[adydula]

ctviggen,

as i best recall the documentation says in case your listening to a nosiy FM station etc...u know the kind of FM station that goes in and out ..poor reception etc..reduce hiss.

To me they are kind of worthless..but a pre-amp has legacy needs and requirements...I could ask a few questions about why my AVR has 1,099 inouts, outputs, reassigning funtions, remap functions and on and on...

Makes life interesting!!

 
Alex

[ctviggen]

I guess that makes sense.  By the way, what's "FM"?    Seriously, I haven't listened to radio in years. But I could see the switch might be useful if one did listen to FM. 

[AVnerdguy]

ctviggen,

as i best recall the documentation says in case your listening to a nosiy FM station etc...u know the kind of FM station that goes in and out ..poor reception etc..reduce hiss.

To me they are kind of worthless..but a pre-amp has legacy needs and requirements...I could ask a few questions about why my AVR has 1,099 inouts, outputs, reassigning funtions, remap functions and on and on...


Makes life interesting!!

 
Alex

I use them when listening to a poorly phased surround sound broadcast on FOX especially when I'm wearing headphones. They pop in and out of stereo to 5.1 to reverse channels etc and it drives me crazy (I'm a broadcast engineer and have worked with FOX). The mono isn't the way I want to hear it but it's much better than all of the spacey effects!

[trebejo]

Fats Waller sounds better in mono, hmm?

Re mysterious AVA effects, a couple of months ago I was listening to the Ultravalve et. al. until the wee hours, when my neighbor drove in, and while he was parking his car I heard some beeping sound. I was getting ready to panic but the beeps went away. Some days passed, same wee hours, same beeps. This time I was able to get to the right speaker and put my ear right against it, darn it if it wasn't beeping. Before I could act, beeping stopped. I looked at the clock, went to bed. By now I'm starting to make a habit of staying up late and sure enough, it happens again and at the very same time. This time I'm ready, I go to the speaker, then back towards the amp and sure enough my Ultravalve is beeping! 

I figured Frank was downloading his instructions from Planet Klaxxon (btw that's why his amps sound so good). Next day I've got the Volcano vaporizer going, literally waiting for the particular wee hour and sure enough, it beeps again. I am almost ready to call Frank or post here but I figure it's too risky, I might get abducted and who knows if I'll like it on Planet K?

Next afternoon, I take a look around the amp. I see a bag. I look inside the bag. I find an ancient LCD stopwatch. 

What a relief, to exonerate the Klaxxons, the Ultravalve and the Volcano...

[jimdgoulding]

As we get older, our senses have the potential of becoming more open and acute than they were.  So does our understanding.  The audiophile being one example.  I say potential because you know it ain't necessarily so.  In either case. 

[boycephoto]

You'er older than you've ever been... and now your even older... and now your even older 

I am not sure this is really a laughing matter, just realistic truth. 

Dave

[avahifi]

By the way, the "strange option" of L Mono R switches is so that you can:

Play a mono source connected to only either a Left or Right input out to both stereo channels (in mono of course).

Switch the output to Mono operation (both L and R channels combined).  This is useful for killing noise in crappy FM reception and even turntable rumble, and for system testing work.

Yah, I know most preamps have no functions at all any more, but we are a bit old fashioned.

Best regards,

Frank Van Alstine

[srb]

Yah, I know most preamps have no functions at all any more, but we are a bit old fashioned.

I had an old McIntosh C26 preamp that had a mode selector.  It might have been a little over complicated and I'm not sure what it did or didn't do to the signal path, but it was very useful for troubleshooting and auditioning.
 
Steve
 

[mark funk]

Back in the old days that was a standard on almost every thing. Very useful.



                                                                                       

[jrtrent]

Why include such a strange option?  What is this used for?

Being a bargain-bin lp buyer, I love being able to send either the left or right channel to both speakers.  I have some treasured performances on old, battered mono records that often have one groove wall in better shape than the other.  With this feature, I can send the better sound to both speakers.  I've also had "talking books" on tape that extended the play of the tape by putting separate chapters on the right and left channels, so you want to listen to only one channel at a time.  As others have mentioned, this kind of flexibility used to be common, and it is features like this, in addition to the great sound, that keep me an AVA user.

[turkey]

The worse case was the amplifier that went "beep".  The problem here was that his system still made occasional loud "beeps" even though at that time the amplifier was in our shop playing perfectly.  The client accused us of "ruining his system" with the amplifier, ruining the system so thoroughly that the problem remained even with the amplifier removed from the system and being far far away at our shop.

The issue turned out to be a low battery in his smoke detector located in the ceiling above the system.

Even then, the guy remained suspicious of our equipment and never contacted us again.

I find that the low battery alert on my smoke detectors sounds much more musical when I mount the detector with those Cardas wooden blocks underneath.

Maybe you should have wrapped teflon around his fuses. That might have made him happier.

Speaking of that, I have some Gore-tex teflon tape at home. I wonder if my preamp will sound better if I wrap some tape around the knobs? Is Gore-tex the right brand to use?

