[ManiacSmile]

Ok maybe some people will find this piece of information usefull. For those who live in the Big Apple - Lyrics Hi Fi on the upper east side is an Antique Sound Labs distributor and through them you can get ASL Twinhead MKII for $1895 plus tax. Unfortunately they don't have a demo sample to audition at this point.

 

[kartik]

Good, good!
More and more options in NYC.
Me like.

 

[lextek]

Good to know.

 

[dave-the-rave]

Thanks for the info. I've been interested in the Twin Head II since Jude's socko review, but I'm not crazy about dropping 2 large without listening first.

 

[kartik]

I don't have two grand to drop. in fact, I don't even have one grand to drop. Because my money has dropped me !

 

[ManiacSmile]

The fact that they don't have it accessible to audition sucks. But, what if members of this forum begin calling them to inquire about the Twinhead ? Would you think they'd get a sample unit ?

 

[Tuberoller]

I would most certainly audition the Twinhead MarkII first.It is not the superamp I first thought it to be.I had a really good chance to listen to the production Twinhead and was not impressed.

 

[ManiacSmile]

Tuberoller,

Quote:

It is not the superamp I first thought it to be.I had a really good chance to listen to the production Twinhead and was not impressed.

Willing to elaborate on that ? What exactly had disappointed you ? From what I understood, it didn't stand to your expectations. Recently I got my hands on my brother's Pink Floyd collection. After that exprience I decided that tubes are the way to go. At this point it's either RKV MKII or Twinhead MKII, so any input would be appreciated.

 

[Tuberoller]

When I heard the very first Twinhead(a first gen unit I paid full retail for) I was floored by the low level detail and overall depth and realism.The Twinhead MarkII that I heard in Las Vegas at CES was even better. It had all the same lovely sonics as well as bass punch and was completely silent.The original Twinhead hummed so bad it was nearly unlistenable at the low volumes I tend to prefer.The MarkII improved on the original design in every way.

The production version of the Twinhead MarkII lacks the punch the bass weight and the fantastic low level detail I heard with the first two Twinheads.It is a huge let-down on many levels and the QC is still not up to par.Read the comments from the Chicago meet Thread.The CES Twinhead MarkII(which Jude has and reviewed) is a great unit but there were obviously some changes made for the worse.I will get an opportunity to listen to that unit again in a few weeks at the Detroit meet and I'll offer some further thoughts.

 

[dd3mon]

How about the Supra? Not as expensive as the Twinhead, yet according to most at the Chicago meet it outperforms.

-dd3mon

 

[ManiacSmile]

Thanx Tuberoller, I'm looking forward to reading your responce on that. The quality control is one of the things that people mention suspiciously often regarding ASL. Now why do you think there is such a drastic change in quality? Or maybe it has something to do with putting as much effort in producing the demo sample so to impress potential customers and then implementing tradeoffs in the production model?

dd3mon,

It all comes to the same route I'd gone before - not being able to audition that particular amp and trying to figure out if it's good for me based on other's impressions. I hope the upcoming NY meet will fix that part of the illness..

 

[Joe Lau]

I can tell everybody ! Sure not ! Production sample sure = or better than demo sample. We are improve our products after found problem or found way to improve it to better. I don't know what made Tuberoller disppoint on production version. Jude sample sure is take from production shipment by "Divergent". I even don't kown which serial no had send to Jude ! We may be had problem in the past but I really try to improve it with all my effort. We has just rent 500 Sq meter factory plan this month. We will increase productivity and have more space for burn in finished products. It will sort out the problem in burn in periode.

 

[pigmode]

Joe,
Can you clarify again more exactly and more detail--the role the 2A3 plays in headphone amplification? It's confusing because there are so many tubes on the TwinHead. Do all of the tubes influence headphone sound?

Can the TwinHead be easily converted to use #40 tubes? 40s are noticably superior to 2A3s in terms of bass and inner-detail.

 

[Joe Lau]

Quote:

Originally posted by pigmode Joe, Can you clarify again more exactly and more detail--the role the 2A3 plays in headphone amplification? It's confusing because there are so many tubes on the TwinHead. Do all of the tubes influence headphone sound? Can the TwinHead be easily converted to use #40 tubes? 40s are noticably superior to 2A3s in terms of bass and inner-detail.

You can see twinHead Mark II have 2 Chassis. 1 is power supply and other is Main unit. Main units is very simple -

1 more section of Filter Cap and Choke on Plate Voltage to made it more clean. ECC88 x 1 connect in SRPP and direct coupling to
2A3.

OTL Mode : transformers become a loading Choke . Signal coupling from plate to Headphone by a Capacitor.

Transformer mode : transformer is load at Plate of 2A3 and coupling to Headphone.

Can use 40 tube ? I don't have any idea ! I don't have this tube on hand. I think it can replace by 45 tube by changing the Cathode resistor of 2A3.

 

[pigmode]

Thanks, I meant 45 tubes.