[htsource]

I recently got an integrated tube amp from Grant Fidelity which has a headphone out. Tried my Senn 650 with it, there's so much more bass and it sounds great.

The amp sounds nice with my Totem Mani-2 speakers too. My speakers are told to be very hard to drive - 85db, but the amp seems to be fine and it's only rated at 10W! Any chance the amp has some kind of built-in tone control that it turns up the bass already

Thanks for your inputs.

 

[Uncle Erik]

This depends on several things. First, your previous amp might not have had enough power to fully drive the HD-650. Fully driven, it develops plenty of bass. Second, some tube amps (I'm not familiar with yours) are a little thick and bloomy in the low end - they're not always as tight and deep as solid state. You could be hearing that. Also, some gear tips towards emphasis of the low end.

 

[htsource]

Hi Erik,

Thanks for your reply, I have a CIAudio amp for my 650's. It's much improved over my old Rega Ear headphone amp. The Ear sounded too bright as compared to the CIAudio.

I found the bass so far is very tight, I had a complain about the midrange being a bit muddy, I bought a set of Mullard tubes, and so far so good. I'm new to tubes and I'm in love with it

Thanks.

 

[panda]

mani-2 are pretty nice speakers, probably has the most bass out of any monitor i've heard (though that's not my preference). not all tube amps are bass heavy, you might just have some bloated sounding tubes in your amp, and/or that the headphone output is derived directly from the speaker output stage therefore feeding your senns a ton of power. the senns will throw globs of beats at you if fed a lot of juice so it doesn't surprise me.

i'm not a fan of mullard tubes at all they sound sloppy, try telefunken or amperex.

 

[htsource]

I believe the headphone stage is fed by the 300B power tubes.

I'm trying to get some Telefunken tubes to compare.

 

[OutdoorXplorer]

I find Telefunken is more boomy than Amperex Bugleboy

 

[Alpha 1 Omega]

got to love that tube sound...

 

[cotdt]

the higher output impedance (lower dampening factor) of tube amps gives a boost to the bass and treble automagically, due to the headphone drivers' rising impedances in those areas.

 

[Alpha 1 Omega]

"automagically" good one LOL

 

[tourmaline]

Quote:

Originally Posted by htsource /img/forum/go_quote.gif I recently got an integrated tube amp from Grant Fidelity which has a headphone out. Tried my Senn 650 with it, there's so much more bass and it sounds great. The amp sounds nice with my Totem Mani-2 speakers too. My speakers are told to be very hard to drive - 85db, but the amp seems to be fine and it's only rated at 10W! Any chance the amp has some kind of built-in tone control that it turns up the bass already Thanks for your inputs.

Don't blame it always on the tube! I have had many tubes and the best are just as good as any transistor.

Most tube amps use coupler caps, near the tubes, switch these out for a better cap and you'll might be surprised of how much a difference it makes.

There are not really that much "neutral" tubes around, i know a few that ar as clean as SS.

 

[scaz]

Great read thanks for the info! <-- newbie

 

[Grant Fidelity]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tourmaline /img/forum/go_quote.gif Most tube amps use coupler caps, near the tubes, switch these out for a better cap and you'll might be surprised of how much a difference it makes.

Thanks for bringing the cap roll up, here's a quote from anther A-534B owner:
o
"The A 534 in stock form...is a..."Best Buy"

Roll the coupling caps...and...it's... a "Best in Show"!

I rolled in a pair of Euro Oil .47uf...and a pair of .10uf...

This "puppy" knocked...off...my highly modded Canary's...which

featured $4,000...in genuine..."Western Electric Glass"...

had V-caps...installed...factory...(I now prefer the Euro's).

The only US dealer...for Euro's is Reference Audio Mods...$95 each... "

Grant Fidelity Audio Forum :: View topic - A 534 CAPACITOR ROLLING

Merry Xmas,
Ian

 

[Happy Camper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alpha 1 Omega /img/forum/go_quote.gif "automagically" good one LOL

Should this read "audimagically"?

I agree with the coupling cap upgrade. Good investment.

 

[jamato8]

Design and parts. Smart implementation with a well designed power supply will do what needs to be done musically. It isn't hard but corners are cut or someone thinks they have a better idea without really testing it and comparing. Simple high quality with correct implementation will do it.