Dennis Had Inspire Amps

[Analog Addict]

The 300B mono blocks are for sale. Let me double check with Dennis, but if I am correct, the price is $12,500 for a pair



Untitled by analog addict, on Flickr

[Formerly YB-2]

Originally Posted by Analog Addict

The 300B mono blocks are for sale. Let me double check with Dennis, but if I am correct, the price is $12,500 for a pair

A very substantial portion of that $12,500 is for the two pairs of WE 300B tubes, which are quite expensive, but like no others.

[Analog Addict]

The first pair of the Inspire 3.1s is ready to go.

Final assembly process:

Stuffing like a Thanksgiving turkey...


Untitled by analog addict, on Flickr

Seating the tweeter...


Untitled by analog addict, on Flickr

Wiring up one of the woofers...


Untitled by analog addict, on Flickr

Wiring up the crossover...

Untitled by analog addict, on Flickr

The final result

Untitled by analog addict, on Flickr


Untitled by analog addict, on Flickr


Untitled by analog addict, on Flickr


Singing their hearts out on 4 wpc..

Untitled by analog addict, on Flickr

The details...

Price $3,000

Includes a pair of stands as recommended by Dennis.

Shipping should be in the range of $200-$300 CONUS. International shipping is also possible, but cost will be handled on an individual basis.

One of our AA members has first dibs on this pair, but if anyone is interested, as always, PM me...

[Isaacc7]

Originally Posted by Analog Addict

The 300B mono blocks are for sale. Let me double check with Dennis, but if I am correct, the price is $12,500 for a pair



Untitled by analog addict, on Flickr

Woo… That’s quite a set up. I’ve always been partial to mono blocs but my rational brain keeps asking me how much extra performance I’d actually be getting and could I really hear it? Still, if I had the money I[d still get them lol.

[Isaacc7]

The details...

Price $3,000

Includes a pair of stands as recommended by Dennis.

Shipping should be in the range of $200-$300 CONUS. International shipping is also possible, but cost will be handled on an individual basis.

One of our AA members has first dibs on this pair, but if anyone is interested, as always, PM me...

Interesting. Were the specs like frequency range, impedance range, and sensitivity mentioned earlier in the thread? Such tiny things… I have usually preferred the feel of big speakers over small ones but I’ve never been able to afford the room I would need for them. One of the best systems I’ve ever heard was a pair of Quad 989 driven by some crazy custom 300b push pull amp. But those speakers need so much room behind them I never even looked into that type of speaker.

I wonder how the presentation of the Inspire speakers compares to the bigger ones next to them. Not a fan of the Inspire logo in gold right in the middle of the speaker. I think it would be better as a smaller version in a lower corner.

[Analog Addict]

The member with first dibs on the Inspire 3.1s has not responded, so these are now available to the general AA/Inspire family. First come first served.

[pcprincipal]

Hello, I bought a CJ-5 about a year ago and it didn't play well with my Cary CAD-45se's. Long story short, I boxed them both up and went another route until I fried my Pilot SA-260 a few nights and go plugged in a solid state amp... Well I pulled out the CJ-5 and it is doing some nice things there, but too nice. It's too pretty.

Could you recommend tubes for a CJ-5 to achieve accuracy? Imagining and sound stage are my jam. What Dennis shipped it with gives me the pretty sounds, but I am looking for the gritty truth now. Even if it makes shitty recordings sound shitty.

Thank you. P.S. I this pre-amp is really really good. I should have toyed with it more, but running the Theta directing into the amps sounded so good...

[Analog Addict]

Originally Posted by pcprincipal

Hello, I bought a CJ-5 about a year ago and it didn't play well with my Cary CAD-45se's. Long story short, I boxed them both up and went another route until I fried my Pilot SA-260 a few nights and go plugged in a solid state amp... Well I pulled out the CJ-5 and it is doing some nice things there, but too nice. It's too pretty.

Could you recommend tubes for a CJ-5 to achieve accuracy? Imagining and sound stage are my jam. What Dennis shipped it with gives me the pretty sounds, but I am looking for the gritty truth now. Even if it makes shitty recordings sound shitty.

