What did you do to your stereo rig today?

billbillw · July 24

Hey Jody,
I messaged my brother and you have an earlier Mk1 BC3. It was known for the gain being high like you mentioned. The later Mk2 version included a Hi/Low gain toggle switch. My brother said you could modify the Mk1 to mimic the toggle found in the later unit. If you want, I can put you in touch with him.

SCompRacer · July 24

The other quick fix for that is line level attenuators. They are offered in various dB drop, like 3dB, 6dB etc. The better ones use metal film 1% resistors. You can get them in RCA male/female or XLR m/f. I had a pair here for a DIY preamp from many years ago but cant put my hands on them. They were high end ones, came in a small lined box... lol

EDIT: I was doing some reading about your new preamp. Like a ModWright SWL 9.0 preamp I once had, it inverts signal polarity requiring changing speaker cable polarity. The goal there is a single-gain stage circuit layout with nothing added to correct the reversed phase. IIRC reversing speaker polarity with those inverting phase preamps depends on how many gain stages your amp has. Worth looking into.

Butter · July 24

Just let the Raytheon heat up on and off the last couple of days. Thought I give em a listen. I’m pleased so far. Nice deep soundstage. Yet the instruments are much father forward. Nice deep tight bass as well.

SeleniumFalcon · July 24

I believe those black resistors being used in the stepped attenuator are made by Holco (Holsworthy) and are well respected.

jdjohn · July 24

Thanks for the tips and advice on my BC3.
Bill, I'll take you up on your offer to contact your brother. Always glad to have more info. I'll send you a PM.

billbillw · July 28

I decided to just have one pair of speakers hooked to my 2ch rig. Probably time to kharma that four speaker selector switch. It made things easier for a few months, but I'm sure there was a loss in quality going through it.

newbie308 · July 30

The Gods of audio must be smiling down on me today. Not only did my new Modwright SWL 9.0se deliver today, but on a whim I stopped in my local thrift shop and scored a Salamander archetype 5 shelf audio rack for $14! Whoever owned it never removed the protective film from the shelves, so it's essentially brand new! SCORE! I'm in the process of taking everything apart, so I can remove the film and then set everything up.

Geoff4rfc · July 31

Was able to upgrade my 2ch analogue path. Transport to DAC, DAC to Processor.

VR3 · July 31

Anddd...??? It sounded like.... 😬😬😬😬👀👀👀👀

Geoff4rfc · July 31

VR3 wrote: »

Anddd...??? It sounded like.... 😬😬😬😬👀👀👀👀

Lol, thanks for asking. I previously had a Mogami 110 ohm AES transport to DAC and AQ Yukons DAC to processor.

I don't have any technical terms to describe what I'm hearing other than the signal has been cleaned up...a lot. There's more separation between the instruments, very crisp and clear. A worthy upgrade

VR3 · July 31

Awesome!

billbillw · July 31

I finally finished putting together a system around kharma components.
SDA-2B, thanks @vulcan
Adcom 535ii, local FB sale for $150
Kenwood KC-991, thanks @dorokusai
Yamaha CDC-675, thanks to the pastor's wife who didn't want the old stuff anymore. (Also came with an RX-575 and some busted Klipsch that I semi fixed and gave away.
Teac UD-301, my first real DAC from when I started streaming as my main source ~$250 back in 2017.
Dell Optiplex 3000 thin client with Daphile. $42 from eBay.
It sounds way better than it should for the investment.
This is probably also the first time I've heard these 2B with a proper placement in a smaller room. I wish I didn't have to share this with my theater. It only works when I move the sofa back to the left side wall (screen on the right). The bass is much deeper and tighter than I would have expected from two active 6.5" woofers. Matt really was really a genius.

billbillw · July 31

I meant two 6.5” per cabinet. So four total. The more I listen to this, the more I am amazed. Tap on a clip to paste it in the text box.Welcome to Gboard clipboard, any text you copy will be saved here. These are embarrassing the PSB Stratus Gold, although the it's not a fair comparison since this room is a fraction of the size of the main floor listening area which has 18’ cathedral ceilings and open to half the house.

billbillw · July 31

That's better. Stripping down.

SCompRacer · August 1

That's really kewl! My first SDA's were a pair of 2A's with the pedestal base.

billbillw · August 1

I had a set of 1C Studio about 18 years ago, but never had them setup properly and they were running off of an AV receiver. This is a much better experience.

Unknown · August 1

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SCompRacer · August 1

Maybe it's 2B's I was thinking about that some had and some didn't have a pedestal base.

billbillw · August 1

SCompRacer wrote: »

Maybe it's 2B's I was thinking about that some had and some didn't have a pedestal base.

Yeah, most 2Bs, like most 1Cs, had the wood tops and bottoms. Both my 2B and 1C are/were, the vinyl studios.

