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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2018 9:28:56 GMT
The many contented D'Agostino owners around the globe must be feeling utterly crushed at this time. for my part the Momentum's made it through to the last round due to a warmth of tonality without the bleeding edge resolution and over etched detailing beloved of the Audiophile Bat. The SS contender bout featured DartZeal , Constellation and CH Precision, all of which bested the Dag in a number of areas however the Dag won out IMHO by scoring 8's consistently across the board over assorted 6-7>9 10's Moon, My comments on the Dag are based on having the both styles of amplification for some time and assessing them through various speakers not just on one particular pair of transducers. I can see why you plumped for them in the group you mentioned and probably wouldn't disagree with your findings. The Constellations remind me of Naim on super steroids, all up front and virtually no trailing note decay or body. Ideal for deaf old rockers of those getting on in years needing to hear treble for the first time in years. If Ricky switched out the Con's for the Dag's on the Magico's they would start to sound much better at shows. The CH precision I have heard work well with Vivid's and other warm speakers, very neutral amplifiers, yet lacking soul. Oddly enough there is a chap in the east of London with a large pair of Wilson Benesch speakers who has been hunting for a amplifiers recently, the CHP would be the last amplifier I would put with that particular speaker. The DZ's I have a soft spot for, the mono's are good, but lack real textural layering, they are very solid and can sound fab (With the right speakers and supporting electronics) which is the big caveat as very few owners have that recipe correct. The DZ's can be perceptually lean in a lot of systems and require careful matching otherwise can sound really very good. Did you ever audition the Solutions at all? The Stereo Dag I believe is the most complete amp he has ever made.
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Post by MartinT on Feb 19, 2018 9:42:59 GMT
If Ricky switched out the Con's for the Dag's on the Magico's they would start to sound much better at shows. That starts to explain why the Magicos have sounded cold and lacking in musicality every time I have heard them in an Absolute Sounds demo.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2018 11:58:46 GMT
If Ricky switched out the Con's for the Dag's on the Magico's they would start to sound much better at shows. That starts to explain why the Magicos have sounded cold and lacking in musicality every time I have heard them in an Absolute Sounds demo. There is saying in the trade Martin, "There is no Magic is Magico", however the Dag's imho help the Magico's achieve a much more rounded and therefore improved sound.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2018 12:28:20 GMT
I have heard Magico's a few times at shows and was never impressed, they always sounds far too hifi for my liking.
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Post by Chris on Feb 19, 2018 18:18:28 GMT
Have valve amps reached there Zenith.For me no, but as you are aware I do not make commercially available valve amps. But I do design transformers and odd things, I have a design for a output transformer for a single ended valve amp that would allow us to provide about 100W in a transformer a quarter of the size. Ad have low frequency roll of at 10Hz at -3dB. I am playing with this concept now, and having fun, ok a few electric shock did restart the old mech ticker in a funny mode, but I think I will soon have the magnetics sorted. I will keep you posted. Now style OK I will get Hugh to do that as biscuit tin look crap even with a tiny dog on the front. A Colin Wonfor valve amp would be a nice thing to own.
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Post by MartinT on Feb 19, 2018 18:53:31 GMT
Careful, you've seen the size of his transistor amps...
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Post by TheMooN on Feb 19, 2018 19:13:40 GMT
The many contented D'Agostino owners around the globe must be feeling utterly crushed at this time. for my part the Momentum's made it through to the last round due to a warmth of tonality without the bleeding edge resolution and over etched detailing beloved of the Audiophile Bat. The SS contender bout featured DartZeal , Constellation and CH Precision, all of which bested the Dag in a number of areas however the Dag won out IMHO by scoring 8's consistently across the board over assorted 6-7>9 10's Moon, My comments on the Dag are based on having the both styles of amplification for some time and assessing them through various speakers not just on one particular pair of transducers. I can see why you plumped for them in the group you mentioned and probably wouldn't disagree with your findings. The Constellations remind me of Naim on super steroids, all up front and virtually no trailing note decay or body. Ideal for deaf old rockers of those getting on in years needing to hear treble for the first time in years. If Ricky switched out the Con's for the Dag's on the Magico's they would start to sound much better at shows. The CH precision I have heard work well with Vivid's and other warm speakers, very neutral amplifiers, yet lacking soul. Oddly enough there is a chap in the east of London with a large pair of Wilson Benesch speakers who has been hunting for a amplifiers recently, the CHP would be the last amplifier I would put with that particular speaker. The DZ's I have a soft spot for, the mono's are good, but lack real textural layering, they are very solid and can sound fab (With the right speakers and supporting electronics) which is the big caveat as very few owners have that recipe correct. The DZ's can be perceptually lean in a lot of systems and require careful matching otherwise can sound really very good. Did you ever audition the Solutions at all? The Stereo Dag I believe is the most complete amp he has ever made. Indeed I have heard Soulution albee it in show mode, I spent quite some time year before last auditioning many Mostly class A SS amplification, interesting that you mention the Constellation as for reasons known only to the UK distributer they were chosen to drive the UK launch of the New ML Neolith and it was IMHO a disaster for ML.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2018 19:32:28 GMT
Moon
Can I ask why just class 'A' to start with? They are some nice class a/b's that have the warmth, not overly so, yet deliver great musical insight?
