Quote:

Originally Posted by sarals 

This has been a wonderful thread!

 

I heard 2359glenn's OTL amp at the meet, as well - and I absolutely fell in love with it!  It was lovingly built, and it sounded so.  SO, I am jealous - seriously!  I really like the setup you have, and I think, if only for aesthetics, that maple block should remain where it is!  You know us, the fairer sex, always thinking about looks...

 

I hope your cold is better  now I have one.  No listening for me right now.

 

Hey, give us a report on that Squeezebox Touch when you get it integrated....

It's great seeing you here!  Thank you for the kind words. I emerged this morning feeling miles ahead. Not completely out of the wood, but 75% of my hearing has returned and I'm anxious to get back into the listening room. 

Tonight's goal is to get some early impressions on the footers. Actually, I'm going to listen to the OTL amp with three versions - stock footers, spikes and Tri-Absorbers. I'll entertain listening to only a handful of tracks, paying attention to 30 second samples. Then, over the course of the next 10 days, I'll evaluate each footer for about three days at length, get a feel for which resonant signature from the footer I prefer with the OTL amp. 

Unless something has gone horribly wrong, I don't expect the differences to be large. But the footers will stand out from each other... what will I want to hear? Just 'neaked in a three minute preview with the spikes! Still have business to finish up for the day. But in that three minutes, I heard...

The middle blown w-i-d-e open. Ok, maybe not like a Drop-top convertible but maybe T-tops removed? The midrange - vocals and instruments - more emphasized. The Bass is still hitting, same tone and likely the same volume but since the middle is now more emphasized, it may appear there is less Bass but that's not the case. The middle has simply become more present. 

This is with the D7000. I'll also be gathering footer impressions with the HD600 and K702 (Thanks, shipsupt!). I'm one of those who absolutely loves the Denon D7000, Sub Bass, slightly recessed mids and all! There are some, however, that fear these cans. Well, you may now come out from hiding. The spikes are about tuning and may help tweak the signature you're getting from your current cans. The OTL sounds like it has a different headphone plugged in.

Although details remain, I need to confirm throughout the week if the clarity of those details remain after being emphasized (overly?) with the new presentation the spikes return. All of this was immediately apparent in the first few bars of the music, no extra effort listening was required. Who knew?! Wish I could stay with it, but responsibilities await.

Let's see what I find tonight with the custom built 2359glenn spec OTL amp.

Post Script: The Squeezebox Touch arrived this morning - had no time to unbox, look or even kick the box! 

Lastly, your avatar is just flat out awesome!

Quote:

Originally Posted by grokit 

Sounds like great results, especially with those headphones SO -- fine tuning at its finest!

 That's great! I feel like stopping everything to join them inside the listening room. I am just as excited!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xcalibur255 

Been pondering some kind of isolation feet myself.  The PC introduces noticeable vibration into the desk.

If possible, I'd be looking to isolate all three components... Front-end (PC), DAC, Amp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hodgjy 

Yes, please do post your findings. I was always under the impression that isolation feet and wood blocks only mattered for loudspeaker setups because the sound waves and vibrations from the speakers can be picked up by the amp, causing subtle changes in the sound. If you find something, I may get a bambo block to put under my Trafomatic.

I finally dug in past midnight... still gathering initial impressions from six configurations. Will continue Friday night and put some shape to it all later on Saturday. 

Footer Fact Findings-

So, what did I find by replacing the amp's stocking feet with Spikes and VIABLUE Tri-Absorbers? And even going so far as to have the little one lying on its belly sans footers?? Absolutely nothing... Next!

C'mon people, stay with me! I found ALL kinds of stuff!!! Let's get to the dirt, shall we? Everything... and I do mean "Everything" matters! I set out with a simple mission - throw spikes under the amp and hear what it sounds like. That was the easy part. In fact, changing the footers out for spikes was done with the speed of a NASCAR Pit Crew... fast! But, upon playback, I quickly realized the amount of variables and potential outcomes was staggering.

I could reach page 100 in this thread solely discussing resonant properties of gear, materials, isolation and other variables presented while leaving something behind on the table.  But it's not that serious or I won't let it at 0200 hours on a fine Sunday morning. I'll merely highlight a few different configs and will even give my recommendation first instead of last. And that's play with your system - audio can be BIG fun! But I won't recommend this footer over that spike and so on because everyone and every system has a different reality. What plays well pre or post upgrade in your system may not stay that way. And then blame Silent One?!  Uh-oh! We're trying to share info not shove info...

