Power tube saga.Treasures 6ca7-z,Gold lion reissue KT88,Ei KT90,GE 6550A

Power Tube.


Last week was a very interested week where 4 type of power tube been tested on Marantz 8b.To make this possible the bias is been modify to accomodate the 6550 and kt88 tube. The sequence tested is as follow;

TREASURE 6CA7-7, Shuguang celebrate make this to celebrate 50th anniversary.

Treasures 6ca7-z

Gold lion reissue KT88

Ei KT90

GE 6550A.

At that night I rank them as follow

1ST GE6550A

2ND Ei kt90

3rd treasures 6ca7-z and reissue kt88.(Both have their own sound characteristic that may appeal to different user)



As time is not permitted we have not tested the Sylvania and telefunken metal base EL34 that in the owner collection.

I still say NOS tube still rule.Even  Marantz 8b that been optimise for EL34 i still prefer  the NOS GE 6550A 


*More picture will be add later.


KLau.

To the rescue. Melody sp3

Melody sp3-To the rescue

I have listened to this amp many moons ago and did not give me much good impression. I ask for opinion regarding this amplifier  and all of them give me thumbs up .I still remember that night we have a shootout with marantz 8b, Diva bluesky, pilot sa232, and another cheap push pull el34 made in china amp. That night I rate the SP3 at the last place. I can only say this amp might need some more time to run in (Did you know how many rave review, especially by the HK magazine?)

So last night has been call to rescue it. At first listening the sound is not much different although a lot of goodie have been put in. The sound still sounds slow and dull.

The speaker cable or the interconnect alone already cost more than the amp. Beside wire, the fuse have been change to audiophile fuse (the price can buy normal fuse 300 pieces) and all the stock have been change .I saw  telefunken ecc83 and  6l6..The stock use 5881 tube.

Upon arrival i start by reposition the speaker and later confirm the owner including overv setting the bias. I have to trust the owner as time is too short for me to check by myself.
Later I start tube rolling from the telefunken ecc83 to stock(printed melody) and later the 6922 and at last the 12au7.Nothing much progress and after discussion with FHwong we suspect there might be tube wrongly inserted.So a call been make back to china(no kidding) and confirmed everything is right in the place.

Later I replace the stock feet with 2 slab of stone and there is slight improvement but still not up to the par.

I bypass a regulator and directly plug to the wall plug.Emmm….still the same.

Now I suspect the wire. To save time another amplifier been send in replacing  the SP3

Ahhh…this is more like it. It’s time to let go this amplifier. Anyone interested?

BTW anyone have anymore suggestion on something I might miss out?

Time to say goodbye

Finally It’s time my buddy, KenC move back to West Malaysia. The first question I ask him is ‘What about your horn?, do you want to send it back?”

We started the horn together and mine is singing long ago.HA!HA!.

So we check it out and found that there is water in the horn for months and there is no water dripping and whatsoever.(This means your horn is solidly build:Ha!,KenC, next time you must treat me a meal.ok?)

Currently KenC is organizing a Clone Proac Response 2.5.You can check it out this tread in Lowyat forum:

Or you can try to get him from here

http://www.tinkeringken.blogspot.com/.

Proac Response 2.5 is using scanspeak 8513-tweeter and 8535 woofer.Wilson watt & puppy also use the  driver but reported been modify.

Klau
*I have not affiliate or interest on the above group buy.Please find more for yourself.

Crystal Cable , Crystal connect and Crystalspeak

Crystal cable crystalconnect interconnect 1 meter pair

Crystal cable crystalspeak speaker cable 2 meter pair.

A relatively new cable company that run by Gabi Van der kley from Holland. If you knew Siltech and this 2 company is closely related.

If you believe in small is beautiful and this is the cable that will suit you. Pack like a jewels using leather casing and my wife mistakenly thought I bring her jewels when she first saw this and later disappointedly found out it’s my new toys again.

The cable use gold/silver alloy as the central core conductor helically wrapped in a dual layer of ultra thin kapton foil as a shield and makes a silver colour in appearance.

I plug in the interconnect follow the direction of the ding ( a small clip with crystal logo) although the manufacture mention the cable is none directional.

The speaker cable is very unique that there a connector at the middle. You can either change spade, banana plug and length by pluging in different length of wire.

At first I plug in the piccolo crystalconnect interconnect and later together with the piccolo crystalspeak

speaker cable and found out both have a almost same characteristic.

Sound;

The first thing I notice is a wider and deeper soundstage. Singer seems to be singing further back at the rear speaker. This make the positioning especially accompany musical instrument more spaces among them.

This cable exhibits a very low noise. Background become darker and makes detail much easier to pick up. The scale proportion is and I enjoy more especially realistic in size orchestra.

The bass is tight and shift lower. It is like comparing the bass characteristic of the kt88 tube with an el34 tube. I think this cable is more suited to a floor stander. The balance of the cable is smooth and neutral. Sometimes I feel it’s too analytical or shimmering .It’s like back in my 20’s where I tune my equalizer at a V shape where the bass and treble all the way up but the mid all the way down. This will make the sound of the string instrument lack the immediate attack. It also always present string instrument like guitar as secondary to the music. I can sense that system with strong mid range may benefit from this cable.

As I’m writing this, the cable is run in at around 50 hours from new and the sound is not yet stable. I am expecting the cable to further open up. The manufacturer recommends a longer time is needed to run in the cable.



Associate equipment

Amp;quad 606, quad II, Pioneer A400,Musical fidelity A1,
Pre;passive 100k, 250k, clone marantz 7, audionote 7

Speaker:Ls3/5a biwire LE + Foundation designer 2 stand

Cable:Zu, gryphon guideline mk2, vandenhul the first, wireworld silver eclipse, diy cable.

Cdplayer;denon(modified)

Rooms:9ft x 15 ft  x 10ft


KLau

KL International AV Show 2010

Just found out that KLIAV show 2010 will be held on 23, 24 and 25 July 2010.

See ya.

Klau

Semi automatic LP/Vinyl washing machine.

Mr.SS is just demo to me a new gadget. A cost effective vinyl washing machine with vacuum pump.There is 2 switch available.1 for rotate the LP and another is for the vacuum pump.

So the procedure is:

1)Put in the LP

2)Use the clamp and tighten the LP.This make sure the LP lable is water proof.

3)Manually brush and apply water/solution to the LP

4)Put the vacuum pump on and manually put in the noozle and voila it's done.

This machine only cost him around USD$350.00. (USD$1.00 = RM3.50).

I have heard complain saying that the automatic type may sometimes spill water over the LP lable. So using this machine may avoid this.

KLau

Turntable world

Here is Mr.SS turntable.Not only this but another 2 turntable not in the picture.

It's like enter into another world when i visit this system.

Another view.A few DIY tube phono stage.Can listen to MC, MM and different turntable anytime.I feel i want to surrender after looking at the setup.

Yes, the Dave brubeck, Time out album is spinning.

This is the 2nd Garrard 301 grease bearing that i listen before with original arm.The first Garrard 301 grease bearing is with SME 3012.

Look!This is where the most exciting moment of the album. The kick drum in time out song, KUMMM,  KUMM... still lingering in my head

KLau