Budget 2 Channel

MillerLiteScott

Thanks.

This is exactly what I was hoping to get out of this thread. I was looking aimlessly not knowing what was what.

I guess I will put the tubes on hold until I can get a proper Pre because I am to lazy to take my Yamaha out of its nesting place.

They wife and kids just left and I am listening to some Steely Dan at around 97 db's. When the cats out.

I think I will go grab a Frosty ML.

MLS

ben62670

Heres a link to Adcom Specs

http://www.adcom.com/manuals.aspx

MillerLiteScott

Again, Thanks to everyone.

I have a list of 6 budget pre-amps to look into.

I will take any more suggestions if someone has one.

I did pull out my whole house sound system amp and played my computer through it to listen to the Monitor 5's. They sound pretty good and have more bass than I thought they would. They should be a good match for the ASL 25's.

MLS

dorokusai

Scott - Those tweeters are brand new, so get some solid hours on them and they should smooth out and open up more.

Dennis Gardner

Scott,

Not to derail, or selfishly hawk gear, but I've got a couple of preamps collecting dust that I would part with. I've got a HK Citation 21 and a Kenwood Basic C2 that I would take $125 shipped for either model. I've owned both for a number of years and enjoyed them both.

The Kenwood has a killer phono section with the most control I have ever seen. The entry level preamp choice of the AudioKarma bunch and for good reason.

The Citation was nice too, but the matching Citation 23 tuner is stuck in mute mode and I fried the 24 amp inadvertantly turning it on in bridged mode with a pair of speakers attached leaving the pre as the only gear still working of this fantastic 1987 stack.

I also have my trusty Audio Experience MkII that I would take $250 shipped for. My first tube gear I owned since the '70s and really responds to tube rolling. Simple design with no phono section, but nice nonetheless.

Nothing really fancy, but fun to play with.

Cheers,

DG

MillerLiteScott

Thanks for you reply Dennis. I thought that some one would have something collecting dust that would meet my needs. The Kenwood sounds pretty interesting. After all the previous suggestions I am watching a bunch of stuff and may wait a week or so to see where the maket places everything and then make my move.

That said the Kenwood seems to fit my needs and is certainly under my budget which is a plus.

I think I figured out a way to fire up the tubes tomorrow using my Yamaha while leaving it in place.

Doro recomended going with a SS Pre for the ASL Wave 25 and Monitor 5 combination. Doro I will try to put some hours on those tweeters because they did sound a bit bright, but that could have been an EQ setting in iTunes on my computer. I also had them sitting on a bar in the middle of a room which does not help.

MLS

MillerLiteScott

RuSsMaN wrote:

Just get a multimeter, and make sure they are biased properly. Dump the chinese 6L6's and at least get something current production Russian in there - Sovtek 5881's work well in those little ASL amps.

Are the 12AT7's stock Chinese? Happy to send you a pair of NOS RCA to get you started, if you want.

Pre? http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?preatran&1176482851 I believe it does have a phono section also.

RuSsMaN, I do have a Multimeter and I am going to bias them tomorrow. Since I have not even heard the amps so far, what will the tubes that you mention do for the SQ. And even beyond that how do you know or how can you tell which tube will work with what? That is probably a thread in itself.

Thanks,

MLS

RuSsMaN

The RCA have a very liquid, lush midrange, a soft top end, and above average bass control. The midrange is their best feature. We can discuss power tubes in 30 days or so, let you settle in to the tube sound, and just upgrade the front end drivers for now (for free).

Cheers,
Russ

MillerLiteScott

Thanks RuSsMaN. I agree that I should listen to the current set up before making any changes. I guess a future tube choice will also depend on the sound of the pre amp I get and the characteristics of the Monitor 5's.

MillerLiteScott

List of Pre-amps I am watching on e-bay.

Any thoughts on any of these.

1. Denon PRA-1100A/V

2. Adcom GFP 555II

3. NAD 1155

4. B&K Pro-10

5. Carver C-1

6. Mc Intosh C-26
Has the cool retro look (because it is retro)

Sorry I don't have links to these Pre's but I don't know how to do that.

MillerLiteScott

I got the tubes up and running. Tubes do have sweet sound. I only got to listen to 1 Steely Dan song but I was hearing things that I had never heard before, mostly midrange textures.

I do have a slight hum/buzz. Is that normal?