Background info on the system: 2010 Mac mini - Internal Solid State Drive ; 8GB RAM; Amarra (Full) in Playlist mode... wait, read the Profile! On with the show. Observations:

During testing, I found myself short of Tri-Absorbers. This is because the Mac sits on "Tri's" as well as the DAC. So, when I sought findings for the "Tri's" underneath the amp, this left the Mac with no vibration isolation feet. I placed the spikes under the Mac but the results were not fully realized. This is because vibrations are draining down onto the desk which itself is not isolated and made from cheap/poor material. And subject to ground vibrations. But this arrangement shows promise for Tri-Absorbers under both the amp and Mac. Or another Maple block for the Mac to drain its vibrations.

OTL amp             Mac mini

Stock footers      Tri-Absorbers > Most detailed; air; decay; clarity. Smaller more intimate sound stage. Slightly darker presentation but good. 

Spikes                Tri-Absorbers > Bigger-Wider-Deeper, like having new headphone! Emphasized Mids; Great balance; Speaker-like; Slightly veiled; Slightly sibilant.

Spikes/Discs       Tri-Absorbers > Same as above except discs under the pointed tips reigned in sound stage slightly.

Tri-Absorbers     Spikes          > This returned similar presentation as the top but slightly larger sound stage and more open Mids; less dark.

Summary:

The Spikes underneath the amp yielded the biggest surprise... who knew?! What I learned from this exercise is that it is one of "tuning." I can take each of the results above and use them as a starting point and fine-tune my system's signature. I also learned that different spikes, different size and material of spikes will all return a different presentation. I'm currently using a 2" thick block of Maple. Switching to 4" will change things up too. 

Rather than go out and spend myself silly, I'm interested in finding out what I have - what are the resonant properties of the gear already here before spending money on other tweaks. System assessments can prove valuable. After all, how do you know how much seasoning your system needs if any, unless you taste taste taste! 

I left a lot on the table regarding this subject. But that's the beauty of discussions, where you'll have a chance to hold my own feet (footers?) to the fire! 

Quote:

Originally Posted by rosgr63 

You might find this info of interest:

 

http://www.tweak-fi.com/apps/blog/show/8214706-review-aktyna-aris-the-ultimate-decoupling-feet-

Thanks, I'm headed over there now... while I await sunrise and breakfast!  Have you picked up some? How was your experience?

With an estimated 113 hours on the ODO, it's been fun getting to know the Silver Hawk (2359glenn-spec 6AS7 OTL amp) while putting it through its paces. To date, it's known different tube compliments, different headphones and different footer options:

3DG4    General Electric

  5V3    General Electric

  5V3    Dumont

5998     Tung-Sol

6AS7G   Sylvania

6AS7G   CEI

VT-231 Tung-Sol BGRP

6SN7W  Raytheon

6SN7GT RCA Grey Glass  

Denon Zeus cabled 4x22awg OCC Cu

Sennheiser HD600

AKG K702

Dayton Audio Spikes - 1.25" diameter; 1.5" height

ViaBlue TRI Absorbers

On the last day of Winter, one option remains - DACs. Later tonight will swap in my E-MU 0404 USB Interface w/Regulated Linear Supply. There's no question the current DAC (Wyred4Sound DAC-1 with Upgraded Digital Board & Low ESR "Super Caps") is the better performer. But the aim here is to check the amp's versatility and above all, to have fun doing it!. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by ckunstadt 

 

Is that blue glowy thing under the maple block an external HD? cuz if it is... you might want to move or isolate that.  ?

It's probably something else but I just got a 1TB bus-powered firewire external drive and I am surprised with how much it... wiggles.

 

 

 Wiggles? I don't understand. Yes, that is one of my external HDD's  - bus-powered firewire (the other remains unplugged until backups). Not having any problems with isolation - it's been under the desk, around the desk near and far with no changes. Also, for a time, it had its own single TRI Absorber.  Discussions are highly valuable, as they can introduce ideas or fresh thinking. Thanks to you, I decided to revisit isolating the external HDD. In the spirit of testing, the only thing I've yet to try is "without." So, I disconnected the bad boy. I'm happy to report all is good. 

Curiously, what are you feeding the Shoe box (W4S)?