[ted_b]

My two favorite rectifiers are the GZ32 and the Tung Sol 5U4GB

Ted, gets all the love for the DR's 

DR stands for "DAVID aka RYDENFAN".  They are his discovery as I've stated many times, especially for the 36.5 position (although really Frank S discovered them, but he's sold his TP so he gets no love.....   and David took over)

[rydenfan]

DR stands for "DAVID aka RYDENFAN".  They are his discovery as I've stated many times, especially for the 36.5 position (although really Frank S discovered them, but he's sold his TP so he gets no love.....   and David took over)

Nice one Ted!  Glad to see you are back around...

[ted_b]

I never left.     In fact, I've been posting my a$$ off.  Phil kidded me that i should get some work done....

[CometCKO]

<snip>
In short, after using the controller for only a couple of days, I heartily recommend it for use with the controller.  Seeing the album art on the display is hugely helpful for withdrawal from physical media.

Hi Nick,
I found an easy program "Album Art Aggregator" that does a good job of grabbing album art from different sources.  Might be useful if you don't have all the covers for your CDs on your controller?

I have about 1,500 CD's so far loaded, so it's been useful for me, altho some cover art will require more searching since some older CD's are long out of print and not in the databases.  Also, a lot of mine are classical, and the databases all suck for classical music.

My listening used to be about 80% via LP and 20% via CD.  Now that I've got the Modwright TP, it's shifted to about 50/50, which is amazing for me.  The Modwright is that impressive!  My LP collection is 95% classical, and almost none of my titles are available on CD.  I've toyed with getting a professional quality A/D convertor, looking specifically at the Apogee pro units.  But I still enjoy the ritual of cleaning LP's and anticipation when the needle hits the groove.

As far a rectifiers go, I've been trying a bunch of 5U4 alternatives, and a couple of GZ34's.  So far I prefer the Sylvania 5931's and the Tung-Sol 5U4G's, altho I've got a Tung-Sol 5U4GB in there now that I think is darn nice too.  You can see my list of one's I've tried so far in a previous post.

 didn't really like the 6CG7 RCA clear tops, altho it might have been my specific tubes, which are used, not NOS.  They seemed too bright until I used them with the Mullard GZ34, where they seemed to balance the softness in the upper register that the GZ34 imparted.  Interactions make the whole thing much more interesting...  Can't just find the best rectifier, and then best signal tube, gotta find the best pairing as well.  Fun!

Best,

Frank

[rydenfan]

So, I sat down and listed to the Mazda/Brimar 6CG7's last night. It is certainly a pretty nice tube. The top end seems more rounded off than the RCA Cleartop version and the sound is a little darker. However, on certain recordings where the RCA's can sound a little tizzy or bright, the Mazda tube sounds very nice. I think I still prefer the little greater detail in the RCA but once my tubes come back from their little road trip to Mississippi (  ) I will do some more testing. I am certain some may prefer the sound of the Mazda over the RCA and vice versa.

[CometCKO]

So, I sat down and listed to the Mazda/Brimar 6CG7's last night. It is certainly a pretty nice tube. The top end seems more rounded off than the RCA Cleartop version and the sound is a little darker. However, on certain recordings where the RCA's can sound a little tizzy or bright, the Mazda tube sounds very nice. I think I still prefer the little greater detail in the RCA but once my tubes come back from their little road trip to Mississippi (  ) I will do some more testing. I am certain some may prefer the sound of the Mazda over the RCA and vice versa.

Hi David,
Which rectifier were you using with the Mazda?  If you were using it with the GZ32, maybe you should try it with the 5U4.  I think you might like the Mazda better with that rectifier.  I know that going the other way, I liked the RCA cleartops much better with the Mullard GZ32 (and the GZ34) than with the 5U4.  Just a thought.

Frank

[NickS]

I found an easy program "Album Art Aggregator" that does a good job of grabbing album art from different sources.  Might be useful if you don't have all the covers for your CDs on your controller?

As far a rectifiers go, I've been trying a bunch of 5U4 alternatives, and a couple of GZ34's.  So far I prefer the Sylvania 5931's and the Tung-Sol 5U4G's, altho I've got a Tung-Sol 5U4GB in there now that I think is darn nice too.  You can see my list of one's I've tried so far in a previous post.

Thanks, Frank,

I started off with EAC using Album Art Aggregator but found that Easy CD-DA Extractor worked well, was fast, and also captured metadata including album art.

I'm prolly going to purchase a Tung-Sol 5U4G since it seems to be a unanimous favorite but, for the life of me, I cannot find any structural dissimilarities between it and its Sylvania branded reciprocal from pictures of both that I have seen.  Does anyone know if they in fact the same, or totally different?

