Please Help me selecting the appropiate Tube amplifier

[anm]

I am sure one can make a speaker either too tall (it may tip due to high center of gravity). Or may be hang on the wall pretty tall, and aim it downwards towards you. Think of sound coming out of cones as a larger cone. How much much of this cone you would be directly immersed in when sitting in your listening position. What is the height of the pool table from the ground?
Maybe be just putting the drivers on the top of the harmony one, instead of middle, can solve the problem. I have seen some similar designs on net somewhere.

 

[anm]

hey - seems I do not have this song on my cd - it is a combo of devdas (shahrukh one) and sur. Songs from Sur are

Tu dil ki khushi
Khoya hai tune jo ae dil
jaane kya dhoondhta hai
Dil mei jaagi dhadkan aise
Sur theme.

 

[mahiruha]

well then they have left out two best songs. A bhi ja by lucky ali and this jab sham dhale. But all the music from that film is very good. Very good blend of east and west.since you also have devdas with it so its a killer combo. I love music of devdas. Actually when first played this cambridge audio dvd player I played devdas cd in it and I loved the sound so much I listened the entire cd in one sitting.

 

[anm]

I have also cleaned an LP for tomorrow's session - Classical songs from films - let me see if he lets me play it on his player.

 

[mahiruha]

Hi Mahiruha,

Can the speakers be placed nearer to your sitting position on the two sides of the table by side of the longer walls (as nearer to you as possible to avoid any blockage from the table sides)? This arrangement will require long speaker cables, so you have to use high quality thicker cables. Just a thought.

Regards.

Hello Asit,
thanks for the suggestion. But the problem is snooker as a game requires 5 ft free space around the sides of the table for playing. So placing the speakers side wise might create obstruction.what should be the minimum and maximum spacing between speakers for floor standers? It semms from other posts that you live quite close to me as I am based in lake town beside VIP road. Might drop in your place at some point to experience what a well researched system should sound like. I don't have much experience with quality stereo systems.
Thanks.

 

[Asit]

.... snooker as a game requires 5 ft free space around the sides of the table for playing. So placing the speakers side wise might create obstruction.

This was my concern as well when I made my suggestion last night. From the pictures it was not clear to me how much space you have between the side of the snooker table and each side-wall. If you do not have a lot and still place the speakers by the side walls near the table, the snooker players will have to be careful with their sticks (sorry, do not know what that stick is called, never played the game, played some pool though long time ago).
It seems to me there has to be a compromise no matter what you do to have both the snooker game and music in that room.

what should be the minimum and maximum spacing between speakers for floor standers?

I do not think there is a straightforward easy answer to this.

I would tend to think there should be at least 5 ft between the speakers, otherwise stereo separation, soundstaging and imaging will be be absent. Think of a compact boom-box with two speakers attached to the body barely a foot apart. Even if you have some stereo separation, you would loose the soundstage and imaging. I had a similar boom-box during the initial periods of stay in the US as a student, and this was my experience.

On the other hand, if you keep them too far apart, the soundstage gets thinned if you sit close. In that case this has to be a bigger room and then naturally you need a powerful and/or efficient system to produce enough SPL at the listening positions (situation is similar in a PA system)

It semms from other posts that you live quite close to me as I am based in lake town beside VIP road. Might drop in your place at some point to experience what a well researched system should sound like.

That is literally a walking distance. All you need to do is to cross the VIP Rd and the canal using the foot-bridge and get a rickshaw or just walk for about 10-15 minutes (in the direction opposite to Ultadanga) along the canal. You are very much welcome at our very modest home, but send me a PM before that so that we can settle on a convenient time for both of us. In the near future, I am expecting to get some appropriate stands (through design and supervision of Cranky) and the sound should improve after that, but you are welcome both before and after the invocation of the stands.

 

[AMITNOIDA]

That is literally a walking distance. All you need to do is to cross the VIP Rd and the canal using the foot-bridge and get a rickshaw or just walk for about 10-15 minutes (in the direction opposite to Ultadanga) along the canal. You are very much welcome at our very modest home, but send me a PM before that so that we can settle on a convenient time for both of us. In the near future, I am expecting to get some appropriate stands (through design and supervision of Cranky) and the sound should improve after that, but you are welcome both before and after the invocation of the stands.

