McAlister Audio Tube Amp In The House

SCompRacer

My McAlister Audio tube amp finally arrived this week. It is a 75 WPC push pull amp based on the Williamson design. The power supply is massive and seperate of the amp. Tube compliment is four 6EA7's for the input/drive section, four 40KG6 horizontal output tubes and one 6AX4 thermal delay tube. The 6AX4 delays high voltage for a minute to prevent cathode stripping.

A friend of Norm's (Normanality) put us on to this amp. This guy is a radio personality down in SC. He has quite an impressive list of previously owned gear and parted with it for this amp along with one of McAlister's tube pre amps. Norm is still waiting for his amp, which is a darn shame cause he ordered his a week before I did. We are also are having tube pre amps with phono sections built.

McAlsiter is a one man band up there in Canada. He winds his own transformers and does all the assembly by himself. His knowledge of tubes and circuits amazes me. He does custom work as long as it does not compromise his design. It's kind of plain looking and I've seen prettier stuff, but I lack the audio terminology to describe all the wonderful things I am hearing with this amp. It is one incredible value for the price paid.

Hopefully Norm can get over this weekend and help me give it a serious listen. If there are no guests to entertain, I'll get assigned chores to do. :eek:

Normanality

Well, I'd hate to be the one to keep you from your chores!

If it sounds half as incredible as you described, I'll be estatic with mine!
Peter's design is much different than most off-shore options. He claims
the lowest impedance output from his equipment, which means more
pure 'voltage' for pure music.
Yeah, it is a darn shame you got yours first. Well, perhaps not. I hate
being the guinea pig

I'll be over tamale late morning to give it a real test! Isn't there a sale at Kohls for the women?

ND13

SWEEEET!!!!

Congrats Rich. I'll try my best to make it up to Chitown sometime soon. I'd really like to check out both of you guy's rigs.

Dennis Gardner

Too Cool!!!

Rare tube rolling ventures ahead. I haven't had much experience with his choice of valves.

SCompRacer

Dennis Gardner wrote:

Too Cool!!!

Rare tube rolling ventures ahead. I haven't had much experience with his choice of valves.

All I need is to find an old TV and strip out the horizontal output tubes. Flashbacks momentarily to I Love Lucy reruns....

I had asked Peter about tube rolling and he told me I should experience little or no change. IIRC he was pretty firm about circuit design determining the change in sound you would get by swapping different tube types.

F1nut

Sweeeeeeet!!!

I think I stayed in Plainfield once while attending a F1 race at Indy, about 30 minutes away if I remember.

ND13

Ummmm.....that would be Plainfield, Indiana not Illinois.

F1nut

DOH!!!

Thanks Noel

TroyD

Who is the radio personality in SC??

BDT

Normanality

TroyD wrote:

Who is the radio personality in SC??

BDT

Andy Thomas. Here's a link to his Ebay profile...

http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=americastalkshow

Mike Reeter

It would be interesting to hear your SRS's with this rig compared to the Rotel Giant...

Please,give us a detailed review when you make it back from "Audio Nirvana"

fredv

Yes, please, please update us, very interesting products. Looks like very good price for first step into the tube arena!!!

ND13

fredv wrote:

Yes, please, please update us, very interesting products. Looks like very good price for first step into the tube arena!!!

Hell, that's really not a "first step" level amp though. From what Rich has told me, if someone wants one of these, they had better jump soon, cause his prices will soon be escalating quite rapidly.

Dennis Gardner

Looks like tremendous values presented on his website. He has probably tuned his circuitry throughout the years to have consistently great sound. The only thing that keeps these from demanding top $$$ is his finale "fit & finish" and "word of mouth" marketing on some forums. You could definately be getting in on the ground floor of something bigger ala what Dodd and GR Research are getting ready to experience.

fredv

ND13 wrote:

Hell, that's really not a "first step" level amp though. From what Rich has told me, if someone wants one of these, they had better jump soon, cause his prices will soon be escalating quite rapidly.

Oops, I was referring to the prices. His prices make the first step a lot easier
which I am planning to take Just curious, how much shipping and "custom" I should expect to add on the top?

Normanality

Greetings!

Just arrived home after spending a couple hours at Rich's house listening to his McAlister vs. Rotel amps.

Damn. How's that for a descriptor?

