Best integrated amps for Monitor Audio silver RS6

charmerci · « **Reply #100 on:** 12 Feb 2013, 07:29 pm »

Quote from: RDavidson on 11 Feb 2013, 08:49 pm

For testing purposes, you could always buy a sub from your local Worst Buy. Just get a 10", but preferably 12" Polk, Klipsch or whatever. It will likely be some kind of slow, muddy, rumbly, piece of junk regardless. Try it out for 30 days, just to help you get a very general sense of what a sub will do for you, then return it. After doing so, go buy a QUALITY sub that matches the caliber of your system from SVS (or maybe HSU among a small hand full of others) and be done. I'm sure you'll be satisfied by this point.

Oh dear! Caveat emptor! He'll love them and crank up the output and get all that muddy bass!!!!

RDavidson · « **Reply #101 on:** 12 Feb 2013, 07:53 pm »

Hey, he's learning, which is always a good thing. He could be doing MUCH worse.

I can't think of a more convenient way to try a sub, just to get a VERY general sense of what one would do in his system. Obviously, going straight to a good source like SVS or HSU would be awesome, but returns would be more of a hassle and would mean paying return shipping if for some crazy reason it doesn't work out.

Did I mention I hate Best Buy? Don't get me started. That place is a sinking ship. Buying and returning stuff will just help that process along.

kinku · « **Reply #102 on:** 12 Feb 2013, 08:43 pm »

I called them today.They will check pre amp tubes too!!!The guys there recommended against premium testing as it is not needed in real life. I am going to give them a try.

RDavidson · « **Reply #103 on:** 12 Feb 2013, 08:44 pm »

Excellent!

kinku · « **Reply #104 on:** 13 Feb 2013, 11:59 am »

I happen to communicate with Jim McShane ,the name I heard in different forums.(www.mcshanedesign.net) .
Does any one has experience with tube purchases from him?
I mailed him during my search for tube testing and his opinion is Genalex KT88 are much better than any stock tubes that comes with amps. So I am not gaining anything by testing them (true in a way,if everyone think it is better, it is better and I will not sleep until I get it, unless it is too expensive

the audiophile syndrome).
I thought about it,the more I listen to Cayin A70-T the more I like it. To the point that I started worrying about my electricity bill. So very unlikely that anything wrong with the amp.It might be just my crude listening habit,over years with tone controls cranked up.( sorry did not know any better

).
What do yall think?

RDavidson · « **Reply #105 on:** 13 Feb 2013, 02:59 pm »

I think you know our opinion regarding the Genelex tubes (Gold Lions). Get them if possible.

Again, you have no idea how much life is left on any of your tubes. Test them.

.......or no more soup for you!

kinku · « **Reply #106 on:** 13 Feb 2013, 03:16 pm »

Thanks. What about buying from Jim McShane?

RDavidson · « **Reply #107 on:** 13 Feb 2013, 03:44 pm »

Stop with all the dillying around, second guessing and asking people's opinions on EVERYTHING. Is this your system and money, or ours? We've held your hand long enough. You know what to do, now go do it.

Let's think about this : You're new to higher end audio but you've heard / read his (Jim's) name in places, but doubtfully in any negative context. Put your grownup pants on and make some decisions on your own, especially obvious ones like this. C'mon man, seriously. This is ridiculous.

rollo · « **Reply #108 on:** 13 Feb 2013, 04:49 pm »

Kinku McShane is a VG vendor you can be assured you will get the right tubes. Vintage Tube Service is another. The tubes should offer a substantial upgrade as mentioned before. Bass is another issue. Save for a sub.

charles

kinku · « **Reply #109 on:** 13 Feb 2013, 05:35 pm »

Thanks Rollo. I paid just now.Will let you all know after audition.
Davidson,Please do not get upset.I am new and not rich

.So I do hesitate before throwing in money here and there. A little push may be needed at times. Since I am an alien in tubeworld. I never learned in school either. So please be gentle.

