[finhurley]

I will be soon. I'm waiting on delivery on both items and some tubes. It will be a couple of weeks until things are properly burned in, but i will give my opinions.

 

[MaloS]

The seller that accidentally sent me just 1 tube said he shipped me the second one from the pair and an extra pair of em as an apology.

I think I am ready to accept it as such.

And just a heads-up (one member already contacted me), I now have some extra Svetlanas for 6S19P-V tubes that I can share with some owners of the Darkvoice 332 =]

 

[Godkin]

Good to see you got everything sorted out, Malos. And a free set of CV4010s into the bargain. Fantastic.

 

[HiFi FOR METAL]

Hey MaloS, I am thinking of getting the 332. I want to listen to obviously some prog metal, do you think the 332 can mate well with the 32ohm cans I have or the akg 701's, will it A. Give so much headroom I won't have to turn the amp past 2, or B. Overdrive my Grado SR-80, and Sennheiser 485? I know you told me you have 50ohm cans what are your opinions for opeth. So, will there be headroom I can walk through or, overdrive city?

 

[MaloS]

It should do perfectly well for metal, I think rock/metal are this amp's strengths (at least when coupled with hd595).

 

[cotdt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaloS /img/forum/go_quote.gif I ran it in the dark...warm but not firey. (visually). (and temperature-vise). Sometimes I wish these things would pulse or something, that would make for excellent feeling of music being alive. Oh well, got some Svetlanas (power) an RCAs (pre) on the way, fun fun

you can buy another one of these amps to power the LEDs under teh tubes. they will pulse.

 

[budgetphile]

Finally received all the ingredients, at a very reasonable price (I had to buy in bulk though), and made a pair of silver wire interconnects, the signal wire is made of AWG30, while the cold wire is made of AWG28.

The only thing I can say is forget about tube rolling (not really, tube rolling is only half the story), simply switching to silver interconnects made my 332 sound experience go through my ear drums and straight to all the nerve center receptors in the brain... what an experience, I never thought that I was missing out on so much in what I listen to.

The sound of the 332 with the silver interconnects is absolutely fantastic, I'm simply gob smacked that I cannot begin to think of the right adjectives to begin to describe what I am hearing, I changed back twice to my old expensive major brand interconnects, simply because I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

So far, I hardly listened to ten minutes worth with my new interconnects, if wire burn-in is not a load of pork pie, then the sound can only get better, (if that is at all possible).

What a revelation.

I'm so excited and happy, that all of me is wagging, not just the tail.

 

[jamesp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaloS /img/forum/go_quote.gif It should do perfectly well for metal, I think rock/metal are this amp's strengths (at least when coupled with hd595).

I agree with you and I'm using HD-650, DT-990 (2005)

 

[Godkin]

Sounds great, Budgetphile. I think a few pics are in order, as well as the recipe for these interconnects, and were to buy the ingredients.

 

[finhurley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by budgetphile /img/forum/go_quote.gif The sound of the 332 with the silver interconnects is absolutely fantastic, I'm simply gob smacked that I cannot begin to think of the right adjectives to begin to describe what I am hearing, I changed back twice to my old expensive major brand interconnects, simply because I couldn't believe what I was hearing. clip What a revelation.

I was equally hesitant about silver IC's. I bought a HGA IC kit a few years back and hooked it up to my Arcam cd33 and it was immediately noticeable.

I guess that my 332 arrived this morning so when i get home i will start to set up mine using my HGA IC's.

i second godkin's request for what you made.

what are peoples recomendations for how long break-in is for a 332 and should i change out the chinese tubes before i even power it up?

i think that i will DIY a new power cord for the 332 and the Arcam. i post if it makes a difference......i hope it has burned-in before i switch it so i can see if it makes a difference.

 

[budgetphile]

a quick run down, I will post pictures and links later on, ATM I got to attend to something that helps me earn a living

- Take two meters of PTFE Teflon tubing (1/4'' outside diameter, 1/8'' inside diameter), or whatever length you need, but remember the Teflon tube is fairly stiff, and not so bendy, this is important because you don't want a tube that will sag, you need to keep an equal distance between each of the interconnect cables once connected, this equal distance throughout will cut on interference, and stiff cables are great at that.

- Cut above into two equal lengths (one meter each).

- Grab a roll of plumber's tape (PTFE tape), wrap around twice around each one meter length of Teflon tube.

- After wrapping Teflon tape onto Teflon tube, get a ruler and mark tube at 1 inch intervals.

- wind AWG30 fine silver wire (signal) all the way around Teflon tube, make sure the wire goes over one one inch mark, and misses the next one inch mark all the way to the other end of the tube .

- Make sure you leave enough length of silver wire for soldering onto RCA plugs.

- Also make sure you mark the ends of this wire, by wrapping sticky tape on either end, or the like.

- Once done with wrapping the first silver wire around the tube, wrap two rounds of plumber's tape over the whole length of the Teflon tubing for insulation, you don't want the hot and cold wires touching now do you?

- The one inch marks, in between the marks that you laid the signal wire over, will be hardly visible now, make sure to mark them again.

- Wrap the 28AWG silver wire (cold) over the inch marks that you missed the first time round.

- Leave enough length on the silver wire for soldering.

- Once done with wrapping the second silver wire, wrap plumber's tape twice over the whole length of the Teflon tubing.

- Cut four pieces of about 1/2'' wide shrink wrap, and shrink over the edges of the two tubes, you need the shrink wrap for the RCA plugs to bite into without damaging the silver wires.

- Unscrew the RCA plugs of your choice, pass the back ends over the tube.

- Attach the RCA plugs onto the tube.

- Solder the thin AWG30 wire onto the middle bit of the RCA connector (signal).

- Solder the thick silver wire to the outside of the RCA plug (cold).

Note:
(you'd be lucky to figure which silver wire is which, both wires are very thin and hardly distinguishable, make sure you mark them as you wrap them, or else you're stuffed).

- Enjoy.

I will post links to suppliers in a little while.

 

[Godkin]

Thanks, Budgetphile.

Finhurley, the 332 takes a long time to burn in. DARKVOICE recommend about 50hrs, but I'd say more like 200hrs. I'd keep the Chinese tubes in, mainly to find out the 332's strengths and weaknesses, and to recognise the sonic improvements made by the better tubes.

Happy listening.

 

[finhurley]

Well it is all here.

The 332. The 701's. All burning in. I am still running the chinese tubes right now and it does sound glassy. i'm surprised how good the bass is considering the 701's are not supposed to be that good out of the box and 332 should thighten up also. I am still running the stock power cord and i think that could be a weak spot still. I'm looking forward to trying cv4010's and RCA 6AK5W's this weekend.

 

[budgetphile]

In making the silver interconnects, I slightly modified the instructons (which appear in an earlier post) that appear on this page:

http://www.mejiatryti.com/SpeakerCab...erconnect.html

I have used cheap Shark plugs that I bought from Maplin, I also have a set of expensive Eichmann Bullet plugs, I will make another set of interconnects using the Eichmann's over the weekend, I'll let you know how it goes.

I have loads of material, I'll be happy to make anyone who wants a set of interconnects at cost, or send required lengths of tubing and silver wire. Private message me if you are interested.

 

[Godkin]

Good to see everything's arrived safely. I'd be interested to see you comments on the CV4010s and the RCA 5654/6AK5Ws. They're two of my personal favourites. Your initial impressions were very much my own - glassy top-end but very deep bass. The glassiness will wear off slightly, and the sound will open up.

I'd certainly be interested in a set of silver ICs, Budgetphile.