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I think I have found the End Game Amp

For the past couple of years I have been searching for a power amp that plays well with the highly resolving nature of the Esoteric K-01XDSE source and the Rockport Atria II speakers.

How do I get a mid-range to captivate without losing the sense of air and space?

The K-01 and the Atrias deserved something great in between but I could not bring myself to spend $25k - $50k if I went all out on both pre and power.  Building an amp is surely easier than building transducers?

The closest I came was with a Cary SLP-98 pre - with NOS RCA 6SN7s and the Elekit 8900 running Black Plate 2A3s.  There was not quite enough power, slight sounds of strain at fff and not quite the warmth in the mids.

I was enamored of the 2A3 sound and wondered if there exists a PP or PSET 2A3 amp, so I discovered and contacted Frank Ng at Triode Labs.  He had recently found a pair of Tamura OPTs and Tango chokes and had built a pair of the PP 2A3 GT-C amps that I could have immediately!  Working with Frank was an absolute joy, getting a story of his constant search for the Tamura OPTs, and seeing his views on various tubes.

He gave me great price (he supplied only the 6SQ7s) and I was able to pay through PayPal - I rounded up (dividing by .96) to cover the fees.  I got him to autograph the base plates!

The shipping boxes were superbly protective but easy to unpack.

Even cold out of the box I could hear something special; there is just a natural quality to the sound.  The amps now have about 30 hours and Frank expects break in to be about 200.

Everything I play sounds - I am not sure of the word - but "right" seems to fit.  I have played everything, from Angela Hewitt's Goldbergs - you can clearly her management of tone from her Fazioli piano - to Simon Rattle's Mahler 7 (Bavarian Rundfunk).  Also the Borodin recording of Shostakovitch quartet 9, the Beethoven op.132, the Sveshnikov Rachmaninov Vespers with Klara Korkan's haunting mezzo, Hilary Hahn playing Bach.  AMAZING!

There will be some tube rolling to fine tune (!) everything but at this time the SLP 98 has coin base a 6SN7 gain stage, Tung Sol buffers.  The GT-C has Motorola branded 6SQ7s, Smoked glass RCA 6SN7s, JAN Black Plate 2A3s and Sophia 274B rectifiers in the main amp..

 

 

 

retiredaudioguy
jacklynn's avatar
jacklynn
42 posts
 

Another pump and dump post.Ho hum.

posbwp55
24 posts
 

If you have done the measurements and you’re enjoying the sound, congrats.

I had a pair of Avalon Ascents for 13 years that had the same specs as your Atrias, 87db sensitivity and 4 ohms. I ran them with Manley 350’s. I now have PBN 2!5s at 4 ohms and 96db sensitivity. I use two different pairs of monos, not biamped. I use a Cayin M-845 monos and Symphonic Line 300 monos. The Cayin rated at 60W the SL rated at 300W. I have been swapping them out seasonally. Run the Cayin in winter and the SL in summer. They both drive the speakers but I think the SL better controls the speakers. I have used and preferred primarily tubed gear most of the last 40 years. I think I have now flipped to the SL as being my preferred sound in this system. I use the Einstein Mk2 preamp. It was a gradual 4 years of swapping these amps back and forth, I initially preferred the Cayin but have come to the conclusion that the SL is not just very different sounding but better. What ever works for you. I was surprised to come to this conclusion after 40 years of using tubes almost exclusively. 

markw1951
55 posts
 

I'm also a tube guy.  I build my own.  No solid state device I've ever heard comes close but my experience is somewhat limited.  

curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
6,092 posts
 

Congratulations!

How cool is that, to have something like an amplifier made just for you.

Keep us posted when it’s fully broken in and what tube rolling you do.

All the best.

retiredaudioguy OP
330 posts
 

Probably not fully broken in, 60 hours so far, but I spent yesterday pm playing with tubes.  My preamp is the Cary SLP-98 so that features in the quest.

What sounds best (so far) is:

SLP-98 Gain JAN RCA Smoked Glass 6SN7
SLP-98 Buffer TungSol 6SN7
GT-C Gain JAN Sylvania NOS 6SQ7
GT-C Splitter-Driver LinLai Sapphire 6SN7
GT-C Output JAN RCA Black Plate 2A3
GT-C Rectifier Sophia Aqua III 274B


For fun I fed this combination to Google AI and got approval (others did not).  In particular it recommended NOT to use NOS tubes in the Buffer positions of the SLP 98 as they are driven quite hard and could die prematurely - also make the sound too syrupy (agreed).  When I state that I listen at fairly low volume the AI response is (just) approving of the total system - even my Atria II speakers. Tongue in cheek here, but the AI summaries did give useful hints.

The JAN Smoked Glass tubes (how I had a pair I do not know - they are about as common as hen's teeth - but I have found a pair for spares) these do magic in the mid range.

The TungSols are meaty - both in sound and construction and so can handle the demands as buffers.

The 6SQ7, transparent and musical

The LinLais, airy, extended.  These made the sense of space much more real than NOS tubes.  I cannot try these in any SLP-98 position as the bases are too big.

RCA 2A3s, seem liquid and natural, I do not have a quad of any other variety.

The resulting sound, within volume limits, is as good as I have heard.  I did play Rattle's Mahler 3 (CBSO)  with 92dB peaks which is loud enough for me! The Sveshnikov Rachmaninov Vespers' a cappella voices are sublime.  In every work, in good recordings, pianos, strings, brass and woodwinds just sound real.

Bad recordings stay bad.

 

 

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