Al,
Yes, that nails it. The De Capo's will dig down to around 42 Hz according to their spec sheet. While that's not the deepest of the deep, with my old Manley's at 20 watts, it would produce a good, clean sense of the very deep bass notes in some of the CD's that have been causing me trouble.
I have now proven through experimentation that the Kit 1 can produce those frequencies cleanly as well, but ONLY if I turn the volume down to considerably lower levels than what I'd normally set to play these tunes. So yes, it's a matter of the amp running out of steam with the De Capo's. This amp really needs and deserves a much more efficient pair of speakers in order to strut its stuff.
I've tentatively decided that if I go to a new set of speakers, the first ones I'll try are something in the Tekton lineup - Eric recommended the Lore or Lore 2.0 for my amp and room size. I've been reading through the Zu Omen vs. Tekton Lore thread on Audiogon, and the happiness expressed there by Tekton owners is very impressive. And although I was concerned about whether the Tekton Lore would be revealing enough to show the strengths of the Kit 1, everyone seems to feel that the sound is very musical, transparent and refined.
A'gon member sebrof lives not too far from me and I'm going to get together with him in the next few days to hook my Kit 1 up to one of his high efficiency speakers to see how the sound comes together. I'll report back to all of you!
May I say in the meantime that I'm working on another blog post that'll hopefully be up tomorrow. I am happy to report that the amp continues to burn in and sound increasingly stunning. I was listening to a James Taylor live CD today called One Man Band and the sense of being in the hall was so real it was... well... unreal. I am not given to hyperbole but shoot, this thing is fabulous. :-) If you have any kit building ambitions at all, I highly encourage you to give this a try. As long as you take your time, you can build this thing. |
Mikirob,
Spoke with Eric today and got some more details on the Lores. Eric is great to talk to. One thing I appreciate is that when I first mentioned to him that I was thinking of replacing my De Capo's, his immediate reaction was, "Very nice speaker." That he didn't take the opportunity to bash someone else's product (which I've seen/heard others do under similar circumstances) was a plus for me. We spoke about the Lore vs. Lore 2.0 and also about whether I'd get grills and/or a cap upgrade. If I do say goodbye to the De Capo's that's the direction I'll move in.
Sebrof does have his big, home-brew horns that he runs with a little 2A3 SET (also home brew, I think). But he still has his Tekton Katz Meow's and that's what I'll be trying with the Kit 1. Let's see what the amp sounds like driving a really easy load! I will report back.
New Listening Impressions blog post almost ready, folks, so stay tuned. |
Mdemaio,
Yes, I remember and I also remember hanging out on the commonsenseaudio web site and talking to David Dicks, the owner. You can build a speaker around one of his drivers for very little money. I'd do that as a fun project once I have speakers I'm really happy with and can afford to just have fun. But at this point I'd like more of a sure thing. ;-) |
Okay, latest blog post is up. |
Cal3713,
Yes, no "my woofer's bigger than your woofer" allowed here! :-D
Waiting to hear back from the tech today... |
Charles,
The one I think you're referring to is the S-Lore, which uses more conventional "hi-fi" drivers (from Seas, I think, hence the "S") rather than that Eminence pro-audio wide-ranger and the Audax super tweeter. My gut would be to go for maximum efficiency and a few extra Hz of low end, therefore the Lore.
It's remarkable that you can scour the Internet for Tekton reviews and you'd have a very difficult time finding anyone who has bad things to say. The only gripes I could find via Google were
1) A few folks who suffered production delays and long wait times a few years ago when the company was smaller and,
2) A bunch of guys on the Parts Express speaker DIY forum who were snickering over pictures of a disassembled Lore, griping about insufficient cabinet bracing and damping, as in, "I could build a better speaker for less money." But even among that tough crowd, several people who had actually HEARD the Tektons admitted that they were amazing for the price.