In every way, the McAlister tube amp surpassed the high current Rotel.
The sound was warm and inviting, with absolutely NO fatigue.

Vocals were detailed and natural.

The biggest surprise was with the bass. Unbelieveable bass!!! Tight bass!
I've listened enough to his SRS 2's to realize he's picked up another half octave
on the bottom. I jokingly asked him if he had somehow snuck his SVS up into
the living room? It's deeper, cleaner, tighter and has more punch.

At high volume the amp follows the music. Nothing rolls off.

Mine should arrive in the next few days. I can't wait to hear the change in my LSi 15's.

SCompRacer

I was going through my notes and need to correct something I said in my first post. Prior to building my amp, he used a thermal delay tube. Due to availability, he switched to the 6AX4 which is actually a damper diode that provides a controlled warm up before activating the high voltage relays.

When I was researching tube amps I learned that the Williamson design utilizes a drive section for the output tubes rarely seen these days. It boasts a superior output transformer with interleaved winding sections, triode gain stages and good circuit design. McAlister made some improvements to the design by using a fixed bias versus cathode, or automatic, biasing. This allows for hard hitting, tight, accurate bass. He also applied some changes to the output section and power supplies. Then there are those who think the Williamson design isn’t that great and there is no need for a separate power supply. Make your choice and pay your money I guess, as long as your happy with it. I think for $850 it is an incredible bargain. But as Noel mentioned, prices will most likely go up next year.

Norm came over today and we got our listen on.

Equipment used:

SDA SRS 2 with silk tweeters, crossovers rebuilt with Solen Caps/Mills resistors.
McAlister PP150 Tube Amp
Ah! Njoe Super Tjoeb CDP with UpSampler board and Ediswan 6922 tubes(50 hours on them)
Adcom GTP-500 Pre Amp
AudioTruth Lapis IC’s all the way around.
PS Audio XStream Bi Wire Skr Cables
Rotel RB-1090 Amp

Material:

Norah Jones - Come Away With Me

Patricia Barber – Modern Cool

Dire Straits – Brother In Arms

Setup:

Speakers 6 feet apart, 10” from back wall, left skr 2’ from side wall, right spkr 5’ from side wall.

The Room:

15’ x 18’ x 14' ceilings. Speakers facing the short distance, a wall of windows with drapes. This room opens into the remainder of the main level, same ceiling height. Hardwood floors in the room. Speakers have four thick, dense felt discs on the bottom at the four corners. I cannot hear any acoustic problems with this room, if they exist. Any changes made via cable swapping are quickly noticed.

I pretty much agree with Norm's assessment. I wouldn’t call this amp a Rotel killer by any means. I think it comes down to a preference thing. To me, the tube amp has a deeper, more sustained bass. Vocals are softer, smoother with the tubes, versus crisper or brighter with the Rotel. Definitely less fatiguing to listen too. I still like the Rotel very much, but cannot keep both.

The drawbacks. I had forgotten how hot tubes get. There is no cage over the tubes, so one would have to ask for that to be built if you have children or nosy pets in the house.

Norm was told by Andy the power supply had a slight hum to it. When I first powered mine up, it could be heard from 4 feet away and was very annoying. Upon investigation, it appears the power supply (which weighs 25 pounds and is shipped seperately) was dropped during shipping and a huge, heavy transformer bent and deformed the lower panel.

I took the PS apart and straightened it. I also put a layer of Dynamat under two of the three transformers in there. The third one is stud mounted so I left it as is. Now you have to be within a foot of it to hear the hum. It is an inductance hum, not a lam rattle. Perhaps some short isolation mounts would silence it even more, but you wouldn't want to ship it that way. Dropping it like that could cause it to tear the studs out of the rubber blocks.

Norm is chomping at the bit for his now, and we both anxiously await our tube pre amps.

madmax

I too am wondering about shipping cost, customs whatever. So what was the total? Don't take offense but I'm wondering if it is really as rough looking as it looks in the pics, not that it matters, just curious. I find myself quite interested in trying one. Are the tubes easily obtainable or have you checked that out yet?
Thanks for any info.
madmax

Normanality

There are no customs charges.

