So what does everyone feed their fullrangers with?

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#103
Hi Rick, Well I did alot of research on the amp before I finally decided to take a chance and buy it. I've never owned a tube amp before except for a Marshall single stack guitar amp way back when.
The Taboo really turned out to be more than I hoped for, I just love it. Great sound that can just take you away into the music and I'm glad that I took a chance to get it. The Lucid mode switch really does make a difference on some recordings, more liquid and open sounding etc. I know my weak link is the cd player I have right now but maybe these Yamaha Natural sound players arn't so bad after all. Can't seem to be able to post a pic from the camera to the puter so no pic sorry. Dave🙂
 
#104
Dave I think you might want to talk to Steve about you're cd player. You know he can probably mod that thing for you.

You know I've not messed with the front switch much. Not long after I got it I did play with it some, seemed one setting sounded better than the other so I've left it alone since.

I do have a different tube for up there. Haven't tried it but once and I don't remember what I thought of it. Heck I might just roll it in tomorrow for fun.

I think my next Decware purchase will be a phono stage.

Have fun with it Dave. 🙂

Rick
 
#106
GyChang,

Thanks, I just opened a thread in the Class D forum (amp6 in twin cases). Right now it only has some pics but tomorrow I will write up a little more information on the amp, the building priocess and sonic impression. It IS an incredible amp given the price.
 
#107
Rick J. B. said:
Dave I think you might want to talk to Steve about you're cd player. You know he can probably mod that thing for you.

You know I've not messed with the front switch much. Not long after I got it I did play with it some, seemed one setting sounded better than the other so I've left it alone since.

I do have a different tube for up there. Haven't tried it but once and I don't remember what I thought of it. Heck I might just roll it in tomorrow for fun.

I think my next Decware purchase will be a phono stage.

Have fun with it Dave. 🙂

Rick
Click to expand...

The logistics and costs of shipping a unit across the border twice for mods is probably prohibitive - Dave might be better served looking at any of the DIY DAC kits/projects that could added to existing transport, or any of the under $150 DVD players now available at the big box stores.

.
 
#108
Which ones?

Chase the blog in my sig line and you'll see a few setups. Right now, I drive my FR125 fullrangers in my office with a Van Alstine Super 70i (rebuild Dynaco ST-70)

The big fostexs in the big rig are driven by a OTL-SE from transcendant, but they're technically not fullrangers, as I'm actively XOing them at about 6kHz (close enough, I don't like asking 8"s to do 10k)

Upstairs in the bedroom I'm running smaller fullranges with first order highpass at 240, to 15"s on the bottom.... they're left open on the top end, naturally rolling off at 10k and have a helper tweeter brought in. These are driven by a Motorola DCP-501 (bargain receiver, tripath with a decent power supply)

Note: I tend to prefer 'fullrangers' as 'widerangers', either with big woofs helping the bottom of smaller units, or supertweeters on top of bigger units.

In the office rig I listen nearfield, and can live with the 4.5"s.
 
#109
My system currently consists of a Pair of Fostex 127 MLTL, a pair of Fostex 126s (building new horns for them) and Audio Nirvana Super 8 Horns (my design). I feed them with 2 different amps depending on my mood. One is a Modified and rebuilt (with original Mullard tubes) Dynaco ST70. The other is a heavily modified SI T-Amp, 4.7uF input caps etc. etc. etc.. I must say, they both sound fantastic, the T-amp pumps enough power (even in the bass registers, it measures very flat to 5 Hz) to bring the ANS8's to ear bleeding levels with plenty of clarity, around 5 watts. The Dynaco is my baby though. It has such a sweet sound. My preamps are a Carver CT-6 and a rebuilt Dynaco PAS-3. My sources are a Denon SACD/DVDA player and a wonderfull Technics SL1200 MKII Turntable with an SME 3009 IIIs arm and a Shure V15 type III MicroRidge stylus. Really very very nice. I need more vinyl now! I would trash the CDs or at least condemn them to my car if I could get all of my music on Vinyl. (which I cort of can these days but cannot afford to do it).

Tom
 
#110
Hi Folks!

I thought I'd try asking this here too.

Background - I have fe108e sigma's in a straightened BIB. I don't listen at high levels due to neighbours. I don't listen to alot of rock but sometimes salsa and a fair bit of opera and acoustic music. The room is not very large only about 10' x 14'.