Butter · August 2

I’ve been letting the Raytheon’s heat up over the last week. Not sure where to begin. They are black and silent! Deep blackness. As for ceiling or headroom, it seems extremely open and free. The low end is firm and strong. Nice and tight without being booming or thumpy. Listening to Frank Zappa the Grand Wazoo
It has incredible separation of all the instruments and percussion. A very live sound which I like. There is a percussion break, and there is great definition between all the drums cymbals and percussive instruments. Horn sections sound very distinct. They do a great job of representing the live sound of a horn section. Zappa’s guitar has a really live feel about it. It’s very articulate and clear but it really retains that 70s sound. The soundstage is pretty wide 👍
But I moved 1B’s 8’ apart and tried 6” off the rear wall so that really blew away my 7’ 3” sweet spot! So far freaking awesome!
Tube newbie. Crazy how 2 tubes can totally transform your sound! I really love this hobby. Although hobby isn’t really an accurate description.

xschop · August 4

Worked on the XS400 some today...

joecoulson · August 5

jdjohn wrote: »

I picked-up a new-to-me line-level tube preamp last weekend. It is a Blue Circle BC3. I believe these came out near the 'turn of the century', if I can use that phrase at this point. I bought it from a local dude off FB marketplace. We had a nice conversation during the sale/hand-off, albeit in the boiling TN sun. These are two-piece units, with a separate umbilical power supply.

The chassis turned out to be much larger (and heavier) than I thought from the pics, but that's fine with me. It is a true dual-mono design, with separate left/right volume knobs, input selectors, and tape monitor switches...and that's it on the front panel. The knobs are wooden, and quite substantial, with basically BBs, or small ball bearings, embedded in the wood as indicators. The chassis is all stainless steel, which contributes to the overall weight. There is a concentric blue light circle in the middle of the faceplate to indicate power is on. Honestly, the aesthetics don't appeal to me. I like simple, but I also like understated, and those knobs are definitely not understated. I will say they are easy to grab.

The rear panel has a different layout as well. Left/Right input pairs (there are 5) and output pairs (there are 2) are spread-out on their respective sides of the panel, so not even close to being side-by-side. I also discovered that the RCA jacks are very slightly smaller in diameter than typical, so locking RCA plugs are almost a must, or plugs that are considered notoriously tight on 'regular' RCA jacks.

Under the hood, there is point-to-point wiring, with most components glued to a blue acrylic board - blue, get it? There are only two tubes, which in the case of this unit, are JJ ECC99. Stock BC3 units came with 6922 tubes, but the seller of this unit sent it to Jena Labs in Oregon for 'upgrades'. I don't know enough about tubes to say whether the ECC99 configuration is an upgrade over 6922. Since I believe the ECC99 is exclusive to JJ, I guess I'm kind of stuck - no tube rolling. I took one of the tube fins and dampers off for these pics.

The volume attenuators are a different (or less-common) design as well, being resistor-based stepped attenuators. It had to be a lot of work to build those!

Finally, the caps in the signal path are apparently old-school military spec caps...based on my research. I think they are metallized film caps that are hermetically sealed - probably very reliable, but not sure about audio quality. It probably depends on the desired sound.

I'm not very experienced with tube gear, but I do really like the sound of this preamp. I don't think it's super-duper tubey, but it definitely adds some of that holographic sound. It is very quiet, and does not introduce any tube hiss noise floor, which would frankly be a deal-killer for me. The bass is really impressive with this preamp. In fact, having my SVS powered sub connected to the second pair of outputs, I actually had to turn down the volume control on the SVS sub. Also, the gain attenuation is not very precise; so much so, that even at the first volume level setting, it is almost beyond low-level, background listening. "Sorry, honey...that's as low as it goes."

Overall, I'm very happy with this purchase. I'm not a fan of an overly warm sound, but this unit doesn't go too far in that regard.

Beautiful new acquisition Jody!

joecoulson · August 5

indyhawg wrote: »

Upgraded to an Eversolo T-8 from the Auralic Mini. Matches up nicely with the Denefrips Pontus II.

How do you like the interface on that T8?
I have been eyeing those to replace the streaming side of my Auralic when the inevitable arrives

treitz3 · August 5

Hey, Joe. Nice to see you are still around.

Tom

joecoulson · August 5

Heya Tom
Still kickin here.
Hope you are well

treitz3 · August 5

Absolutely! It's a shame about Auralic (and their forum). They had some good folks over there.

Tom

joecoulson · August 5

I know. Sad. Mine is still working very well, however, I just know the day is coming when the streaming part of the DAC will not work.

treitz3 · August 5

Why would that be? I thought they were still selling overseas, just not here anymore. The updates and functionality would still be good to go, no? I am curious, because I sold mine to a member of this forum who might be very interested in your answer.

I really enjoyed mine when I had it. It was my first taste in higher end streaming, and it introduced me into the possibilities that had no idea existed at the time.

Tom

joecoulson · August 5

API updates from streaming services might not be supported as there is no active US based support anymore.

jdjohn · August 6

joecoulson wrote: »

Beautiful new acquisition Jody!

Thanks, Joe, and good to see you posting here again!

What did you do to your stereo rig today?

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