I am currently using a cannibalized computer power cord with the Kit 1 and yes, someone else said a better cord would be an improvement, so I'll look into one of the high-value Pangea cords from Audio Advisor. Better 300B's will have to wait awhile from a financial standpoint, but I know that Grant Fidelity, for example, offers discounts to ANK customers on the higher end Chinese tubes, so I might look into that. I've also heard that there are the "super" 300B's by KR and Emission Labs that put out some extra power somehow, but I'm not sure if they're compatible with my amp. Anyway, that's all for down the road.
This speaker thing is ultimately going to be a tough call. Much of what I like sounds so great on my De Capo's with the Kit 1, save for the limitations I've already noted. I am awfully curious, though, how the Kit 1 would perform with a very efficient speaker that gave it lots of breathing room.
Charles, now I "get" the SET thing... it's amazing. There's nothing subtle about the improvement in my system and the pleasure this amp is providing.
Mapman,
Yes, agreed. |
Hello, Friends and Neighbors,
First of all, Sebrof, thanks a lot for the ringing character endorsement! You, too, are a great guy. And it was fun to play a little hooky from work.
So, yes, Sebrof and I got together earlier today. I played the troublesome tracks on his Tekton Katz Meow's through my amp and the amp clipped prominently. Sebrof himself noticed it within a few notes  it was not at all subtle. The other thing I noticed, in retrospect, was that the Kit 1 did not play as loudly on his much more sensitive speakers as I thought it would. (This later led me to wonder whether the amp is even putting out its rated wattage at all.)
We then hooked his 2A3 amplifier at about 3 W per channel back into the system and the same tracks played with no trouble at all on the Katz Meow.
So, we have now confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is something wrong with my amp. Either I mis-wired something or I have a part that is bad or out of spec.
I would say this is good news and bad news.
The good news is that I didn't rush out and buy a new set of speakers for the wrong reason. Imagine my having sold my De Capo's, bought a set of Tekton's, and then finding out that I still had the same problem!
Brian and I have already been in touch back and forth via email. He has given me several things to check. If all of those seem okay, then I am going to take the amp to a local shop that said they would be glad to work on it if they had full schematics and a wiring manual. Brian has sent me those already in case we can't figure this out over the weekend.
So, again, thanks to Sebrof for his time and generosity and thanks to all of you for your interest. I do have to say that if the amp sounds this great with cheap tubes and a build problem, imagine how great it will sound when it's actually working properly! ;-)
I will keep you posted. |
|
Hey, Folks, Well, I checked a few of the possible culprits that Brian suggested (for example, did I have the correct model output transformers?) and things looked okay. So I decided, with Brian's encouragement, to bring the amp to a local tech for troubleshooting. Mike, my go-to guy in the past at Austin Stereo Service, didn't want to work on the kit, or on kits in general these days (although he once checked over my Bottlehead Seduction photo stage). He's busy right now with lots of '70's and '80's transistor gear, turntables and so forth. He suggested I go to Telstar Services. I called them and they said that as long as they had schematics and build instructions they'd be happy to troubleshoot the amp. So I dropped it off. Typical deal: you pay a bench test/diagnostic fee which they apply to the repair if you have them do it. I have to admit to feeling like a bit of a loser taking the amp to a tech after all the work I've put into it. But at this point the prospect of sorting through all the possible problems is just too daunting, plus I figure they've got the scopes and proper testing equipment to make shorter work of it. I printed out the schematics and wiring diagrams. So, there you go. I miss my music! It's silly but I'm really bummed out by not having a working system, which is probably an indicator of just how musically engaging things have been with this amp. I've come to think of it as a "beauty machine." Also, as someone said earlier in the thread, when you build a kit like this, you really get attached to it. More than a purchase or possession it's kind of "your baby." Anyway, I think I'm in for some real magic when the amp's completely up to spec. Hope they sort this out quickly! By the way, Brian encouraged me to give the techs his phone numbers in case they had questions. Great guy! |
Almarg,
Can you be more specific where in the photo you are looking? Is this on the hard wired TAG strip or elsewhere?
Thanks!! |
Jetrexpro:
Yes, next kit, for sure, I'll test each part! |
Dan,
I'd never heard of those Class D kits. Holy cow, they're cheap! You could build one on a lark just to compare it, and, as you said, have a backup. And with that kind of wattage they'll drive anything. Never loved my Bel Canto Class D amp all that much but for $300 how bad can one of these be? |
Tubegroover,
It's definitely an issue with the amp, but the question is what. Brian and the tech are on it.
