tubes? valves?...juz' rollin'...

2008.08.30 After a late night short stint with the quartet RCA JAN-CRC-6SN7 VT-231, KenRad JAN-CKR-2A3 VT-95 and RCA JAN-CRC-5U4G VT-244...excellent relay of sweeter high frequencies, resolution and ambience...what's more to ask for? aren't you in sonic paradise?...Yes almost, just give me a tiny bit more...BASS...I needed the lower frequencies, punch & slam for rock tracks.

Constantly falling back on them when other combinations are deficient, the retired dynamic 3 nothwithstandingly current productions...Tung-Sol 6SN7GTB, ShuGuang 2A3C, OTK 5U4G=5C3S=5U3C. They convey dynamics, punch, drive and bass slam, efficiently delivers every rock tracks for daily musical doses though rougher and lacks refinement. Positively they do every genre well from FIMSACD052 The Four Seasons (SACD Stereo), Doug McLeod's Come To Find, Natalie Merchant's Tigerlily to Steely Dan's Aja...I need refinement...

You can get The Four Seasons at Amazon, Doug McLeod at Amazon, Natalie Merchant at Amazon and Steely Dan at Amazon (This website's biggest source of support is when you use the links when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live, thank you)

TUNG-SOL 6SN7 GTB current production

Tung-Sol 6SN7GTB...super linearity, low noise, and full performance ratings make this one of the best 6SN7 tubes ever made. The sound signature is on par with 5692 types. Excellent driver tube in high-end audio applications...you'll get the highs, mids, bass and details...an all-rounder preamp designed to simulate the rare NOS Tung-Sol VT231. Bettered my EH6SN7s both standard and gold versions as well as the Sovtek 6SN7s. Are there any more current productions? Definitely...the ShuGuang 6SN7 and a whole bunch of other chinese made which I haven't a chance to lay my hands on them yet.

You can get the Tung-Sols at Ebay (This website's biggest source of support is when you use the links when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live, thank you)

SHUGUANG 2A3C

2A3C

Chinese ShuGuang 2A3C revered in Audio Asylum has taken the NOS by storm...this acclaimed 2A3 substitute with its 2A3 monoplate internal structure and 300B external glass enclosure is next to nothing at its price. Read its technical specifications here. I wouldn't missed the world for it, 2A3C is extremely affordable compare to NOS and other famed new productions of Emission Labs EML meshplates, AVVT, KR, EAT, JJ 2A3-40, Sophia 2A3 mesh plate globe and TJ meshplate. Competitively priced against EH2A3 Gold and Sovtek 2A3, it's a real bargain. Yamamoto Sound Craft now carry EML meshplates at attractive pricing.

You can get the ShuGuangs 2A3C at Ebay (This website's biggest source of support is when you use the links when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live, thank you)

5U3C

5U3C

5U3C

OTK 5U4G has pretty good dynamics. An equivalent to 5C3S and 5U3C russian made. Parallel black plates with springs on top, similar structure to the Sovtek 5U4G but rebranded OTK. Apparently Sovtek has ceased their 5U4G production, I wonder why...I quite like the Sovteks and the ShuGuang's 5U4G brown base 4pins.

For the longest time, these tubes when plugged-in are the most enjoyable combination. As new productions, what's lacking are the high-end bits: refinement. And for this reason, I'm constantly evoke to hunt for other substitutions with preference for new current productions than NOS...$$$...and very rare. Though enjoyable but it's really the high-end bits we audiophools want.

You can get OTK 5U4G at Ebay, Sovtek 5U4G at Ebay and ShuGuang 5U4G at Ebay (This website's biggest source of support is when you use the links when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live, thank you)

NOS Brimar 6SN7GTY CV1988

NOS Brimar 6SN7GTY CV1988 is a rare and sought after tube. They are refined, detailed with full bandwidth.

It's strengths are its super soundstage - very wide open sound, it's a very musical tube, good midrange detail and high-end extension, bass ok but not thunderous.

Compared with RCA JAN-CRC-6SN7 VT-231 gray phosphor coated glass, brimar is warm, lush and full-bodied ideal for a thin sounding system, it'll balance things up...good for vocals, it's so smooth, detailed, transparent, and fills the room with sound.

