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DECEMBER 2006
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
The past twelve months have just flown by. It hardly seems like it has
been a year since I was listening to Christmas CDs for the December 2005
column.
I have accumulated a few more Christmas CDs since then but haven’t
listened to any of them; I can anticipate the pleasure of doing that over
the next few weeks.
Speaking of Christmas songs, “The Christmas Song” by Mel Torme and
Robert Wells was introduced at Christmas 1946 by Nat King Cole. Happy
60th!
The big news at the moment is that I purchased a used Audio Experience
+R tube preamp in mid-November. This is the upgraded version, with
remote, of the preamp I have been listening to for nearly six years. (How
can it possibly have been that long?)
I have been checking Audiogon and eBay for preamps regularly since June
waiting for something that is interesting, affordable, and also an upgrade
to appear. As I lamented in the September 2006 column, finding exactly
that has been difficult. Thanks to getting lucky at some garage sales this
fall, I had the money to act when I found it.
I about dropped my mouse, though, when I saw the ad itself. I got so
excited in my rush to buy it that I messed up the Paypal payment not
once, but twice. The Experience +R is only about six weeks old and with
Paypal and shipping, cost me right at $550. (It is about $850 new.) I had
been ready to buy the non-remote version as I had decided that nothing in
my price range as good as it was ever going to show up. I saved at least
$100 over the basic plus version and got a remote. Not bad. And it’s a
nice remote. It moves slowly enough to make small changes in volume.
Most of the remotes I have used, such as the one on the Marantz SR-
1020, change the volume too much when you finally get it to move.
(Touch it quickly; nothing happens. Touch it a little more firmly; nothing
happens. More firmly. Wham! It is way louder/softer than you wanted.) I
am not unusually lazy and don’t mind getting up to change volume, still, it
is nice to be able to hear the change in level while you are making it. The
remote also selects inputs and mutes the output. It really is a very
different preamp from the one I have been using.
I am working on a review, naturally, and can’t really predict how long it will
take. The Audio Experience is not even broken in yet; the manufacturer,
YS Audio, recommends a minimum 100 hour break-in. It will probably be
January before I can feel really comfortable about any judgments that I
make regarding its sonics.
Since I am comparing it to its antecedent, I installed the same types of
tubes, three GE 5751s and an RCA black plate 6X4 rectifier, as with the
older Experiment. Even though there are different amounts of use on the
tubes, I thought this might make the comparison more valid as I would be
hearing primarily the changes in circuitry, not differences in tube types.
We shall see.
I am still waiting for the calibration information for the Heathkit TT-1 tube
tester. I hope to write something interesting about it in the not too
distant future.
Once I feel like I have a good handle on the sound of the Audio Experience/
Rogue system, I am going to be playing with some tube damping rings.
That should be interesting as well.
Until then, Happy Holidays and all Best Wishes for the New Year!
Kent Johnson
November 30, 2006
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
The past twelve months have just flown by. It hardly seems like it has
been a year since I was listening to Christmas CDs for the December 2005
column.
I have accumulated a few more Christmas CDs since then but haven’t
listened to any of them; I can anticipate the pleasure of doing that over
the next few weeks.
Speaking of Christmas songs, “The Christmas Song” by Mel Torme and
Robert Wells was introduced at Christmas 1946 by Nat King Cole. Happy
60th!
The big news at the moment is that I purchased a used Audio Experience
+R tube preamp in mid-November. This is the upgraded version, with
remote, of the preamp I have been listening to for nearly six years. (How
can it possibly have been that long?)
I have been checking Audiogon and eBay for preamps regularly since June
waiting for something that is interesting, affordable, and also an upgrade
to appear. As I lamented in the September 2006 column, finding exactly
that has been difficult. Thanks to getting lucky at some garage sales this
fall, I had the money to act when I found it.
I about dropped my mouse, though, when I saw the ad itself. I got so
excited in my rush to buy it that I messed up the Paypal payment not
once, but twice. The Experience +R is only about six weeks old and with
Paypal and shipping, cost me right at $550. (It is about $850 new.) I had
been ready to buy the non-remote version as I had decided that nothing in
my price range as good as it was ever going to show up. I saved at least
$100 over the basic plus version and got a remote. Not bad. And it’s a
nice remote. It moves slowly enough to make small changes in volume.
Most of the remotes I have used, such as the one on the Marantz SR-
1020, change the volume too much when you finally get it to move.
(Touch it quickly; nothing happens. Touch it a little more firmly; nothing
happens. More firmly. Wham! It is way louder/softer than you wanted.) I
am not unusually lazy and don’t mind getting up to change volume, still, it
is nice to be able to hear the change in level while you are making it. The
remote also selects inputs and mutes the output. It really is a very
different preamp from the one I have been using.
I am working on a review, naturally, and can’t really predict how long it will
take. The Audio Experience is not even broken in yet; the manufacturer,
YS Audio, recommends a minimum 100 hour break-in. It will probably be
January before I can feel really comfortable about any judgments that I
make regarding its sonics.
Since I am comparing it to its antecedent, I installed the same types of
tubes, three GE 5751s and an RCA black plate 6X4 rectifier, as with the
older Experiment. Even though there are different amounts of use on the
tubes, I thought this might make the comparison more valid as I would be
hearing primarily the changes in circuitry, not differences in tube types.
We shall see.
I am still waiting for the calibration information for the Heathkit TT-1 tube
tester. I hope to write something interesting about it in the not too
distant future.
Once I feel like I have a good handle on the sound of the Audio Experience/
Rogue system, I am going to be playing with some tube damping rings.
That should be interesting as well.
Until then, Happy Holidays and all Best Wishes for the New Year!
Kent Johnson
November 30, 2006