Dynaco PAS 3 (so that's what I've been missing!)
newbie308
Posts: 774
I often read the posts here by H9 and others regarding tube gear, and shrug my shoulders thinking "How different can it be?" Now I know that the Dynaco PAS is not by any stretch of the imagination the piece of tube gear to reference all others to, but it was in my price range, and it allowed me to sit in the air conditioning and play with a soldering iron some new resistors, caps, jacks, etc and rebuild a dead pile of parts.
I don't know if the metal film resistors I used were superior to the original carbon composition resistors, or if the polypropylene film capacitors were an improvement over the stock black cat capacitors, because as I said the unit was DOA. What I do know is that my wife, who tends to scowl when I buy this stuff, could not believe the sonic difference between the Dynaco and my Adcom GTP 500II! I have spent the past week swapping the two preamps while playing everything from Metallica to Tchaikovsky. The Pass wins hands down in every detail!
To quote my wife, "The Adcom sounds bleached out!" As I said in my title, "So that's what I've been missing!" I think I get it now!:rolleyes:
I don't know if the metal film resistors I used were superior to the original carbon composition resistors, or if the polypropylene film capacitors were an improvement over the stock black cat capacitors, because as I said the unit was DOA. What I do know is that my wife, who tends to scowl when I buy this stuff, could not believe the sonic difference between the Dynaco and my Adcom GTP 500II! I have spent the past week swapping the two preamps while playing everything from Metallica to Tchaikovsky. The Pass wins hands down in every detail!
To quote my wife, "The Adcom sounds bleached out!" As I said in my title, "So that's what I've been missing!" I think I get it now!:rolleyes:
Sources: Technics SL1200MKII | SME3009 Tonearm | Monster Alpha 1 MC cartridge | Oppo UDP203 disk player | Nikko NT-790 analog tuner | Musical Fidelity Trivista 21 DAC | Preamp: Threshold SL-10 | Amplifier: Threshold Stasis 2 | Speakers: Snell Acoustics C/V | Kimber 12-TC bi wire speakers | Analysis plus Oval 1 preamp to amp | Wireworld Eclipse 7 DAC to Preamp | Wireworld eclipse digital IC Oppo to DAC | Audioquest Quartz tuner to preamp |
Post edited by newbie308 on
Comments
-
Congrats on getting your PAS back up and running.Turntable: Empire 208
Arm: Rega 300
Cart: Shelter 501 III
Phono Pre: dsachs consulting
Digital: Marantz SACD 30n
Pre: Conrad Johnson ET3 SE
Amp: Conrad Johnson Premier 350
Cables: Cardas Neutral Reference
Speakers: SDA 2.3TL, heavily modified -
Good for you. Welcome to wonderful world of tube audio. The PAS 3 is a great start! Congrats!
-
Tubes add Soul!"Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
-
^^^That about sums it up^^^
-
Good gear makes SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.
-
I love it! I have been playing one record after another, and songs that I have heard hundreds of times before are revealing more than ever. Like "Cream live vol II" on side 2 when Eric Clapton is in his happy place and Ginger Baker is keeping a simple beat I can hear Eric Clapton's fingers brushing over the strings between notes!!! This is awesome!
Saturday night I was listening to Pink Floyd "Animals" and my dog started barking at the dog in the music! She never did that before!
Last night before the fireworks I was enjoying "Steven Stills Live" the acoustic side, and I swear he was in the room sitting on a bar stool playing for me!
Does this level of realism fade? I mean, after you hear this stuff you had been missing in the past for the first time, do you get numb to it and find it harder to obtain the next time? I hope not!Sources: Technics SL1200MKII | SME3009 Tonearm | Monster Alpha 1 MC cartridge | Oppo UDP203 disk player | Nikko NT-790 analog tuner | Musical Fidelity Trivista 21 DAC | Preamp: Threshold SL-10 | Amplifier: Threshold Stasis 2 | Speakers: Snell Acoustics C/V | Kimber 12-TC bi wire speakers | Analysis plus Oval 1 preamp to amp | Wireworld Eclipse 7 DAC to Preamp | Wireworld eclipse digital IC Oppo to DAC | Audioquest Quartz tuner to preamp | -
The critics beat the s@#t out of those live Cream albums. I don't think I'd be happy without them. Clapton makes "time stand still" at one point on Side 2 Vol.II. Neat stuff, and a shame they are not better recordings.
