Tinpan's updated system

This is pure audio porn ! I can't take it.

Amazing!!!!!!

nice-- tell us more about the 300B and your Lowthers please

Hi Zoothorn, Sorry i haven't answered this sooner. Been swamped.

I love talking about Lowther speakers and Pete's amps. Here are the latest changes


You'll notice i switched the Alerions and the Medallions around.


Originally I planned on getting the 300b SET ( Single Ended Triode) Interstage Monoblocks. They weren't going to be available for several months, but the PSE ( Parallel Single End) version was so that's what I got. Now keep in mind ya'll are a lot more technical than I will ever be, so i may not necessarily be able to tell you why certain things are happening with this set up, but I can tell you what I hear.


The Lowther Medallions have an 8 inch Full Range driver with an alninco magnet. The driver I used here was a PM5a.


The Alerion uses a 5 inch full range driver with a Neodinium magnet.


Here is the PM5 a driver before I installed it.

The idea with the Lowthers is they are a fullrange speaker. The mids and highs come out of the front of the speaker and the bass comes out of the lower front, after traveling through a folded horn. There are no cross overs, no bi-amping, just an amp, speaker cables and one driver. SOME people bitch about the lack of bass, frankly, if I want bass I can plug a 15 inch sub in and get all of the bass I want. To me that removes the fun of the system. For some reason these speakers with a low powered SET amp deliver unbelievable mid range sound. For me, that sound is to die for, it's kind of like taking a bite of a properly cooked ( medium rare) steak and washing it down with a drink of...well you get the idea.

It's fun trying different amp and speaker combinations looking for that sound, once you hear it, that's it game over.

What I was running into with the Medallions running on the Interstage monoblocks was that magic sound wasn't there, it was like the steak was cooked well. There was one song on Cowboy junkies, it was either Postcard Blues or Walking after Midnight, and there was one note that just wouldn't play. Flat out that one note just misplayed. Now I spent a boatload putting this system together and I really couldn't believe what I was hearing. The Medallions were a lot more expensive than the Alerions and I really wanted those on the flagship mono blocks.

I ended up switching the Alerions and the Medallions around, voila, both systems had that magic I was looking for. It turns out the Alerions with the DX65 driver are a much faster driver and handle detail much better than the Medallions with the PM5a driver.

The difference was the Audio Note 300b amp with the SET config is lower power ( 8wpc) a more relaxed warm sound that the PM5a driver likes and the Interstage mono blocks with the 18wpc 300b PSE config provide the power the DX65 driver likes. Plus, apparently there is a little turf war when running tubes in a parallel config. The PM5a driver is sensitive enough to notice that slight conflict, where the DX65 driver can handle it. I shared my observations with Jon Ver Halen and said he pretty much expected I would settle on this config. He just wanted to see what I came up with on my own.

The Audio Note amps on the other hand, well, I haven't heard very many tube amps, I have listened to Bottle Head 2A3 amps, Synthesis 2A3 amps, Audio Note non kit amps, Sophia Electric and these Audio Note kit amps. These AN kit amps are the ones I like. I wish they weren't so frickin expensive. I remember when my buddy showed me an Audio Note Conquest set up for about $5,000. There was no way I would EVER consider spending that much money on a system. After hearing the extras Pete puts in the Kit amps and the quality of his work, well, let's just say I have learned how to save up my money and buy one nice piece at a time.


Here is a little example of Pete's work. Every wire is exactly how long it needs to be, every solder joint is perfect.


It's a shame all of this work resides behind a black case, never to be seen.

He did such a good job building these that photos my my amps, pre-amp, phono stage and DAC all ended up on Audio Notes web site.

I had a friend many years back who had LaScala

So did I, I grew up listening to La Scalas on a Phase Linear 400. I will never part with them now that I have them. They will be pried out of my cold dead hands.

For some reason I like old classic stuff, the Lowthers, tube amps and Klipsch la Scalas are old technology but they work and sound so well. The newest stuff i have is the Sunfire gear, I do enjoy watching a movie and taking advantage of the 5.1 400 wpc sound effects. When i move in a couple months I will replace the Hereseys with another pair of La Scalas, which will give me 5 La Scalas in 5.1.
Nothing like taking advantage of Dolby .

In the tube world I traveled down the Lowther world for speakers. I have another buddy that just acquired these transmission lined speakers:


And after hearing these:

My other buddy's Altec A-7 Voice of the Theater speakers ( those are my amps driving them)


Built these. They both like the Altec VOTT system, and it sounds really nice. After hearing the amps Pete built for me, they both ordered the kits for them selves. That pair of Model 19's is for sale and there is another pair of VOTT bass bins they have, I may have to do some arm twisting but I think I can acquire those for a future project.

Next up for me will be playing around with speakers to try on the Sunfire Classic Tube Pre-amp and 600 x 2 amp set up . Right now i have CRS-3's on there. Admitedly I have issues turning the volume knob past 11 o'clock. I think that is a result of listening to Klipsch speakers all of my life. I really need to give those ribbons a work out.

Very cool gear Tinpan...

I am going to attempt a pair of Maeshowes this spring.....my first attempt with back loaded horns......where I live
there is not much chance to audition, so I thought I would start with a proven design of Dave and Scotts.

The Transmission lines in the photos (your buds)......are those Mark Audio drivers?
If so I sure would like to hear your impressions.
There is a new version MK3 of the frugal horn that I will probably build this spring as well using these drivers.