MLS

MillerLiteScott

I spent about 1 1/2 hours tonight listening to my new ASL 25 and Monitor 5's with the source, my laptop iTunes lossless. I had the Monitor 5's sitting on top of my RTi10's ( a bit to high).

I know where I stand in the Audio food chain but here are some of my thoughts from tonight.

I will have to say I absolutely love the sound I am getting from this and it is far from being even close to ideal. The textures of the tubes is fantastic and I am getting an amazingly broad soundstage given the set up I am listening to. Floor tom drums were @ 2 feet beyond my speakers and nearly 2 feet in front of the speaker. The snare was in the middle along with the bass. At times it sounded as if I was listening to a Fender Twin or a Vox AC30 right in the room with me.

I think I have opened pandora's box and a can of worms with empty pockets at the same time.

Ear to ear.

MLS

Doro,

Thank you

I think

Here is a picture of the mess I was listening to and it still sounded pretty damb good.

heiney9

MillerLiteScott wrote:

I spent about 1 1/2 hours tonight listening to my new ASL 25 and Monitor 5's with the source, my laptop iTunes lossless. I had the Monitor 5's sitting on top of my RTi10's ( a bit to high).

I know where I stand in the Audio food chain but here are some of my thoughts from tonight.

I will have to say I absolutely love the sound I am getting from this and it is far from being even close to ideal. The textures of the tubes is fantastic and I am getting an amazingly broad soundstage given the set up I am listening to. Floor tom drums were @ 2 feet beyond my speakers and nearly 2 feet in front of the speaker. The snare was in the middle along with the bass. At times it sounded as if I was listening to a Fender Twin or a Vox AC30 right in the room with me.

I think I have opened pandora's box and a can of worms with empty pockets at the same time.

Ear to ear.

MLS

Doro,

Thank you

I think

Here is a picture of the mess I was listening to and it still sounded pretty damb good.

I'm telling you claasic Polk Monitors are stuff of legend. I'm getting my 5b's this Saturday and I can't wait to freshen the x-overs and get the RDO's in them. 5's, 7's, 10's are what put Polk on the map and allowed them to produce and improve the SDA's

dorokusai

It only gets better Scott and that's looking to be a really cool rig.

MillerLiteScott

I am just using a balance of the volume control for my laptop and the volume control in iTunes.

So far it has worked flawlessly. I have a direct source directly to the amps then to the speakers to my ears.

Try it. Make sure you use lossless otherwise it really sounds like poo.

MLS

AndyGwis

I usually will hook my iPod via an adapter cable directly to an amp when I'm testing them out. I buy a lot of crap off ebay and do that to make sure the amp's working alright.

Usually, it sounds pretty decent.

I pm'd you some other pre options. There are plenty of good ones out there for $100 - $200, if you're patient and aren't looking for anything brand-new or fancy.

Ricardo

Once you have spent some time with them and roll some decent tubes, if you want to take them to a whole new level, you can change the coupling caps and a couple of resistors in each amp; for around $100 you'll get a very noticeable improvement. In mine this also eliminated the hum.

MillerLiteScott

HTRookie,

I will eventually do the same mods that you did but I am having to much fun just as they are now.

Russman is/was kind enough to send me some RCA 12AT7's to replace the Chinese stock tubes. That will be my first tweek. I will probably look into replacing the stock 6L6's next. Then I will look into the caps and resistors.
I will certainly look for you guidance. I can only hear a minor buzz if I get close to the tweeter with no music playing.

I really like these little amps.

Thanks,

MLS

dorokusai

The "buzz" is not a bad thing, as long as it isn't coloring the overall output. This is usually transformer related, or power related.

There are all kinds of things that can induce line interference.

MillerLiteScott

MillerLiteScott wrote:

List of Pre-amps I am watching on e-bay.

Any thoughts on any of these.

1. Denon PRA-1100A/V

2. Adcom GFP 555II

3. NAD 1155

4. B&K Pro-10

5. Carver C-1

6. Mc Intosh C-26
Has the cool retro look (because it is retro)

Sorry I don't have links to these Pre's but I don't know how to do that.

Adcom GTP550II went for $ 100.26 and $ 123.50 + shipping

Nad 1155 went for $126.50 + shipping

B&K Pro-10 went for $ 170.00 + shipping

Carver C-1 went for $ 143.40m + shipping

MacIntosh C-26 went for $405.00 and $455.00 + shipping

Kenwood C2 went for $91.00 + shipping