He ships via CanadaPost so I think it runs insured about $75.
I'm not the biggest fan of this method of shipping since it takes close to
2 weeks but it's what he uses. Perhaps if he expands he may look into
using FedEx or UPS but that's his decision.

madmax

$75 isn't bad. Can you expand on the looks?
madmax

ND13

As I told Rich the other night, I kinda like the masculine, no games approach to his amps.
Are they pretty like the Carys and others, no, but a Cary with the same level of output would run 4 to 5 times the McAlister.

I'm sure that if you wanted to pay extra, he could "PIMP THAT AMP"

Dennis Gardner

The look reminds a little of another Canadian tube amp maker-Ideal Innovations.

No real flash and glitz like the chinese amps coming this way, just more industrial and businesslike.

fredv

~ $75 shipping is not bad.
I know nothing about tube amp but have seen recommendations of tube pre/SS power amp. I am kind of thinking about the preamp - PL10 Custom Triode Line/Headphone Amp as I am quite happy with the Mac. Anyone likes to give some thoughts to this pre?

SCompRacer

The output tubes are TV horizontal output. They are available and reasonably priced compared to some audio tubes used. 40KG6's go for around $11-$22, 6EA7's around $6-$10. He likes the horizontal output tubes because they were designed to deal with constant high voltage. He gave me some other tube numbers that will work but it must be at work because I can't find it here at home. Tube life numbers are there as well. I'll dig them up and report back next week.

The fronts are a coarse brush finish while the rest of the chassis is a krinkle type paint finish. He does custom work at a higher price, as long as it won't compromise his design. For instance, I wanted rear inputs on the amp but he would only put them at the front close to the tubes. All you can do is call and talk to him and find out. He is very friendly and loves to talk, so watch the clock so you don't run up a big phone bill.

I haven't paid any duty charges or taxes. Canada Post hands off to the USPS, probably at the border. The tracking number will show when it arrived at a sortation plant. A few days later, the USPS was at the door with it. UPS charges a customs fee to get a package across the border. Not sure about FedEx.

SCompRacer

fredv wrote:

~ $75 shipping is not bad.
I know nothing about tube amp but have seen recommendations of tube pre/SS power amp. I am kind of thinking about the preamp - PL10 Custom Triode Line/Headphone Amp as I am quite happy with the Mac. Anyone likes to give some thoughts to this pre?

Here are a couple of links I saved while researching. You might have to join to see the thread, I don't remember.

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=118781&highlight=McAlister+Audio

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showpost.php?p=935419&postcount=23

schwarcw

Congratulations and good luck with your new acqusitions! That amp looks good to me. I'm interested to hear from you and Norm what kind of difference the tube preout has on the sound. I'm sure you get some good listening time in before the tube pre arrives. Intersting description of the McAllister design feature. A lot of experienced based innovation in that amp. I prefer quality, performance and price over looks anyday. Have fun!

ND13

So Rich,

What's the verdict, now that you've had some intimate time with your new toy?

madmax

I'm anxious to hear as well.
madmax

SCompRacer

I've had some listen time Sunday and earlier today. I decided to take the tube heat and sell the SS Rotel. I wish the McAlister was prettier, but I am going with what sounds best to me over what looks nicer and runs cooler. It really don't look bad to me, it's just plain. I may ask him for a brass plate like the one on the amp to put on the PS, or have one made local.

I'm kinda fussy about uniformity so the one different output tube bothers me. I'll get another Sylvania 40KG6A from him or somewhere and swap it out, check/adjust the bias to it.

You don't know what you don't know, so if I were to get another, I'd ask for easily accessible bias adjustments. Have to remove the bottom panel for that on mine, or I'll drill holes in the panel and cap em afterwards. While it shouldn't have to be done for 5,000 - 7,000 hours, one less thing to do is always good.

He uses a heavy duty binding post with a large plastic nut. I prefer spades so having no bannana or pin capability is OK with me. (There is no hole through the stud either). The large knurled knob makes it easy to tighten my hard to deal with speaker cables. Others may want to inquire if he will substitute a different post.

ND13

Good, welcome to the world of tubes. Let me know if you can let the Rotel go for around $500-600 :eek:

SCompRacer

ND13 wrote:

Good, welcome to the world of tubes. Let me know if you can let the Rotel go for around $500-600 :eek:

My heart, my heart :eek: .....is not that big. If I had more money, I'd be more generous.

I already had an offer for $900 shipped from a newer member but said no. Recent RB-1090's on Ebay and Audiogon have gone for $1200-$1300.