Compared with Sylvania VT-231 their highs are more remote, and the bass is much lower and more prominent. They give an excellent and very lifelike presentation of orchestral works. Very dynamic overall performer!

The brimars were fabricated with several outlook, black base 1970's, brown base 1972's, metal base, clear glass and so on.

You can get the Brimars at Ebay (This website's biggest source of support is when you use the links when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live, thank you)

RCA 5U4G

RCA JAN-CRC-5U4G VT-244...parallel black plates...clarity especially to the low frequencies and an all-rounder, does everything extremely well...takes away muddy bass and adds all the necessary details. Guess I'm hanging on to the current combo Brimar + ShuGuang + RCA...for a while.

You can get the RCAs VT244 at Ebay (This website's biggest source of support is when you use the links when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live, thank you)

RCA VT244

RCA VT244

RCA VT244

isolation for goldmund dv-696av-s

2008.08.28 Recommended by a Sun Audio buddy this is a weighty, dense, slimy, moist, rubbery looking dampening polymer, though looks & feels very much like sorbothane, for use with our £6k goldmund eidos 18d*…ehhm…pioneer DV-696AV-S universal player. “Spectra Dynamics Isolation Block 150” is a 1.5cm thick 15 by 15cm black square that is soft & sticky to your touch and extremely squeezy like gel soles in shoes and hand-rests on gel mouse pads from IT retail stores. To use position it on top of your cd player where the transport is located. It dampens the vibrations of the chasis when the cd spins in the transport. Does it works? Absolutely, background is calm and silent. You'll hear rounded highs, warmth, improved resolution, details and control...you'll enjoy listening to music playback at louder levels...you’ll be drawn in between the musical notes and the performers. For $40 there's no restraint for this kneading dough.


*Further info on the goldmund DV-696AV-S. Goldmund acknowledges the use of pioneer dvd parts in all its recent models of CD/SACD/DVD players, simply they were the best designed. Goldmund has, for each new model, clearly announced which Pioneer model was used and how deeply they were modified...

archived Pioneer dv-380-s universal player

Goldmund Eidos 18d...If you look at the circuit board on the right and look at the big chip (ic). It has a orange dot on it.Also to the top left of that chip you will see a label. To the left of that label is a small capacitor. From this there seems to be a wire coming from it and going to the edge of the board. The pioneer player dosen't have these things.

another internal picture of the pioneer 380

another picture of the goldmund 18d

close-up of pioneer pcb

close-up of goldmund tweak on pioneer transport

pioneer remote control

both remote looks the same aside from goldmund's gold label

another shot of the goldmund & its remote pioneer dv-380-s

pioneer dv-600av-s

goldmund acknowledged the use of pioneer parts

what a difference a TUBE makes?

2008.08.16 Thought I was absolutely satisfied with my tubes combo for my Sun Audio SV-2A3. The combo are current productions but extremely dynamic with lots'a prat, heavy bass, presence & power aplenty, they voiced and sounded unlike a flea 3.5watt SET, though lack refinement and delicate detail extension. These daily regulars are Tung-Sol 6SN7GTB, ShuGuang 2A3C and Sovtek 5U4G. The preamp tubes are dampened with herbie's microphonics-absorbing pads on titanium C-rings whilst the power and rectifier are dampened with plumber's white teflon tape.

With the extended high frequencies, refinement and delicate sonics of excellent unaffordable set-ups in recent HK HiFi Show 2008 still lingering and spinning in my dizzy head, I thought "what the heck perhaps my setup can sound just as good" I replaced the daily tubes with my stash of NOS, Tung-Sols to RCA-JAN-CRC-6SN7 VT-231, 2A3C to KenRad JAN-CKR-2A3 VT-95 and Sovtek to RCA-JAN-CRC-5U4G VT-244 and left the damper tweaks alone...refinement, delicateness, intricate details, revealing, ambience, air, clarity...

What a difference a TUBE make

Twenty-four little hours...

Brought the sun and the flowers

Where there used to be rain...

...the quartet above...VT231 extended sweet highs, VT-95 dynamics and VT-244 clarity.

You can get RCA VT231 at Ebay and VT95 at Ebay (This website's biggest source of support is when you use the links when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live, thank you)

What's grooving?

