Adventures in amplification

[Ivor]

Thanks to Ivor who called out earlier with his Lector CDP. As I pretty much predicted the Lector didnt solve the problem either. The same treble issue existed on the 'problem' recordings. When I say problem recordings I refer to recordings that suddenly sounded worse with the arrival of the Airtight.

Yep, it seemed fairly clear that the amp was causing that sharp 'etched' sound. Of course it may be. It might be the speakers or that combination of speaker & amp. It's elimination time!

[DaveF]

I hate what you're going through Dave.
I know that you are a bit of a cable sceptic but I wonder have you tried variations there ?
I think I found that since I got into valve amplification a few years ago that cables make a more noticeable impact than I found previously with solid state gear.
Silver versus copper and so on. If the Kharmas are very accurate and fast then maybe a bit of "tone control" with speaker cables would help ?
Airtight and Kharmas theoretically approaches Audio Nirvana. Maybe there's a missing link ?

Hi Gerry,
I've tried a few different sets of speaker cable and many different interconnects too. None of them made any difference. Its definitely the amp-speaker combo and the issue with them most certainly cannot be addressed with cables which make subtle changes at most in my opinion.

[DaveF]

Thanks to Ivor who called out earlier with his Lector CDP. As I pretty much predicted the Lector didnt solve the problem either. The same treble issue existed on the 'problem' recordings. When I say problem recordings I refer to recordings that suddenly sounded worse with the arrival of the Airtight.

Yep, it seemed fairly clear that the amp was causing that sharp 'etched' sound. Of course it may be. It might be the speakers or that combination of speaker & amp. It's elimination time!

well yes, its either one or the other. Both components are quality but in this case it would seem that neither are best suited to each other. I've heard what the Kharmas can do and I like their sound so for now I'll go down the route of matching an amp.

The only thing that I havent tried is to change out all 6 of those input valves. I seem to recall Fran changing out 1 or 2?? sets of those valves when he had his gear here but none of the changes cured the problem.

[Ivor]

The only thing that I havent tried is to change out all 6 of those input valves. I seem to recall Fran changing out 1 or 2?? sets of those valves when he had his gear here but none of the changes cured the problem.

I'd have a selection of those tubes here (I think - I leave them out of sight in a drawer unless I need to go there). If you want to go down that route let me know.

[Fran]

12au7, 12ax7 and the more unusual 12bh7.

Don't think it'll make much difference though.

Dave - you might end back up needing a preamplifier yet....
Fran

[Ivor]

12au7, 12ax7

Those I got. I have to say I wouldn't be optimistic either. While a change in valves made a big change in my CD player (ages ago) my gut tells me the ATM2 won't change much.

[DaveF]

Dont think I'll bother with any valve changes to be honest. I've had enough of that ATM2 and I'm going to look at options for changing it. It has given me heartache since day 1 and now its time for it to go.
I did some research on the Leben CS600 and one review warned not to pair it with vivid or precise speakers or it will sound bright in the treble. The Kharmas would surely fall into the category.

[Ciaran]

Aren't Jadis now dead and gone?

Fran

Is that right? I'd be sorry to hear that if it's true, even though I'm not using Jadis any more. I did get a lot of pleasure from them!

[Diapason]

This news had passed me by too, it's a real shame if so. The JA80s are some of my favourite amps.

[Fran]

Hey I could be wrong!! I thought I had heard that they were gone, but I could be completely wrong? The last update on their website though was november 2008.....

I had this conversation only recently with another forum member - Jadis had a terrible reputation in the USA. Anyone know why? Their circuits are renowned/infamous for being err, unusual (ok the crueller would say non-sensical, counter-intuitive and against all engineering logic) but the ones I've heard have been glorious, most recently the DPL2 preamp.

Fran