• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Cutting Edge - Tomlinmgt System and Hospitality

tomlinmgt said:
Excellent and valid observation. I wonder how much more excited (read "overly optimistic") I'd be had I built it myself? :scratch2: And as I stand at the threshold of a DIY to challenge the Altec 19's I certainly wonder how valid my impressions of that outcome will be. :scratch2::scratch2:

Perhaps that's one of the merits of DIY.....the bump in performance had by "proud builder bias", as you so nicely put it. :yes:
Click to expand...

Will there be a build thread? or will it be a surprise? or have I already seen the beginnings of this project on another forum? (no I couldn't have).

It definitely is a nice feeling to listen to a set of speakers, and surely also a piece of electronics, and then realize that you actually made that your self :yes:
 
Last edited:
wsissons said:
Well done Michael a lot of work there and done well..............
Click to expand...

Thanks!

When it's as fun as every step of my journey has been I kinda have a hard time calling it work. Well, building the QRD's was work. That was fun, too (fun as a box of kittens, actually) but make no mistake, that was definitely work.
 
Michael,

I guess your plan regarding taking the 19's out of rotation has been put on hold as well:D. Hearing them with tubes in the right setting, I'm glad you didn't. They are one of the great classic speakers.

I've only heard you talk briefly about those big Thresholds you've got. One would think those would be the show stoppers given the Pass design history both they and the 5's share.
 
MikeT. said:
Michael,

I guess your plan regarding taking the 19's out of rotation has been put on hold as well:D. Hearing them with tubes in the right setting, I'm glad you didn't. They are one of the great classic speakers.

I've only heard you talk briefly about those big Thresholds you've got. One would think those would be the show stoppers given the Pass design history both they and the 5's share.
Click to expand...

It certainly appears that way, doesn't it?!? The damn things are just teaching me so much I'd be a fool to deny myself such a great education. And they're kinda fun to listen to, to boot.

The s/300's allocate their strengths to different areas than the 5 clone. It appears to me the s/300's are workhorses with finesse and grace. They will drive the most difficult loads you can throw at them and maintain their composure and sonic personality in light of that challenge. I've pushed them as hard as I've ever pushed an amp with the hard to drive QLS-1's and they took it all in stride...like a Cummins diesel pulling a load up a mountain, it barely knows it's there and it feels no different to the driver than going up the hill with no load at all. The F5 clone brings a heap of sweetness into the equation. Practically every performance element just seems a little better. And the low level performance is like nothing I've ever heard. The Altecs at around 75 db peak listening level are as sublime a speaker as I've ever heard with the F5. t's a neat experience and one I haven't had before...just simply never had gear that could do it. Y'all know what I'm talking about? Though I never imagined that type of listening would be of much interest to me, I've found it's actually pretty friggin cool.

I'd really like to try a passive pre next, I think. Just to see.
 
tomlinmgt said:
It certainly appears that way, doesn't it?!? The damn things are just teaching me so much I'd be a fool to deny myself such a great education. And they're kinda fun to listen to, to boot.

The s/300's allocate their strengths to different areas than the 5 clone. It appears to me the s/300's are workhorses with finesse and grace. They will drive the most difficult loads you can throw at them and maintain their composure and sonic personality in light of that challenge. I've pushed them as hard as I've ever pushed an amp with the hard to drive QLS-1's and they took it all in stride...like a Cummins diesel pulling a load up a mountain, it barely knows it's there and it feels no different to the driver than going up the hill with no load at all. The F5 clone brings a heap of sweetness into the equation. Practically every performance element just seems a little better. And the low level performance is like nothing I've ever heard. The Altecs at around 75 db peak listening level are as sublime a speaker as I've ever heard with the F5. t's a neat experience and one I haven't had before...just simply never had gear that could do it. Y'all know what I'm talking about? Though I never imagined that type of listening would be of much interest to me, I've found it's actually pretty friggin cool.

I'd really like to try a passive pre next, I think. Just to see.
Click to expand...


Your experiences seem to continue along some very familiar paths. ;)

Right now I have the 19's hooked up to my F5 and B1, the 605b's are hooked up to my Bottlehead Stereomour 2A3 SET amp so I get to enjoy the best of both worlds. Anyhow, if your thinking about a passive, I would strongly suggest looking into the B1. It's a very simple afair to DIY one and it matches up very well with the F5 and every other amp I've thrown at it to be honest.

Somewhere around here I ousted a build thread for the B1 with a BOM.
 
tomlinmgt said:
It certainly appears that way, doesn't it?!? The damn things are just teaching me so much I'd be a fool to deny myself such a great education. And they're kinda fun to listen to, to boot.

The s/300's allocate their strengths to different areas than the 5 clone. It appears to me the s/300's are workhorses with finesse and grace. They will drive the most difficult loads you can throw at them and maintain their composure and sonic personality in light of that challenge. I've pushed them as hard as I've ever pushed an amp with the hard to drive QLS-1's and they took it all in stride...like a Cummins diesel pulling a load up a mountain, it barely knows it's there and it feels no different to the driver than going up the hill with no load at all. The F5 clone brings a heap of sweetness into the equation. Practically every performance element just seems a little better. And the low level performance is like nothing I've ever heard. The Altecs at around 75 db peak listening level are as sublime a speaker as I've ever heard with the F5. t's a neat experience and one I haven't had before...just simply never had gear that could do it. Y'all know what I'm talking about? Though I never imagined that type of listening would be of much interest to me, I've found it's actually pretty friggin cool.