Thanks for the beautiful gear shots.

Wow, very nice setups.

Beautiful, Robin~

I am going to attempt a pair of Maeshowes this spring

I like that design, that looks like it will be one hell of a project. It doesn't look like it's for the faint of heart.

The Transmission line speakers are Jordan's made by this guy: http://audiowood.com/retail.html.

I like his Glow one speaker stands too.

Time marches on and I finally recovered from the divorce enough to buy a house again. After spending six years paying off the legal bills and the mountain of re-occurring debt from the former ex, I scraped enough scratch together to join the home owner world again. Yippee.

I moved in over the 4th of July and wanted to wait until I was finished setting things up with all of the finishing touches before I posted anything. Well, things are changing rapidly and I will be revamping some of these systems over the next month or so.

So here is a little update. Now it may make a little sense why I had so much gear jammed into that little room.

Whilst in the middle of moving my tube buddies were texting me about the next addition.


It is a pair of Altec A7’s. I answered a craiglist ad while driving a load to the new house. I paypal’d him five minutes later and had another buddy pick them up from Charlottesville. I moved the AN 300b Kit1 amp to this room to drive them. I am using an Eastern Electric tube DAC to feed the Apple TV signal to the amp. Since these DACs have ben out for a year I looked on Agon figuring I could pick up another one to replace a Grant Fidelity on another system. The EE dac has been discontinued and replaced by a newer model, however, folks are going nuts buying the old one for over retail prices. Since I have heard of a couple failing, I will take this opportunity to unload both of the ones I have and upgrade them. I am also going to buy a Toslink to Coax converter. I am noticing an audible difference between the two.

I was going to install the TG V and the CRM/CRS speakers in the back half of this room. If you swivel that chair around I have a mirror image of the other side of the room. After thinking about it I decided to just leave a TV in the other half, that way when mom and dad come over they can just turn the tv on and watch it. The surround sound was just too complicated for them. Besides, the audio focus in that room is amazing.


The TG IV and Sunfire Classic Tube Preamp set ups have been moved into the main audio room. The La Scalas provide LCR and the Klipsch Epic CF-3s are bi wired from teh Sunfire 600 x 2. Both systems sound amazing. I bought a 55 inch tv thinking it was going to be too big, man, that wall just swallows that TV up.

The TG IV set up is perfection. The only change I did was switch out the toslink SPDIF cable to a coax.

Alas, after creating one of the nicest sounding two channel systems, the Sunfire Classic Tube Pre Amp, the Sunfire 600 x 2 amp, CF-3 speakers and EE DAC will all be upgraded in the next month or so. I think you’ll like the next version.


The seating and speaker placement has been driving me nuts. I have 2 chairs and 1 couch. I pretty much have this arrangement to you can sit on either of the reclining chairs and watch movies, tv or enjoy the Sunfire 2 channel system.

If you sit on the couch you can enjoy the AN two channel set up. You can also see the pair of Hereseys serving as the surround channels for the HT set up.


If you sit on the couch you can be dead centered to the Audio Note system. The middle seat is the sweet and juicy like these nutz. spot. The flanking reclining seats arn’t bad either. The main problem I have is relaxing to the point of falling asleep.

You’ll notice I moved the Medallions back to the 300b Interstage Mono block amps. After everything finally broke in those are the speakers for those amps. The sound, well, it’s a real sleeper. The Black Gate Caps have been discontinued so i am glad I was one of the few that got this system.

The Alerions and the Cain Abbeys are in a closet for now.


The bedroom system has the Bottle Heads out for on last hurrah before they find Agon. They will be upgraded. You’ll notice I found another pair of Medallion Cabinets. I moved the PM6a drivers from the old Acousta cabinets and voila, another Lowther Medallion set up.

Anyhow, much of this will change so I thought I would at least get some pics posted on the set ups for now.

very nice gear

VERY NICE!!!

What, no system in the crapper??!?

You're slacking again~




































j/k Robin; looks fantastic & I'm sure they all sound phenomenal.


Got the tube sockets installed in the second amp this morning & began running the heater circuit. Disclaimer: My work looks NOTHING like your Audio Note stuff...

Tinpan,
Are you going to buy the Audio Note 300B mono block kit?
Steve

Eventually, I am going to get the AN Legends 300b mono blocks. I have heard both the Legends version and the Interstage version. They both sound nice. I'll probably do that when I set up my Electovoice Sentry IV bass bins and the Oris horn with the Lowther PM4a driver. That will probably be early next spring. I'm saving up to send my horns to Chicago to have them done and I'll need a Nelson Pass crossover.

Eventually, I am going to get the AN Legends 300b mono blocks. I have heard both the Legends version and the Interstage version. They both sound nice. I'll probably do that when I set up my Electovoice Sentry IV bass bins and the Oris horn with the Lowther PM4a driver. That will probably be early next spring. I'm saving up to send my horns to Chicago to have them done and I'll need a Nelson Pass crossover.

Which Legends version did you hear the 18W or the 8.5W?
Steve

The 18 watt PSE version


Digital Pete built them


And here Brian was running one upside down so you could see underneath the chassis


The single version was the Interstage mono block version that I heard. That would be the
8.5 SET watt version.

Are you looking to build them yourself of have someone do it?