[Frihed89]

 
 
I cheated and put in some AVVTs after about 80 hours and listened to an album of Jennifer Warnes: very nice, indeed.  The Well is an old favorite of mine.

 

[drheadphone]

Re Audezes and Stratus -- Like Frihed89 I was not at all impressed with LCDs when I first heard them, and that goes for the 2 and the 3. The only two amps that I thought the 3s sounded good were the GSX and the Stratus. I totally did not expect to like the 3s on a tube amp, especially one that sounds quite luscious on HD800. Nevertheless I was very impressed with how the Straus handled the 3 and totally surprised. 

The LCD3 sounds great with the stock Shuguang's. IMO, better than the LCD2, which for some reason sounds thin in the midrange with the Shuguang's. But the EML Meshplates take both LCD's to the next level in terms of top end clarity, bass detail and soundstage. A big thumbs up from Donald, too!

 

[drheadphone]

I cheated and put in some AVVTs after about 80 hours and listened to an album of Jennifer Warnes: very nice, indeed.  The Well is an old favorite of mine.

Complete envy! How does the AVVT sound with the AKG701, which I find tonally very similar to the HD800?

 

[Cante Ista]

Quote:

 
 
I cheated and put in some AVVTs after about 80 hours and listened to an album of Jennifer Warnes: very nice, indeed.  The Well is an old favorite of mine.

Very nice shot Firhed89! I am looking forward to your further impressions. I will live vicariously through you and whoever else posts on this thread as I await my Stratus. 

 

[Cante Ista]

Quote:

The LCD3 sounds great with the stock Shuguang's. IMO, better than the LCD2, which for some reason sounds thin in the midrange with the Shuguang's. But the EML Meshplates take both LCD's to the next level in terms of top end clarity, bass detail and soundstage. A big thumbs up from Donald, too!

I cannot remember what tubes I head them on (the LCD-3s I mean). It was at a DC meet -- read not great conditions -- but the effect the Stratus had on LCD-3s was very pronounced. I do remember the owner telling me he had upgraded rectifier tube. Others though I cannot remember. 
 
 As far as LCD-2 goes, I have not heard them on the Stratus, so I cannot comment. 

 

[Eee Pee]

Great shot Frihed89.  
 
I have been in a state of absolute restraint when it come to the Stratus.  You're not helping.  

 

[Frank I]

Quote:

 
 
I cheated and put in some AVVTs after about 80 hours and listened to an album of Jennifer Warnes: very nice, indeed.  The Well is an old favorite of mine.

Great picture its look great. That Jennifer Warnes album is a great recording and I love Arlo Guthrie duet on the album Great stuff

 

[Eee Pee]

Quote:

....

 
Are those Eichman bullets and Signal cables?
 
Just wondering...

 

[Frihed89]

Quote:

 
Are those Eichman bullets and Signal cables?
 
Just wondering...

The equipment I am using is:
MacBook Pro with Itunes
Wireworld USB Cable
Wavelength Proton USB Dac
Crimson Cable ICs (also own Audio Note (UK) Lexus and Vx IC cables)
Stratus
LCD-2 version 1 and early Norse copper cable 1/4" jack
AKG K-701 early Moon Audio copper cable 1/4" jack
 
and various "approved" driver, rectifier and power tubes, too numerous to mention.  I am actually quite happy with the used Philco branded dual grey plates i own.  The AVVT is more neutral and has a better top end (in general), but I like the darkness of the dual plates on headphones, but not on my speaker amps.
I may think about new headphones, later, but am not prepared to spend too much more than $6-700 tops.
Otherwise, I'm set.
 
This morning I listened to Mahler's 6th symphony.  Not bad.  This is tough music for any system.  I suspect the limitations to the dynamics are due to the headphones and the power supply. But the presentation was still close to "godt nok", a form of high praise in danish (meaning "good enough")!  Beyond that, one probably needs a transistor output stage to capture the full dynamics.  Cavelli has a new hybrid out, with a lot of tube possibilities in front of the JFETs, shades of Single Power.  However, his newer amps + SOA headphones sound unpleasantly knife-like to my brain.