Asit ji (or da), I am sorry to just push in Mahiruha's thread. This thread I am following with lot of interest, because I also love valve amp sound and taken audition of Viren's amp just one week ago pairing with Tannoy Reveal 6.

After reading VIP road, Ultadanga etc. in your thread, I could not resist myself than posting this, although irrelevant to the subject thread. I was born and brought up at Kolkata and my home was earlier at Beadon Street and then at Baguiati. So VIP Road and Ultadanga both are very nostalgic to me. If I can come to Kolkata for any job in future, I may send you PM and may like to visit and listen to your enviable system. Sorry Mahiruha for my unwanted posting.

Cheers
Amit

 

[Asit]

Hi Amit,

Beadon St is close to where I grew up and Baguihati (just like Lake Town) is stone's throw away from where I live now in the Salt Lake area. I wish you all good luck in your search of a good tube gear for music. While auditioning, just concentrate on the music and see which set-up and gear is giving you the most pleasure when you are listening to your kind of music, and forget about SS, tube, bass, warm, cold sounds etc. Also try to audition for longer time, because some systems will floor you in a short listening session, but may be fatiguing for an extended session.

You are very much welcome to our home. Just PM me a bit in advance whenever you plan to visit Kolkata.

Regards.

 

[mahiruha]

Hello guys,
I am happy to inform that finally an amp selection has been made and a solution has been obtained regarding speaker position. Viren took all the effort to place the Harmony one speaker and two amps in a room similar to my room size around 400 sq ft. He felt both amplifiers could fill up the space with music. However, when pushed hard, with loud music, the 2A3 SET started sounding a bit strained, showing that its limit had been reached. The 6C33C SET continued playing with good control, and no strain. The higher power rating certainly helped.He suggested both amps by the way, sound very similar. Therefore, for my size of room, his recommendation is 6C33C SET amp. I really appreciate the effort he took to make this recommendation.

Regarding speaker position I found the height of my snooker table from ground is roughly 100 cm with some margin.In the speakers, the drivers are mounted 75 cm above the floor. He will have to provide an extra height of 25cm. to clear the snooker table. He also suggested me that I can keep the Harmony Ones next to my existing speakers. It would be better without, but we all have to live with compromises as I intend to use my existing Jamo 606 speakers purely for HT purposes.
So this is the plan going forward and it is now the beginning of wait for 4 weeks for these amps and speakers to arrive.
Thanks for everyboys input
Mahiruha.

 

[stevieboy]

so you mean you're getting both the 6C33C amp and the harmony one's?

congratulations! and welcome to the tube world! you can also make a platform with spikes under or a sort of a platform with legs on which to place the speakers to raise it the desired 25-30cm.

regards

 

[mahiruha]

Hello Guys,
so finally the wait is over and my Lyrita 6c33c amp is runnig. I am glad that Viren sent me another set of tubes yesterday and to my surprize they reached Calcutta today. So now I have the enitre system which is Lyrita pre amp with phonostage connected to Lyrita 6c33c amp and it is connected to harmony one single driver speakers. My initial impressions are very good. To say the least it is quite a jump from my Onkyo Jamo set up in terms sound quality. The speakers are raised a bit so that the drivers are located above my snooker table and I can feel I am hearing lot more direct sound. The sound has wider sound stage and more body than before. I played some songs from the Movie Jaane tu Ya jaane na and I can't complain about the bass. My windows were shaking perhaps at times it was bit more boomy. I have to play around a bit with speaker position to overcome the boomyness. When spinned some vinyls through this system it is a quantum leap. The phono stage is just amazing. It adds more body and widens the sound stage. The instrument separation is also very good. To be honest when I listen to vinyls through this phono stage I really don't enjoy CDs anymore. I will try and post a more matured view as I myself mature as listener and spent some more time with this system.
Thanks,
Mahiruha.

