I was interested in the experiences in this thread, because of my recent venture into the world of SETs - with an ASL MG Head MKIII for my headphones. Marvellous, shimmering, living, resonant air! I'm afraid it may have spoiled quite decent SS for me in my main system. Any experienced recommendations for the best ASL tubes for high quality, not-particularly-efficient mini-monitors in a small room?
Antique Sound Lab 805 DT SETs--WOW
This isn't a review but more an attempt to reduce my initial impressions to writing. I'm anything but a golden-eared audiofile; I'm more a tin-eared audiofool as I've said many times. One reason for that is my aural memory seems to be about 3 seconds long. Others change a component and listen to a system they haven't heard for a day and say 'gee, listen to that', or 'doesn't THAT sound lots better!'. I stand there and think something like 'yea it sounds OK, but how does he REMEMBER how it USED to sound?'. However, I seem to be good at longer-term evaluations done over days, weeks, etc.
Thursday a pair of new ASL Explorer 805 DT poweramps arrived. (They're 50-Watt Single-Ended Triodes that use the big 805 transmitting tube for output, a 12AX7 frontend, and a 6L6/KT66/EL34 driver. [Mine were supplied with EH 12AX7s and Chinese 6L6s. I'm using a pair of National Union/Amperex 805s I bought USED.] The amps retail for $2995/pr. I bought mine from the very helpful Chris Kipp of The Audio Gallery in Sacramento.) I've been using a pair of very-nice-sounding New Generation 100-Watt (in UL) mono amps in triode, producing about 40 Watts each. (See my System for more info.) The 805DTs went in Thursday, I listened for a couple hours, rebalanced* the multichannel system Friday nite and listened a bit that evening too. Today I played a DVD-A, Korngold's music from 'Robin Hood', on Naxos. I love this music and this recording and have heard it many times.
WOW is the best word I can come up with to describe the wonderful sound I hear today. The sound is simply more natural and PLEASANT sounding...it sounds more like real music sounds to me, and I hear a LOT of it in concert halls all over the West. Euphonic colorations? Maybe; I don't care...the MUSIC sounds GREAT and makes my investment worth every penny. NOTHING else changed in the system; only the poweramps. Just think...they'll get better as everything breaks in--I can hardly wait.
Back later--there's MUSIC to listen to. ........ :-)
* This required only a 1dB increase in the front-L/R channels. NOTHING else was changed.
.
Thursday a pair of new ASL Explorer 805 DT poweramps arrived. (They're 50-Watt Single-Ended Triodes that use the big 805 transmitting tube for output, a 12AX7 frontend, and a 6L6/KT66/EL34 driver. [Mine were supplied with EH 12AX7s and Chinese 6L6s. I'm using a pair of National Union/Amperex 805s I bought USED.] The amps retail for $2995/pr. I bought mine from the very helpful Chris Kipp of The Audio Gallery in Sacramento.) I've been using a pair of very-nice-sounding New Generation 100-Watt (in UL) mono amps in triode, producing about 40 Watts each. (See my System for more info.) The 805DTs went in Thursday, I listened for a couple hours, rebalanced* the multichannel system Friday nite and listened a bit that evening too. Today I played a DVD-A, Korngold's music from 'Robin Hood', on Naxos. I love this music and this recording and have heard it many times.
WOW is the best word I can come up with to describe the wonderful sound I hear today. The sound is simply more natural and PLEASANT sounding...it sounds more like real music sounds to me, and I hear a LOT of it in concert halls all over the West. Euphonic colorations? Maybe; I don't care...the MUSIC sounds GREAT and makes my investment worth every penny. NOTHING else changed in the system; only the poweramps. Just think...they'll get better as everything breaks in--I can hardly wait.
Back later--there's MUSIC to listen to. ........ :-)
* This required only a 1dB increase in the front-L/R channels. NOTHING else was changed.
.