Some signs point right now to a bad tube but we'll see. Technician said the driver stage looked good but the output stage wasn't delivering full power, which would certainly account for the clipping.
He also said it was a very neat build! :-D
Nice to think it's not something I screwed up, but we'll see. |
Jwm,
That is certainly what I am expecting/hoping! |
Just got an email from Brian with a tracking number. He is sending the technician replacement tubes for everything but the 300 B's. He's also sending along a couple of 300 B bypass capacitors in case those are bad, along with, I think, a replacement power supply PCB just in case. He's also got detailed instructions for the technician about step-by-step testing instructions to take. I'm very impressed by Brian's email. He not only sells these kits, but he clearly has a deep understanding of how they work.
Anyway, I should have some more news tomorrow and I will update all of you.
Yes, lots of drama, huh? I'm going to try to sell the rights to Netflix For a miniseries, as long as they get someone much better looking to play the part of me. ;-) |
Jwm,
Thanks. As I said earlier, Brian has a deep understanding of these kits and I'm hoping that if we work methodically through all the possible issues we stand a good chance of sorting this out. If not, we'll get Pete on the case. |
Well, Friends, no joy just yet.
The technician, with guidance from Brian, was unable to troubleshoot the problem, even with the complement of new tubes.
So, Brian and I will Skype early next week to see if we can troubleshoot the issue in that way in real time.
If not, Brian's going to get the amp shipped to Digital Pete, the fellow in Florida who does assembly of certain ANK products for those who (like Roxy54) want to buy a kit preassembled at extra cost. (Roxy has the 10th Anniversary Edition of the Kit 1 with the AN Copper Foil caps and the C-Core trannies.)
Pete's a real artist. Some of his assembly work is featured on the ANK website and it's gorgeous. And if by some bizarre chance I got something like a bad transformer (which, given that they're all pretested before shipping, shouldn't be the case) he'll know and be able to swap it right there.
My hope, of course, is that Brian and I can figure this out on our own.
This seems to be one of those one-in-a-million things. Brian told me that he sold two Kit 1's not long after mine and they turned out perfectly. Go figure!
I'll keep y'all posted! |
Al,
Thanks for all that meticulous attention and for the kind, positive comments about my build. I hand't worked with a soldering iron in a few years but once I got the cobwebs out I LOVED the building experience and have really caught the DIY bug.
Brian overnighted some tubes and new caps for the Power Supply PCB. The technician has them now and will be working on the amp tomorrow morning. I should know something tomorrow afternoon at the latest. I'm hoping it's something simple.
Yes, you are correct (and very observant, by the way) about the output transformers. The color of the wiring has changed since earlier versions of the kit and I had to ask Brian what the correct colors were. He told me that green is 0 (ground), blue is 4 ohm and yellow is 8 ohm. (I think that the earlier versions had a purple wire for the 8 ohm tap.) I deliberately didn't cut the unused, 4 ohm leads but bundled and shrink-tubed them in case I ever want to run a 4 ohm speaker.
The most challenging aspect of the build was that I was working with the previous version of the Assembly Manual, supplemented by a "beta" version of the latest Manual edition. Most of the design changes in the 2014 version of the Kit 1 have not been radical, although, as you noted, the Filament PCB has changed quite a bit (the whole heat sink configuration is quite different) and things like the lead colors on the OPT's have changed, too. So I corresponded with Brian whenever I had questions and, when I was uncertain at all, I tried to be extra careful not to solder anything until I was totally sure I had it right (although I'd have done that, anyway, given how slowly I tend to work).
By the way, a very pretty, updated manual is almost completed. I offered to send suggestions for the new edition to Brian and he accepted. I told him he could use photos from the blog if any of them are useful. So the bottom line is that future builders of this amp will have VERY nice, clear instructions to follow!
