Dennis Had Inspire Amps

[nhparrot]

Originally Posted by Musica Amantem

Wow! That is interesting. What about headroom (power reserve for peaky passages)? My 98 dB's are merely enough and I don't like loud volumes, just enough to get a vivid presentation in a small room. It may be my absorption panels are dampening sound too much?

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I don't lack for volume with any power tube combo's in my Inspire.

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[manise]

I love your setup. Warm and cozy...

[FloridaBoy]

Originally Posted by pstrisik

I've never heard the RS5. Before the SAMs, I had his Super 7 XRS (original bigger cab) with both RS7V (no whizzer) and RS7A (alnicos). There was no contest for me. The Alnicos had much more depth, texture, smoothness. The ferrites were too hot for my tastes.

If there isn't some risk (for you to assess), you could try an XLR to RCA adapter and feed the 4 volts to the pre. If the DAC has an attenuator, you could even dial that back to somewhere between 2 and 4 v.

However, I only recently have found configuration that gives me enough slam with classical. Without the mid-woofers, I never experienced it. Orchestral music had been interesting, but once I got the mid-woofers dialed in, I started choosing classical more often. I think it is quite difficult to get proper sound with full orchestra. Until I heard it, I never new what was possible.

I wish there was some way we could hear each other's systems. Maybe we will get some virtual reality transmission capability in our lifetimes (if not transporter beams!)

That is the simple truth and why it is almost impossible to recommend tubes, etc. None of us have the same system or room. I'm happy with the I have.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by nhparrot

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I don't lack for volume with any power tube combo's in my Inspire.

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Glenn.......What a comfortable, cozy listening room. Very nice.

[nhparrot]

Originally Posted by manise

I love your setup. Warm and cozy...

Originally Posted by jdandy

Glenn.......What a comfortable, cozy listening room. Very nice.

Thanks, it's a small room 12 x 14, but quite comfortable for my two - 2 channel (predominently vinyl) systems. Note: the wood box next to my listening chair is my childhood toybox made by my Dad (over 60 years ago) - it has been repurposed for record storage.

[Musica Amantem]

Originally Posted by pstrisik

The guy with the handle DBC has posted a fair amount on both DECWare and Omega forums. I believe he has SAMs and was using a single HSU mid woofer. Later posts indicate that he's moved away from that setup. I suspect a stereo pair of powered mid-woofers would have an edge over a single mono though.

Interesting to me on two counts in your post:

I took a look at the ZBit. Interesting option, though $649 discourages me. My Cambridge Audio streamer/DAC has both balanced and unbalanced outputs. Naturally, I use the unbalanced with the Inspires, but makes me curious how it would sound with balanced to ZBit and all the flexibility of adjustment at the source that would add. Sounds like it didn't wow you though. Maybe relevant that whenever I try to run the Inspire KT-150 without the LP-2, I'm less satisfied. I found that true with the Kitoki also. It is odd that the LP-2 doesn't seem to add much gain, but I like the overall sound better. Before I discovered Dennis in retirement, I had his Cary SLP-05. I bought the KT-150 and a few months later bought the LP-2 so I could have a matching set in the same color since it looked like I was keeping the KT-150 long term. I didn't expect to use the LP-2 extensively. But I went back and forth between the SLP-05 and LP-2 and kept finding the LP-2 preferable (at 1/6 the price!). I ended up selling the Cary. Go figure!

The other thing is that you are the first that I have seen compare Inspire with DECWare directly. I've been curious about the DECWares, particularly Super Zen. I recently had the opportunity to try a new internet direct amp by Wolf Ear Audio (Canada) called the Kitoki that is now on tour. Two watt EL 84 based SET. It was sweet, particularly the transparency in the upper registers. It looks like the MiniTorii is more comparable to the Inspire SEPs though - 6V6 based. I may try the Super Zen Select someday as there is the 30 day trial period. It would be cool to have a zebrawood base on the amp to match the Omegas' veneer. I like my Jaguar Red Inspires look though.

My experience with the ZBit has been sort of frustrating ... It sounds nice with the Decware Mini Torii (6V6 SEP) but it won't do anything for me when applied directly to my DACT Inspire SET. I suspect the passive DACT is a variable getting in the way of the ZBit, for some reason. And, yeah, its a lot of money for not being able to use it, as I don't listen to the Mini Torii anymore, no contest!

I haven't heard any of the other Decware amps, so I cannot comment on their differences with the Mini, but I can tell you I know many people who swear by the Super Zen, all over the Internet, and is not an expensive choice. I was tempted for a while, but the lacking power made me look somewhere else, luckily, Dennis Had's designs.

BTW, I'm all for tele-transportation

[Musica Amantem]

Originally Posted by pstrisik

I've never heard the RS5. Before the SAMs, I had his Super 7 XRS (original bigger cab) with both RS7V (no whizzer) and RS7A (alnicos). There was no contest for me. The Alnicos had much more depth, texture, smoothness. The ferrites were too hot for my tastes.

If there isn't some risk (for you to assess), you could try an XLR to RCA adapter and feed the 4 volts to the pre. If the DAC has an attenuator, you could even dial that back to somewhere between 2 and 4 v.

However, I only recently have found configuration that gives me enough slam with classical. Without the mid-woofers, I never experienced it. Orchestral music had been interesting, but once I got the mid-woofers dialed in, I started choosing classical more often. I think it is quite difficult to get proper sound with full orchestra. Until I heard it, I never new what was possible.

I wish there was some way we could hear each other's systems. Maybe we will get some virtual reality transmission capability in our lifetimes (if not transporter beams!)

I've been gradually getting back to my classical music listening thanks to the Inspire combo. I still miss some slam which may be fixed by a couple of mid-woofers, though. BTW, your room´s volume is almost 5 times mine!

[Musica Amantem]

nhparrot,

Beautiful listening area, congrats! How do you manage to avoid reflections from those glass windows? Do you use curtains or difussers there when you listen? I was told glass is so reflective it really messes up with music listening if not properly covered. The view is great, though!

[Musica Amantem]

pstrisik: "However, I only recently have found configuration that gives me enough slam with classical. Without the mid-woofers, I never experienced it. Orchestral music had been interesting, but once I got the mid-woofers dialed in, I started choosing classical more often. I think it is quite difficult to get proper sound with full orchestra. Until I heard it, I never new what was possible."

Yes, DBC is the guy I was mostly referring to, and I remember he used to swear by the HSU mid-woofers:

hsuresearch.com/products/mbm-12mk2.html MBM-12 MK2 Mid-Bass Module

Are there better alternatives out there?

[Musica Amantem]

This weekened I found a new tube combination that rivals my favorite so far. Stemming from systematic tube-rolling, I got to the following combination:

GL KT88 + Super Radiotron 6SN7 + S.E. 274-B / Preamp with the best 27 tubes so far (Silvertone RCA's)

This rivals the slightly better in micro detail, but lacking some bass oomph:

Russian 6L6 GC + Super Radiotron 6SN7 + S.E. 274-B / Preamp with the best 27 tubes so far (Silvertone RCA's)

So, now I have two more or less top equivalents, one for acoustic music, one for orchestral music ... Life is good!