We got set up at about 11:30am. The ladies decided Edinburgh was a better bet than breadboards....and left us alone.
First up was my Crimson pre and power combo the 6072A/ECC88 phono, the one I did with James and Greg and my TT, on the MLTLs. Not bad but the solid state stuff was a bit shrill despite the valve front end. Colin remarked it didn't sound like one of my phono amps as there was no hum...
Next we put in Colin's 6EM7 integrated, as seen at Owston, its amazing how loud 1.5-2 watts is with 93-94db MLTL speakers. This amps a little cracker and I'm getting more and more serious about putting one together, very nice build Colin. This was a very sweet sound.
Next, we swapped in the LCR for the 6072A/ECC88, my first thought was the bass was gone, but as this LCR warmed up that familiar punch and drive appeared along with excellent deep bass and some really sweet treble. I could have stopped here, to be honest.
However, I had high hopes now for Spudski, especially since the 6EM7 was clearly driving the speakers quite well with <2 watts. As I have documented elsewhere the fuse blew just after we got it to light up, which we traced this to shorted diodes. So, we left things at that thinking it clearly need more thought and more time spending on it - discretion being the better part of valour and all...
Colin's TT and the SL15 cart was next up, I have to say the SL15 has a very nice sound but its just not my scene.
I persuaded Colin to try the 103R on the Hadcock, perhaps its because I know and like the sound. I suspect perhaps we didn't have the right set up for the SL15? Or its doesn't match my ears. We most certainly did not get the killer sound we heard at the last Owston before last where Will's SL15, ebony arm, Will's TT, my and Will's phono, and Colin's statics and GM70 produced a sound to die for.
Since the kids were out of the house, and to make up for the dead spudski I got out the 300B, its not been used in long while as my kids look with their fingers, not safe. Much to my surprise this worked first time and sounded good, well certainly OK at high volume on the MLTLs, it seemed to drive them better than the 6EM7 although I could live with the former quite easily.
Later that night once we'd relaxed and got the youngsters off to bed.....we went back in for another listen....at low volumes something in that set up wasn't working. The sound was a bit soft, what was wrong? I dunno, could have been the TJ Mesh Plates of Colin's but I doubt it, or perhaps the the amp itself, more likely. The one other variable was Colin's pre, but I don't think it was that. The amp worked OK last outing and had a good punchy sound. Weird or what? I would love to have tracked that down but it will have to wait until I have time to attack the 300B's again.
Next morning after a bracing walk in the fresh snow to clear the head, we put the 6EM7 on with Colin's TT, the 103R, and Colin's C3g phono. Colin wanted to see what the 103R was like into his phono, was there enough gain etc? For me a much better sound than the night before, something in the the 300B setup was a disappointment.
A good weekend all in all.
cheers,
-- Andrew
