]

Is there any way to contact Dennis and order an amp or do we still have to wait until one appears on Ebay? Thinking about getting one of these beauties!

[BearCityUSA]

Originally Posted by guitardave

Is there any way to contact Dennis and order an amp or do we still have to wait until one appears on Ebay? Thinking about getting one of these beauties!

Dennis has a Firebottle on ebay right now. Just contact seller there and he will work with you on your desires.

[guitardave]

Weird, I cannot find it. I put "inspire firebottle amp" in the search and get nothing... What words are you looking under?

[BearCityUSA]

Originally Posted by guitardave

Weird, I cannot find it. I put "inspire firebottle amp" in the search and get nothing... What words are you looking under?

Try "dennis had inspire", refine for completed listings. The amp has sold but you can contact seller for any of these sold items. His handle is 'radioman731' which is another ebay search you can use.

[BearCityUSA]

For those of you have not seen this:

http://youtu.be/xLQsEeBKg1E

Dennis has an lp-3,... Among other things.