RDavidson · « **Reply #110 on:** 13 Feb 2013, 06:11 pm »

I can understand hesitation, but if you've done your research, you've received informed opinions, and have room in your budget to move forward, then logically the hesitation should've subsided. You were at the point of a decision, and that decision was yours alone. My frustration stems from the fact that you find another point of hesitation or need more sense of security with your purchase. Look, we're here to help you which we most definitely have, but man.........lets take the training wheels off, shall we?

ltr317 · « **Reply #111 on:** 13 Feb 2013, 07:29 pm »

Quote from: kinku on 13 Feb 2013, 05:35 pm

Thanks Rollo. I paid just now.Will let you all know after audition.
Davidson,Please do not get upset.I am new and not rich .So I do hesitate before throwing in money here and there. A little push may be needed at times. Since I am an alien in tubeworld. I never learned in school either. So please be gentle.

Hi Kinku,

Davidson is right. We can offer suggestions but you must decide. It is up to you to act. What good is offering advice, and then you go in another direction and ask questions about something else. We don't have your ears or your preference for sound. That is why in my reviews I never recommend anyone go buy an audio component that I think is good. I only recommend my readers go audition the component that I reviewed. What works for me may not work for someone else. So, in the end, only you can determine which type of sound is best for your liking. We know you are new to tube audio and not rich. I'm not rich either, and when I began with high end audio many years ago I ask some questions to friends whose judgement I valued. They basically all answered the same way: go listen to as many components as you can and determine which sound you like best. That's the best advice I can give you. Go listen to friends' systems, join audio clubs/gatherings and stop by audio stores. Once you determine which sound is best for you, then if you still have questions, your questions will be more pointed and our answers will make more sense to you

Cheers,
Paul Mah

kinku · « **Reply #112 on:** 16 Feb 2013, 09:09 pm »

Hi friends,
Got the Genalex GL KT88 today.Put them on CAYIN. I bought them from Jim McShane at Mcshanedesin.net. Unfortunately one of the match quads not keeping the bias voltage

.It keeps going up . I have to turn off the amp take them off. Tried two times changing socket and stuff ,no luck.
So running with left side Cayin stock tube and other side with GL KT88.So far I have listened about an hour of music through the combo.I am loving it....

I think this is close to what I was looking for. Everything is there

very musical midrange from the combo.I should stop saying combo ,I know it is Gold lions doing the magic.
I wish I was little more fortunate about this one tube. I emailed Jim and waiting to hear from him.I may have to ship all of them back since it was a matched quad.
I will keep on updating when I get the whole set of tubes operational.

RDavidson · « **Reply #113 on:** 17 Feb 2013, 12:17 am »

That's great to hear (except for the single tube). I have heard of new tubes sometimes needing time to settle-in, but it is strange that just one tube out of the 4 is needing so much more re-adjustment than the others. Typically, I think re-adjusting the bias is something you'd maybe need to do once or twice a week during the settle-in period. That's good that you tried it in different sockets, observed the same issue, and have eliminated the possibility of the issue being your amp.....which was unlikely anyway. I haven't personally run into anything like what you're experiencing, so it would be best to just wait for Jim to get back to you. Maybe some others will chime-in in the meantime, but Jim will take care of you regardless. Don't run the tubes any more until he gets back to you. If he needs the quad returned back to him, I'm sure he'd appreciate there being as little use on them as possible.

kinku · « **Reply #114 on:** 17 Feb 2013, 01:44 am »

Jim mailed me back. He too think that is a problem. I kept the bias pot to the lowest but still the voltage was creeping up for this one tube and there is nothing left in pot to turn. I will be shipping it out Monday and Jim will send me another tube.So I can keep the other three. He seems like fair to work with..
Thanks for all your support.

ltr317 · « **Reply #115 on:** 17 Feb 2013, 02:17 am »

Jim always tests his tubes before selling, but you can still get a lemon. Jim provides excellent customer service. I notice that new production output tubes tend to have a higher failure rate than vintage tubes when they were new. It's good you found the problem while biasing. I bought a quad of new Electro Harmonic EL34s in 2010 and two of them red-lighted less than a week later, taking out some resistors. I got two replacements, and one did the same thing within days. It could have been a problem with quality control during that production run but I never found out. Some of my friends have had similiar problems with EH, Svetlana, and JJ tubes.

kinku · « **Reply #116 on:** 17 Feb 2013, 03:01 am »

I found some crackling noises through speaker ,while i was checking the right side set of tubes ,so I left that side and started checking the crackling side which was left. To my horror the bias voltage was closing 0.5V.I immediately turned off the amplifier.Turned on again in 5 minutes to check the same tube and found it is going up on bias voltage again.I turned the trim pot down until it is stuck and still bias voltage kept on creeping up.At that point it was a no brainer to stop and mail Jim for help. Then I checked with old cayin tubes on that side.Everything fine nothing burned.