I don't think I mentioned this earlier, but the tech said that the amp wasn't putting out anything close to 8 watts, so there's something very funky going on with the power section. Again, I'm hoping it's simple! |
Saki,
Yes, when I think of it, I've started some doozy threads. The one about Ohm Walsh Micro Talls has run to over 2000 posts, last I checked. :-)
Of course, when I start thinking about all the productive work I could've accomplished when I was spending precious time posting to audiophile geek message boards, I'm not quite as happy with myself. ;-) |
Al,
There's a "+" sign on the PCB for the electrolytic cap positions and also the the band on the cap itself that shows you which lead is "-" so it's pretty hard to screw that part up. DoesnÂt mean I couldn't have done so, but I think those are probably okay. Thanks for the detective work, though! |
Tomorrow is Skype day. Wish us luck! :-) |
Tomorrow is Skype day. Wish us luck! :-) |
Hi, folks,
Well, I got a personal message from one of you asking what's going on, so here's the latest.
Brian and I spent a total of about an hour and a half on Skype yesterday, spread over a couple of sessions. We went through all the static AC and DC voltages as well as some resistance measurements and everything that we checked looks good, except for one value (can't remember which one) that seems to drop precipitously after being measured. I don't remember exactly what we concluded about that one  sometimes it's just not easy to get a good reading on a solder joint.
We also tried putting a speaker load on one channel to check some AC voltages as the volume potentiometer is moved with a CD playing.
I have a few more measurements to do. Brian sent me a file of a sine wave (pure tone) that I have burned to a CD so I can play it while taking some measurements and adjusting the volume control.
Brian explained to me, again, that everything in the driver stage looks good. But when the technician here in Austin to whom I had sent the amplifier measured the output voltage with his scope, everything looked "squashed." "Like an elephant was sitting on the waveform," Brian said. So something weird is going on with the power stage not putting out full power.
If we cannot sort this out ourselves in another day or two, Brian is going to pay to have the amp shipped to Digital Pete, his assembly guy in Florida. Pete has built and done troubleshooting a bunch of these kits (and others) and has all the parts on hand. If, for example, I have a bad transformer or a bad 300B tube, he will be able to swap it then and there.
As much as I am eager to get back to listening to music again, I am again grateful to Sebrof for giving me the opportunity to use his speakers and determine that a speaker mismatch was not the issue. I am also very, very grateful to Brian, whose customer service is above and beyond amazing. He clearly gets a kick out of working on these things and keeping his customers happy.
And in the category of making lemonade out of lemons, so to speak, I am learning even more about electronics and how this amplifier works through this process. I'll be kind of disappointed if Brian and I can't figure it out long-distance, but as I said, I am also eager to get back to hearing that beautiful music. Brian said that Pete will turn it around really quickly if we do end up sending it to him.
When I run the additional tests, I'll let you know what I find. And I am hoping to see all of this resolved within the next week or so. |
Oh, I also want to mention, for those of you who are interested, that Brian said that he is super curious to figure out what's going on because this is not typical of a build problem. Usually, he told me, either the amp is working fine or there's something really pronounced that goes wrong, like one very noisy channel or the amp frying due to a major wiring error or reversed electrolytic capacitor. But having an amp that "almost" or "sort of" works is just plain weird. I'm sure we're going to get to the bottom of it, though. |
Seikosha and Mapman,
Everybody agrees that this amp isn't working properly. The tech actually sent Brian video of his scope readings and they confirmed a problem. I played some bass heavy music for Brian and even over Skype he could hear the distortion when the volume went up. I think the experiment at Sebrof's confirmed that this isn't a speaker mismatch problem - we heard the same effects there. We're just not yet sure what's causing the amp to misbehave in this way and not put out its rated power. But I'm confident we'll figure it out one way or another. |
Smctigue1:
You know, that'll be an interesting thing to see and I'll let everybody know what I find.
