Originally posted by Kamakiri
You even admitted that the 9090 sounded pretty darn good on some of those speakers that I gave you....besides which, you're one of those weirdos that sets their tone controls flat
Tim,
Sure, OK, I'll admit the new large speakers that I've built (still secret to the public but you know about them) sound pretty fine on the 9090. Yes, also sound pretty good on some of the speakers you gave me. You have to turn the bass and treble up though to get a boom-tish sound to make the Sansui sound good though....but you know this.
On the other hand they sound absolutely so much better on my 14 watt tube amp, and with less tone boost that I cannot find the superlatives to describe it! As long as I have this tube amp there's no way I'll be listening to the 9090 on these fine, detail revealing speakers. I've found these new speakers on this P-P triode amp go easily 10 dB deeper into the subtle layers of detail than anything else I have in the house, except maybe those huge front horns of which they are still more revealing, but not by as much as 10dB. They have a midrange clarity that is absolutely amazing. The Sansui 9090 covers over this fine detail with a kind of pink noise, that isn't random noise. It follows the modulation. It is probably TIM or some other form of distortion which the tube amps don't have that makes tubes sound so much better in some instances. I cannot describe it very well, but my ears can sure hear when it is gone! It is like the pressure on your ears in an elevator in a way. It is there also on that Technics SA-700 receiver I got from you. When you are shaking the house with head banging rock and roll you don't notice it, but when you sit down in an acoustically treated listening room, let your ears get dark adapted, and then play something like Diana Krall, you can really hear when this 'fuzz' is present or not. I like the tube amps, cause I don't get the fuzz. The sound is clear like crystal is transparent.
I've noticed when playing wrap music on the Sansui's FM tuner these classified speakers can punch more unnatural deep bass with the Sansui as it has almost 10 times the power output than my tube amp. They go really low, much lower than the big horns. Wrap music needs large power to reproduce the bass, so this is hardly a surprise. Since I don't listen to wrap music, this doesn't bother me. Like I said earlier, the most important thing for me now is sound quality, given a reasonably satisfactory quantity. I still like fairly loud music with fast bass and slam, so I'm sure I'd never be satisfied with a 45 or 2A3 SET amp, tone or not, but I'm getting it in the 14-20 watt range with these speakers I'm prototyping, the rear horns upstairs, the large front horns downstairs, and the classified secret speakers too. My R&D is growing good fruit these days!
Rob