I forgot how good tubes sound :)

Red230SX

Not car or boat audio related but just sharing..

I thought I had fried the output tubes in my Antique Sound Labs Wave20DT Monoblocks so I put them in mothballs last year. I didn't have the spare cash at the time to order a set of Quad Matched 6L6 Output tubes and a matched pair of ECC83's so I just put them away.

I think part of the problem was that at the time I did not have a good multimeter and couldn't manage to get the tube bias set at 330MV as per the instructions. So today I was cleaning out my closet to get boxes out for my Digital SLR (sold) and other stuff I am going to sell. And I dug out the tube amps and took them into my bedroom and hooked them up to the "Bedroom system" I have a Craftsman Professional Autoranging Multimeter now that I can connect to the PC and all that wooptie doo (still not as nice as a Fluke but I digress).

So I got the tubes biased and hooked the monoblocks up to my Onkyo system in the bedroom (see photo below to see what the bookshelf system looks like) I am running the speakers that came with the set from Onkyo and they have treated pulp mids with doped cloth tweets and they have a very smooth sound even when running off the integrated amp.

Off the tubes they are absolutely stellar! Soooooo Smoooooth... It's like butter melting in your mouth! No harshness at all, no fatigue ever, you can listen for hours.. And it's running flat on all the settings. I am running one of those little Sony 8" powered cube sub deals (SW8 or something) and it fills in the low end nicely!

Oh and the other great thing about tubes, I can turn down the heater in my room









And here is a shot of one of the amps (monoblocks) 25 watts Class A Push/Pull Design running dual 6L6 Output Tubes and single 12AX7 Tubes on the Input Stage.

MacLeod

Glad ya like em. Ill stick with solid state tho.

Red230SX

Solid State has it's place.. Great for powering subs

Tube midrange is where it's at! But there is no denying it has to be a love affair or love/hate.. Tube Rolling, Matching, Biasing... It's not the "plug it in and forget it" world we are used to with solid state.

audiobliss

Don't tell me you have blue LED's in yours! I'd LOVE to have that! Mine have the red LED's.

I didn't remember you having those amps. I was just thinking that I didn't know many who had the Wave 20's, and noone else who has the Wave 8's.

Glad to find another happy owner!

Red230SX

Bliss,

Yeah I put the blue LED's in myself I had to drill the holes out larger and chamfered the outside of the holes a little.

I planned on doing the capacitor upgrade and also wanted to get my output transformers top's chromed.

Love my Wave 20's... I am sure I could put in MUCH better tubes but for the moment the Svetlana/Tesla's work well.

I have lots of stuff.. some not even built.. My problem is as I find new hobies, my old mainstay's fall by the way side.. Boating has taken much of what little free time I have. I still have a pair of 8.5' tall Line Array's I am working on for in the living room. 24 drivers per cabinet (12 7" Kevlar Mids and 12 Kapton Planar Ribbons).

audiobliss

Hahahahahaha. Chromed transformers?! If/when you do that...you gotta post some pics!

Red230SX

So Bliss,

What do you think about your ASL 20's? Still running the stock tubes?

audiobliss

I was going to ask you about your tubes! It appears from your pics that you're still using your stock tubes. I don't have a clue how nice they really are, but I don't have any other 6l6 tubes, so I'm still using them. I actually just got my Wave 20's back in June, so I haven't had them that long.

When I frist got them, I started biamping my Klipsch, with the Wave 8's on the top and the Wave 20's on the bottom. That was a sweet combo. Actually, to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how much it improved over just using the Wave 8's, but it sure looked awesome to have that many tubes lit up!

Then, just the beginning of October I bought a Parasound HCA-1000A which I'm now running on the bottom end instead of the Wave 20's. I would switch my Wave 20's back in to compare how the two sound, but I broke one of the binding posts on one of them, so now I have to decide if I should just replace that binding post, or spend $60+ on new binding posts and replace them all...that is, IF I can decide I'm able to replace them myself! :eek:

So, to answer your question, yes!

Red230SX

I was going to roll my tubes out for a quad matched pair of Gold Lion's the price was reasonable at $75 for the four, and then I needed a matched pair of 12AX7's at $50 a pair. But these stockers are still kicking so I will run them till they pop.

Did you have any problems doing the tube Bias on these? I got mine as close to 330Mv as I can.. My readings fluctuate between 310 to 340 ish... ASL says 5% variance is "ok"...

Replacing the binding posts won't be hard.. Just be very careful when you open them up not to touch anything on the transformer side... Lots of voltage on the transformers. Fortunately you have a good bit of room to work with inside the cases. These amps are WELL made for the money! All point to point wiring and very decent audio specific capacitors. There is room to upgrade the internals but to what end I am not sure.. I am not such an audiophile that I could "hear" the difference between a SonicCap or a Blackgate Cap

Sounds like we have very similar taste in equipment save for speakers.. I am not a Klipsch guy, they make top shelf stuff but a wee bit bright (tubes help smooth that out)

I also have a piece of Parasound in my aresenal, the P1 Halo Pre Amp that resides in the HT/2CH rig... I also have an Onkyo TX787 and M282 Power Amp combo for the HT side..

audiobliss wrote:

I was going to ask you about your tubes! It appears from your pics that you're still using your stock tubes. I don't have a clue how nice they really are, but I don't have any other 6l6 tubes, so I'm still using them. I actually just got my Wave 20's back in June, so I haven't had them that long.

When I frist got them, I started biamping my Klipsch, with the Wave 8's on the top and the Wave 20's on the bottom. That was a sweet combo. Actually, to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how much it improved over just using the Wave 8's, but it sure looked awesome to have that many tubes lit up!

Then, just the beginning of October I bought a Parasound HCA-1000A which I'm now running on the bottom end instead of the Wave 20's. I would switch my Wave 20's back in to compare how the two sound, but I broke one of the binding posts on one of them, so now I have to decide if I should just replace that binding post, or spend $60+ on new binding posts and replace them all...that is, IF I can decide I'm able to replace them myself! :eek:

So, to answer your question, yes!