Brian thinks we may be zeroing in on the problem, by the way. It's just that I've been to jammed up at work the past few days to do much testing! :-( |
We think we are zeroing in on the problem! More to come! |
Jbrrp1,
Yeah my Manley EL-84 push pulls in triode mode (20 watts) drove the De Capo's plenty loud with no trouble. |
So,
After three separate Skype sessions with Brian leading me through test procedures as well as some voltage meter checks on my own, putting a sine wave through the amp and taking a variety of measurements on the 300 B tubes, here's what we know:
We have verified that one suspect  that the volume pot might have been wired incorrectly (it's actually a somewhat complicated procedure involving six separate connections)  is fine. The volume pot wiring is good.
Most of the AC and DC voltages look perfect, even better than usual.
But there is some odd behavior with a few of the AC voltages vis-Ã -vis how things react when the volume pot is raised or lowered.
We also discovered that I have four ceramic capacitors soldered in the wrong position on the driver board, although these are not in the signal path and would not be causing the symptoms we've been hearing. (Brian is going to send me a set of replacement capacitors.)
At this point, Brian is pretty convinced that there is a problem with the driver board passing along a clipped or distorted signal. So we're going to do another Skype session and he will lead me through a step-by-step series of voltage checks on each stage of the driver board.
We should be getting there soon! |
Grannyring,
Yes, I am certainly learning a lot. It's a good feeling to know that I can take the bottom of the chassis off and fix or upgrade anything I want. Like, on a trivial letter, when I got the amp back from the local "repair" shop (sorry for the sarcasm), the speaker binding posts and input selector switch were both loose. On a factory built amp, I'd have been all upset. On my Kit 1, I just took the chassis bottom cover off and tightened a few lock nuts. What a nice feeling!
Almarg,
You are amazing: bingo and bingo!
What Brian explained to me is that the ceramic caps (C1, 2, 3 and 4) perform some sort of filtering function and aren't in the signal path at all. The reason there are two sets of pads in the PCB is that the PCB (which is an original Audio Note design) can accommodate more than one size/type of cap in that position, and the two sets of holes take two different kinds of caps. As they are right now, they're shorted out and not doing anything, but that doesn't effect the troubleshooting we're doing. |
Gsm,
Don't be discouraged. I'm not! Remember that I was working with an incomplete version of the revised Assembly Manual. You'd be working with something much more complete, refined and in line with the latest version of the kit. It's a lot of fun and, as Grannyring said, you learn so much. |
Almarg,
Right. If you go to the product page of the Kit 1 8th anniversary edition (not the C-Core 10th anniversary edition) and you click the download manual tab at the bottom of the page, you'll find photos in the manual of the populated driver board, using the older style, much larger caps. They would have used the top and bottom holes. The smaller sized caps being delivered with the kit these days for C1-C4 use the middle and upper holes, as Al pointed out.
On another note, Brian and I did more testing last night via Skype and confirmed that there are some very wonky AC voltage values on my driver board, so something is wrong there. That seems to be the source of the sonic problems I've heard! It's not impossible that I have some bad solder joints connecting the valve bases to the PCB, so I'm going to go through those and see if adding solder fixes the problem. But in the meantime, Brian is having Digital Pete, his builder in Florida, send me a finished driver board to replace mine in case I can't get mine sorted. I think the one he's sending has the standard Mundorf Supreme caps, but if the board fixes the problem, I'll replace them with my Silver/Gold/Oil caps.
Again, AN Kits customer service has been above and beyond. Although I'll have to swallow some pride to use Digital Pete's driver board in place of my own if I can't get mine sorted, it'll be a quick way of getting the amp in order! |
Well, I re-soldered all the joints between the valve base tabs and the pads on the Driver Board PCB but whatever's going on wasn't fixed because I'm still getting a distorted signal on bass-heavy material on the amp.
Just got an email from Pete (Digital Pete) Fulton in Florida that my finished driver board is shipping 2-day post tomorrow. So, I should be up and running over the weekend! I hope by comparing the two boards to at least figure out what the problem is/was with my Driver Board! |
Okay:
I received my new Driver PCB from Digital Pete in Florida, ANK's designated builder for prebuilt ANK kits. It arrived on Friday. As you'd expect, the workmanship is first-rate.