[turkey]

By the way, the "strange option" of L Mono R switches is so that you can:

Play a mono source connected to only either a Left or Right input out to both stereo channels (in mono of course).

Years ago I had a Heathkit/Daystrom tuner that was two separate tuners (AM and FM) in one case. It had two mono outputs and I connected those to my Scott integrated amp's L&R tuner inputs and selected the L or R input to get AM or FM. (I had a stereo integrated amp and a pair of speakers, but none of my sources at that point were stereo.)

It seems to me that I've seen old preamps with this type of thing actually denoted on the front panel for the selector switch.

[mfsoa]

I used to like the "Reverse" feature on my old Harmon-Kardon integrated - It's send the L to the R and the L to the R output.  Handy for troubleshooting.
-Mike

[CSI]

I find that the low battery alert on my smoke detectors sounds much more musical when I mount the detector with those Cardas wooden blocks underneath.

Maybe you should have wrapped teflon around his fuses. That might have made him happier.

Speaking of that, I have some Gore-tex teflon tape at home. I wonder if my preamp will sound better if I wrap some tape around the knobs? Is Gore-tex the right brand to use?

Or he could do what my mother used to do when her smoke detector batteries started beeping. Rip the thing off the wall and bury it in a drawer under a pile of sweaters.

[turkey]

Or he could do what my mother used to do when her smoke detector batteries started beeping. Rip the thing off the wall and bury it in a drawer under a pile of sweaters.

Then he'd just have claimed that the AVA amp ruined his sweaters too.

[srb]

Speaking of that, I have some Gore-tex teflon tape at home. I wonder if my preamp will sound better if I wrap some tape around the knobs? Is Gore-tex the right brand to use?

Gore-Tex is a manufacturer of waterproof breathable fabric.  They do not manufacture Teflon tape.  You can wrap something around the knobs if you want, but you will have better results if you replace the knobs.
 
I was going to recommend the Silver Rock Signature wooden audiophile knobs with C37 lacquer for $485 each, but unfortunately for you, Reference Audio Mods seems to have removed them from their website.
 

 
Steve
 
 

[Wayner]

Years ago I had a Heathkit/Daystrom tuner that was two separate tuners (AM and FM) in one case. It had two mono outputs and I connected those to my Scott integrated amp's L&R tuner inputs and selected the L or R input to get AM or FM. (I had a stereo integrated amp and a pair of speakers, but none of my sources at that point were stereo.)

It seems to me that I've seen old preamps with this type of thing actually denoted on the front panel for the selector switch.

Turkey,

Perhaps you know this, maybe not, or at least for others. This tuner had (I owned one) had the capability to play both turners at the same time. Why you ask? Because in the early days before they figured out how to make a multi-path signal (stereo), the stations would use their FM station to broadcast one channel, and the AM station to broadcast the other channel. This was usually done in the evening during "prime time". Of course, your station needed to have both AM and FM to do this, and while it "worked", it was more of an amusement then anything else. It's like the days just before stereo TV, when FM stations would simulcast the audio portions of a concert on TV, like the King Bisket Flower Hour or something like that.

Wayner 

[turkey]

Gore-Tex is a manufacturer of waterproof breathable fabric.  They do not manufacture Teflon tape.  You can wrap something around the knobs if you want, but you will have better results if you replace the knobs.

http://www.gore.com/en_xx/products/sealants/gaskets/gore_tex_gasket_tape.html

I was going to recommend the Silver Rock Signature wooden audiophile knobs with C37 lacquer for $485 each, but unfortunately for you, Reference Audio Mods seems to have removed them from their website.

That's what I need. Good-sounding knobs.

[turkey]

Turkey,

Perhaps you know this, maybe not, or at least for others. This tuner had (I owned one) had the capability to play both turners at the same time. Why you ask? Because in the early days before they figured out how to make a multi-path signal (stereo), the stations would use their FM station to broadcast one channel, and the AM station to broadcast the other channel.

I knew about it, but that was before my time. I just got hand-me-downs from my Dad, and I was just glad to have FM. I thought it was a big step up from the tuner I had before it, because that one was a Collins FM tuner put together from surplus parts. It had an inductive tuner and I had to tune it by moving the slug in and out of the coil.

[srb]

Gore-Tex is a manufacturer of waterproof breathable fabric.  They do not manufacture Teflon tape.

http://www.gore.com/en_xx/products/sealants/gaskets/gore_tex_gasket_tape.html

Well, technically it's not Dupont brand Teflon®, but generic PTFE!
 
But I stand corrected.
 
I don't quite understand the similarity between Gore-Tex® breathable fabric and Gore-Tex® 100% expanded PTFE Gasket Tape.  Is the gasket tape also supposed to pass water vapor but seal water?  Probably not, I guess they just share the W.L. Gore tradename.
 

That's what I need. Good-sounding knobs.

Yes, I don't buy into that either, but I can appreciate wooden knobs from the standpoint of aesthetics and insulation from static electricity.  For $20 or $30 a pop.  If they're really nice.
 
Steve