Went to buy Vandersteen 2C speakers and came home with a conrad-johnson Premier 11A.
I found a great deal on a pair of Vandersteen 2C speakers with Sound Anchor stands. I didn’t need them, but they are identical to a pair that I had back in the 90s. While I was there, the seller mentioned that he had an amp that he wanted to sell. It was on a shelf in a basement collecting dust. The price was right, so I bought it. He said there are about 40 hours on the tubes. Hopefully, the caps are ok. I’m thinking I’ll try a Wiim Ultra streamer with volume control just to see if everything works. I have old preamps by NAD and Rotel, but they aren't good ones.
Is there anything special that I should do before firing up the old girl? This is my first tube amplifier.
"The voltage was off on the variac (by about 5 volts)." I didn’t realize that you were savvy (with a meter). 5V is not bad (one review had a unit measured "up" by around 25V - which could inflict some serious damage if the dial were to be trusted on its own merit. PS: The unbranded tubes with "dots" are most likely GE - which I not a bad thing.
DeKay
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@dekay I'm glad that you mentioned the quality concern. It encouraged me to get the multimeter out. Good to know that the unmarked tubes are likely GE. I think the tubes in the amp are probably decent, but not the best I could get. My wife wants me to put the system in the living room. If it ends up there, I'm not going to be too worried about tubes. I say that now, but I'll probably try some different tubes. It's unfortunate that I have lots of spare tubes, but none that work in this amp. |
Congrats on getting the amp up and running. I’d guess that it’s worthy of a nice tube preamp to keep it company!. Enjoy! |
Sounds good, I like your wife already. In my less powerful Cayin A88T, I changed my 6550's to KT88's, and definitely prefer them. They sound very much like my vintage Fisher 80az that I sold to Steve at VAS. I think preferred by type change rather than brand change, but .... I got these somewhere (mine appear less blue that this photo). https://www.amazon.com/JJ-KT88-Glass-Vacuum-Single/dp/B003FOAC3S
Next I blew a 6sl7 or 6sn7 by putting them in the wrong socket. 1st time for everything. I was shocked how much I disliked the replacement pair I chose, and Brent Jesse let me exchange, happily the 2nd choice sound exactly like the OEM branded ones (who made them for Cayin?). When my friend brought his Dehaviland Preamp to listen here, we changed the rectifier tube, we were both shocked at the difference. IOW, the small ones can change the sound as much as the large ones. It's nice you can bias yourself, my Cayin has internal adjusters, you need to take the bottom off, keep it powered on, and get to the adjusters way up in there without touching something else. At 77, a bit shaky, I had Steve do it for me. |
@knotscott Good to know. I've used some of the current production Tung Sol in my preamp and they sound good. @elliottbnewcombjr biasing the amp couldn't be easier. There is a LED and adjustment screw on the top of the unit for each of the four power tubes. When the LED is on, you turn the screw counter-clockwise until it goes out. If it's not lit, you turn clockwise until it lights and then back it off until it goes out. Super easy. The tubes that are in the amp sound pretty darn good all things considered. I bought the amp and speakers on a whim because the price was good. I probably won't sink too much into it. The cheap Wiim streamer is surprisingly good. I can only stream with this setup, but that's pretty much what I do most of the time, anyway. |
