[andyr]

Darren, Ron, David and Phil,

Ron, I believe your comments about the ECC189 are absolutely spot on - there is no doubt that the major step up in detail of the LF over the AKSA mandates use of the 189 tube because it adds just a smidgin of warmth.  There is absolutely no distortion in the Lifeforce at all;  it's incredibly low, around 0.01% at close to full power, at least five times lower than the AKSA.

Cheers,

Hugh

OK, OK, OK ... what toobs did I get with my GK-1, Hugh?

Regards,

Andy

[AKSA]

Andy,

Absolutely every TLP and GK1 ever sold came with the 6ES8/ECC189!!

Cheers,

Hugh

[andyr]

Andy,

Absolutely every TLP and GK1 ever sold came with the 6ES8/ECC189!!

Cheers,

Hugh

Aah, good, so it would seem I'm all ready for the LF upgrade!!   

Regards,

Andy

[andyr]

The bass is definitely tighter and more pronounced but I don't think as much as others have noted`- not sure if this is because I have Ellis 1801b monitors or possibly an artifact of running pure silver output wires (anyone want to comment on this?  I almost posted this question in the IC discussion, wondering if the two silver wires with cotton sleeving should be twisted- they are not in my setup).

cheers all

jim

Hi jim,

Congrats ... I'm hoping that my own LF upgrade is not too far into the future (big expense as, like marcus, I need 3 of them!!    ).

Am I correct in thinking you are using pure silver speaker wires to your Ellis 1801b speakers ... and each wire is enclosed by cotton sleeving but they are not twisted around each other?

I suggest you should definitely twist them (assuming the cotton sleeving insulates each wire adequately).  The reason for this is that at present, with the wires just lying next to each other (or spaced apart, as the case may be  ), your speaker wires will have relatively low C and high L.

For good bass (since there is typically higher current flow in the bass than the higher frequencies), you want low L.

Twisting the wires - say 1 turn every inch (like the old Tara labs) - will decrease L and increase C ... however, it should not make the C high enough to worry the AKSA.

Regards,

Andy

[fajimr]

hi andy

thanks for the response.. Oooops    I meant silver wires for the INPUT RCA to the LF board.  I thought I had read elsewhere that silver was good for mids and highs but wasn't sure about the bass.  And I wasn't sure if the silver could be twisted with the cotton sleeves.  jim

[andyr]

hi andy

thanks for the response.. Oooops    I meant silver wires for the INPUT RCA to the LF board.  I thought I had read elsewhere that silver was good for mids and highs but wasn't sure about the bass.  And I wasn't sure if the silver could be twisted with the cotton sleeves.  jim

Hi jim,

I hope these silver input wires are "4 or 5 nines" silver and not just "jewellery grade silver" (sterling silver)!!   

If your silver wires are very thin then twisting them will gain you more bass.  Why, you ask!     Well, I was able to prove this to my satisfaction, so now all my internal wire pairs (between RCAs and PCBs etc.) are twisted.

You see, as well as the phono stage in my GK-1, I have a non-AKSA phono stage.  I modded this by replacing the PS with one of Hugh's PSes.  But while doing this, I thought I would replace the VdH coax which the mfr had used between the PCB and the output RCAs with 30g wire ... as I thought very thin wire was good, sonically!   

Then I was able to do a direct comparison between my modded phono stage and a stock one ... yes, it was obvious the new PS made it sound much better but there was a distinct lack of bass!   

My dealer mate took the top off the case to have a look and proclaimed "There's the culprit ... it's that bloody thin wire you used!".  So he removed the 30g wire and put in some fairly average coax and we compared it again against the dealer's stock phono stage.

Lo and behold, there was now bass in my phono stage!   

The reason evidently is that very thin wire does not have enough mass to stop itself being physically moved when the signal goes through it (is this the "triboelectric effect?  ) ... and this movement "loses" bass!!     Twisting the two wires together will make the pair stiffer and of higher mass than each individual wire ... as a result, no bass is lost!   

So yes, twist your input wires together.

Regards,

Andy

[fajimr]

thanks andy- I'll give it a try.  and yes, the silver is supposedly audio grade as I bought it from partsconnexion.  all the other wiring in my amp is twisted (but is not silver)... I just wasn't sure with the cotton sleeving.  I'll report back as soon as I do it!

jim

[Jens]

hi andy

thanks for the response.. Oooops    I meant silver wires for the INPUT RCA to the LF board.  I thought I had read elsewhere that silver was good for mids and highs but wasn't sure about the bass.  And I wasn't sure if the silver could be twisted with the cotton sleeves.  jim

Hi jim,

I hope these silver input wires are "4 or 5 nines" silver and not just "jewellery grade silver" (sterling silver)!!   

If your silver wires are very thin then twisting them will gain you more bass.  Why, you ask!     Well, I was able to prove this to my satisfaction, so now all my internal wire pairs (between RCAs and PCBs etc.) are twisted.

You see, as well as the phono stage in my GK-1, I have a non-AKSA phono stage.  I modded this by replacing the PS with one of Hugh's PSes.  But while doing this, I thought I would replace the VdH coax which the mfr had used between the PCB and the output RCAs with 30g wire ... as I thought very thin wire was good, sonically!   

Then I was able to do a direct comparison between my modded phono stage and a stock one ... yes, it was obvious the new PS made it sound much better but there was a distinct lack of bass!   

My dealer mate took the top off the case to have a look and proclaimed "There's the culprit ... it's that bloody thin wire you used!".  So he removed the 30g wire and put in some fairly average coax and we compared it again against the dealer's stock phono stage.

Lo and behold, there was now bass in my phono stage!   

The reason evidently is that very thin wire does not have enough mass to stop itself being physically moved when the signal goes through it (is this the "triboelectric effect?  ) ... and this movement "loses" bass!!     Twisting the two wires together will make the pair stiffer and of higher mass than each individual wire ... as a result, no bass is lost!   

So yes, twist your input wires together.

Regards,

Andy

Hi Andy,

Very interesting bit about wire twisting. What about braiding - does that give the same effect?

I'm about to rewire my GK-1R with pure silver wire (yep, lots of nines), and I'm considering braiding the pot wires .....

[andyr]

Hi Andy,

Very interesting bit about wire twisting. What about braiding - does that give the same effect?

I'm about to rewire my GK-1R with pure silver wire (yep, lots of nines), and I'm considering braiding the pot wires .....

Hi Jens,

Yes, braiding would produce a "more massive & stiffer" structure than the wires individually ... but you need at least 3 wires to braid!     Do you use 'hot', 'return' & earth from the pot (I forget!)?

Regards,

Andy

[DSK]

Gentlemen,
You might like to start another 'wiring' thread, our 'Listening Impressions' thread is getting off course again.

Perhaps Hugh can start the wiring thread and move these posts across?

Cheers,
Darren.

Great idea, Darren, thanks!

[Jens]

Hi Andy,

Very interesting bit about wire twisting. What about braiding - does that give the same effect?

I'm about to rewire my GK-1R with pure silver wire (yep, lots of nines), and I'm considering braiding the pot wires .....

Hi Jens,

Yes, braiding would produce a "more massive & stiffer" structure than the wires individually ... but you need at least 3 wires to braid!     Do you use 'hot', 'return' & earth from the pot (I forget!)?

Regards,

Andy

Yep, GK-1 pot uses three wires per channel - ideal for braiding. If you want to do it really well, twist or braid and then shield the whole thing with a good quality woven shield