I am having real trouble deciding what amp I should try and build for them. How did people decide which amp? some options I thought about are;

Decware SET or Bottlehead SET- satisfaction of own build and control over what goes inside.
2020 tripath variant or some other - again like above, but tricky soldering and no tube glory(whatever that means)....
Ucd180 - seems easier to put together and possibly best sound(?) but satisfaction/ego trip, maybe a little lower.

or if I should just by an Antique audio tube amp and modify until I get the hang of things regarding amps.

I would really appreciate any feedback you could throw my way.

Cheers Stroop
 
#112
stroop said:
Hi Folks!

I thought I'd try asking this here too.

Background - I have fe108e sigma's in a straightened BIB. I don't listen at high levels due to neighbours. I don't listen to alot of rock but sometimes salsa and a fair bit of opera and acoustic music. The room is not very large only about 10' x 14'.

I am having real trouble deciding what amp I should try and build for them. How did people decide which amp? some options I thought about are;

Decware SET or Bottlehead SET- satisfaction of own build and control over what goes inside.
2020 tripath variant or some other - again like above, but tricky soldering and no tube glory(whatever that means)....
Ucd180 - seems easier to put together and possibly best sound(?) but satisfaction/ego trip, maybe a little lower.

or if I should just by an Antique audio tube amp and modify until I get the hang of things regarding amps.

I would really appreciate any feedback you could throw my way.

Cheers Stroop
Click to expand...


Stroop; my own personal speaker harem includes Fostex/Heil AMT bipoles, FE126 Frugelhorns, FE108ESigma Buschhorn MKI, with the occassional rotation of Ron Clarke Austin A126 and FE127 Fonkens. Amps are EL84 P'P based on Eli Duttman's "El Cheapo", Bottlehead Paramour II 2A3, and DIY RH84 parafeed monoblocks.

Over the years I've had the opportunity to several Decware SET amps, SE84C with Ed Schilling's Horns (old FE108E); a pair of SE84CS Selects on my Fostex/Heils, and most recently the Taboo on a DIY pair of FE108E Sigma BIB.

That's a lot to choose from, and of course builder's pride can often trump objective reality, but I've never had as big a smile on my ears as when I first fire up a hand-built, whether from kit or scratch design.

There are major differences in business model, marketing and design philosophy between Decware and Bottlehead. For approximately the same amount of money, you can buy the SE84CS or ParamourII kits. I doubt there's any argument that both are excellent values, but they certainly don't sound the same- it really comes down to which you prefer.

FWIW, one of the fundamental philosophy behind the entire Bottlehead product line is tailored for the inveterate tweak-o-holic. They provide a basically decent design, and carefully select parts based on best performance for the buck (in other words some of the stock parts are not "aerospace" or "audiophile-jewelery" grade. Build it, listen to it for a while, then go crazy with upgrades, fully supported by an experienced online DIY community.

Decware products certainly employ higher quality internal parts, and for many folks, the only tweaking required in tube rolling. I

By designing around very readily available types, Steve has opened up a wide range of permutations of rectifiers, driver and output tubes. If you've ever been under the hood of a SE84, there's a lot of creativity and skill required to shoe-horn in some of the more exotic tweaky upgrade parts that can certainly take the performance to a different level.


where am I going with this?

If you care enough to build your own speakers, then it only makes sense to go as far upstream as you can...
 
#115
Thanks again Chris that would be great!

If you could pass on that schematic I'd be most greatful! I think I can get the electrics guys at the theatre here to help me out too.

Be a heck of a job for newb like me, but I'll have a look and see what i need as far as parts are concerned.

cheers Stroop
 
#120
I love the Paramours -- if only because of them, Chris' RH84 monobloks are lodged in my stereo cabinet. The parafeed monobloks definitly trump my stereo non-parafeed RH84 (which is no slouch)

here is an upskirt pic Chris asked me to dig out....

One thing Chris did not mention is that the Parafeed monobloks were the result of a trail of amps that started with an effort to start as close to a Decware Zen as possible. My amp is "just add iron" to one of the chassis left on the side of the road.

The amp made extensive use of recycled parts & even with the Solens & new Hammond Chassis were amazingly inexpensive to build.

dave
 

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