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In the Forum: Melquiades Amplifier
In the Thread: Single-stage Melquiades vs. DHT amps
Post Subject: More on the 2A3 comparisonsPosted by drdna on: 1/14/2009
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 Romy the Cat wrote:
I was thinking about this: how come that driving 6C33C (in fact driving anything one can imagine) the 6E5P was very fine but driving 2A3 it was dull like hell. I opened the amp and tested all – everything was perfect but there was no sound. I desired that before I put in there the full scale Milq bias I need to try one more time a cathode bias only with good parts. I kicked off the Lithium battery, leaving only 100R resistor as grid stopper (the 6E5P is very fast tube). In cathode of 6E5P I put 562R very good resistor and bypassed it with unavoidable 25V/1000uF Nichicon Muse KZ. The whole procedure took 15 minutes. I measured what I got. It was 4.1V on 6E5P’s cathode and 170V on plate – perfect. I closed the amp and plugged it in.
I knew it must be the topology but I still say the tube must have a lot to do with the character of the sound. The circuit may still need refinement to optimize the operation between these two tubes.

 JJ Triode wrote:

When you speak of the "Chinese 2A3" which one do you mean? Romy, if you have the Shuguang 2A3C then I understand why you find it better than the Sovtek, no argument there! The Shuguang is a little more extended on top than the Sovtek but it is not harsh, so I wonder, is your "Chinese 2A3" the cheap Valve Art biplate? Those have a reputation as you describe.
Yes, it is the Shuguang tube. I describe it as harsh, but it is a matter of opinion. Certainly it is not so abrasive I wanted to smash it like a Krell-Martin Logan installation or something. It is a matter of being artificially bright.

 JJ Triode wrote:
Incidentally the Sophia meshies are also Chinese (Tianjin I think.)
Yes, I know, and so it is a big surprise that they beat the Slovak tubes, at least to me. More about the other tubes to come soon.

 Romy the Cat wrote:
The frosting that you detected on Emission Labs mesh plate 2A3 – is it the same frosting on the all type of cakes of the ingredients of the frosting falcate with respect to the tease of cake?
No, in this respect it is not exactly like the Koestu, which made everything romantic. Instead the sounds come out perfectly -- too perfectly. The soundstage is obvious and huge. The frequency response is even and the mid-bass is very strong. Delicate recordings are perfectly delicate. Dynamic recordings are super dynamic. Hard rock albums rock hard. But it is wrong. Not every note on every recording is perfect; all recordings have flaws. When I listen to my girlfriend's recordings, it does not sound as I remember the sessions; instead it is a perfect ideal version. Like a Technicolor movie. Hard to explain, and honestly a small difference between the three top tubes, but still easy to consistently pick out which tube is which in double blind tests.

 Romy the Cat wrote:
I mean what channel/channels it drives, what the impedance and how they crossed?
I have listened on the Edgarhorn Titans, driving both the total system (except subwoofer) and also only to the midrange driver alone. It is slightly less than 8 ohm impedence.

 Romy the Cat wrote:
Do you know what transformer ratio it has and what taps it uses if it has taps?
It has the Magnequest DS-025 OPT, connected to the 16 ohm tap.

 Romy the Cat wrote:
If you use your 2A3 with two channels then how do you fell your comments would be altered if you observe the 2A3 sound in context of just HF channels with no LF support?
I have done this. My comments are based on this also.

 Romy the Cat wrote:
You told that you went after PP2000 regenerators, have you were able to employ it yet during your observation of the 2A3 sound?
It arrived today. I will set it up this weekend, but I am still not done listening to the other tubes yet, and I will wait until that is over to avoid confusion. I will go back a re-listen after adding the PP2000.

 Romy the Cat wrote:
Do you have a couple of common double-plate old RCA, Sylvania, Raytheon etc tubes from 30-40s? They are not too expensive, about $100 per tube but it would be interesting to throw them into the play.
I do not have them any more. I had listened to them in the past. My recollection is of burnished brass. Warm, brilliant, rounded. Excellent sound in their own right, and again it is splitting hairs between these and the other top grade modern tubes, but that is what I am doing. It is like comparing the chess games of Alekhine or Tal to that of Kramnik or Kasparov. All are geniuses, but the differences between the modern and hypermodern styles are obvious.

Adrian

Adrian

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