[Dan Kolton]

I've had my Ultra pre-amp back with the tube up-grade since last Wednesday evening.  It's hard to stop listening.  The dynamic range is awsome, and it sounds so gooooood.  On some material that I know pretty well, the "realness" of the sound is scary.  It actually brought tears to my eyes listening to Diane Krall sing "Peel Me a Grape".  I can hardly wait for my Ultra D/A up-grade.

[martyo]

What else is in your set Dan?

[Dan Kolton]

martyo,
My set-up includes Orion speakers driven by an ATI6012 amp, Linkwitz crossover/equalizer, AVA Ultra pre and D/A, early AVA/Dyna Tuner, AVA Longhorn in straight line tracking arm (based on Rabco) on Thorens TD-150 table.  My son now has my B&W 801s and Ultra 550.  Orion requires 3 or 4 power amps per speaker, so the ATI6012 has it covered, and the amp drives the speaker directly because the active crossover preceeds it, so it's an easy load. Drawback is supposedly the op amps in the crossover, but don't knock it if you haven't heard it.

[Occam]

....
 Drawback is supposedly the op amps in the crossover, but don't knock it if you haven't heard it.

Dan - You might consider swaping some LM4562 National Duals for those OPA2134 s. IMO, its an exceptional opamp. You might want to check the dc ouput offsets where its not cap coupled on the outputs first, though I've never had offset problems with them.

[Dan Kolton]

Occam,
I've followed this subject on the Orion owners' forum, and I'm in no hurry to swap.  I'll get more interested if SL optimizes for them.

[Dan Kolton]

Well, my Ultra D/A came back last night.  I had the same problem with the UPS guy that Frank has with his FedEx guy....dumped on porch without ringing doorbell...hard to find when using the garage door, but, fortunately, I was expecting it.

Anyway, I've had little time for evaluation, but I noticed a far cleaner and more natural tembre and MUCH more dynamic range.  I was playing the last movement of the Barber Violin Concerto with Slatkin and Olivera.  I'm not going to have time for a few days for any further listening.

[robinje]

What was the turnaround time for getting the upgrades done?  I want to send in my Ultra SL for the upgrade, but I am dreading being without it for some time.

Thanks!

[Dan Kolton]

"What was the turnaround time for getting the upgrades done?  I want to send in my Ultra SL for the upgrade, but I am dreading being without it for some time."

My upgrade on the DAC was expected to take 3 weeks and took just over one, but YMMV.  Call Frank first and ask for an estimate of completion time.