[artur9]

I'll never know either. But now that you mention it, maybe I could persuade @Paladin79 to make me one for like, maybe, what, half that? I was kinda expecting monks or virgins had to be involved (which would obviously be a show-stopper in both respects), but no such barriers seem to exist.

If century old wood can do that, think of what virgin monk dinosaur bones could do.

 

[Paladin79]

In a design that doesn't push tubes to the max, life can last many years. I used to think tubes were horrible because of a preamp that used 6DJ8 and the spectacularly explosive Dynaco mk 6 monoblocks. The preamp burned through tubes in a year. The amps were probably the worse design Dyna ever put out. There are many threads about fixing the design. Monthly they would blow a tube or the resistor. These two products converted me to solid state for years.

I kept reading about a tube amp that was easy on tubes. Bought one used and called Kevin Deal to buy a tube set. He quickly told me there was no warranty if I had a certain brand amp, because they ran the tubes to the max. My brand was easy on tubes. Those tubes still sound great 5 years later. Depends on how hard the designer pushes the tubes. Tubes can be quite reliable and are user replaceable, transistors are not.
Don't give up on tubes.
Thanks,
barondla

Well said. A person can also consider a tube amp and tube pre-amp such as the Freya +. I run a Freya with a couple different amps including a Cary SLA 70 Mk 2.

 

[ArmchairPhilosopher]

I was thinking about this too especially with regards to FV, should I decide OTL is attractive to this OTC type of a guy.

I try to supply extra tubes when I buy a tube amplifier to have spares for the next owner.

Is there a way to reserve tubes as a club, or through Schiit, so everyone who buys a FV isn't storing a half case of tubes? It seems like there'd be less waste working as a team.

theoretical upside: The supply depot maintains enough tubes for 1.5x the expected consumption, which is probably 1/10th what we'd buy left to our own devices? SAVINGS and lots of tubes for everyone.

I like that thought, but isn't this more or less what Schiit's already doing?
They bought a Schiit-load of tubes of all the tube types their products need, and then some, long before the tube shortage was a thing, and now sell them only to people who can verify that they are owners of Schiit tube amps for prices that are arguably very competitive. That's essentially a Schiit tube owners' club of sorts, it just happens to be run by Schiit…
And if Schiit can't re-stock on tubes their products need, I kinda doubt that an owners' club could. Maybe if the club was small enough, then the smaller numbers that club would buy might make it easier to track them down. But a small club would negate some of the benefit you're describing.

 

[artur9]

Disclaimer: I am a font nerd who frequently yells "kerning!" during movie titles.

Are you frequently asked to leave? Or is this why you have a home cinema?

One of my first job interviews was with that company in Cambridge, MA that designed/created fonts on Lisp Machines (Bitstream, maybe?). Would have been an awesomely cool job to have with virtually no future! I mean, what would a follow on job be for someone who used Lisp Machines to create fonts?

 

[TomSix]

In a design that doesn't push tubes to the max, life can last many years. I used to think tubes were horrible because of a preamp that used 6DJ8 and the spectacularly explosive Dynaco mk 6 monoblocks. The preamp burned through tubes in a year. The amps were probably the worse design Dyna ever put out. There are many threads about fixing the design. Monthly they would blow a tube or the resistor. These two products converted me to solid state for years.

I kept reading about a tube amp that was easy on tubes. Bought one used and called Kevin Deal to buy a tube set. He quickly told me there was no warranty if I had a certain brand amp, because they ran the tubes to the max. My brand was easy on tubes. Those tubes still sound great 5 years later. Depends on how hard the designer pushes the tubes. Tubes can be quite reliable and are user replaceable, transistors are not.
Don't give up on tubes.
Thanks,
barondla

The well-engineered high-quality Dynaco output transformers were arguably the best thing about the Dynaco tube amplifiers.

The driver stage designs and relatively high levels of inverse feedback utilized one might argue were a weak point. Such was the case with many (most) commercial push-pull tube amplifiers of the era.

The ST-35 and ST-70 amps sounded pretty good, they were a good bargain, and they were easy to modify. IMO the little ST-35 is actually the superior amplifier in the Dynaco line in terms of musicality. The bigger (bigger than the ST-70) Dynaco amps tended to push the output tubes quite hard in effort to squeeze as much rated output power as possible from them, and the driver stages were fairly marginal/maxed-out too. Tube reliability and sound quality suffered as result.

Tubes can and IMO *should* be operated within parameters yielding comfortably long life and good reliability.

