[Bowmoreman]

I did a lot of work with TOPS-10 and TOPS-20 from 1975 to 1984 at all levels accessible to user processes, from messing around with system calls for page management to systems programming in MACRO-10 and Bliss to very high level AI languages. Some of my code can still be found on the internet if you know where to look. A few years ago, for Christmas, my wonderful, geeky daughter gave me as a mystery gift a Raspberry Pi preloaded with a PDP-10 emulator, TOPS-10, and the software I had worked on. Just plug in a keyboard, mouse, and HDMI monitor when you get home... She had spent months on really niche bboards getting it all together, including tape images somehow still around on the net for the work I had done in the late 70s and early 80s. It ran, and I was transported to the magic world if 36 bits.

Haha… we had a saying on the OS teams: “Bliss is ignorance. Ignorance is Bliss”.

My initials are in the source of TOPS-20. I had found and fixed a “day 0” bug in Dan Murphy’s OG code. The only way we could fix it was to build in a very slight “pause” and “continue” (we were out of interrupt levels. Had to test it over and over to get the delay just right… too little and bad things, too long and slowed the entire system and all processing. He allowed me to name it “DSWWAG” (Debug Switch Wait Wait And Go)… My initials are DSW and first 3 of last name are WAG. I presume they’re still there, LO

Dan Murphy is famous in the right computing circles. I loved being on his team for those 4 years.

 

[Paladin79]

That made me start pulling up tones to see where my hearing drops off. Surprised that I could still hear 15khz, though 16 kHz was tough for me to discern.

I would be hard pressed to hear 16k as well. That is one of the reasons my group uses quite a few 18-22 year olds with a music background when we compare gear. We are also fortunate to get many future audio engineers. Hopefully my splitter cable length worked out for you.

Today I will do some fun listening to music rather than listening for differences. One day with six tubes is not so bad, 3-4 days in a row gets grueling.

 

[Bowmoreman]

Clouds for us. Sad face. That said, we were blessed with totally clear skies in northern NH in early April for the eclipse so there’s that.

 

[sam6550a]

I manage my line voltage on both of my main systems to stay at a constant 120v. Changing out tubes in my PrimaLuna could easily be $2500 so every bit helps.

Are you saying that bcowen did not offer his stash of unwanted GE beam power pentodes to you for the PrimaLuna?

 

[Paladin79]

Are you saying that bcowen did not offer his stash of unwanted GE beam power pentodes to you for the PrimaLuna?

Bill has been extremely generous and I believe he sent some GE rectifier tubes for my Cary lol. You sent me better rectifier tubes as I recall. I run an octet of EI KT-90's in the PrimaLuna. 1952 Lansdale 12AU7's as well. There are reasons I will help some of you with most any request, you are one of those people of course.

 

[Ripper2860]

A great start to another Schiity weekend.

(This little tike sounds SOFA KING good!!!)

** If this isn't the greatest value piece of Schiit made to date, I don't know what is. Given that all of Schiit's line-up is uber VALUE, that's saying a lot. IMHO, of course.

 

[sam6550a]

Bill has been extremely generous and I believe he sent some GE rectifier tubes for my Cary lol. You sent me better rectifier tubes as I recall. I run an octet of EI KT-90's in the PrimaLuna. 1952 Lansdale 12AU7's as well. There are reasons I will help some of you with most any request, you are one of those people of course.

I wonder how the PrimaLuna would sound with 2 Melz 1578 of the 1950s vintage in the 2 voltage amp 12AU7 slots [with adapters, of course]?

 

[Paladin79]

I wonder how the PrimaLuna would sound with 2 Melz 1578 of the 1950s vintage in the 2 voltage amp 12AU7 slots [with adapters, of course]?

Somewhere I have at least one of those adapters, I may have to give it a try one day. I would have to remove the protective cage and leave it off but that is no biggy. Soon I will be able to try Melz in the Vali 3 so that is a start.

 

[Ripper2860]

Vali 3 update...

If there's any question about how effective Vali 3 is as a preamp into a desktop speaker rig, let there be no doubt. It sounds fabulous!!

Roon -> Brian Bromberg -> BF2/64 -> Vali 3 / WE396A -> GHorn -> TS mini radial speakers and a small active sub -> my ears

Has me glued to my desk!

 

[bcowen]

I'm just wondering how many backup tubes I should get. I know, you're the wrong person to ask (just kidding!), but I guess I should get 3 or 4.

There's no such thing as too many backups, of course. Seriously though having 3 or 4 backups of an inexpensive tube is never a bad thing especially if it's a NOS tube. They will never get cheaper, only more expensive, so grabbing a decent supply now doesn't seem to be terribly illogical.

 

[bcowen]

Of course! I’ve got an incredibly valuable load in the car!



5 days. Taking it slow.

Turlock -> Bakersfield
Bakersfield -> Flagstaff
Flagstaff -> Roswell
Roswell -> Kerrville
Kerrville -> Boerne

But I was wishing you a safe drive, not a slow one.

 

[AstronomerXI]

My results are in on the standard tubes I tested for the Vali 3. All tests were blind and I found out which tube was which after the sixth tube was evaluated. Max points 100.

Order of finish by score.

WE 396A. 96
GE 5 star 5670. 93
GE JAN 5670W. 92
GE Yellow Top. 87
CBS 2C51. 83
Russian 6N3P. 80

The bottom three tubes scored lower in such categories dynamic range, timbre, micro details etc.

Interesting, and thanks for this. I have 4 of the GE 5 star 5670's and 5670 adapters for my Freya N. I should give them a try in there sometime soon.

 

[Paladin79]

Interesting, and thanks for this. I have 4 of the GE 5 star 5670's and 5670 adapters for my Freya N. I should give them a try in there sometime soon.

Glad to help out. I need to start prepping my fire pit area. High of 70F today with 62F by 9PM. Time for fine food, fine wine, and some smooth music under the stars. Neighbors have given me an abundance of firewood so I am set.

 

[Ripper2860]

Glad to help out. I need to start prepping my fire pit area. High of 70F today with 62F by 9PM. Time for fine food, fine wine, and some smooth music under the stars aurora. Neighbors have given me an abundance of firewood so I am set.

FTFY. Stars are so passe this weekend.

 

[Adam Balm]

The silent killer of modern tube gear is filament voltage. Manufacturers specify numbers like 6.3V +/- 5% for filament voltage, but, due to live voltage norms climbing to over 120V [my line voltage is a constant 123.5V], the filament voltage winds up being 7 V or more. This will shorten the life of the tube because the heater runs hotter, so the thermionic emission is higher, etc., and the tube life is severely reduced. Many amps actually have resistors in the filament leads to certain tubes to drop the voltage and gain lower noise and longer life [see Citation II input stage]. That is why large transmitters have adjustable filament voltage to assure that that expensive power tube is operating at the proper point.

Finally...This.