[bobjew]

Hello all:

Plugged in the MPX3 Tuesdayl. I'm late for my appointment; but can't put Dead Can Dance (Into the Labyrinth) away. Amazingly beautiful, powerful and complex right out of the box. Too bright with Portishead though; but only 40hours on new tubes.

Time to go for now for the weekend,
Bob

Tom Hankins: Hope you don't mind me chiming in on your thread title!

 

[nanahachi]

congrats Bob!!!

I hope I'll be seeing your new toy soon! (sorry Sunday didnt work out) Remembering how impressed you were by the amp after the last nor. cal meet, I hope the MXP3 gives your setup the extra umph it needed.

 

[tom hankins]

bobjew, Glad to see it! What phones are you using? What tubes are you using? I just rolled in some Hytrons about an hour ago, but havn't gone up to hear them yet. Congrats on your amp. I'd like to get a chance to hear the MPX3.

 

[Rob N]

I thought the MPX3 was supposed to be a warm sounding amp?

 

[Hirsch]

Congrats on the MPX3. The sound of the amp will vary with tubes, and also with cables/source. Incidentally, brightness with Portishead may not be your system at all. I was listening to one of their albums last night, and the mix itself was very bright. A revealing system has some drawbacks...you'll hear flaws in production values on some CD's that a less revealing system would gloss over.

 

[HappymaN]

My dream is that one-day, Mikhail will come up with a budget integrated amplifier for speakers, say 10 watts per channel. That would rock, especially for K1000 users.

 

[HighwayStar]

Quote:

Originally posted by HappymaN My dream is that one-day, Mikhail will come up with a budget integrated amplifier for speakers, say 10 watts per channel. That would rock, especially for K1000 users.

I believe Mikhail has a tube based K1000 amp in the works...

 

[HappymaN]

Quote:

Originally posted by HighwayStar I believe Mikhail has a tube based K1000 amp in the works...

Really? What is the ETA?

 

[HighwayStar]

Quote:

Originally posted by HappymaN Really? What is the ETA?

I believe it (or at least a prototype) will be ready by November.

 

[tom hankins]

bobjew, Any updates?

 

[bobjew]

Hi All:

Just got back from 2 1/2 days in the mountains; could've stayed a full week, but wanted to get back to the city to hear my new amp! Sounds perverse,
but I guess the mountains, fishing, s'mores, fresh air, great company, scenery and naked dancing girls will still be there next time. Be that it may, 2 1/2 days more makes the hour count on the tubes about 100. Mikhail says they take about 100-200hrs to fully burn in. They are the rock stock Electro—Harmonix 6SN7's. The amp was left on continously throughout the weekend and hooked up to my Philips 963sa on "Repeat all". The current hookup is the Philips using the analog outs into a pair of HighWire interconnects into the MPX3. On the out-side is a pair of Senn 580's with the Cardas smurf cable.
The sound has definitely changed. The high end has blossomed (mountain talk) so that its not bright but quite extended airy and transparent, but not nearly as much as the MPX3 I heard at the meet. The system that one was connected to was much different. Think the source was a Sony 555 modded by Carlo through Di Marzio IC's; din'no the tube types and into Senn 580's w/ Cardas(mine).
I am hoping, although I'm quite satisfied now—that more air and transparency will develop throughout the next week. One thing that's really obvious now is SIBILANCE GALORE on voices. (Wasn't she famous on the Barbary Coast during the turn of the century?) If she goes away a little or becomes natural (allergic to silicone) with further break-in time, I'll be a happy camper! Otherwise, its system/tube rolling time and would love to have some suggestions from you experts along these lines. Maybe a set of tubes for bright recordings (Cowboy Junkies, Portishead, Bjork, Miles and most Redbook of the 80's) as well as sibilant ones.

Getting a little dingy now, time to stop
Regards,
Bob

BTW:
tom hankins: Is your SDS still awesome and is it doing any of the above as well?
nanahachi: we must get together!

 

[tom hankins]

I havn't heard any sibilance with any recordings so far. The tubes have been 1954 Hytrons and the Sylvania VT-231's.

 

[Hirsch]

I once heard sibilance using the MicroZOTL. The culprit turned out to be the interconnects. Switching to a good one (the Homegrown Silver Lace, at the time) ended that problem quickly.

 

[bobjew]

Thanks for the feedback, tom hankins and Hirsch. I just happened to to have one of the Homegrown braided IC's around as well as a Diy Cable "Superlative" and the Superlative did change the character of the sibilance so it seems more normal, but it still seems out of proportion to what it should be. I have also used the Highwire, Philips, Senns and Cardas combination with other amps and have not seen this problem before. I have emailed Mikhail about it last week and he said he can send other tubes as well. I wanted to make sure it wasn't due to un broken-in tubes. Wonder if it may have something to do with the solid state section of the amp? I must also admit to a certain over sensitivity to what I think is too much sibilance; it just makes me crazy.

 

[bobjew]

It's Thursday, and about 160 hours into burn-in and making some of the best sound I have ever heard. My impression is that as the tubes ripen more, three should have no doubt or fear they will settle to the exact sound I want. Burn-in makes big changes. Very revealing, the amp responds to every tweak including moving the three stock tubes around (tubes are not at all created equal) power cords, power conditioning, contact cleaners, and barometric pressure. Learning a lot. Details late next week or when all is stable.

Regards,
Bob