Omega Alnico FR + 300b SET Amp

[AP@1992]

The best three audio advice I have received till date are as follows:

• One man’s organic is another man’s muffled.
• You cant get a perfect system but you can build a perfect system for your music preference. Chase that; and
• If you love jazz, Ghazal, simple music and likes, find a High efficiency Full range Alnico/Field Coil driver and pair it with a DHSET Amp (300b preferred) and a NOS R2R DAC. There lies the magic.

There was nothing wrong in my system. I loved it. Chain of Oberon 5 – Cayin AT88 (Mullards XF2 EL34 +VT231 +235 Sylvania/Tung sol 6ns7GTB) – Pontus II – Lumin U2 mini. All held together by Mogami and tellurium. I was happy and contended in my small listening space.

The third advice however stayed with me. Biggest challenge apart from cost was space. The SET 300b Amplifier cannot be more than 8-inch in height from bottom to OPT to fit in my rack. Similarly, the HE FR Alnico or Field Coil cant be deep or ugly or large since I have lack of space and my listening space doubles as our living space.

After over almost 8 months of intense ransacking, frustration and waiting, I finally found:

• Mr Kunte of Bombay, who by use of mini sized OPT’s imported from Japan was able to deliver me a SET AMP which could fit my rack. Still unfinished but in working condition [chassis finalization pends]. Point to point wiring. He is always available to solve a issue if ever it arose. Power Tube: 300b and 2A3 switchable. Driver is ECC88 and likes. Input is pentode triode Ef86. I got myself Elrogs and Mullards and Valvo NOS tubes for Power, driver and input.
• Mr Louis Chocos of Omega Loudspeakers, who helped me get my Full Range Alnico Speaker (Junior Alnico XRS) in a gorgeous handmade wooden cabinet which is beautiful, slim, tall and adequately sized to deliver the soundstage I was after. Feels an honest 95db sensitive as per the spec.

Big shout out to the above gentlemen and to many others who have guided me in this path. There singular passion for audio is unparalleled.

Its been just a day and breaking in will take a good month or so, but this combo of Alnico Full range + DHSET Amp (300b) + my NOS R2R Dac is playing my loved genre of music with such ease and finesse. There is this seduction to midrange I always craved. I hope it will only improve from here.

This has been quite a journey of almost 8 months. I had almost abandoned this idea given the room constraints, cost etc. etc.. But as they say, when there is a will there is way.

Sharing some pics to showcase what I wrote above.

Thanks for looking

 

[square_wave]

Brilliant pics. The green table is sexy. The Hasselblad connection is working. We talked on the group earlier about the speaker so I will refrain regarding the details of it here. Best of luck with Omega.

 

[kratu]

The best three audio advice I have received till date are as follows:

• One man’s organic is another man’s muffled.
• You cant get a perfect system but you can build a perfect system for your music preference. Chase that; and
• If you love jazz, Ghazal, simple music and likes, find a High efficiency Full range Alnico/Field Coil driver and pair it with a DHSET Amp (300b preferred) and a NOS R2R DAC. There lies the magic.

Gorgeous looking speakers. You definitely got a taste for style with that decor and the amps. I agree, you may not get a perfect system, but you can build one. That is a great argument to go DIY.

 

[reignofchaos]

Congratulations! They look like they have been worth the long wait!

 

[AP@1992]

Gorgeous looking speakers. You definitely got a taste for style with that decor and the amps. I agree, you may not get a perfect system, but you can build one. That is a great argument to go DIY.

DIY, in good hands and if you know what you want, is a great proposition.

Brilliant pics. The green table is sexy. The Hasselblad connection is working. We talked on the group earlier about the speaker so I will refrain regarding the details of it here. Best of luck with Omega.

Thanks. Don't know about taste, but I detest wires. Imagine my plight as a audio FOOL.

Congratulations! They look like they have been worth the long wait!

These cabinet must been seen to be believed. Sound is always subjective, but the fit and finish in these cabinets is far superior to anything I have seen, in the wooden side of things. Louis really takes pride in them and I can see why. Good ol man.

