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Conrad-Johnson It just sounds right

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  #11  
Old 02-19-2014, 10:44 AM
ronenash ronenash is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Briz Vegaas View Post
Well, better safe than sorry......but it was just a tube.

One thing to share. If you have a suspect tube don't swap tubes like you would swap speaker cables to diagnose a fault. If the bad tube has taken out circuits and you swap it with another one ( ie not with a spare one), you will just blow more more circuits where you put the faulty one. Apparently people do it without really thinking it through. Obvious when you think about it, but apparently it's not uncommon.

I didn't, but I'm a cautious newbie. A bit more arrogance and I might have done it as I did not have a spare.
You are correct in what you say but it really depends on the fault. Swapping tubes is a good practice only to diagnose a noisy tube. Flashing or failed tube should not be swapped as you have said.
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  #12  
Old 02-23-2014, 06:16 AM
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Briz Vegaas Briz Vegaas is offline
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Hmmm. More amp shenanigans today. Near the start of a 3rd record the left channel went nasty with squawks and sort of popping. I took the record off and it kept going so shut down the amp. I thought I traced it to the new phono preamp. I unhooked the vinyl and the problem went but I set it up in my second system and it's behaving itself. Dead quiet, works fine. At the same time my digital is working fine in the main system as well and the speakers came through seemingly unscathed. I think the tweeters on the B1 are dampened and are robust electrically, which is good, the bass driver went bonkers.

I didn't imagine it but it's like the problem has evaporated.

The LP70 has just had a check up last Monday and all was fine. I've been keeping a close eye on bias as we'll as the dealer said it had been a little low. It's been running an hour this afternoon and now an hour tonight and the digital is fine.

I'm going to leave the vinyl in the second system fir a week. See if it plays up again.

I hate flakey gear.
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  #13  
Old 03-01-2014, 05:44 AM
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Briz Vegaas Briz Vegaas is offline
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Well it's been a week, put 4 hours on the Zesto in the second system and more on the CJ gear with the arrival of my Paul Hynes power supply for the digital. Not a sausage, as they say. All has worked fine so the turntable is to be reintroduced into the main system, with extra care for plugging in power etc. Was it a brown out, a poorly hooked up power cable or a hidden weakness in a component. Only one way to find out., this next week will tell. Which do I like more, vinyl or supercharged digital. Maybe it's just nice to have both.

Let the battle for supremacy commence..... And vinyl will be up against it as I have yet to introduce the Dynavector 17 d3, I need to learn to treat a cartridge properly first, the Ortofon 2m Bronze stays for the foreseeable future. Only today I had a brain fart and the cartridge bounced on a record.
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  #14  
Old 03-02-2014, 01:42 PM
ronenash ronenash is offline
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Vinyl is a delicate thing and we need to retrain ourselves to be careful. After handling digital for many year it can be a challenge to handle vinyl at first. Any mistake can cost you a $30-50 record or even worth a $1000 cartridge.
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  #15  
Old 04-05-2014, 07:54 PM
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Update. LP70 is behaving itself, CT5 got confused this week but a full power down/ reboot fixed that.

Vinyl. I've installed the Dynavector 17d3 cartridge and its been in a week. It's clearly worth the investment over the Ortofon 2m Bronze, which is good at its price point. The Zesto Andros PS1 now seems to have an intermittent noisy valve in the right channel. It was suggested that I swap valves to see if the problem moved but you don't do that. I learnt that one from my CJ dealer. You get a fresh valve and see if the problem goes away. Anyway the vinyl sounds great. No intermittent noise problems this weekend, ( i have yet to source some spare 12 ax7 tubes.) Found a few noisy records in my old collection however.

Digital. Wow, this sounds brilliant. With my teething issues with the Paul Hynes power supply out the way (they call me gremlin at my hifi store, I'm sure of it) it's now run in and sounds amazing. Before the linear power supply was introduced I thought the LP70S CT5 combo sounded a bit dark. With the Paul Hynes (Mac and digital interface) I'm getting superb detail, punch and balance from the Naim DAC / XPS combo. Fatiguing digital......what's that. Digital music can sound fantastic. Surprisingly, right now, I'm thinking it's better than the Vinyl by a decent margin.

There is a big caveat to the above. The DAC uses a Nordost Valhalla interconnect and a Valhalla power cord, well 2 actually, and anti resonance feet as we'll. My Red Dawn IC on the Zesto is completely outclassed by the Valhalla. I started out with the Valhalla on the vinyl/Zesto but most of my music is digital and vinyl is unlikely to become my primary source, Most of my music is digital from CD or HD download. My Vinyl LPs provide a bit of variety and definitely bring something refreshing different to the table.

Let's hope reliability settles down from here on in as I'm getting some great music.
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  #16  
Old 04-07-2014, 04:21 AM
Joe Appierto Joe Appierto is offline
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It's good to hear that everything has settled in and you're getting so much enjoyment from the system.

Nothing can be more disconcerting than having spent so much time and treasure only to have what seems to be one problem after another.
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  #17  
Old 07-21-2014, 08:09 AM
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Briz Vegaas Briz Vegaas is offline
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Hi.
I recently heard a well tuned Devialet based system and its open neutral sound ruined my listening experience when I got back home. I kept thinking my system was too dull, shut in and tube sounding.

Finally decided to swap out my KT120s for the OEM tubes. Problem solved. The forward sound has become less in your face and the sound has opened up. To my mind this can only mean one thing, the KT120s were on the way out. I plan to get myself a fresh set and will live with the.OEM tubes until then.

Finding I am enjoying music for the first time in about a month.
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  #18  
Old 07-21-2014, 01:43 PM
ronenash ronenash is offline
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I had the same experience a couple of weeks back. My LP125mSE started to sound "wrong". The tubes are 2.5 year old so I decided to replace them and all is happy again

Output tubes do not last more than 2-3 year in normal listening conditions (~20 hours a week)
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  #19  
Old 09-18-2014, 05:55 AM
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Small update. I have yet to get some replacement KT120s ( which in theory aren't that old anyway) but another one of the 6522 tubes went on the front of the amp so i replaced the remaining one as well. I noticed that the old tubes were 03/03 so they would have been originals probably.

To power back up my DAC i have to change the grounding settings ( long story) and i noticed i had been using the noisier setting to achieve a softer, more solid and pleasant sound. The quieter setting had sounded whimpy with the old valves, with the fresh set the tables had turned. With the new tubes and grounding set optimally I no longer have a rolled off top end which i was finding kind of dull. Classical music sounds much better than before with less strain and much more open and there is more delicate detail.

Those small ( input?) valves last a long time but there is a big difference when you replace tired ones.
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  #20  
Old 09-18-2014, 02:42 PM
ronenash ronenash is offline
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Interestingly CJ are the only audio manufacturer out there that recommends replacing input and driver valves every 1500 hours and replace output valves every other time. I think they have a point. The small signal valves will last virtually forever but their sound will degrade after 1500-2000 hours and their influence on the overall sound quality of an amplifier is much greater than the output valves. Its a good thing they are usually cheaper than output valves unless you purchase some crazy expensive NOS valves.
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