Back to tubes

[sidvee]

My humble updated setup - since the weather in Hyd. has cooled down I moved from my solidstate setup (Parasound JC2 and Odyssey Stratos extreme) back to tubes with the addition of an Ayon CD1s player and Audio Research LS26 tube preamp feeding Quicksilver mid mono monoblocks for an all tube setup. Sounds luscious with my B&W805's. Moved the 718's to my bedroom system where they are making great music as well. The parasound and odyssey setup will be back next summer.
BTW our very own Magma designed the center channel speaker stand and my paradigm studio cc570 v3 has never sounded better.
Cheers
Sid

 

[Kittu]

nice setup .... those bass traps were DIY or you bought them ?

 

[myriad]

@Sidvee,
Lovely set up!!! Which tube amp you are using?

 

[sidvee]

nice setup .... those bass traps were DIY or you bought them ?

Thanks kittu1977 - those are GIK acoustics panels on the side walls and echobuster panels behind the speakers.
Cheers
Sid

 

[sidvee]

@Sidvee,
Lovely set up!!! Which tube amp you are using?

Thanks Myriad. I am using a pair of Quicksilver Audio Mid Mono monoblocks which are a push pull design and output about 55w a piece with KT88 tubes.
Cheers
Sid

 

[Kittu]

Thanks kittu1977 - those are GIK acoustics panels on the side walls and echobuster panels behind the speakers.
Cheers
Sid

Thank you!!!! where did you buy those ?

 

[sidvee]

Thank you!!!! where did you buy those ?

Had them shipped from US. I have not found anybody selling individual acoustic panels here yet unfortunately.
Cheers
Sid

 

[spirovious]

A lovely setup...

 

[GeorgeO]

Looks very nice

 

[sidvee]

Thank you kindly spirovious and GeorgeO

 

[sidvee]

nice setup .... those bass traps were DIY or you bought them ?

BTW I am assuming you are referring to the panels on the walls. The cylinder that you see in the picture is actually a SVS subwoofer that I use for movies. Sorry cant post higher res. pictures.
Cheers
Sid

 

[Kittu]

BTW I am assuming you are referring to the panels on the walls. The cylinder that you see in the picture is actually a SVS subwoofer that I use for movies. Sorry cant post higher res. pictures.
Cheers
Sid

Yes I was talking about those panels on back-wall.

 

[sidvee]

Yes I was talking about those panels on back-wall.

Yes those are the GIK panels (sorry didnt mean to imply otherwise regarding the subwoofer. Some people mistook it for a tube trap in the past). They work great and I am getting a pretty flat response of the bass frequencies all the way down till 28 -30 hz without glaring peaks or suckouts. I have 6 of them and the 2 echobusters on the front wall.
cheers
Sid

 

[rikhav]

Hi Sid
Lovely Setup
What amps do you use with BE-718?
Also the Ushers are pushed right to the back wall and the whole cabinet is in between the speakers. Does not it affect the sound or you dont have any choice due to space constraints?

Lastly, do the B&W's which are known to need good amounts of power do well with a 55 Watts?

 

[captrajesh]

What amps do you use with BE-718?
Also the Ushers are pushed right to the back wall and the whole cabinet is in between the speakers. Does not it affect the sound or you dont have any choice due to space constraints?

Lastly, do the B&W's which are known to need good amounts of power do well with a 55 Watts?

Good questions. Waiting for answers.

@rikhav There is no front port so it may most likely be rear ported. So it is safe to assume that they have not been connected yet.

 

[stevieboy]

Yes those are the GIK panels (sorry didnt mean to imply otherwise regarding the subwoofer. Some people mistook it for a tube trap in the past).

haha that round fellow certainly got me!

Nice set up. Which kt88 tubes are in the amp?

regards

 

[sidvee]

Hi Sid
Lovely Setup
What amps do you use with BE-718?
Also the Ushers are pushed right to the back wall and the whole cabinet is in between the speakers. Does not it affect the sound or you dont have any choice due to space constraints?

Lastly, do the B&W's which are known to need good amounts of power do well with a 55 Watts?

Hi Rikhav, Thanks. Some answers - I am currently using the belcanto S300 with the Be-718, which puts out 300w into 4 ohms and is a digital switching design. IMHO it is not as good as the Odysssey stratos, but in my bedroom I did not want to put a 50kg monster of an amp:lol:. Secondly since this is a bedroom setup I am not really doing any critical listening - for this I use my dedicated setup - so the fact that the speakers are against the rear wall and there is a dresser with a mirror is a big compromise that I have to deal with for decor issues and safety issues as well (dont want to stumble on a 20kg speaker in the night). Regardless the 718's do not sound too bad. I do not have acoustic treatment as well but somehow the big bed acts as a huge absorber so the sound is not too unruly.
Finally the N805 has a measured efficiency of 86db but its impedence plot shows that it is a fairly benign load with a minimum value of 4.8 ohms at 200hz and a low phase angle and hence the Quicksilver with 55 watts does a great job. Regardless I have generally noticed that tube amps with 50-60 watts of power will subjectively feel like a 100 watt solid state amp.
Cheers
Sid

 

[sidvee]

Good questions. Waiting for answers.

@rikhav There is no front port so it may most likely be rear ported. So it is safe to assume that they have not been connected yet.

Hello Captain - Actually the 718 is a front ported design with a rectangular slot under the logo rather than a circular port. In practice it does not sound too bad pushed against the wall but the depth of the soundstage definitely suffers.
Cheers
Sid

 

[sidvee]

haha that round fellow certainly got me!

Nice set up. Which kt88 tubes are in the amp?

regards

Thanks Stevieboy - I am currently using ElectroHarmonix kt 88's, but what i love about the quicksilvers is that they will accept El34's, 6l6's or Kt 90's as well but with changes in power output with the El34's putting out 50watts, Kt88's putting out 55watts and the kt90's output 60 watts. I have tried all combinations and feel the kt88's do the best with this amp.
Cheers
Sid

 

[rikhav]

Hi Sid
Even with the right speaker you dont face an issue of boomy low end as its placed in a corner with no breathing space either from the rear or side walls?

I can understand that you dont do any critical listening but does not a sound imbalance spoil the joy of listening music?