***

In contrast: it’s quite evident that with Schiit’s power amplifier offerings, core sound quality and reliability are central imperatives —not just shooting for raw continuous output power ratings or superficially impressive textbook-perfect measurements.

The fact that Schiit‘s bigger power amplifiers are priced as modestly as they are given the obvious quality level of the units —to me, as a designer, this is particularly noteworthy, impressive.

 

[433521]

I like that thought, but isn't this more or less what Schiit's already doing?

It was a more, in theory, it would be nice, rather than, maybe this could happen. I applaud the effort to limit production in order to ensure an adequate supply of tubes for example, I'm sure they are underestimating how many they could sell ..

 

[sam6550a]

The well-engineered high-quality Dynaco output transformers were arguably the best thing about the Dynaco tube amplifiers.

The driver stage designs and relatively high levels of inverse feedback utilized one might argue were a weak point. Such was the case with many (most) commercial push-pull tube amplifiers of the era.

The ST-35 and ST-70 amps sounded pretty good, they were a good bargain, and they were easy to modify. IMO the little ST-35 is actually the superior amplifier in the Dynaco line in terms of musicality. The bigger (bigger than the ST-70) Dynaco amps tended to push the output tubes quite hard in effort to squeeze as much rated output power as possible from them, and the driver stages were fairly marginal/maxed-out too. Tube reliability and sound quality suffered as result.

Tubes can and IMO *should* be operated within parameters yielding comfortably long life and good reliability.

***

In contrast: it’s quite evident that with Schiit’s power amplifier offerings, core sound quality and reliability are central imperatives —not just shooting for raw continuous output power ratings or superficially impressive textbook-perfect measurements.

The fact that Schiit‘s bigger power amplifiers are priced as modestly as they are given the obvious quality level of the units —to me, as a designer, this is particularly noteworthy, impressive.

The operating points and quiescent plate currents for EL34 tubes in some popular amplifiers vary widely. The Ib for each tube is as follows:
Dynaco ST70 50ma
Marantz 7 50ma
Marantz 8 23ma
Triode Labs ST70 Upgrade 40ma
VTL [David Manly] 25-27ma
Manly published a book about his amplifiers in the 1980s [I have lost the book, but still have copies of some pages] where he states "Bias: Set conservatively at the factory to approx 25/27ma for EL34 and 30/35ma for 6550s. Current can be increased to double or triple those figures (moving nearer to Class A operation), but to no sonic benefit; and shortening tube life". [Bold text as written by Manley].
I run my EL34 at about 30 ma, and cannot discern much difference at higher current levels. Your results may vary.

 

[JohnBal]

Well said. A person can also consider a tube amp and tube pre-amp such as the Freya +. I run a Freya with a couple different amps including a Cary SLA 70 Mk 2.

Oh, that Cary is a gem. I bought one new back in the day and I regret letting it go. They are hard to find now. If I ever see one in good shape, I'm gonna jump on that one to get my clutches on again.

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

The operating points and quiescent plate currents for EL34 tubes in some popular amplifiers vary widely. The Ib for each tube is as follows:
Dynaco ST70 50ma
Marantz 7 50ma
Marantz 8 23ma
Triode Labs ST70 Upgrade 40ma
VTL [David Manly] 25-27ma
Manly published a book about his amplifiers in the 1980s [I have lost the book, but still have copies of some pages] where he states "Bias: Set conservatively at the factory to approx 25/27ma for EL34 and 30/35ma for 6550s. Current can be increased to double or triple those figures (moving nearer to Class A operation), but to no sonic benefit; and shortening tube life". [Bold text as written by Manley].
I run my EL34 at about 30 ma, and cannot discern much difference at higher current levels. Your results may vary.

That seems fairly typical. My Synthesis Audio integrated amp biases its 5881/6L6WGC output tubes at 35 mA. This amp is class AB and outputs about 35 Watts into 8 ohms.

 

[Paladin79]

Oh, that Cary is a gem. I bought one new back in the day and I regret letting it go. They are hard to find now. If I ever see one in good shape, I'm gonna jump on that one to get my clutches on again.

I got mine from a gentleman who purchased it in Chicago from Dennis Had himself. @bcowen knows the amps pretty well and was a huge help with proper tubes and cap replacement. I only had to drive to Cincinnati to pick it up.

 

[tincanear]

A simple and simply dumb, question if I may?

If I get a Magnius and use the SE inputs does this negate the 4 pin XLR output as far as being genuinely balanced? If so, then I have no need of the Modius if I can NOT tell any difference when my son brings the M-Twiins over for me to test out all XLR nut-to-butt hooked up and as such just be happy as a toad can be with the looks alone and buy only the Magnius if I can not hear a true difference on that rig.

Or is SE in to 4 pin XLR out on the Magnius going to be balanced too? Call if fate... Call it luck...Call it karma...Call it shallow...

...Yup. Shallow Toad needs to know. 'n' schiit.

ORT

Magnius has a differential and balanced gain stage, in other words with either SE (RCA) or Balanced (XLR) input, the output can be used Balanced (4-pin XLR for headphones)

best connection between Modius and Magnius would be the XLR balanced, but the SE (RCA) connection will work as well.

 

[lemp]

Are you frequently asked to leave? Or is this why you have a home cinema?

One of my first job interviews was with that company in Cambridge, MA that designed/created fonts on Lisp Machines (Bitstream, maybe?). Would have been an awesomely cool job to have with virtually no future! I mean, what would a follow on job be for someone who used Lisp Machines to create fonts?

Hardware design for NeXT?

 

[ImagesbyMurray]

@Jason Stoddard - you may want to check out this new Formlabs printer:

 

[Ripper2860]

We'll only be making 250 of them anyway

@Jason Stoddard -- Any chance you will autograph the 250 limited edition Folkvangr amps?

 

[macdonjh]

Amps, tubes, DACs, even pads -- all these things have a considerably larger impact on sound than an SE vs. balanced headphone cable will ever have, so I wouldn't expect too much of a difference, if any at all. The difference you'll hear will almost entirely stem from the fact that you'll be listening to a different amp and DAC than the ones you are used to. But as long as you're listening to the same amp and DAC, and all you change is just the headphone cable, I doubt that things would audibly change a whole lot for you.

That said, with certain tracks* and ultra-revealing gear, I sometimes feel that separation is a tad better with balanced headphone cables. Which would make sense, because pretty much all that SE vs. balanced does in headphone cables is to keep the two channels' grounds separate from one another, so there should be less (or rather – and ideally – no) cross-talk.

But then again, it's entirely possible that what I'm hearing is just psychological.

* especially those where both channels were recorded and mixed completely and perfectly separate, as it's often the case in electronica as well as some super old recordings

[As an aside: Don't get "balanced" headphone cables confused with "balanced" interconnects. They may share some terminology, but are two entirely different concepts. If anything, balanced headphone cables work essentially like SE interconnects: one "hot" wire and one ground per channel. Balanced interconnects have two hot wires and one ground per channel, and each hot wire carries the same signal but with opposite polarity. (Well, at least in the case of differential signaling. It's complicated.) Balanced (differential) interconnects can make an audible difference -- especially over longer distances and/or if you have to route them past something that causes a bit of interference, like badly shielded cables or antennas, and data or power lines -- because you can use the two opposing signals to "filter" out any induced interference from your audio signal for as long as both opposing signals share the same induced interference. This is not the case for balanced headphone cables, they're strictly just two SE connections in one wire, one per channel.]

I heard a positive difference adding a balanced cable to my HE-500. But really, that's the only head phone I've owned which audibly benefited.

I made a 3-wire braid out of Kimber TCSS as a headphone cable for my AKG 702’s and easily heard more detail than the stock cable.

The only downside is from the 702’s themselves. They sound good but they’re too dammed heavy! After an hour of listening my scalp gets irritated.

Maybe you need some more TCSS to make a new head band...

A Dynaco 416. Nice. Was James Bongiorno involved with the design of that amp too?

Dan Buongiorno... Sounds great in red states.

That is not easy to answer lol, the silver probably has more to do with maintaining a very good solder joint when the wire is in circuit, I use it in my amp building. I have seen the wire inside of tube pins that will not take solder until they are cleaned with rosin flux, the solder can be all around the wires yet a good connection is not made. Silver tends to tarnish, gold less so but silver is a better conductor. As best I know too, the silver on the outside of wire makes little difference till you reach 100k or so, then skin effect causes the signal to flow on the outside of the wire. That is why I believe, and my testing would verify, you can hear more difference in solid silver than solid copper.

I like silver plated copper for one of my IEMs better than 100% copper. Feel free to use that single datum to guide your entire audio life.

No. Different pinout.

A three-word post with your writing chops? Color me disappointed.

NOW you're talking like a true audiophile!

Imagine how audiophile you'd feel adding fuses to your tubes.