I'd really like to try a passive pre next, I think. Just to see.
Click to expand...

I love these kinds of posts you know, please keep em' coming if you have more thoughts you feel like putting to the keyboard.

With regard to passive pre, does the F5 close have high enough gain for that? as far as I remember, it's a pretty low gain amp.
On the other hand you have quite a few DAC's, I don't know about the others, but the Atoll outputs a healthy 2.5v, so it's a good contender for use with a passive.

But imagine that, a passive pre though an F5, it doesn't get much more simple then that.

The most awesome thing ever, would be to see how a Vissokogovoriteli GAMMA 30 derivative, would fair next to a TOTL Altec.
 
Adda said:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~snip~~~~~~~~~~~
With regard to passive pre, does the F5 close have high enough gain for that? as far as I remember, it's a pretty low gain amp.
On the other hand you have quite a few DAC's, I don't know about the others, but the Atoll outputs a healthy 2.5v, so it's a good contender for use with a passive.

But imagine that, a passive pre though an F5, it doesn't get much more simple then that.
Click to expand...

I used a Unity Gain Linestage with an F5 amp (as well as several SET amps) and there wasn't enough gain to get more than moderate/conversation level SPL's, even when turned to the maximum volume setting. Other preamps (with gain) had no problems with the same amps.

Best Regards,
TerryO
 
TerryO said:
I used a Unity Gain Linestage with an F5 amp (as well as several SET amps) and there wasn't enough gain to get more than moderate/conversation level SPL's, even when turned to the maximum volume setting. Other preamps (with gain) had no problems with the same amps.

Best Regards,
TerryO
Click to expand...

Do you know the input sensitivity on the F5? it seems to have a gain of 15dB, but how many volts input does it need to play at max power?

With a strong enough source it must be possible to make it work.
 
My F5 got quite loud when pushed by a Squeezebox Touch and running medium-sensitivity speakers in a medium-ish sized room. I would have liked to have a little more volume on tap at times, but it wasn't a serious issue. My laptop didn't push it as hard and this was more of an issue. You (i.e. anyone) could certainly try an F5 with a passive preamp, particularly with high-sensitivity speakers, but you might end up wanting a little bit of extra gain depending on your situation.
 
Beautiful, and I think it's cool that you're powering the subs with a PL 700B.

What do the Thresholds power?
 
cdfac said:
My F5 got quite loud when pushed by a Squeezebox Touch and running medium-sensitivity speakers in a medium-ish sized room. I would have liked to have a little more volume on tap at times, but it wasn't a serious issue. My laptop didn't push it as hard and this was more of an issue. You (i.e. anyone) could certainly try an F5 with a passive preamp, particularly with high-sensitivity speakers, but you might end up wanting a little bit of extra gain depending on your situation.
Click to expand...

Do you know how high voltage either of those sources outputs?

My DAC can output 2.5v RMS, it is as much as some active preamps do at full throttle.
 
Negotiableterms said:
Beautiful, and I think it's cool that you're powering the subs with a PL 700B.

What do the Thresholds power?
Click to expand...

Anything that needs a good kick in the ass to get movin'!

They're only in the pic because I didn't want to move them at the time the pic was taken. They've since been moved and the GTA 300B SETs have taken their place.

And thank you for the compliment, NT.
 
Oh hell, look at that. That last post was #7000. It just seems like yesterday when I was newb and Zilch was rippin' me a new one. :D
 
I just tried hooking my K240DF's directly up to my Atoll DAC 100, used software volume control.
The DF's have a sensitivity of around 88dB/mW.

They definitely play loud out the the Atoll, louder then any DAP or onboard soundcard I have tried.
Even louder then an AudioTrak Prodigy Cube, Prodigy 7.1 HiFi and even the Echo AudioFire2, they are supposed to have headphone amps built in.
Little bass though, sounds thin, a 100uF cap on the output of the Atoll would fix that though.

But it is certainly a very strong output, I have to get a passive preamp sooner or later, if it drives the DF's loud, it'll be much more then enough to drive my power amp to bone shattering levels.

Edit: yea the Perreaux E2 has got an input sensitivity of 1.5v for rated output (200w), the Atoll outputs 2.5v.
 
Last edited:
Since MOG (permanently) left the building I decided to finally get my hands on some hires audio files. Jumped on HDtracks and downloaded the free sampler and thanks to Adda's assistance I got all my settings sorted out and am now enjoying hires FLAC files on this system. I've been sorely in need of getting my source up to par with everything else and now I think I'm there. The few minutes I've spent listening to the 96 kHz material has been pretty convincing. :yes:
 
Very nice exchange of information - hats off to all of you.

I needed this info ... I've been working with horns in my garage and I was about to give up.


PS - Are those a pair of Threshold SA/6e's by any chance?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom