[xsb7244]

A tube amp to consider and a very interesting website.

http://www.ladolceaudio.com/

[Trismos]

A tube amp to consider and a very interesting website.

http://www.ladolceaudio.com/

The website is as "under construction" as you can get. How is it interesting at all?

[jsm71]

XSB, what is your affiliation with La Dolce Audio?  Only having a connection would explain touting a site with really limited information and no pictures.  It made the wrong impression with me.

[doorman]

There's very little info to go on here. So much competition out there -----

[Captainhemo]

XSB, what is your affiliation with La Dolce Audio?  Only having a connection would explain touting a site with really limited information and no pictures.  It made the wrong impression with me.

Thought exactly the same thing when I had a peak last night   

-jay

[Brad]

Yes, Terry's website needs a bit of work....
He is doing some pretty cool stuff with SEPs though.

[FullRangeMan]

I dont understand why do a EL34 Pentode amp, if Triode is better.
If more power is the target may use KT88 of EL120 etc...

[adrianc]

I dont understand why do a EL34 Pentode amp, if Triode is better.
If more power is the target may use KT88 of EL120 etc...

Hi FULLRANGEMAN, I'm 200 % agreed with you,I will use the valve original design for its purpose in a circuit not only respect the designed team but also that's what the valve designed for. 

[opnly bafld]

I dont understand why do a EL34 Pentode amp, if Triode is better.

Says who?

[xsb7244]

Affiliation?  I wish I had affiliations.  I have no friends in audio with respect to the guys that make stuff.  I am a nobody.  I use to read in the old days Stereo Review and Audio magazine.  Now I just read the audio forums.  I just read and post what I find to be good stuff.  I like reading TerryG About Us.

http://www.ladolceaudio.com/about-us/

[xsb7244]

I enjoy reading the comments of the following:

Steve Sammet
Earl Geddes
Dave Elledge
Hugh Dean
DaveC113
TerryG   he can be found on      http://www.hawthorneaudio.us/forums/

[TerryG]

I feel compelled to offer a few explanations here for the benefit of those wondering.

I started a little business selling my designs, but right afterwards incurred a back injury that set me back two years.  If you have ever dealt with such a thing you probably know how it is.  You have these hopes that the next treatment will work and you will get back on track, so you keep everything in stasis so you can resume when you as soon as your better.  Hope keeps you alive, so you just don't give up on any of your dreams.  Well I am better now, I don't know yet if I am back to where I was before, or how permanent my current state is, but I just have to go forward with how I feel right now, and that is relatively pain free.  Dealing with chronic pain was a real challenge, not as bad as I would have thought in some ways, and far worse in other ways than I ever thought.

So the website has been under construction for a very long time.

Ok now to answer a few questions that have come up here that I find very good questions.

First are triode amplifiers better than pentode amps?  NO! they are just different. 

Now if you asked me a specific question as to if they are better given a specific quality I could perhaps answer yes.  For example do triode amps have less distortion?  Possibly, it depends on how the pentode amp is configured, but triodes usually as an amplifying device has less distortion and less gain because of their internal feedback.

Do triodes have better frequency response?  No, pendotes are usually better in this area.  I could go on, but you get the idea, each has their strengths.

Now why do I make SEPs (single ended pentodes)?  Well for one reason....Dynamics. 

If you read the reviews of my amps by ANYONE you will see this is the main strength of my amplifiers.  If I could buy amplifiers that even just matched my amps, I wouldn't be making them.  And power have nothing to do with this, I have proved this to myself.   I have made 5 watt dynamic amplifiers that sound more powerful than a 20 watt amplifier.  I know, I have been scratching my head on this one as well.  But don't take my word for it, do your own research.  Eventually I will release in a kit form a design that hopefully will be less than $200.00 that anyone can afford and find out for them self.

Lastly, why use an EL34?  Well I don't I use a 6CA7, which is similar but has one major difference.  The 6CA7 is a beam pentode, and the EL34 is not, this one thing gives the tubes a VERY different sound.  So far it is the beam powered pentodes that I like and have been using, except for the 6BQ5/EL84, and specifically the Russian variant the SV83/6P15P tube.  This tube is the most dynamic tube I have ever heard so far.

Are my amps the very best sounding amplifiers?  Gee I hope not, then I wouldn't have anything else to aspire too!!

Also my amplifiers aren't for everyone, I like lots of detail and nuance to my music.  I like a life like presentation presentation that makes you get super involved in the music(we have come to call this the toe tapping factor).  I will even sacrifice some things like deep low bass to get these things in my music, not that you have to, but I would with no regrets.   

Any more questions anyone can email me at tadgesualdo(at)gmail(dot)com.  I am just a stupid audiofool that stumbled acrossed a few things that I feel are worth sharing.  You don't have to agree, you might like solid state amplifiers better.  But one thing is for certain....my amplifiers are a little different than the norm.

Terry Gesualdo

[xsb7244]

The TerryG UA1 amp review.

http://thehornshoppeforum.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=lqlkg09a155e2ngiturqupsep3&topic=268.0

[xsb7244]

A great review of the Virtuoso amp by Randy in Caintuck.

http://thehornshoppeforum.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=mk2diq7vcc3h9d5ahf90fajv76&topic=277.0

[InfernoSTi]

Hi Terry, good to see you posting again. 

I've heard early versions of Terry's SEPs (not these) and those were quite good.  As will all things amps, taste, speaker type, and budget/location considerations apply.  I hope others get a chance to hear Terry's work, too.  Terry is an all around good guy, too.  Ask him questions and he will give you his thoughts very directly (as you can see, above).

Best,
John

[FullRangeMan]

Says who?

IMO.
My reasons are:
Less parts
Less cost
Less power
Minimalist compared to Pentodes and to SE parallel
Purest desing, no phase splitter as push pull
Pentodes are indirect heating tubes
Triodes would be DHT tubes
etc...

[opnly bafld]

IMO.
My reasons are:
Less parts
Less cost
Less power
Minimalist compared to Pentodes and to SE parallel
Purest desing, no phase splitter as push pull
Pentodes are indirect heating tubes
Triodes would be DHT tubes
etc...

Thank you for the clarification, in other words it is not 100% everyone will agree "better" in every possible way.
(see Terry's post above)

My understanding is that Terry did not just copy an old pentode design, but through much trial and error has come up with a couple of pentode amps that are well regarded by those that have heard them.

Lin

[FullRangeMan]

Thank you for the clarification, in other words it is not 100% everyone will agree "better" in every possible way.
(see Terry's post above)

My understanding is that Terry did not just copy an old pentode design, but through much trial and error has come up with a couple of pentode amps that are well regarded by those that have heard them.

Lin

As all in music personal taste are the mandatory factor.
If the amp sound is good to the ear the circuit type are less important.
I already listen various PP and Ultralinear and they are not for me, I tend to like single ended Triode.
Also they are more easy to repair if made point to point wiring.

[jazbo8]

A blast from the past, here is a "lively" dialog on SEP amplifier. I guess Terry got PO'd and never bother to return to the discussion.

[TerryG]

Well I couldn't find that discussion again, at this point I don't really see a reason on my end to return to it, but it was interesting.  I wasn't "PO'd" by any stretch I was just trying to get information from others, seems they didn't get what I was either asking or didn't really care.  Although I did get some good reference material from that thread that was very helpful.  Thanks to whoever shared it with me, I always like good reading.

One of the interesting things I find on the internet is that there seem to be a LOT of arm chair designer.  By that I mean people who love to work the numbers and show off and debate about things, but have little to no practical knowledge, or better called real world knowledge of actually building and listening.  Whether or not that applies to that conversation, some here or even me I will let the reader decide.  I see no point defending my amplifiers they can do that on their own if someone wants to give them a listen, which at this point will be few as I can't produce them fast enough probably about an amplifier every couple of months. 

But I like to share what I have learned through experience to be true, if there is even such a thing.  These points are merely food for thought, I imagine they will spark a lively conversation to the benefit of several perhaps even myself.  You have to maintain a humble view of things otherwise you become blinded to things that mean progress for yourself, therefore I will be the first to say I don't know it all, and probably not as much as some others.  I am on a personal search not a vendetta to discredit others to promote myself. 

1st - Just because an amplifier is a Triode amplifier doesn't mean it will be "simpler" than a pentode, either in single ended fashion or not.  I have come acrossed many, and I do mean many, triode designs that I feel are way way to complicated, much more than anything I would design.  As for ultraliner as far as parts count it is about as simple as triode, or can be, but I don't like it as much as Triode or Pentode designs.

2nd - Simple doesn't always mean better, if that were true you would see a lot more single gain stage amplifiers on the market.  A single gain stage pentode amp with regard to parts count and every other way is simpler than a double gain stage triode.  You don't see single gain stage Triode amps hardly at all because there aren't very many power triodes with enough gain to make them.  I am a minimalist and feel that a well designed simple amplifier with only as many parts as needed is better than more complex designs, but in the end I let my ears to the deciding on whether any additional complexity is needed or better.

3rd - Pentodes have some definite advantages over Triodes, and there are plenty of directly heated pentodes if that is what you desire as well.  I like indirectly heated pentodes well enough.  The only triode I felt would be to my liking was a DIY custom built 45 tube based amp, getting that high end sparkle from a triode takes a lot of work.

One advantage of a pentode design is the control over the distortion that you can't have with a Triode.  Mostly because triodes have so much internal feedback within the tube that they take all control away from the designer.   Anyone that feels less distortion is always better, is missing the point of tube designs entirely.  By any means of measurements they almost always measure higher amounts of distortion than a good solid state design.  So why anyone would argue the point of lower distortion with a tube amp is beyond my understanding, anyone can feel free to correct me, but be smart and thorough and simple so I can get it.  On this point after I learned that 3rd order distortion acts to compress the music signal, I got the idea that other distortions could act to enhance the dynamics of the signal. It was upon this premise that I worked on some designs to do this very thing.  Therefore lower distortion of all types depending on what your trying to achieve doesn't always mean better sound.

4th - Why isn't more attention give to the power supply of designs?  This is so important to the sonic results, and that it is all to often ignored almost completely.  The same amp design, with two different power supply designs will sound like two completely different amplifiers to me.  This is as much if not more important than the audio circuit design itself.  It is like a restaurant with great food with bad service, what good is it if the food comes out cold.

This should liven things up a bit.  Sorry to those that get confused over the contrary views, but if your patient you can sort out what you like and ignore the opinions.  I do wish I would get emails telling me when people responded here, I am too busy to visit back more than once every so many weeks, sorry for that but that is life.

I am forth right with my views even if it means others will have more information to pick at in their hobby of discrediting others on public forums. real or not.  To each his own, as long as I can enjoy my music.  I do wish the bar were higher with sound quality of the average amplifier or home audio system for that matter, but you can't have everything.

In all earnest,
Terry