Thank you. P.S. I this pre-amp is really really good. I should have toyed with it more, but running the Theta directing into the amps sounded so good...

Ive never built or run this design, so you have more experience with it than I do. Since it runs both 6C5 and 6J5 tubes there is a wide range of offerings to choose from and a wide range of prices as well. The best I can do is offer some generalisations.

Since this tube is essentially 1/2 a 6SN7, I would look at the sonic characteristics of 6SN7s made by the same manufacturers. There are a lot of evaluations and comparisons of 6SN7s out there on line, so that would be my starting place. The 6J5 and 6C5 predate the 6SN7, so you will also find types that don't generally exist in 6SN7 versions, such as metal tubes and coke bottle shaped versions. In my opinion, you really can't go wrong with older tubes, if they are affordable.

Some of the brands I would look for are:

KenRad (absorbed by RCA in 1945 or so. Any KenRad marked tube is 1945 or older)
TungSol
Westinghouse
CBS/Hytron
Raytheon
National Union (before they became a rebrander)

You should be able to find Euro versions as well, and I can tell you nothing about these since I don't really have any 6SN7s made outside the US, but any real Phillips/Valvo, GEC, Telefunken, Mullard, Brimar, etc tubes would also be worthy of consideration.

That's the best I can do. Hope that helps....

[Isaacc7]

Originally Posted by pcprincipal

Hello, I bought a CJ-5 about a year ago and it didn't play well with my Cary CAD-45se's. Long story short, I boxed them both up and went another route until I fried my Pilot SA-260 a few nights and go plugged in a solid state amp... Well I pulled out the CJ-5 and it is doing some nice things there, but too nice. It's too pretty.

Could you recommend tubes for a CJ-5 to achieve accuracy? Imagining and sound stage are my jam. What Dennis shipped it with gives me the pretty sounds, but I am looking for the gritty truth now. Even if it makes shitty recordings sound shitty.

Thank you. P.S. I this pre-amp is really really good. I should have toyed with it more, but running the Theta directing into the amps sounded so good...

Which tubes came with it? I have used a bunch of 12j5 tubes as well as small signal pentodes run as triodes in place of them. The 6j5 and 12j5 versions should sound the same…I have found both round plate Sylvania 12j5gt and Raytheon 12j5wgt to give me really… I dunno, if not accurate at least the opposite of romantic sound. The brown base GEC L36 gives a little bit more classic tube sound but with a lean edge.

The Cossor 6c5g Langrex is selling https://www.langrex.co.uk/products/6...os-valve-tube/ Is also a great sounding but not mushy/romantic tube. The 6c5 was the predecessor of the 6j5 and is functionally equivalent.

If you want to get weird you can have some pentode to triode adapters made. The 6c5 was the first octal single triode I think. It was originally made by manufacturers taking their pentode 6j7 tube, wired as a triode at the factory, and removed the top cap. You can get adapters for 6j7 or 6js7 (a 6j7 without the top cap) and make your own bespoke 6c5 tubes. And while it is easier and cheaper to just buy 6c5 tubes for most brands, the more exotic ones might be worth getting the adapters made.

There are other pentodes you can use too. One of my favorites is the 5a/152m. These are stunningly linear as triodes. When I put them in as drivers in my (non Dennis made) amp it’s as if there aren’t any drivers at all, the output tubes just became really easy to drive. The 5a/152m is essentially the British equivalent to the famous and expensive c3g tube. They will have higher gain than a 6j5 but woo what a (lack of) sound!

[cgn-dt-n]

[QUOTE=pcprincipal;1079092]Hello, I bought a CJ-5 about a year ago .....

Hi, I use the 6j5 in both the driver and buffer position. I haven't had good experiences with the 6C5. either a slight hum or noise. There are so many variants of the 6J5 that there is something for every taste. Stage wider, narrower, more highs, more powerful bass, for relatively little money you can experiment with until you find the right one for your system. I have the best experience with the Fivre GT and use 4 of them. The Raytheon GT and the Zenit G are also great tubes. When using these tubes I get everything except an exaggerated warm soft tube sound