When I connected up my main system (First Sound preamp and C-J LP70S), and powered up the LP70S the other night, I noticed it a "buzz/hum" in the right channel, which, after literally disconnecting literally
everything in the system save for just the CJ amp connected to speakers, I simply could not eliminate. My guess is a tube in the LP70S has gone bad, which seems to be more frequent with tubes these days.
Have to now troubleshoot that...urg.
Anyhoo, given that, last night I set up my little Amp Camp amps (aka "ACAs") that Nelson Pass designed, and I built a couple years ago, and connected them to my First Sound dual-mono preamp. I built a pair of these ACAs in 2020 and run them as bridged monos. They were always quite impressive-sounding, even though they're only 15 Wpc of pure Class A power.
They sounded as good as I remembered on their own, but quite frankly, I was blown away when I added my segmented Altaira system (one SG hub specificially for the "digital stack" DAC and ER), and one SG hub for the analog amplification components (specifically preamp and amp) to the ACA-powered system.
Here's a pic of the ACAs and the Altaira(s). The SG Altaira on top of the ACAs is resting on two HRS Nimbus Spacers and Couplers and is the "analog amplification segment", and is connected to the chassis ground terminals of the preamp's main control unit and it's external dual mono power supplies (3 in total). The Amp Camp amps are also connected to this "analog amplification" Altaira using Venom RCA CGCs connected to unused RCA inputs on each each ACA monoblock. The SG Altaira at the back of the photo is dedicated solely to the digital stack, and is connected to the Holo May KTE DAC's unused S/PDIF input and EtherREGEN's ground terminal. Each Altaira is connected at it's 7th terminal using Omega CGCs to separate ground terminals on the Everest power distributor.
Using this this system with the Altairas stripped out so much noise, hash, grunge, and grain from the presentation that it completely transformed the quality and performance of the system powered by these little amps (little yes, but designed by a genius.
). The Altaira system also improved the clarity, imaging, added more air as Ivan observed, and the dynamics and "slam" really improved. Most importantly, the system sounds much more natural, "organic". and involving.
It's always interesting that one often don't realize how much noise is really in a system until it's been removed. And once you hear the system with all that noise, hash, and grunge removed, you can't "go back." It literally does not sound like the same system.
Just remarkable.