I've managed to remove my driver board from the amp and hope to get Pete's board installed completely by Monday. I'll report back when I do. |
Hi, Guys,
Well, no joy yet. I replaced the driver board with the one that Pete sent me but it doesn't resolve the distortion issues. So I have packed up the amp and will ship it out to Pete in Florida tomorrow. He promises to get to the bottom of this.
I should mention that both Pete and Brian say they've never seen an amp behave this way. Usually it either works brilliantly or it fails miserably due to a build issue, as in "terrible noise in one channel," "really bad hum," "no sound at all" or "bursts into flames." This whole "sort of works" thing is just bizarre.
I'm sad not to have ironed this out on my own but it may just require someone with the required debugging expertise being able to get their hands on the amp in person. Pete should be that guy.
I'll update you when I know something. |
I could be shocked, of course, but I would be very surprised if this isn't some problem with the amplifier itself and not merely a matter of inadequate wattage. You may remember earlier in this endless thread that when the local technician attempted to fix the amp, he sent pictures of his scope readings to Brian at Audio Note Kits. Brian said that the scope readings looked "squashed." Something really didn't look right.
I would also be surprised if there isn't a legitimate problem with this amplifier because it's such a classic and time-tested design and the parts quality is so outstanding, from the gargantuan transformers to the beautiful, Audio Note silver speaker binding posts. Anyway, we shall see |
Mikirob,
Yikes, I'd like to read that, but I think I may have let my S'phile subscription lapse.
Nice to see Tekton getting a big, print mag review.
Looking forward to your De Capo impressions, Rob! |
Rob,
So you have a audiophile family, then? |
Please tell me I'm not the only one who obsessively tracks packages once you've shipped them.
My amp left Fort Worth at 11:00 am this morning on its way to Florida, by the way. |
Yes, Pete did send me a fully built up driver board, but replacing my board with his didn't fix the issues. So the amp is on its way to him. (Brian sent me the replacement board free of charge.) Yes, shipping a 50 pound amp to Florida (and insuring it) wasn't cheap, but I think it's the only way to get to the bottom of this, so it's worth it to me. IÂm confident, too, that Pete will figure it out. |
Well, for all of you (all 2 of you?) who have been on pins and needles to learn what was going on with my amp, here's what we know at last.
My build was on target - nothing wrong there.
Furthermore, Brian and Pete WERE able to replicate the distortion issue. This relieved my worst worry that they wouldn't be able to even reproduce the problem and we'd be back to square one.
The problem, it turns out, was with the output transformers. Brian and Pete have NEVER seen this issue in all the years they've been shipping and assembling these kits, but somehow or other these transformers had become magnetized and as a result weren't putting out full power. How this happened is even more of a mystery since these trannies are all very high quality and thoroughly tested before they ship! Brian is going to get these trannies back to go over them with his transformer manufacturer/designer to determine what happened to cause this very odd result. In the meantime, Brian is shipping two new transformers to Pete to install in the amp. So bottom line is that I should have a perfectly working Kit 1 in a week or so.
Let me again emphasize that Brian and Pete have provided superb support. And if the amp sounded great before, it should be really amazing with this issue sorted out.
Whew! |
Tubegroover,
As I said, my greatest worry was that Brian and Pete wouldnÂt be able to reproduce the problem - like those times I've brought my car in to the shop with a funny noise and the mechanic couldn't reproduce it. As soon as they confirmed that there was a real issue, I was relieved because I knew they'd take care of it. Brian said, "I'll make sure you're happy."
Almarg: such an interesting article, thanks.
Seikosha and Mikirob: Thanks for the good wishes. And Rob, really sorry my Stereophile sub lapsed. I'd like to read that Tekton Enzo review and may have to pick up a news stand copy. |
Got the tracking numbers from Pete! Amp ships tomorrow! Yay. |
Charles and Rob,
Thank you! I'll be thrilled to have it back. I've missed playing music! |
Jwm,
The two packages (I take it one of them contains the tubes) are due in Austin on Monday. Can't wait! |
Rob,
I'm also looking forward to your impressions of the De Capo. I, too, am not surprised that the M Lore sounds more authoritative in the bass region. I am very interested to hear what you think of those other areas you mention.
