BillF visits ROB-TV

[Rob]

All,

BillF dropped in this afternoon with a hi-end Sony SACD player and his Golden Audio SE300B-II stereo amp. This amp uses a 6CA7 driver (no doubt in triode mode) and a 6SL7 preamp per side. Rectifier is a 5AR4 (I'm pretty sure). He has WE-300B's in it, new issue ones.

First off let me tell you that I am converted today to SACD! I have today seen a light I have never heard before. The sound out of this format is soooo clean and sweet. What I thought was the best source sound here at home before in CD we A/B'd and it sounded very harsh in comparison and lacking the detail present in the SACD. We listened to a number of albums (well that's what I call them) including some Stevey Ray Von (sp?) and it was amazing.

Now as far as the tube amp shootout. We compared his Golden Tube Audio SE300B-II, 7 watt/ch amp setup with zero feedback to my homebrew 6CA7 p-p ultralinear. Mine (with 20 watts conservative per channel) won the clean commanding bass contest hands down and could go to noticeably higher SPL's before it ran out of headroom, it sounded terrific. In comparison to the 300B it sounded sterile. The 300B had an immediate magic impression in the midrange to highs of a clarity I couldn't believe. I want that midrange sound of this 300B amp with the command in the bass of my P-P. Maybe I can get this with a 30 watt 805 SE. Let me tell you. This magic in the mids to highs was not imagined, it was as noticeable as is a color shift from red to orange. We swapped his amp to mine back and forth many times in several hours of intense, critical listening. I even ran my O-scope on it to watch the output waveform and clipping behavior. This amp is very dynamic.

My big front horns really sounded great creating a super soundstage from both amps on the SACD source and neither of us had listening fatigue at all despite several hours of some pretty high SPL's. I cannot listen to CD's this long as loud before my head fogs up and my ears are ringing. Really! I'm very impressed with SACD. Did I mention this before? There was detail in the music like no other source I'd heard before. In one cut we could hear the spit in the reed mouthpiece of the saxophone so clearly it sounded quite strange.

We also did extensive testing of my new folded mini-horns with both amps and I think these have real potential to excell with better drivers. With the cheap drivers in them they are capable of pretty impressive and clean SPL's, impressive bass for the driver size (single 5" equivalent cone area) and excellent soundstage from a 300B SE amp. That is good to know!

I think I learned a lot today and got some really valuable experience that can help calibrate where I go from here. I'd like to thank BillF for taking the trouble to lug his delicate and heavy equipment all this way to facilitate an audio experience that was enjoyed by all. Thanx Bill!

Rob

 

[Thatch_Ear]

What fun!...........all you can say.

 

[Billfort]

I'd like to thank Rob for having me over. We started with a tour of his lab and workshop, had a quick listen to the rear loaded horns he's developing, then moved down to the main listening room where his monster front horns live.

The workshop was incredible with racks of test equipment, electronic parts, tubes, a machine shop, Altec A7s and bass bins here and there and of coarse the usual shop accessories - giant tesla coils! Yikes! I think Rob could build just about anything out back - maybe even a helper with bolts on his neck to move those A7s around for him.

His rear horns sounded real nice driven by tubes and were playing to pretty high levels even with the 6-7w the 300B amp was putting out. We were guessing efficiency must be low to mid 90s. With Rob's very nice push-pull amp and a little eq, these speakers were producing pretty amazing bass - hard to believe when looking at the 2 small drivers used. Nice wide image that floated between and around the cabinets - definitely not boxy. The p-p amp had the edge in the bass and the extra headroom kept things clean when Rob pushed the volume but Stevie-Ray's guitar really showed the midrange advantage with the SET.

We spent a lot of time listening to Rob's front horns. In a word - wow. There is something about tubes and horns - especially horn bass - and we were sure hearing something special. Rob says these horns load down to 50hz but it sounded lower to me. Maybe the wall-floor placement (1/4 space) or the eq but this is some of the fastest, most dynamic bass I have heard in a home. The Selenium co-ax drivers seem to work real well in this configuration with smooth midrange and an extended top end. The amp differences were even more apparent to me with these speaks - the p-p had tighter bass and more headroom and the SET had the midrange magic and a sweeter top. Rob was playing things LOUD at times and when the volume was up there, the p-p had the edge - again, the bass. Where I think the SET took things to another level was with Brubeck's piano, Paul Desmond & John Handy's sax, Mingus's bass, Stevie Ray's guitar & Jacintha vocals. Wasn't just the spit on the reeds, the fingerboard work or the real wood sound of the bass, it was the way the 300B floated an image all around one end of the room. You could close you eyes at times and feel musicians playing in the room. I'd love to hear a good vinyl rig in this system!

Again, thanks Rob for a great evening.

Oh yeah - I think Rob liked the SACD .

Billf