 

[Hari Iyer]

I had the opportunity to listen to this setup today. The drivers need some more cone break-in to further open up. The sound is immersive and very articulate in the lows and midbass. Voice are very clean and natural and make you feel as if you are in midst of the performance. Due to a very narrow speaker placement, the sound stage suffered a bit, but channel separation and imaging was spoton. The highs were a bit detailed and sounded alnico like. I am expecting it to be mellowed after say around 100+ hrs. Maybe the cables and amplifier could be the reason for it. Overall a very great attempt with the constraint of space, budget and resources.

 

[AP@1992]

I had the opportunity to listen to this setup today. The drivers need some more cone break-in to further open up. The sound is immersive and very articulate in the lows and midbass. Voice are very clean and natural and make you feel as if you are in midst of the performance. Due to a very narrow speaker placement, the sound stage suffered a bit, but channel separation and imaging was spoton. The highs were a bit detailed and sounded alnico like. I am expecting it to be mellowed after say around 100+ hrs. Maybe the cables and amplifier could be the reason for it. Overall a very great attempt with the constraint of space, budget and resources.

Post burin and depending on where the sound has arrived, will see and change a few wires and tubes to get the desired results.

But these are detail hound. They are exposing noise in tubes which sounded very fine with other speakers. May be the High Efficiency is a part to play here. It's going to be a costly affair for me.

 

[yogibear]

Post burin and depending on where the sound has arrived, will see and change a few wires and tubes to get the desired results.

But these are detail hound. They are exposing noise in tubes which sounded very fine with other speakers. May be the High Efficiency is a part to play here. It's going to be a costly affair for me.

Tubes should not put forth any noise irrespective of the speaker efficiency.

Is it hum ?

 

[AP@1992]

Tubes should not put forth any noise irrespective of the speaker efficiency.

Is it hum ?

Don't know. May be the rectifier was bad and I didn't realise. But with the same rectifier, other speaker sounds fine.

With this, there is this ever so slight grain. Changed to a RCA 5u4g, that's gone. Earlier one was NoS Hitachi 5U4GB.

So it can be a case of RCA 5u4g being better than Hiatchi 5U4GB also

 

[Hari Iyer]

Don't know. May be the rectifier was bad and I didn't realise. But with the same rectifier, other speaker sounds fine.

With this, there is this ever so slight grain. Changed to a RCA 5u4g, that's gone. Earlier one was NoS Hitachi 5U4GB.

So it can be a case of RCA 5u4g being better than Hiatchi 5U4GB also

IME, hum in speakers are not because of tubes per say but how the power supply stage of the amplifier is designed and how the wiring inside the amplifier had been done. I have observed that cubbing the wires inside with a wire tie to look good works negatively and the field interacts.

 

[AP@1992]

IME, hum in speakers are not because of tubes per say but how the power supply stage of the amplifier is designed and how the wiring I side the amplifier had been done. I have observed that cubbing the wires inside with a wire tie to look good works negatively and the field interacts.

I am not talking about hum.

A sense of noise/grain.

 

[Hari Iyer]

I am not talking about hum.

A sense of noise/grain.

Its because of power supply design and internal wiring - nothing to do with the tube.

 

[AP@1992]

Its because of power supply design and internal wiring - nothing to do with the tube.

Sounded cleaner and grain free with a different rectifier tube. So I guess it's the tube.

In my past experience also, some tubes have sounded cleaner and less grainer than others.

 

[Hari Iyer]

Sounded cleaner and grain free with a different rectifier tube. So I guess it's the tube.

In my past experience also, some tubes have sounded cleaner and less grainer than others.

Alright!

 

[yogibear]

Faulty tubes or power supply design causes noise.

Yes, some tubes owing to their construction have lower noise floor like 7025 vs 12AX7 but that does not mean 12AX7 will sound noisy.

 

[AP@1992]

Alright!

Faulty tubes or power supply design causes noise.

Yes, some tubes owing to their construction have lower noise floor like 7025 vs 12AX7 but that does not mean 12AX7 will sound noisy.

Yes sensation of low noise is what I felt. Not hum or noise coming from tubes or amplifier/speaker.