When I mentioned to Eric Alexander of Tekton that I owned De Capo's, his first reaction was, "Excellent speaker." I was positively impressed that he didn't jump on the opportunity to trash someone else's product, something that I've heard other small speaker manufacturers (who shall go unnamed) do. Seems like a classy guy. |
Pete should have the new transformers today or Monday. I'll report back when I know more about the ETA for the amp's return. |
Raylinds:
Thanks a lot for the kind comments and I'm so glad you have been enjoying the blog and this thread. I've learned a great deal from you guys as well. I can relate to your sense of impending letdown as you come to the End of your build. The process of watching the kit come together and the pleasure of handling the parts and understanding how things fit together is substantial. And wow, what a system you're building! I'm also planning on building another kit.
Mapman,
Brian, his supplier and tranny designer are going to "autopsy" the transformers to try to ascertain what happened. Short of the package having been scanned in a very strong magnetic field during shipping, they don't know what would've caused it. (I reassured Brian that I don't have an MRI machine in the room where I built the kit!) :-) So, all that remains to be seen.
Rob,
I am not surprised that the Tekton on speaker has stronger presence and pitch definition in the bass region. The M Lore is rated down to 38 Hz, a full 4 Hz lower than the De Capo, and the full-size Lore digs all the way down to 30 Hz so that's a full 12 Hz lower.
To give you one example of where the De Capo comes up short at the bottom end, and I've used this example before in my online reviews, the Steely Dan album "2 against Nature," has a wonderful, jazz inflected tune called "Negative Girl." The opening bars feature a dancing, percolating electric bass line that goes very, VERY deep. I've never tried to figure out exactly what the notes are, but I mean, you rarely, if ever, hear that instrument played down that low on recorded music. On my old Merlin TSM-mmi's, those very deep notes were completely missing in action  I mean, they just weren't there at all, which is not surprising because that monitor is only rated down to 55 Hz. On the De Capo, the notes are what I would describe as "just barely" there. If you really concentrate, you can hear them, but the lowest of the low are very faint. I'm imagining this is an area where the Lore would smoke the De Capo! What I am really curious about, and guess I would never really know unless I had the chance to do a head-to-head comparison with my gear in my room, is whether, lower end aside, the rest of the Lore presentation has the resolution, delicacy and coherence of the De Capo. I mean, in a way, I can see where it might, since the design philosophies of the two speakers are really not all that different. You have a wide range driver coupled with a supertweeter, crossed over quite high. And I think that the crossover in both is pretty minimalistic, although the De Capo somewhat more so in that regard. |
Well, I spoke with Pete today. The new output transformers have been installed and the amp is working properly and sounds terrific. He's going to let it burn in for a couple of days and will ship it later this week. Pete's just terrific to deal with. I will check in again when I have the amp back in hand. |
Everyone,
I am happy to report that the amplifier arrived yesterday, safe and sound. Pete did a superb job packing the unit. It came in two boxes, one for the amp itself and one for the tubes. The amp was lovingly packed and double boxed. Nothing UPS could do was going to do any damage. :-)
I took the bottom cover off the case before putting the amplifier back in my rig because I wanted to see what Pete had done under the hood. I will post pictures on my blog in the coming days, but he did a beautiful job cleaning up some of my less than pretty wiring and resoldering where he thought the joints needed some TLC. Pete is really quite an artisan.
I am delighted to report that my beloved Kit 1 is working great. I wouldn't say that it is an entirely different beast, because that wonderful purity of tone is still there. But it feels like a much more powerful unit. Clearly the amplifier was not putting out full power before because I had to crank the volume knob up to around 11 o'clock or 12 o'clock to get any real volume out of it. Now, I find myself playing the amplifier at around 9 o'clock  quite a difference.
The distortion with music with lots of deep bass in it has vanished! Clearly, the amplifier is not running out of juice anymore.
By the time I get everything hooked up last night I only had about 25 minutes to listen to music, but I will post more impressions here and in the blog.
Very happy camper here!
|
