please help me to interpret my Clari-T

JeffB · « **Reply #20 on:** 1 Apr 2005, 07:56 pm »

miklorsmith,

I have never heard of transformer based preamplifiers. So I did some research. I think I might have to get one.

I can't find this
Audio Zone PRE-1
that you mention.

I did find the following though:
All except the last are based on transformers from Stevens & Billington.

PRE-T1
http://www.inthezonenet.com/PRE-T1.htm
http://www.stevens-billington.co.uk/page102.htm

Django
http://www.diyhifisupply.com/diyhs_django.htm

Music First Audio Passive Magnetic Preamplifier
http://www.mfaudio.co.uk/

Bent Audio Noh -- currently not being produced
http://www.bentaudio.com/index2.html

Sonic Euphoria
http://www.soniceuphoria.com/

miklorsmith · « **Reply #21 on:** 1 Apr 2005, 08:04 pm »

I got the model # wrong. It's the PRE-T1

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/audiozone/amp2.html

6moons is smitten with all the Audio Zone stuff. Underwood Hi-Fi is selling the line. They're the only retailer I know of. I've heard Steve McCormack is working on a similar concept, as are others.

The promise of this concept is to maintain utter clarity (!) while giving the signal a little extra propulsion. I want the energy of my tubed pre with a silent backdrop. This seems like the best candidate, though it might not work. You'll never know unless you try, eh? That's the attitude that's gotten me this far and it's working out smashingly!

toxteth ogrady · « **Reply #22 on:** 1 Apr 2005, 08:12 pm »

Funny that you should mention the Audio Zone Pre. I know someone who recently replaced their Audio Zone Amp-1 with Vinnie's Clari-T.

smargo · « **Reply #23 on:** 2 Apr 2005, 03:10 am »

Quote

how many hours of burn-in does it take to get a good sense of the amp's eventual sound?

Adamay:

A couple of nights ago i went to a new audiophile's friends house who wanted to hear the clarit in his system. He has a bottlehead diy preamp, philips cd player, custom diy interconnects and speaker cable and the omega grand 6's.

We were both excited I wanted to hear the speakers and he the clarit - to make a 2 hour session story short - the magic was not there. We couldn't figure out why but something was amiss. Ok we figured out that the speakers were accidently hooked up out of phase and we needed to bring the speakers up to ear level (they were close to the floor) In addition, the room was very small but well damped.

After experimentation and coaxing, we concluded that there was a very special speaker in there waiting to come out and perhaps it needed more breaking in and they needed to be in a different room, or maybe it was the preamp, or his custom cables. We couldn't really nail it down. If it was me there was no way i would buy the clarit based on that session ( the clarit has well over 350 listening hours on it.)

Ok then i suggested that he come to my house and listen to the clarit in a totally different room, different front end , different cables, etc. (I posted my system in this thread a couple of days ago)

We just finished about a half hour ago with a forty five minute session at my house and OUR ASSES ARE WIPED ON THE FLOOR, OUR JAWS REMAIN OPEN - I WAS TOTALLY BLOWN AWAY FOR THE 40TH TIME. I HAD TO CALL AN AMBULANCE TO GET THE CLARIT'S FOOT OUT OF HIS ASS. Magic magic everywhere, tonality, richness, foundation, zestfully clean, imaging, seperation, pace, warmth, presence, clarity.......

Anyway we decided that he will bring the omegas over to my place soon and will see what happens, revisiting different, cables, preamp. etc with those speakers and the clarit.

Just wanted to let you know there is a killer in that amp and my system overall isn't any great shakes in terms of price. So keep trying.

regards
smargo

lushds · « **Reply #24 on:** 2 Apr 2005, 08:09 am »

Smargo - For some reason the Clari-T does not like the Bottlehead pre... I had the same experience in a friend's setup. With the preamp, it sounded horrible and everything fell apart - images blurred, totally no 'air', everything sounded pretty bad and one dimensional. Can you share the details of your current setup with the Clari-T?
Thanks
Lushds

smargo · « **Reply #25 on:** 2 Apr 2005, 04:52 pm »