I guess that the holiday totally flummoxed the brown trucks and I just received the dreaded "Exception Notice" that my MW TP won't be here this Friday as originally planned. 

Hard to believe that UPS could take 11 days in 2008 A.D. to move 24 lbs from Portland, OR to Atlanta, GA.

Oh well, at least the important bills all seem to arrive on time. 

[Bigfish]

Possibly this question should be directed to Dan or maybe it has already been addressed and I cannot find the topic.  Does the ModWright Transporter reverse phase as does a Bolder Analog Modded S3? 

Thanks,

Ken

[ted_b]

Possibly this question should be directed to Dan or maybe it has already been addressed and I cannot find the topic.  Does the ModWright Transporter reverse phase as does a Bolder Analog Modded S3? 

Thanks,

Ken

No, it doesn't.

[CometCKO]

I'm prolly going to purchase a Tung-Sol 5U4G since it seems to be a unanimous favorite but, for the life of me, I cannot find any structural dissimilarities between it and its Sylvania branded reciprocal from pictures of both that I have seen.  Does anyone know if they in fact the same, or totally different?

I guess that the holiday totally flummoxed the brown trucks and I just received the dreaded "Exception Notice" that my MW TP won't be here this Friday as originally planned. 

Hard to believe that UPS could take 11 days in 2008 A.D. to move 24 lbs from Portland, OR to Atlanta, GA.

Oh well, at least the important bills all seem to arrive on time. 

Sorry to hear you're still in WAIT mode.  Or maybe by now you've got it? 

Regarding the 5U4 rectifiers, despite the similarities in appearance, there are sonic differences between the three Tung-Sols and four Sylvanias that I've tried.  The earliest ones have the flared tubes and are really elegant looking.  They produce lower currents, and are more different sounding from each other than the late 5U4GB's seem to be with the straight tube bodies.  My Tung-Sols are late 50's and early 60's.  I've got a Sylvania from the 40's, two Military 5931 (one brown base, one black base) and a later 5U4GB.  I like the 5931's although they have a less refined sound than the Tung-Sols.  Overall, I think the early Tung-Sol is my favorite so far.  The 60s Tung-Sol 5U4GB also seems to be smooth, powerful, with plenty of thrust and bass.  These are reasonably plentiful and make a good default choice.  I've also had good results from early CBS 5U4's. 

But I just got another 6 rectifiers to try, and some more on the way...  Having fun, and these aren't very expensive tubes compared to some of my forays into 5751's or EL34's or KT-88's.  Thanks goodness!

Please keep us posted on your progress.  Enjoy the music.

[Philistine]

Possibly this question should be directed to Dan or maybe it has already been addressed and I cannot find the topic.  Does the ModWright Transporter reverse phase as does a Bolder Analog Modded S3? 

Thanks,

Ken

No, it doesn't.

If you want to play with phase inversion it's an option for the TP in SqueezeCenter, but doesn't function with the SB. 

[cAsE sEnSiTiVe]

I just received my Modwright Transporter today, and after a bit of fudging with the Music Vault, got everything up and going. All I can say right now is.....my Wadia has officially been kicked to the curb!

Much more to follow.......

[kenreau]

{Feel free to move this to another folder/thread.  The MWI forum is growing so rapidly I was afraid this would get lost on page 2 and no one would see it}

I have my MWI TP and it sounds great.  Just coming up on 400 hours of break-in so feel I'm flying into blue skys here on out.

My question/dilema;  80% of my music files (all in .wav) are standard 16 bit 44hz redbook format.  I've got +/- 100 CD's that profess to be 20 bit or 24bit 96 fidelity.  When I copy these higher resolution music files to my hd I am concerned they are being dumbed down to ol' 16 44 format.  If I click on the file properties, I get the 16 44 info, not 20 or 24 bit file property info.

Am I not backing these up properly?  (Agh, I hope not)

Am I using too old of a CDR/RW drive (TDK year 2003).

I use the latest EAC version w/ accurip.

What's the prefered method to get all the high resolution digits from the seedee to my hard drive?

Thanks,
Kenreau

[mateo]

The Redbook CD format is only 16/44.1.  I believe those 20 or 24 bit quotes relate to the original recording/mastering process, which is done at that higher resolution and then downsampled.  Your ripping method is also solid, if not the best currently available (I might not be up-to-date).  Also, your CD drive shouldn't be a factor unless you have severely scratched discs; correct me if I'm wrong, but the only real difference between some CD drives is certain error correction abilities, I think.