Genuinely interested in the way you arrived at you choice that's all, my son has the Stereo Dag in his study on a nicely updated Wadia 270SE / 27Ix with the later 931 boards fitted and pair of ME-1's sound very good, the combination is very pleasing and delivers a very listenable sound plus it keeps him happy!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2018 20:37:52 GMT
The last one went swimming at the end of Southend Pier 45 yrs ago.
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Post by Chris on Feb 24, 2018 6:12:12 GMT
What's the conclusion here then? From what I can read then it appears no,they've not.
New types of valve,new,better components,much more information available to DIYers and guys like Colin who are full of ideas certainly give me the impression tubes are going to move on.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2018 10:32:46 GMT
And RAD HARD to boot cool.
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Bonky
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Post by Bonky on Feb 24, 2018 11:38:53 GMT
What's the conclusion here then? From what I can read then it appears no,they've not. New types of valve,new,better components,much more information available to DIYers and guys like Colin who are full of ideas certainly give me the impression tubes are going to move on. Hi, OP here. yes Chris, that's the conclusion I've come to as well. I asked partly because I'm thinking of experimenting with a WD KEL84 valve amp and needed to know if I was wasting my money on an 'old' design (albeit with modern components). Were there other - better - valve amps for approx the same money? (I need a power amp as I already have a Shiit saga preamp and my Living Voice speakers are efficient) Thanks everyone...
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2018 20:53:40 GMT
I love to use a TH250 a beam Tetrode with a 5V 20A heater and 15K working at 15KV , but the cost woooeee. I used a pair to modulate a gas CO2 laser for cutting ceramic amazing beasts. Cathode isolation was problem as the heater are common. In the final design I used a oil filled transformer with the primary on the out side of the oil.
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Post by Chris on Mar 9, 2018 21:02:43 GMT
I really wish I understood that Colin!!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2018 21:26:02 GMT
Did I write gobbledygook again sorry.
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Post by Chris on Mar 10, 2018 5:49:06 GMT
Not at all! I just need to educate myself.
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Post by pre65 on Mar 11, 2018 10:53:44 GMT
The Eimac TH250 actually has the heater at 5V and 10.5A = 52.5w
The heater on my 833a is 10V and 10A = 100w
For those interested here is the data sheet.
www.tubecollectors.org/eimac/archives/250th(51).pdf
I think Nick Gorham did an amp with those Eimac valves at an Owston meet up some years ago, but NOT with 15Kv.
Was the 15Kv a misprint Colin ?
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Bonky
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Post by Bonky on Mar 12, 2018 10:22:55 GMT
(OP here...)
Well, tomorrow I shall be the proud owner of a WD KEL84XL valve kit amp.
My 'concern' is...what if I like it too much...do I 'tweak' it (see the WD forum) or upgrade to a more powerful valve amp. What have others done? What valve amps do they/you upgrade to?
bw
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Post by pre65 on Mar 12, 2018 13:00:44 GMT
Please resist the temptation to "upgrade" , or mess around with the amp too soon.
Use it for a few months (3) and really get to know what it does first.
Then think about it.
Sometimes so called upgrades just make things different, not necessarily better, or worse.
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Post by MartinT on Mar 12, 2018 13:30:42 GMT
That's good advice, Philip.
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