Ohio 5-6-06

[Grand Enigma]

and that is all there are so dont ask for more

[Nanoha]

More I tell ya. I thought there was going to be more! Don't hoard them for yourself!

[hungrych]

What are those giant looking gain tubes?

[PFKMan23]

14n7s I think. One is a NU Gray glass I think.

[Guest sacd lover]

14n7s I think. One is a NU Gray glass I think.

NU tall bottle, gray glass 7n7, Sylvania tall bottle 7n7, Sylvania short bottle 7af7 and a Sylvania tall bottle 14n7. The tubes look big because they are sitting on adapters.

[PFKMan23]

Wrong voltage, stupid me.. I should know that....

[philodox]

Damn, I love those old chassis SinglePowers. So hot... must have one.

[Grand Enigma]

Damn, I love those old chassis SinglePowers. So hot... must have one.

Or how about 3

[tkam]

Figured it's about time to add my impressions so here goes...

Heard the HF-1's finally, to me they sounded like a punchier, slighty more dynamic version of the 225s with a more polite top-end. Worth $200? Yes they are a nice entry into the Grado house sound. Worth the $350-$400+ they go for now? Absolutely not.

I still think the k701s are pretty good headphones but I'm glad I sold them, just not enough bass to satisfy me over the long haul.

The PPX3 Slam is a very nice amp and I'm glad I'm getting one (albeit a slightly upgraded one).

Earl's Supra 392 was probably the highlight of the meet for me. Gobs of power and totally musical. A very nice amp indeed. Sounded heavenly with my apl philips as the source.

[Guest sacd lover]

I am delinquent with the meet impressions too.

I had a great time trying all the sources out. The opus 21 was excellent. The opus was very smooth and had a warm and relaxed sound with a very nicely defined bass register I wish I had left one of my sacdmods 555es's hooked up for direct comparison.

The Philips was hooked to my Supra 392 and this was the best pairing of the meet IMO. The Philips has a near perfect tonality and sounded the most natural of any of the sources I tried. To clarify further, the Philips with the Supra 392 had the most "real" sound. I especially liked the pairing with my live recordings. Again, I wish I had left one of the 555es's hooked up to compare. Regardless, the opus 21 and the Philips were certainly as good or better. Tkam obviously likes refinement because both his sources have that natural and easy going character.

The D10 was a really cool source. The sound is very good, and while not quite up there with the opus 21 and philips standards, it is close ..... and the units flexibility and features had me wanting one. The headamp sounded quite good with GE's cable wizardry allowing a balanced hookup with the senn 650's. I especially like the volume control/ variable line out and all the input/outputs. I am sure with a little tube rolling I could get more out of the D10. I will mention the Eastsound E5 was an excellent transport for the D10 too.

I spent quite a bit of time with the senn 650's comparing them to the senn 600's. Well ... I continue to prefer the 600. The 650 just has to much warmth for me. I could also hear a loss of air when I used the 650 vs the 600's with the Philips/ Supra 392 combination. I have been borrowing the Grado HF-1's and this is a very good headphone. I wish I had bought a pair. I didnt expect them to sound much different than the sr-225. But to me the HF-1 is more refined and I especially appreciate the less sibilance vs the sr-225. So in short, the HF-1's have those good grado dynamics, bass punch and smooth mids without the edge in the highs.

I still am very impressed with the AKG 701's. I have figured out the 701's are a fantastic match with the 5687 tubes. The amps with the 5687's always mate best with the 701's to my ears. The Supra 392 running 6bl7gta's on the outputs, however, sounds best with the 600's. The Supra 392 has a sense of life that is a very slightly to bright with the 701's for my tatse. Conversely, The 600's sound very slightly dulled or rolled off with all amps except the one MPX3 fitted with Sylvania 5687's.

I have an EC/ DC from Eddie Current that I have been messing with too and so far I like my Singlepowers better without the unit in the signal path. The EC/DC chokes off the soundstage and reduces both speed and dynamics. The bass may be the slightest bit tighter but the unit is definitely causing some loss of resolution. The only configuration I have tried I find as good is running the 701's and the EC/DC from the Supra 392. In this combination the EC/DC rounds off the sound some and warms the 701's up enough they seem slightly more musical with my less refined recordings .... instead of slightly to raw. But the senn 600's running straight out of the Supra 392 is much, much better to my ears.

My surprise of the meet was the PINT. The PINT is the first portable amp I have heard that is what I consider very good sounding. I couldnt believe how inexpensive the amp is either. The PINT kills the hornet I had through here last month. The PINT sounded warm, musical and especially refined. There was no edge or brightness and the amp had a nice size soundstage. I couldnt get over how good this little amp sounded. I need to do some research on this amp. Whoever designed this amp did an amazing job.

As always I had a fine time hosting two of my favorite people and I may have another meet sometime this summer. But with everybody living mostly in the Cinci area ..... I will probably be a good boy and defer and drive down so we get more involvement.

[Chrysanthemum]

i wish i could have been there. on the plus side, i hurt my back lifting stuff, banged my hand with a mallet trying to loosen a stuck bolt and got really dirty on saturday

Thats too bad. I know you had thoes problems but how did it go when you got to your Dad's house? Did you get hurt there too?