.

kinku · « **Reply #117 on:** 22 Feb 2013, 09:39 pm »

Dear pals,
I got the defective tube exchanged by McShane arrived today without any issue. I will recommend him for getting tubes.
Changed all for tubes to GL KT88. Wow what an improvement over stock Cayin tubes. .. :thumb:Worth the purchase.
I also got a pair of Sylvania Jan 5814A new. I do not know whether there is something called burn in excist or not ,but right out of the box the 5814A changed everything. All ranges of sound balanced out and bass has improved and treble become less sharp with a well balanced mid. May be the coloration in mid reduced a bit but that is just fine.May be my RCA clear top was old. But sylvania is clearly a well balanced sound.
I thank you all especially Davidson for scolding me appropriately on occasions,when I was becoming sissy.
Until I try something different in few years "Cayin a70-t is a good match for Monitor audio RS6 with Genalex GL KT88 and Sylvania Jan 5814A with Bugle boy 12aX7. "
I am not inclined to buy a subwoofer at this point since sound seems a close match of what I was looking for.May be if I want to shake my room on some days.
May be a better interconnect from current 3 $ monoprice one and Zip wires ,am I on my next target.

RDavidson · « **Reply #118 on:** 23 Feb 2013, 04:00 am »

Excellent!

So glad you're set, at least for now.
Yes, new interconnects would be a very good next upgrade as you are happy with your components. Better interconnects can further bring out the best your system can provide. Speaker cables can also make a difference, but I would start with interconnects as I have found their positive effect to be much more obvious than the differences decent speaker cables can make. As long as your speaker cables are 14 gauge OFC at the very least, then you have a good starting point.....assuming you don't have your speakers hooked up really far away from your amp.
I have quite a bit of experience with various high value IC cables. I think the classic Audio Art IC-3 is an excellent cable for the price. To me it is like the Honda Accord of IC's. It isn't amazing at anything necessarily, but it is well made and just a really good/great all around balanced "sounding" IC. They've worked well for me in every application I've tried them in. You could get these and rest assured that you'd have to get spendy to better them in any significant way. Another I suggest looking into is the Virtue Audio Nirvana IC's and speaker cables. I admit I don't have personal experience with the IC's, but they get good reviews, and Virtue has THE BEST customer service on the planet. I have a set of Nirvana speaker cables, which are excellent. I'm certain the IC's are equally excellent for the price. The Audio Arts would probably still be my first choice, however. The silver coated conductors and the better dielectric material should help provide a smidge more extension and detail (in comparison) if I were to guess.
Both companies provide a trial period. You could always give both a try at the same time and return the set you didn't like as much.

kinku · « **Reply #119 on:** 23 Feb 2013, 01:01 pm »

Thanks. The interconnects are my next target.
My SC are 16 AWG braided pair for HF and 12AWG ZIP for lf in RS6.12AWG are OFC from monoprice. 16AWG are from home depot

.
I guess I got that guilty feeling now of using a good system with bad connectors and interconnects.
Are you a believer of different cables sound different? In my expereience when I changed cheapo RCA with monoprice one, I heard a difference. I thought that is the maximum possible since seems like they used a RG cable to make them.
I recently measured capacitance of one of them about 35pf/F. Very comparable to some expensive brands.100PF for 3 feets I am using seems still high.it can be halved using some cables with twisted pair.It is also proven objectively that pair of cables with telescoping shields are better than a coax with shield used as return part for signals at least in terms of noise floor improvement.
How about some DIY from Jon Risch receipes?