Thorens TD160mkI with Linn Ittok LVII

My classic thorens TD160mkI spinz reliably on spring suspension and looking great in his new zebrano tuxedo whilst Linn Asaka digs the grooves from Linn Ittok LVII tonearm on soundsupports mounting plate...read all about thorens at The Analog Dept

You can get Thorens 160mkI at Ebay and Linn Ittok LVII at Ebay (This website's biggest source of support is when you use the links when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live, thank you)

Would you buy a Louis Vuitton Monogram .... or a LVII?

If your Linn Asaka MC is on MC medical certificate...

you should get another spring suspension table Linn LP12 that will work perfectly with rare black Ittok LVII...Introduced in 1972, the Sondek LP12 was Linn’s first product and helped demonstrate that the most important element in any quality music system is the source of the music itself. Launched at a time when amplifiers and loudspeakers were seen as being most critical to the performance of any system, the Sondek LP12 showed that extracting more information from the record itself was the most critical challenge. Quite simply, information lost at the source is lost forever...

This cart diggin' better on dispersion theory...17D3 Karat Diamond is the first cartridge built using 'dispersion' theory. Its Micro-Ridge stylus and very short (1.7mm) solid diamond cantilever give a huge reduction in 'frequency dispersion', unmatched dynamics and a high frequency extension all the way up to 100kHz. The latest patented magnet circuit design increases the output to 0.3mV with crystal clear mid-range and treble even during the largest symphonic crescendos.

You can get Linn Sondek LP12 at Ebay, Linn Ittok LVII at Ebay and Dynavector 17D3 at  Ebay (This website's biggest source of support is when you use the links when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live, thank you)

So you asked what's the ultimate arm on LP12? Ekos or Aro?

Introducing Naim Aro the unipivot tonearm designed for LP12...The low-mass, Naim uni-pivot tone-arm is designed to offer the very best phono cartridges delicate yet precise support at all audio frequencies. Its geometry and construction ensure that difficulties with warped records, end of side distortion and temperature or humidity problems are greatly reduced. It incorporates a fixed headshell and an extremely stiff, light arm-tube. The low slung counterweight, used to adjust tracking force, places the mass in exactly the right position for both stability and minimum inertia and will remain set even when the arm-tube is lifted clear of the turntable.

You can get Naim Aro at Ebay (This website's biggest source of support is when you use the links when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live, thank you)

Naim Aro deserves the Dynavector XX2 MKII...feature a "magnetic flux damper" (patent) and softened magnetism" (patent) processes that reject the magnetic fluctuation that is detrimental to a moving coil cartridges performance. The The DV XX-2 MKII retains the benefit of the flux damper but features the Alinco-5 magnet and the similar rigid construction to the Te Kaitora Rua. Alnico magnets exhibit high magnetic flux density combining with a low coercive therefore magnetic resistance is lower than other magnetic types such as rare earth and ferrite, providing the exceptional stability of the XX-2 MKII output voltage. There is also the additional advantage of low magnetic and electrical resistance contributing to a discernable improvement in sound quality.

You can get Dynavector XX2mkII at Ebay (This website's biggest source of support is when you use the links when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live, thank you)

Marantz 7 phono oem Glass Audio PH-1 + Denon AU-300LC step up serves the Thorens whilst Dynavector P75mkII now synergizes with LP12, Naim Aro and XX2mkII

You can get TS Audio PH-1 at Ebay, Denon AU-300LC at Ebay and Dynavector P75mkII at Ebay (This website's biggest source of support is when you use the links when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live, thank you)

Digital Music Sounds Analog?

Multiple awards Non-oversampling, Digital-filter-less DAC Concept by Ryohei Kusunoki winner Opera Consonance CD-120 Linear uses Philips's TDA-1543 non-oversampling DACs sings 16 bit 44.1kHz redbooks. Makes cds sounds analog and less digital.

A purist pre-amplifier...Symmetrical circuit board layout, Short signal path routing, UK--designed metal film resistors, US--made super low-noise resistors, Rotel toroidal transformer and power supply, 12v trigger power control. The RC-06 is a minimalist design engineered to preserve all of your music’s most fragile nuances...

Sonically, the SP16L is pure fun as it easily unravels fine musical lines, bouncing along with surprising micro and macro-dynamic swings. The soundstage is big, airy and dimensional. Vocals have real body, making Ella, Frank or Diana sound like they're singing just for you. The SP16 is so good that it can be partnered with a vintage D100 or a new VT200MKII and sound glorious either way. And, it will make the sound come alive when it's used with an A/V processor....The SP16 is pure Audio Research, pure Class-A, with all-tube gain in line stage utilizing three select 12AX7 tubes in circuit...