Quote

Can you share the details of your current setup with the Clari-T?
Thanks
Lushds

My system is polk lsi 9s floorstanders (88db at 4ohms)
cyrus 8x cd player
creek obh22 passive remote preamp with 6inch runs of silver cable between that and the clarit
denon dp 61f tuntabl

ok

Panelhead · « **Reply #26 on:** 2 Apr 2005, 06:00 pm »

Quote from: smargo

Quote
Can you share the details of your current setup with the Clari-T?
Thanks
Lushds

My system is polk lsi 9s floorstanders (88db at 4ohms)
cyrus 8x cd player
creek obh22 passive remote preamp with 6inch runs of silver cable between that and the clarit
denon dp 61f tuntabl

ok

I am not clear on the details of what work Vinnie does to make a SI 5066 board into a Clari T, but the input impedance is somewhere around 10K. Maybe less.
This might explain while a low parts count tube line stage does not match well. If the tube used was a 6080 or a quartet of 6922's and the coupling cap large enough the tube pre would be fine.
I might try this, I have a 6080 based line stage in the closet. It idles at 80 ma per side and has a 8 ufd coupling cap. This should be up t to driving a SI.
I would not expect a single 12AU7,12AXT,12AV7, or 12AT7 to sink enough juice to feed 10K. If you modify the 5066 board to give a 50K input impedance the Foreplay should work great.

George

Zero · « **Reply #27 on:** 2 Apr 2005, 08:02 pm »

The Polk LSi-9's are bookshelves. The Lsi-15's are the towers.

The LSi's are a speaker thats forward by nature, and while it takes little current to get them to sing, they shine more with beefy amps. This could be nothing more than a conflict of synergy.

smargo · « **Reply #28 on:** 3 Apr 2005, 03:48 am »

Quote

The Polk LSi-9's are bookshelves. The Lsi-15's are the towers.

The LSi's are a speaker thats forward by nature, and while it takes little current to get them to sing, they shine more with beefy amps. This could be nothing more than a conflict of synergy.

Yes your right it A6M - my bad , it is and always was the lsi15s - Don't know why i had 9 on the brain.

But I have had 300 watt amps driving the polks. as well as 50 watters. they shine more with the clarit then with any other amp i have tried it with.
How do you explain that? And forward - are you serious these are anything but forward

Thanks,
smargo

Zero · « **Reply #29 on:** 3 Apr 2005, 04:00 am »

Smargo,

I've had the 9's, and run the 15's for theater. I definately have lots of respect for this series from Polk.

What kind of amps have you ran with these? Hell, I have had more success with this cheapy $99 TEAC chip based amplifier than I've had with many 3-6k combo's on a pair of Dynaudio's. I can't explain it as it defies every principle I have learned... I have no doubt the Clari-t is capable of much the same.

I still stand by my statements.. the LSi is smooth, and I at first thought it was laid back. I listened to different product, my tastes changed, and I now can only listen to them for small intervals without careful matching. That is how I explain it, but that is just a simple matter of taste.

I may get the Clari-t, though I dont believe it will drive my speaks well.. with a 30 day trial period... nothing to loose.

Good luck.

smargo · « **Reply #30 on:** 3 Apr 2005, 05:45 am »

are you using the dynaudio's or polk's ?

what model, etc

thanks,
smargo

Zero · « **Reply #31 on:** 3 Apr 2005, 06:29 am »

Smargo,

I will have to apologize for my poor grammar. Past midnight, things begin to fuse together. I just pushed the clock forward so it can only go downhill from here.

I am using a pair of Dynaudio Contour 1.1 bookshelf speakers for my PC rig.

The Polk Audio LSi-15's are currently residing in the theater as mains, with Lsi-7's and an LSi-C.

For whatever it may be worth, my mains for the two channel rig consist of Totem Acoustic "sttafs".

Dmason · « **Reply #32 on:** 3 Apr 2005, 02:47 pm »

When I saw the ClariT could drive Contour 1.8MkII quite well considering, I realized that all preconceptions about current, impedance and sensitivity get thrown out the window pretty much, with these things. I couldn't really understand it, but the Dyn's sounded much better with the ClariT than with the jumbo Bryston 4BST it usuallly drinks with...for lower listening levels, it would not be out of place. (6 vs 260 wpc)