System Gallery

[tony]

bleeding gorgeous, hard to see how that will make the trip back to the shop. lucky man.

[Diapason]

Dead jealous. Interesting that it's made you question selling the Ushers too...

[Claus]

Would love to hear that! Really looks amazing! Drools.... :D

[fergus]

That is a thing of beauty Dave!!!

[Fran]

Sure it's in the system gallery thread now, you can't send it back!


How are the dual volume controls working out?


Fran

[Adrian]

Well, it was only a matter of time before somebody bit the bullet!! Well done Dave!! Great to see the recession has not beaten us all!!

I hope it works out well for you, will you be running it with a pre amp or just use the direct inputs?

[DaveF]

How are the dual volume controls working out?
Fran

No problem for CD as I use the Wadia via the remote to fine tune the volume, the Airtight is left at a fixed setting at about 1/2 its max volume.
For vinyl I have to use the dual controls on the amp but I had to do this with the Music First pre anyway. The controls on the Airtight have much finer adjustments over the Music First so that's a plus for me.

One ever so *slight* issue that I have is that I have some brightness on some recordings. There is more detail there for sure along with many other improvements but I notice an extra bit of brightness on some female vocals. This was unexpected as I was expecting a smoother and more rounded sound given that its a valve amp. Not sure where this is coming from. It's common on both my CD and Vinyl. All cables in the system are Nordost. I'm somewhat a cable skeptic but perhaps I should look at the cabling. Ivor has offered a lend of his Music Stradas so those will be interesting.

@Adrian. I'm using the direct inputs on the amp. My Music First preamp is up for sale now.

[Diapason]

I have heard it said in the past that this amp is on the brighter end of the spectrum, certainly not warm and cuddly. That said, I'd really try a bit of cable sampling here, suspending disbelief as long as necessary!

[DaveF]

I have heard it said in the past that this amp is on the brighter end of the spectrum, certainly not warm and cuddly. That said, I'd really try a bit of cable sampling here, suspending disbelief as long as necessary!

I think I will try that. I'm using Nordost superflatline speaker cable and I've read in a few places that some people think its bright. I will also try Algorithm C on the Wadia as that's supposed to give a more relaxed presentation.

[Diapason]

I've been using Algorithm C recently and, while the effect is subtle, it is indeed a little more relaxed. If you can get some hands on some Kubala Sosna cable to try, that might be worth a go.