[Happy Camper]

Quote:

Anybody have any experience with the EF5 that Fang offers as a pairing for the HE-6? Or should I stick with the idea of using the speaker outs on my Kenwood? I could go that price for the combination, but that would about max me out before my wife makes me sleep out in the shed.

How much to rent that shed...........
 

 

[Frank I]

Quote:

How much to rent that shed...........
 

I went an found some guy not too far from me that has 15 receivers and will sell a few of them. Now I need a divorce lawyer if I go up there because I figure if I dont like the Pioneer SX650 I am getting today can send t back for refund less 17.00 shipping and buy either Marantz 2270 or Luxman 1040 but I am trying to talk him into selling the Pioneer SX980. The insanity of all of this for headphones but i will admit these receiver sound better than the solid state headphone amps I have owned,
 

 

[Happy Camper]

Frank, I'd take the HE-6 to sample each receiver. While your at it, take a pair of phones to check out their headphone outs. I'm predicting you will hear the 100 wpc, drop the coin, and grin all the way home.

 

[Frank I]

Quote:

Frank, I'd take the HE-6 to sample each receiver. While your at it, take a pair of phones to check out their headphone outs. I'm predicting you will hear the 100 wpc, drop the coin, and grin all the way home.

I am going to take both headphones and go thru what he is selling. The He6 works of the Marantz 2220 B headphone jack also but more power off the speaker tap but it drives them. Ther D7000 out of the Marantz headphone jack sound better than any headphone SS amp I had for headphones. It has detail and brings out everything I love about the headphones. I am only keeping two receivers and the Marantz is not going anywhere.

 

[KVP]

Quote:

How much to rent that shed...........
 

Maybe I can sub-divide the shed into condo's

.  Might be a bit crowded, but we'd all have a pretty good time. 
 
So I gather you all think that using my old Kenwood may be the best way to go as opposed to taking advantage of the package deal that Fang offers with the EF5?
 
 

 

[daveDerek]

Quote:

So I gather you all think that using my old Kenwood may be the best way to go as opposed to taking advantage of the package deal that Fang offers with the EF5?

 
at the nyc meet last wknd i tried the he6 prototypes out of the ef5 and had the volume control maxed out. it's really not quite strong enough for that can, though the production unit is supposed to be more efficient and you could get away with it, but it still may be suboptimal. from everything i've read, it'd seem that you're better off using your receiver for now. you can wait on other amps, or buy some of the amps previously mentioned to you, which can be had for less than the ef5:
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/538737/amazing-and-dynamic-he6/195#post_7353473
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/538737/amazing-and-dynamic-he6/195#post_7354016
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/538737/amazing-and-dynamic-he6/195#post_7354065

 

[grokit]

Yeah use the Kenwood while you wait for the EF6.

 

[Happy Camper]

 
Quote:

Maybe I can sub-divide the shed into condo's

.  Might be a bit crowded, but we'd all have a pretty good time. 
 
So I gather you all think that using my old Kenwood may be the best way to go as opposed to taking advantage of the package deal that Fang offers with the EF5?
 
 

If it has power for a rig, I'll take one space. Especially if I have to buy another amp. I've built up a decent dynamic rig, how do I look iat she who must be obeyed and say, "I really think this one will be it" again. It will require sell off of some value. Ohhh you people are bad bad bad. Enablers.
 
Absolutely, use your receiver first. You'd be kicking yourself if the better sound ended up being what you already have. Nice thing about the receiver is you have all the pre functions and radio. Ballgames on the HE-6 might be pretty cool. A newer receiver could also control digital sources, be a DAC and provide volume control.

 

[KVP]

 
Quote:

 
at the nyc meet last wknd i tried the he6 prototypes out of the ef5 and had the volume control maxed out. it's really not quite strong enough for that can, though the production unit is supposed to be more efficient and you could get away with it, but it still may be suboptimal.

Thanks for the insight.  I think that's what I'll do, if I can bring myself to pulling the trigger on the HE-6's.  Big step up from my $95 Grado SR-80's, although bang for the buck, they may be one of the best bargains out there.  Do you know what cans Fang had originally set up with the EF5 at the meet?  They really sounded nice and looked identical to the HE6, but didn't have a model number on them.  By the way, I was the guy wearing the orange Princeton baseball cap that was walking around with the dazed look on his face because I know basically nothing about this stuff compared to everyone else that was there.  It was intimidating .

