Tír Na HiFi

OK been struggling for some time now to try and describe what I am hearing from the Big7 and last week the word atmosphere became a keyword to get me started and I had written much in my head since but never managed to get it down in print.
Today looking at an Audiocircle thread on experiences with the Big7 I finally empathised strongly with another users experience and I think "Lissnr" sums it up very well at the bottom of the page;

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=129085.0

Jealousy prevents me making any positive comments here!

Says more than any review, Tony...

Got to hear the L7 again today when Pearse dropped over to help sort my picoless attempt.
Had heard it initially just after Pearse bought it and was immediately impressed. Was hoping that compared to my L4.5 the sound would be an improvement but not dramatically so. Subtle was the result that I would have been content with but unfortunately for me the leap in dynamics,depth of sound stage and just overall musicality was very significant. Would defy anybody to hear this with a good PC audio transport and not be bowled over by how it reproduces music. Probably hanging myself out to dry but it is the best piece of kit that I have ever heard period. Just wish like Jplay I could upgrade for free!

Another update on the L7 and the fruits of some more investigative work after initially having some hum and squeal in the background when going direct to Art Audio Maestro Monoblocks and using the L7 Volume control.
I had considered sending my amps to Lukasz to get them overhauled as this is a service he can provide but I had not got around to organising this in recent weeks.

When I first tried the monoblocks which are a good age I thought the hum and squeal may have been related to the monoblocks as the solid state Primare integrated amp I had did not produce any such noise.
I borrowed Tony's Jadis integrated amp a few weeks back and again no hum or squeal until i hit about half volume on his amp and then there was the beginning of a little hum without music playing but the amp was pretty loud at that setting.

2 weeks ago I decided to take the Art Audios out again for another test run now that the L7 was sounding really good and I was amazed how great the monoblocks now sounded compared to the Primare solid state amp. The monoblocks were now a glorious match with the L7 and my Quads.

Unfortunately that hum and squeal was still there no matter what volume I had the L7 at and the more i listened to music the more I became aware of it and it became too annoying.
After much pulling and swapping of cables and sockets I tracked the squeal down to a DVI cable from the Audio PC to a TV monitor and once I swapped to a DC small monitor all was much better.

Next up the Hummmm.....
I have a pot for changing the levels of feedback from zero to 12db on the monoblocks and the more feedback I dialled in on the amps the lower the hum got, unfortunately I was not as happy with the sound through the Quads with a good level of feedback dialed in.
Tried all kinds of grounding configurations, earthing configurations with no luck but then I found that when I powered up the L7 it was quiet for about 5 to 8 seconds then you could hear the hum really flare up as the valves began to kick in.
Focus then went on the valves where I tried all kinds of screening with no luck until I remembered I had a large piece of copper sheet lying around from another project.
I had the perspex off the L7 so I dropped the copper sheet near the power valves and straight away I could hear a big drop in the hum.
I proceeded to cut the sheet so I could drop it in and around the back area of the L7 which made a big improvement in hum so since then I have been happily listening to lots of music with only slight noise now in very quiet passages and when no music is playing.
I have to say the L7 with the Art Audios and Quad 63s sound amazing and the Primare is now well and truly retired.

I am getting a full size 1mm thick copper deck made using the perspex cover as a template and hope to have it this friday so will post pics at the weekend after rolling it out at the meet up at Tony's.
Hopefully this could be a good solution for anyone with a sensitive system getting hum from these great sounding valves, by the way been listening to the Psvane 101Ds with ceramic base for several weeks now and they do sound good.

More soon.....

Probably the right place to post this! Pearse if listening to DSD on the L7 Drum solo should be on the left channel as you look at the speakers unless the DSD version has completely rearranged Time Out.

BTW for any lookers DSD on L7 eh! is fairly good and worth checking out. Hope it does the same if I upgrade mine

Tony,
Thanks to you for today & thank Ann for the food spread - delicious as usual.
All the equipment sounded great, such is the high level of SQ that we now enjoy.
Some differences exist between the Lampi 4 & 7 with the 7 providing an even more refined & smoother presentation to the already smooth & refined presentation of the Lampi 4.
Some differences also heard between Tony's PC & Pearse's PC but too many differences between them to be able to put a finger on what accounts for the sonic difference. Strangely, Nige's USB card sounded a bit muddy on Tony's PC but shone on Pearse's.
Didn't get around to comparing P Hynes PS Vs battery power which was a pity.
Didn't also get to run latest MQN which Tony reported sounded great after we left :)

Will pass on your thanks John. Enjoyed the day a pity about the hiccup at the start but shows how careful we all need to be when messing with this stuff as it is so easy to fry something if the power supply connections are messed up.

Would concur with you comments but maybe question mark your comments about Nigel's card on my PC. Thought it sounded thin on my pc but detailed and similar on Pearse's.

Can't keep it to myself any longer! Got the itch after hearing Pearse's LZ Big7 and just had to have one.
Was doing a bit of a search online and found it on Ebay. Yes finally it was going to be mine and at a bargain price to boot. Took the plunge and hit the buy button. It arrived safely on monday and I am one happy camper.

It is a bit lighter than Pearse's version as it does not have all the extra's actually it has nothing inside.
But it fits the bill perfectly for my power supply/batteries and audio pc. Will have to talk to Fran about getting a couple of valves working to stick on the top and hopefully John has a red version of his Ciunas power button to complete the charade. Anne is happy as I got my upgrade and no big expenditure needed

tony wrote:Can't keep it to myself any longer! Got the itch after hearing Pearse's LZ Big7 and just had to have one.
Was doing a bit of a search online and found it on Ebay. Yes finally it was going to be mine and at a bargain price to boot. Took the plunge and hit the buy button. It arrived safely on monday and I am one happy camper.

It is a bit lighter than Pearse's version as it does not have all the extra's actually it has nothing inside.
But it fits the bill perfectly for my power supply/batteries and audio pc. Will have to talk to Fran about getting a couple of valves working to stick on the top and hopefully John has a red version of his Ciunas power button to complete the charade. Anne is happy as I got my upgrade and no big expenditure needed

WTF?