The Bad and the Good news...........
22/12/06 21:00
Well, for all of you following the upgrade saga, I am
sorry to say all has not been well.
After the previous post and some early progress, the sound improvements certainly didn't meet my expectations based on all the feedback I had heard, and for the level of investment made! Some additional detail was resolved but the system lost it's musicality and foot tapping pace.
Serious head scratching then commenced.
Trying new speaker stands (solid metal, with the speakers on cone points) and re-terminating the original power cables didn't help, plus an 'old' problem of noise in the power amplifier returned.
This was now quickly turning into a unmitigated disaster.
The technician who upgraded the Wadia was equally disturbed at the current state of affairs and over the last couple weeks we have set about a significant amount of tweaking and experimenting. Permanent changes now include new input and driver tubes (out with Electro Harmonix and in with Telefunken) on the amplifier which has radically improved the bass speed and depth, the wooden speaker stands were returned into play with some new found musicality and, most importantly, some science went into speaker placement (dividing the room into thirds etc) resulting in far superior imaging and sound stage. Finally some heavy, subjective A/B listening sessions to make sure the changes were real.
Further changes tested and shown to be beneficial were swapping the old speaker cables for Kimber Cable Monocle X, and the addition of a Furman power conditioner (a serious high end model with a nifty live current readout). I just now need to find some bucks for these bits. Interestingly, we tried a similar quality Kimber RCA interconnect which was soundly beaten by my current Red Rose Silver Litz RCA's. Phew.
With all the above in place, I am delighted to say the system is singing again. Better than ever, IMHO.
Unfortunately when the amplifier gets hot after three or so hours of continuous listening the crackling noise re-commences. I will contact Red Rose in New York to source a circuit diagram with voltages in order for a local tube amplifier guru to identify the faulty component.
FYI, tracks used for evaluation were: 'Ode to Billy Joe', by Patricia Barber; 'Tin Pan Alley' by Stevie Ray Vaughan; 'Spanish Harlem' by Rebecca Pidgeon; 'Blackbird' by The Beatles and 'Tobacco Road' by The Bill Wyman Rhythm Kings.
Audio happiness is slowly returning to the Humphries household in time for 2007.
After the previous post and some early progress, the sound improvements certainly didn't meet my expectations based on all the feedback I had heard, and for the level of investment made! Some additional detail was resolved but the system lost it's musicality and foot tapping pace.
Serious head scratching then commenced.
Trying new speaker stands (solid metal, with the speakers on cone points) and re-terminating the original power cables didn't help, plus an 'old' problem of noise in the power amplifier returned.
This was now quickly turning into a unmitigated disaster.
The technician who upgraded the Wadia was equally disturbed at the current state of affairs and over the last couple weeks we have set about a significant amount of tweaking and experimenting. Permanent changes now include new input and driver tubes (out with Electro Harmonix and in with Telefunken) on the amplifier which has radically improved the bass speed and depth, the wooden speaker stands were returned into play with some new found musicality and, most importantly, some science went into speaker placement (dividing the room into thirds etc) resulting in far superior imaging and sound stage. Finally some heavy, subjective A/B listening sessions to make sure the changes were real.
Further changes tested and shown to be beneficial were swapping the old speaker cables for Kimber Cable Monocle X, and the addition of a Furman power conditioner (a serious high end model with a nifty live current readout). I just now need to find some bucks for these bits. Interestingly, we tried a similar quality Kimber RCA interconnect which was soundly beaten by my current Red Rose Silver Litz RCA's. Phew.
With all the above in place, I am delighted to say the system is singing again. Better than ever, IMHO.
Unfortunately when the amplifier gets hot after three or so hours of continuous listening the crackling noise re-commences. I will contact Red Rose in New York to source a circuit diagram with voltages in order for a local tube amplifier guru to identify the faulty component.
FYI, tracks used for evaluation were: 'Ode to Billy Joe', by Patricia Barber; 'Tin Pan Alley' by Stevie Ray Vaughan; 'Spanish Harlem' by Rebecca Pidgeon; 'Blackbird' by The Beatles and 'Tobacco Road' by The Bill Wyman Rhythm Kings.
Audio happiness is slowly returning to the Humphries household in time for 2007.