 

[Da5Id]

Quote:

I cannot remember what tubes I head them on (the LCD-3s I mean). It was at a DC meet -- read not great conditions -- but the effect the Stratus had on LCD-3s was very pronounced. I do remember the owner telling me he had upgraded rectifier tube. Others though I cannot remember. 
 
 As far as LCD-2 goes, I have not heard them on the Stratus, so I cannot comment. 

That was mine. Sophia Meshplates and EML 5U4G rectifier. 

 

[Eee Pee]

Quote:

The equipment I am using is:
...

Thanks.  They look EXACTLY like the Signal cables from Frank in New York that I have.  Guess there's only so many sheaths out there, and then there's the whole reason I bought them, those Eichman bullets.
 
And thanks for the picture, it's been my desktop picture since you shared it with us.

 

[Frihed89]

Quote:

Thanks.  They look EXACTLY like the Signal cables from Frank in New York that I have.  Guess there's only so many sheaths out there, and then there's the whole reason I bought them, those Eichman bullets.
 
And thanks for the picture, it's been my desktop picture since you shared it with us.

The crimson ICs and speaker cables are the most transparent cables I have ever used, but they don't always work well with "warm" sounding gear.  They are distributed to a number of US dealers by Austin hfi, all of whose equipment i have heard has this characteristic.  

 

[Frihed89]

Have any of you found that the 6N1P driver to take a long time to smooth out?
 
I ask because I have an assortment of used 6BQ7A tubes.  All of them sound "better" to me than the 6N1P.  The "tone"/"liquidity" of the 6N1P on classical and rock guitar music (Julian Bream, Mark Knopfler and David Gilmour, mainly). is just "wrong" compared to the 6BQ7A.  It's treble on female country music singers is jagged, sound almost sibilant.  It seems to lack "the drive" of the 6BQ7A everywhere in its frequency range.  The tube is more detailed than the 6BQ7A, but not greatly more so.
 
Now, if you compare the construction of various versions of both in almost every case the 6BQ7A looks exactly likely what is, a cheap TV tube of dubious quality, while the 6N1P has a much more complicated structure and (with the exception of a couple of mil spec 6BQ7As) looks like what it is - a durable military signal amplifier.  (I'm not exactly sure how it fitted into the Soviet arsenal).
 
So, has anyone noticed that the Russian tube takes a long time to settle in?  I'm getting impatient.
 
By the way, the 6BQ7A is not an exact electrical drop-in for the 6N1P, but i see that the heater current is the same, which is NOT the case for 6DJ7/ECC88.  My understanding is that Donald has OKed the use of this tube as a replacement, meaning to me it will do no electrical damage.
 
Finally, I was surprised that the driver could make such an audible difference.

 

[Bigsecret]

I agree the 6N1P is a more detailed sounding tube, and noticeably so even after burning in for awhile. I must have several hundred hours on mine. When I had RCA dual plates 2A3s installed, the 6N1P worked well adding a little detail. But when I installed the EML Meshplates I noticed the sound was a little harder. I switched to a Sylvania 6BQ7A and it smoothed things out just enough. Interestingly, the RCA 6BQ7A had sort of a scooped out sound in comparison to the Sylvania. I have played around with a few different tube set ups and, to my ears (T1 phones) I am happiest with EML Meshplate 2A3s, stock rectifier and Sylvania 6BQ7A.
 
I think I read a thread where Donald mentioned 2A3 tubes would have the most noticeable sonic effect followed by rectifier tube and lastly the driver. I think I hear the rectifier affecting the low end most noticeably and the driver tube affecting the high end most noticeably.

 

[DefQon]

I'd get an adaptor to roll something else if the circuit permits anything but the 6N1/P Russian tubes. They are durable, last long but lifeless and boring sounding.