Presenting Single-Ended Class A Operation without Negative Feedback
STEREOPHILE Class A stereo power amplifier
THE

Sun Audio SV-2A3

with RCA6SN7GT preamps, EH2A3 gold pin power triodes and RCA5V4G rectifier.
Let's look inside...

... mundorf supreme 1200v/0.22uf silver-in-oil coupling caps swop out for V-Caps TFTF 600v/0.22uf...read how V-Caps shot 21 others.

You can get Sun Audio SV2A3 at Ebay (This website's biggest source of support is when you use the links when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live, thank you)

Do you need power?

Xindak XF1000E adopts the multilevel bidirectional exact filtering network which is made up of high-quality capacitor and inductance. Besides, it also adds a new function of phase detecting and adjusting. Thus can correct the connections of live line and zero line according to the phase detecting result. This is very satisfying especially for experienced audiophiles who have extremely high requirements on the sound quality and can not bear any noise on the power supply.

Which speakers?

Usher Audio S-520 mini-monitor is a marvel of performance, quality and price. No other Usher loudspeaker has won more awards or been lauded by reviewers more often. At just $400 a pair, the 520s are a true Hi-Fi bargain. They deliver unprecedented dynamics and response for a cabinet of this size. For 2-channel and surround-sound mini-systems, 520s are ideal. Features include a 5-inch polypropylene woofer, 1-inch dome tweeter and magnetic shielding.

High sensitivity Living Voice Auditorium loudspeakers has been designed to provide the committed music enthusiast with a coherent, artistically convincing and emotionally engaging experience.

You can get Living Voice at Ebay (This website's biggest source of support is when you use the links when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live, thank you)

Spins while you clean..

OEM Classic 33 chinese made record cleaning machine bought in 2007 HongKong HiFi Fair, is identical to the real mcCoy VPI 16.5 which replaces it.

You can get VPI 16.5 at Ebay (This website's biggest source of support is when you use the links when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live, thank you)

HongKong HiFi Show 2008

ROOM 408 - Jadis Electronics Ltd (www.21hifi.com/jadis)
MBL 1622sacd/cd, 101 Extreme
full MBL system, similar setup as last year sounded clear, detail, extended highs, very refine and delicate


ROOM 409 - Jadis Electronics Ltd
Boulder + Wilson Audio
more emphasis on prat and dynamics than MBL


ROOM 406 - Excel Hi Fi Co., Ltd (http://www.excel-hifi.com/)
Krell Evolution + Siltech Pantheon
detailed and well-balanced


ROOM 404 - Dah Chong Hong Ltd
Accuphase C-2810pre, M-6000amp, DP-800sacd/DC-801cd + Tannoy Kingdom 15
controlled highs & lows, solid bass & well emphasized, good controlled


ROOM 402 - Audio Space Acoustic Laboratory Ltd (http://www.audiospace-hifi.com/)
Audio Space Ref 3.1 300b (HK32,800)+ Dynaudio Confidence
next to nothing at its pricing


ROOM 604 - Dynaudio Asia Ltd
DCS + Dynaudio
small speakers but able to fill the room


ROOM X06 - ANJ International Ltd. (http://www.audioevidence.com/)
Kondo M1000 MKIIpre (68萬), Gakuon IIamp (103萬) + Karma
perhaps I heard the setup on the 1st day, for the $$$ it didn't really impress

ROOM 401A, 401B - Wise Sound Supplies Ltd
Solution 740cd, 700amp + Eventus Audio Nebula
couldn't remember how this system sounded


ROOM X07 - Sonus Faber Asia Ltd
Audio Research SP16 + Sonus Faber
Home theatre & projection setup and sound rather good

ROOM X08 - Avantgarde Hong Kong (http://www.avantgardehongkong.com/)
Weiss + Avantgarde + Shunyata
Setup sounded much better than in ISSE 08 (http://www.avmagazine.com/)

ROOM X03 - Garner Co.
Sugden Mono Block + Harbeth 40.1
Sounded muffled and overly warm, where's the extended highs?