 

[gobble]

Congratulations!! Enjoy the music :yahoo:

cheers

 

[afg]

Hello Guys,
so finally the wait is over and my Lyrita 6c33c amp is runnig. I am glad that Viren sent me another set of tubes yesterday and to my surprize they reached Calcutta today. So now I have the enitre system which is Lyrita pre amp with phonostage connected to Lyrita 6c33c amp and it is connected to harmony one single driver speakers. My initial impressions are very good. To say the least it is quite a jump from my Onkyo Jamo set up in terms sound quality. The speakers are raised a bit so that the drivers are located above my snooker table and I can feel I am hearing lot more direct sound. The sound has wider sound stage and more body than before. I played some songs from the Movie Jaane tu Ya jaane na and I can't complain about the bass. My windows were shaking perhaps at times it was bit more boomy. I have to play around a bit with speaker position to overcome the boomyness. When spinned some vinyls through this system it is a quantum leap. The phono stage is just amazing. It adds more body and widens the sound stage. The instrument separation is also very good. To be honest when I listen to vinyls through this phono stage I really don't enjoy CDs anymore. I will try and post a more matured view as I myself mature as listener and spent some more time with this system.
Thanks,
Mahiruha.

Congrats on your system. I am sure it sounds wonderful.

I am a bit paranoid by nature so forgive me for that, but having anything inbetween the speakers and the listener will affect imaging. This is even if the speaker drivers are above the obstructing object. I used to have a small table (about 4' x 3') in front of my listening chair and one day, just as an experiment, I removed it from the listening area. Images immediately became sharper and more well defined.

Can you shift the system to a different room even if it is smaller and experiment? If it does not yield any benefit, you can always shift back. Just a thought.

 

[mahiruha]

Congrats on your system. I am sure it sounds wonderful.

I am a bit paranoid by nature so forgive me for that, but having anything inbetween the speakers and the listener will affect imaging. This is even if the speaker drivers are above the obstructing object. I used to have a small table (about 4' x 3') in front of my listening chair and one day, just as an experiment, I removed it from the listening area. Images immediately became sharper and more well defined.

Can you shift the system to a different room even if it is smaller and experiment? If it does not yield any benefit, you can always shift back. Just a thought.

Hello,
thanks gobble and afj. Well Afj what you have suggestedit definitely makes sense. I will try it out sometimes in future. The basic problem is all the components together weighs around 110 Kg so it is not a very easy task to move them around. Another problem is my ears are not that well trained so I have to give it a bit more time. My present problem is this boomyness which I feel is hiding some details in the music.It may be possible that for last one year I was listening to a three way speaker so this different sound signature of single driver will take some time to get used to. I have discussed this issue with Viren he says beacuse of the big size of the room some natural reverbaration is coming into play. To arrest this problem he suggested to stuff some socks in the hole behind the speakers which I have done and it decreased the boomyness a bit. Today I am going to stuff some more socks to see the effect. I will try and get in touch with more experienced members in Calcutta once the system breaks in to see if they have any suggestions.
thanks,
Mahiruha.

 

[thevortex]

Congrats on the new setup, Mahiruha!

 

[gobble]

Hello,
My present problem is this boomyness which I feel is hiding some details in the music..

Dont know if you have any room to spare but putting some space between rear of speakers and wall and side walls should improve the problem. Minimum of 18 inches from back and side walls is a good thumb rule.

Regards

 

[pratimbayal]

Congratulation Mahiruha on your new set up . I am not far away from your place. If you permit I would also like to listen to your set up.

Enjoy
Pratim

 

[Asit]

To arrest this problem he suggested to stuff some socks in the hole behind the speakers which I have done and it decreased the boomyness a bit. Today I am going to stuff some more socks to see the effect.

I hope you are not buying new socks for the stuffing .

On serious terms, hearty congratulations! For the last few months, there have been so much discussion on Lyrita in our forum and also because of their very reasonable prices, I feel I got to listen to them, if you allow. At the same time my invitation to you stands and perhaps you can also give your impressions on my system, although currently (as stated earlier) I do not have a funstional TT.

About the boominess: I thought you get boominess in smaller rooms, but your room is large. From your earlier pictures of the room, it seems you may not have too much stuff in the room other than the snooker table. Do you have long thick curtains and stuff? Some room treatment may be necessary to absorb some of the undesired reflections and reverberations.

Regards

 

[stevieboy]

mahiruha,

do post a detailed review when you listen for a while! make sure a pool ball doesn't hop off the table and land on the tubes!!!

regards

 

[mahiruha]

Congratulation Mahiruha on your new set up . I am not far away from your place. If you permit I would also like to listen to your set up.

Enjoy
Pratim

Hello Pratim,
no problem atall. Just pm me when you want to visit.My house is in first row in Lake Town from the VIP road side.
Thanks,
Mahiruha.