[ted_b]

That's correct...a good ol' redbook cd is 16/44.1 period...regardless of whatever was used to record the songs with.  The only way to get higher resolution onto your hard drive (typically stuff like 24/88 or 24/96) is to rip it off DVD-Video layers using dvd ripping tools, or to download it from some of the latest download sites like hidef transfers, Linn, etc.   But there's nothing wrong with your process...just the flawed logic that since the producer says it was recorded in 24 bit it would end up in redbook as anything but 16/44.1.

I have ripped several HDADs like Somethin' Else, Folk Singer, etc and they sound great on the Transporter in 24/96.  The DVD-Audio side of the HDAD (24/192) is unrippable (for this discussion) but the DVD-V side (24/96) is easily done, and well worth it.  Same with some of Neil Young's stuff that is 24/96 unprotected pcm (DVD-V).

[kenreau]

Thanks Guys - Good to hear/learn.

Ted - could you fill me in on backing up the DVD-V (24/96 audio) or 24/96 pcm files?  Neil Young is always on my desert island list.  It sounds like I may need to pick up a few of his recent remasters.  I have Greendale and love it but I suspect I bought all his recent stuff in redbook format.  Is it just his titles from the brief DVD-A / dual disc format a few years back? 

I did see a recent promo flyer that he would be reissuing his catalog in Bluray.  With my MWI TP server set up, I sold my MWI Denon 3910 and bought a Sony PS3 as my universal player replacement.  Fly in the ointment is the PS3 only outputs Toslink or HDMI.  I know the TP accepts Toslink so the future BD audio discs should theoretically be a real beneficial audio improvement.

I lost interest in the hires downloads after a few attempts of ungawdly long down load times and drop outs. 

Thanks again,
Ken

[ted_b]

Ken,
Yes, anything that has 24/96 lpcm is rippable with things like DVD Audio Extractor.  What you can't rip are the MLP-encoded DVD-Audio only discs (also called ppcm, for packed pcm).  So, things like Neil's Live at Massey Hall have a DVD-V stereo layer (LPCM 24/96).   LPCM is uncompressed, unprotected Linear PCM. It's the "traditional" format. LPCM can be played on any DVD player. It can be output through an external DAC at full resolution via a standard unencrypted digital port (assuming the DAC can handle that resolution). LPCM can be copied at full resolution to a computer or digital media player.

"DVD-A" is (losslessly) compressed, protected Packed PCM. PPCM requires a special DVD-Audio-compatible player. PPCM cannot usually be output through an unencrypted digital port, and it is copy-protected.  (Although many lower end universal players like the Oppo put out ppcm through coax/toslink in what appears to be a 16 bit "hirez" format, it clearly can't be ripped, regardless.)

Neil Young has both.  His DVD-A's are his midyears classic five (On The Beach, Stars and Bars, etc.).  Lately he favored LPCM on DVD-V over DVD-A (Greatest Hits, Massey hall, Filmore East). It makes sense for stereo-only DVD releases, because putting your stuff on a DVD-A limits the market.   However, that logic hit a snag recently when he announced that the forever-promised Archives (10-12 discs) would be released on Blu-Ray (although many followers also assume DVD-V).  Neil wants best format for best sound.....and that fervor is hard toa rgue....but possibly at the expense of his current market.  I guess if you're gonna buy his Archive boxset, you are a big fan (like me) and will own a BD player just for Neil....or will have one for a host of other reasons.  I've had my Sammy 1400 since day one and loved it.  It has its quirks but the picture and advanced audio codecs are great.

[Bigfish]

Possibly this question should be directed to Dan or maybe it has already been addressed and I cannot find the topic.  Does the ModWright Transporter reverse phase as does a Bolder Analog Modded S3? 

Thanks,

Ken

If you want to play with phase inversion it's an option for the TP in SqueezeCenter, but doesn't function with the SB. 
[/quote]

Can you tell me how to find this option in SqueezeCenter?  I know my Candela reverses phase and I would like to play with the SC Option to determine what setting sounds best.

Thanks,

Ken

[ted_b]

Possibly this question should be directed to Dan or maybe it has already been addressed and I cannot find the topic.  Does the ModWright Transporter reverse phase as does a Bolder Analog Modded S3? 

Thanks,

Ken

If you want to play with phase inversion it's an option for the TP in SqueezeCenter, but doesn't function with the SB. 

Player settings/Audio.  It's called Polarity Inversion (about the tenth setting down the page, depending on interface gui). 

[NickS]

Dammit, Ted, did you just outbid me for that Tung-Sol 5U4G Tube on eBay?!?