 
 

 

[Frank I]

Dave is correct with the Head direct amp. I would go with a different amp if you dont want to spend bucks look for a vintage receiver with the wattage it worked well with my Marantz 2220B 20W but really comes to live with the Pioneer 80W and sounds excellent on either but my Taboo is really where it shines the most but man that receiver is so close and better than any of the head amps I owned in solid state.  Try to buy local if you go vintage and as always expect somewhere down the line it will need too be overhauled.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Well, my EF5 in high gain has pretty decent power for HE-6, and normal listening last night was at 11:30 - 12 o'clock, while loud listening is at 1:30 - 2:00 o'clock.  Anything above that I can't listen to for long, although it does start to distort as I get closer to 3 o'clock and later on the volume knob.  This combo still sounds great even out of the RCA jacks of my Marantz CD5001.  At RMAF the prototype EF6 amp sounded more spacious and analytical or dry vs the EF5 which I preferred, and both had similar power levels.
 
It's true that it wont go as loud as my HE-5 LE or LCD-2 with the EF5, and my SR-71b will give me at least 4-5dB more volume from the HE-6 with a single ended source and balanced output.  But the SR-71b it needs a nice warm sounding DAC to pair best with the HE-6, and DACport or DACmini work better with SR-71b than HDP or Pico DAC.  
 
I do love the warm euphonic timbre and tone of the EF5 with the HE-6, which makes up for the amp's slightly smaller soundstage, decreased micro-detail or decreased power vs the SR-71b balanced amp.  The transient attack with EF5 and HE-6 is actually slightly better than with my ZDT amp (both have 2 watts output at 32 ohm).  I think the EF5 is still a steal, but I'll find out how the HE-6 sound with a vintage Marantz 2240 in a day or two.  This 35 year old receiver is half the cost of the EF5 shipped, and the seller says it sounds better than his old Meier Concerto.  It should put out about 5-6 watts into 50 ohms.  I actually bought one of these new in 1977 to replace my 1976 Radioshack 16 watt receiver, although I have no memory of what ever happened to it after that.

 

[Happy Camper]

Quote:

Well, my EF5 in high gain has pretty decent power for HE-6, and normal listening last night was at 11:30 - 12 o'clock, while loud listening is at 1:30 - 2:00 o'clock.  Anything above that I can't listen to for long, although it does start to distort as I get closer to 3 o'clock and later on the volume knob.  This combo still sounds great even out of the RCA jacks of my Marantz CD5001.  At RMAF the prototype EF6 amp sounded more spacious and analytical or dry vs the EF5 which I preferred, and both had similar power levels.
 
It's true that it wont go as loud as my HE-5 LE or LCD-2 with the EF5, and my SR-71b will give me at least 4-5dB more volume from the HE-6 with a single ended source and balanced output.  But the SR-71b it needs a nice warm sounding DAC to pair best with the HE-6, and DACport or DACmini work better with SR-71b than HDP or Pico DAC.  
 
I do love the warm euphonic timbre and tone of the EF5 with the HE-6, which makes up for the amp's slightly smaller soundstage, decreased micro-detail or decreased power vs the SR-71b balanced amp.  The transient attack with EF5 and HE-6 is actually slightly better than with my ZDT amp (both have 2 watts output at 32 ohm).  I think the EF5 is still a steal, but I'll find out how the HE-6 sound with a vintage Marantz 2240 in a day or two.  This 35 year old receiver is half the cost of the EF5 shipped, and the seller says it sounds better than his old Meier Concerto.  It should put out about 5-6 watts into 50 ohms.  I actually bought one of these new in 1977 to replace my 1976 Radioshack 16 watt receiver, although I have no memory of what ever happened to it after that.

Me too.
 

 

[grokit]

I must say that the new Schiit Lyr is a great match for the HE-6, they sound much better than the LCD-2 does out of it.

 

 

[MacedonianHero]

I must say that the new Schiit Lyr is a great match for the HE-6, they sound much better than the LCD-2 does out of it.

 

My HE-6s have come to life with my Lyr. They sound as good as through my Pioneer Elite home theater receiver (headphone jack). I do have Ron's (HiFlight) pigtail adapter and I plan to A-B with my Lyr this weekend.

With the stock JJ tubes, the LCD-2s we a bit to dry in the mids...a little tube rolling fixed that quite well (Genalex Gold Lions).

 

[grokit]

I've been using some NOS Amprex gold pin 6922, I didn't even try the JJs. It would be nice to compare some different aftermarket tubes but rolling seems to be a bit challenging so I just went with what I thought was a safe bet. I'll try the LCD-2 with the Lyr again after I break the tubes in a while but the WA22 is a tough act to follow with those.