But, on an academic level, would a revealing speaker enhance that sense of low or how high noise floor and will be able to better reveal differences in tubes in comparison to a speaker which is not very clear or transparent.

 

[reignofchaos]

Aside from all this ruckus, curiosity and chasing ghost, like we discussed yesterday, this

Yes sensation of low noise is what I felt. Not hum or noise coming from tubes or amplifier/speaker.

But, on an academic level, would a revealing speaker enhance that sense of low or how high noise floor and will be able to better reveal differences in tubes in comparison to a speaker which is not very clear or transparent.

If there is any noise, a high sensitivity speaker will throw it on your face. If the speaker is low sensitivity, it's not that big an issue.

My new preamp has 6sn7 with no feedback. This is one of the more noisy tubes out there but gives a fantastic tone in return. I tried a few old nos valves I had and those sounded noisy compared to modern reissue tubes. I have ordered a few more pairs to see if all the old ones are noisy or only the pairs I had were bad.

 

[AP@1992]

If there is any noise, a high sensitivity speaker will throw it on your face. If the speaker is low sensitivity, it's not that big an issue.

My new preamp has 6sn7 with no feedback. This is one of the more noisy tubes out there but gives a fantastic tone in return. I tried a few old nos valves I had and those sounded noisy compared to modern reissue tubes. I have ordered a few more pairs to see if all the old ones are noisy or only the pairs I had were bad.

In new production, do check out:

PSvane CV 181 mark 2 gold pins - For netural sound

Linai Elite for sublime and warm midrange and bass

Tungsol 6SN7 GTB

All of these have extremely low noise floor.

 

[morerajendra5678]

The best three audio advice I have received till date are as follows:

• One man’s organic is another man’s muffled.
• You cant get a perfect system but you can build a perfect system for your music preference. Chase that; and
• If you love jazz, Ghazal, simple music and likes, find a High efficiency Full range Alnico/Field Coil driver and pair it with a DHSET Amp (300b preferred) and a NOS R2R DAC. There lies the magic.

There was nothing wrong in my system. I loved it. Chain of Oberon 5 – Cayin AT88 (Mullards XF2 EL34 +VT231 +235 Sylvania/Tung sol 6ns7GTB) – Pontus II – Lumin U2 mini. All held together by Mogami and tellurium. I was happy and contended in my small listening space.

The third advice however stayed with me. Biggest challenge apart from cost was space. The SET 300b Amplifier cannot be more than 8-inch in height from bottom to OPT to fit in my rack. Similarly, the HE FR Alnico or Field Coil cant be deep or ugly or large since I have lack of space and my listening space doubles as our living space.

After over almost 8 months of intense ransacking, frustration and waiting, I finally found:

• Mr Kunte of Bombay, who by use of mini sized OPT’s imported from Japan was able to deliver me a SET AMP which could fit my rack. Still unfinished but in working condition [chassis finalization pends]. Point to point wiring. He is always available to solve a issue if ever it arose. Power Tube: 300b and 2A3 switchable. Driver is ECC88 and likes. Input is pentode triode Ef86. I got myself Elrogs and Mullards and Valvo NOS tubes for Power, driver and input.
• Mr Louis Chocos of Omega Loudspeakers, who helped me get my Full Range Alnico Speaker (Junior Alnico XRS) in a gorgeous handmade wooden cabinet which is beautiful, slim, tall and adequately sized to deliver the soundstage I was after. Feels an honest 95db sensitive as per the spec.

Big shout out to the above gentlemen and to many others who have guided me in this path. There singular passion for audio is unparalleled.

Its been just a day and breaking in will take a good month or so, but this combo of Alnico Full range + DHSET Amp (300b) + my NOS R2R Dac is playing my loved genre of music with such ease and finesse. There is this seduction to midrange I always craved. I hope it will only improve from here.

This has been quite a journey of almost 8 months. I had almost abandoned this idea given the room constraints, cost etc. etc.. But as they say, when there is a will there is way.

Sharing some pics to showcase what I wrote above.

Thanks for looking

Can you share contact details of Mr Kunte? I am looking to have Single Ended amplifier built for me.