Dennis Had Inspire Amps

[khashmi]

Originally Posted by Isaacc7

If anyone os thinking bout getting one of Dennis's amps he has an older one up on ebay at a great price. https://www.ebay.com/itm/15506501971...cAAOSwKn5iw0vZ

Lol, you just beat me to this Public Service announcement. Sounds like a great deal!

Update 1: Closed on a deal for NIB/NOS (original box) Visseaux 6V6 for $230 yesterday.

Update 2: Expecting to receive the Silvertone 5Y3GT and Fivre 6V6 tomorrow.

[Isaacc7]

Went back to using the cv1102 and Cossor 807. An amazing combo, well recorded music is downright eerie sounding it's so realistic. The Andrew Bird song "Fiery Crash" has a guitar that comes in on the left side towards the end of the song. Heard the song many times before but this time I got goosebumps when it came in. Couldn't help but smile!

[khashmi]

So received the Fivre’s, Ferranti 807’s and Silvertone 5Y3 rectifier. First up, I wanted to test the Fivre’s with the 5Y3.

As soon as I turned the amp on after switching the power and rectifier tubes, I noticed that the rectifier was rattling but it quieted down in a minute but then I started hearing slight popping sounds from my left speaker. Messaged Dennis and he suggested that the Fivre 6v6 tubes might be noisy and to take out the rectifier and let them burn in after a few hours as they might have been just sitting unused for decades.

Burned in this manner for 3 hours. Plugged the rectifier again and again the same rattling sound for only a min and then then starting hearing the popping sounds. This time I figured I’d play some light jazz to see if I can pick up the noise and good news, I can’t. However, between the tracks, I can detect the small popping noise though it seems to be dissipating, not entirely sure at this point. Will keep testing tomorrow to see how it fares.

That said, everything I’ve played so far sounded wonderful. I am assuming the initial rattle of the 5Y3 rectifier is normal?

[Isaacc7]

Originally Posted by khashmi

So received the Fivre’s, Ferranti 807’s and Silvertone 5Y3 rectifier. First up, I wanted to test the Fivre’s with the 5Y3.

As soon as I turned the amp on after switching the power and rectifier tubes, I noticed that the rectifier was rattling but it quieted down in a minute but then I started hearing slight popping sounds from my left speaker. Messaged Dennis and he suggested that the Fivre 6v6 tubes might be noisy and to take out the rectifier and let them burn in after a few hours as they might have been just sitting unused for decades.

Burned in this manner for 3 hours. Plugged the rectifier again and again the same rattling sound for only a min and then then starting hearing the popping sounds. This time I figured I’d play some light jazz to see if I can pick up the noise and good news, I can’t. However, between the tracks, I can detect the small popping noise though it seems to be dissipating, not entirely sure at this point. Will keep testing tomorrow to see how it fares.

That said, everything I’ve played so far sounded wonderful. I am assuming the initial rattle of the 5Y3 rectifier is normal?

Maybe the rattle won't harm anything but I wouldn't call it normal. I've never noticed any noise coming from the rectifier before.

[OldTube Guy]

Originally Posted by Isaacc7

Does the input impedance of the amp change when we use different input tubes? Finally getting a chance to try an ecc81 and I'm getting a really weird result. I'm used to tubes giving me a different sound but this takes it to another level. I'm getting a big boost in the lower treble and a complete suckout of the midrange. I'm guessing that my passive preamp can't drive it properly and/or the ecc31 can't properly drive either the 807 or 6f6 that I've tried. Any guesses?

The 'official' input tubes for the KT88 SE are 6SN7,6SL7 and 6BX7.

[OldTube Guy]

Originally Posted by Isaacc7

Maybe the rattle won't harm anything but I wouldn't call it normal. I've never noticed any noise coming from the rectifier before.

What's going on isn't normal. Return the tube.

[khashmi]

Update: The tapping of the left speaker had vanished by midnight. Today, I turned the amp on at noon, there was that initial rattle of the rectifier that subsided to a faint hum, which I can only hear if I put my ear right next to the tube. Not sure if all rectifiers have a hum if you listen up close (I never tried doing that with the GE 5U4 so not sure). Left speaker was noisy again for less than a minute but it’s fine for the past 6 hours. Good thing is the Fivre’s sound wonderful. Initial impressions is that I am liking them better the Popes but haven’t had much time to do critical listening. I will contact the seller of the Silvertone and send him a video I made of the initial rattle of the 5Y3 upon start-up and gauge what he is willing to do.

Update 2: The Visseaux arrived early and probably has one of the most beautiful original tube box I’ve seen to date. See pictures I linked in this post (hope they come through). I won’t have a chance to test them until the weekend so let’s see if they sound as good as the boxes look.

[Analog Addict]

I went by the shop yesterday to see what Dennis had been up to. He told me that he had been working on the crossovers for a pair of my speakers that had been sucking up space in the back of the shop. These are most likely buried in this thread somewhere, but were a quick mock up of an open driver set up of a vintage Altec 604-8G pair I had lying around.

Here is Dennis soaking it all in...

Untitled by analog addict, on Flickr

Untitled by analog addict, on Flickr

And here is the bad boy powering the set up...The Mighty 46 Amp!
Pure sonic bliss with a mighty 2 watts. Sounds like a 45 on steroids to me. Dennis likes it better than the 45 tube.

Untitled by analog addict, on Flickr

And then, there's this....

Untitled by analog addict, on Flickr

The brand new phono pre featuring a separate power supply. Dennis said that he has ordered 25 sets of these chassis, so get in line quick before they're all gone. Who knows if he'll make any more?...

Lastly, the crossovers.

Untitled by analog addict, on Flickr

Dennis absolutely loved the 604's with his custom crossover. He said the sound became "real" once he got it dialed in...

So, since we were messing with Altecs, I toted out the second set of Altec loaded speaker hiding in the back of the shop. These are EV Aristocrat cabinets loaded with a 416A woofer and a 902 compression driver loaded on a (I believe) 9344 small horn. There was a set of old crossovers that had been built earlier, but Dennis said don't waste your time with them. The "Altecrats" sounded very nice, but couldn't match the classic duplex. I will have to fiddle with them more....

Untitled by analog addict, on Flickr

[Isaacc7]

Oh man, I had no idea I wanted a 46 based amp lol. Would love to hear it. By my reckoning I am rarely ever going over 2 watts with my system. Luckily for me I doubt this will be priced low enough to make it an impulse buy. But who knows, maybe Dennis will surprise me? Lol.

[rmlowz]

Originally Posted by Isaacc7

If anyone os thinking bout getting one of Dennis's amps he has an older one up on ebay at a great price. https://www.ebay.com/itm/15506501971...cAAOSwKn5iw0vZ

That used to be my amp that was my first Inspire amp. I really liked it. I bet it sounds even better with the updates