[hagtech]

Be back in a few days.  Hopefully with some photos & news.

jh

[TONEPUB]

Hey there:

Good to see you at the show, hope you had a good time!!!

[Bill Epstein]

Did you get a new turntable? Or speakers?

[hagtech]

Neither. 

But I bought a Pete Riggle VTAF for my RB300!  That should solve my setup issues with the 20XL.  Maybe someday I can afford a Serac turntable.  Waiting for Thom to make a matching housing for the motor.

Meanwhile, I did not find the miracle speaker I was looking for.  You know 100dB, easy to drive, incredible dynamics, and bass to 30Hz, all for under a grand.  Ha!  Who was I kidding?  I think my preference would have been the Cogents in the Teres room.  They did pretty much everything, although I'm not sure how low they really went.  The other high efficiency type loudspeakers of interest were from Escalante, AudioKinesis, and Bastanis.  They can be pretty pricey, though.  I thought the Fremont held considerable promise.  The Bastanis were beautifully spacious and open, but with a corresponding loss of pinpoint focus.  For example, a vocalist would be  six feet wide.  But still, very pleasing. 

Interestingly, I came away as a new fan of panels.  The large panels like the Apogee were by far the most neutral and uncolored in their reproduction.  They set the bar of accuracy very high.  I also think the wife would be ok with such in the living room.  Listening to them really reveals the defficiencies of other topologies.

It was also pretty obvious that gobs of power can really help.  Unrestrained dynamics, control, and ease are hallmarks of headroom.  I'm wondering now if I need to start thinking about making a 200W amp.

There was a LOT to see.  I ran through it pretty fast, as I spent most of my time schmoozing the lobby.  The string quartet wins best sound of show.  The Roy Gregory / Richard Foster presentation was perfectly choreographed and executed; a stunning demonstration of turntable setup.  The Hansen speakers in the lecture hall were essentially flawless, the Acapellas had by far the biggest sound of the show, the Ushers were amazing for their size and cost, the McIntosh line is visually the most beautiful, the Vivid sounded fabulous (but with no imaging), the Thiels were the best I ever heard them, and the Kimber demo sounded really good (albeit with way too much rear channel).

The preceding comments are nothing more than a scatter-brained opinion and does not reflect the official position of Hagerman Technology or any of its affiliates, associates, vendors, and/or customers.
jh

[analog97]

"It was also pretty obvious that gobs of power can really help.  Unrestrained dynamics, control, and ease are hallmarks of headroom.  I'm wondering now if I need to start thinking about making a 200W amp."


Please, yes.  I just pulled apart a large SS amp and saw basically: 1) a big toroidal transformer 2) a small pcb for power input 3) 2 pcb's (one for each channel) and 4) 2 big heat sinks. Of course, plugs and wire, but hey....in many ways it looked less daunting than lots of other stuff you've done.  Think on these things!

[tubesforever]

Jim,

My Precision Fidelity M7A's run 4 EL34 or 6CA7 tubes per channel and run them at about 95% with current limiters of 2 miliseconds. 

So they run 50 watts per channel RMS (55 from my measurements) and easily hit 200 watt dynamic peaks.

I would love someone to build an amp like this at 100 watts per channel with a 400 watt dynamic peak.  This would be a perfect tube amplifier.

I know it can be done!

[Bill Epstein]

The XLH 1812's shipped back to the importer last week and these are the replacements



The parts, JBL 2226, B&C DE-250, Martinelli Horns and crossover would run you about $1800. That's a 4 cu ft box with 2 -4"x6 1/2" ports tuned to 40Hz right out of the JBL Enclosure Guide. F3 is 37 to 20,000Hz.

Don't buy, DIY!

Make the box pretty and don't look back. Center image vocals are a little wide but placement of instruments both wide and deep is good. The 2226 has a surprisingly gorgeous mid-range with its huge motor and copper shorting ring. This particular B&C is smoother and more extended than any of the legion of JBL and Altecs I've tried. Polyamimide (Kapton, if DuPont made it) diaphragm.

Finally, here's another vote for 200 watts with high 90's efficiency. As I wrote in my review of the 240 Watt Accuphase E-450 integrated, Power Corrupts, Absolute Power is Absolutely Delightful.

[hagtech]

Or I can always get some La Scalas...

jh

[ecir38]

Bill, where's the link to this build.

Jim I agree more power, would be nice to have the headroom.

 

[Bill Epstein]

Bill, where's the link to this build

It's basically a Pi Speakers http://www.pispeakers.com/ 4Pi Pro except with a JBL sized box instead of Wayne Parhams Pi-aligned 2.5 cu ft box. Drivers are the same, crossover the same. Most everyone uses the Eminence H290 or Peavey CH-3 horns. They bring the price down to about $1000. Altec 811 horns do well also along with JBL 2370s. A Pair of Martinelli horns will set you back about $700 unless you've been drinking with him as long as I have aa

The Pi Forum has lots of info.

[robertwstephens]

Yes, the McIntosh gear is like seeing a woman that makes your teeth sweat.  For me only once every couple of years.  I would love a 50 watt tube amp with a decent damping factor for driving my towers in the living room.  I put my 8 watt tube amp with low damping factor on the towers and they sounded really mediocre. The 8 watt amp I have sounds amazing with my single driver, crossoverless speakers in the office. So my request is to engineer a high powered tube amp with decent damping factor for good control over multi-driver speakers with a crossover in them.  Integrated with a volume pot and selector switch would be a real bonus!  Peace.  Robert

[Big Jim]

Please, yes.  I just pulled apart a large SS amp and saw basically: 1) a big toroidal transformer 2) a small pcb for power input 3) 2 pcb's (one for each channel) and 4) 2 big heat sinks. Of course, plugs and wire, but hey....in many ways it looked less daunting than lots of other stuff you've done.  Think on these things!

I've seen this amp you can build. Haven't heard it myself. People seem to like it.

http://www.ska-audio.com/diy/index.html

[hagtech]

SKA - I believe that's Greg's design.  If you want decent SS, check it out.

jh