It Started With A Hiss...

I doubt anyone's interested.

It's my first real dealings with a valve item. In the late 80s I rebuilt a Heathkit valve amp, but that was with a PCB which was simply replacing resistors and capacitors on the board. This is quite different. Some capacitors weren't connected but I think I've worked out how they should be connected. I tried to get a circuit diagram from the distributor which was a waste of time, and there's no sign of the manufacturer on the web. But it's the way things seem to go for me. Looking forward though to getting it going.

Finally got it put back together and had it working.

The thing that stands out about how it sounds is the bass, which has surprised me. It's pretty solid and extended. Haven't had speakers in use for years and the room is a bit cluttered and I've not actually had the speakers in use before, so it's a bit difficult to draw definite conclusion. The top-end appears a bit muted, but it might just be down to the room. Anyway, it seems to potential. The main question mark is whether the transformer is really suitable for 240V. Ali T had one and the transformer in his burnt out.

technics 1200 is the best cd player i have ever heard..
i worked for a dude with his own studio in his garden..he had loads of players..between floor varnishes we played some players..the 1200 was superb..i always tried to find one but never managed to..this was before the net ofc

5N won’t cut it! Those missing “N”s will come back to bite you. Seriously, I do like Arcam 2s. I found them better partly unstuffed and firing upwards......or at least tilted back. Madness to most, I know, but it worked for me at least.

Jimmy Hughes had Arcam 2's for some time and without totally butchering them, I'd agree how capable they could be in a room too big for them as well.

Thanks, Mr T.

What did you think of the bass with yours?

I didn't try it before the mods so don't know what it was like originally.

It's not short of grunt now. I'll have to compare it to my 828 with the FU29 valves.

Tried my Arcam 2s and haven't stopped listening to music. Balance is pretty much the same, but the bass plays tunes better and there's more textures. Was playing Louis Prima's Live At Las Vegas album the other night and there was a double bass as large as life being plucked. Uncanny. Also pretty novel hearing the lower range of Sam Butera's tenor sax.

Decades ago Alvin Gold in his reviews for Hi Fi Answers used to comment on the architecture of sound and it having a base an being grounded. I could appreciated what he was saying but never experienced for myself, until now that is. There's a solidity and a low-end extension I've never heard before.

The other thing I've noticed is the dynamic envelopes a track might display. Listening to Roy Orbison's A Black And White Night, my favourite live album ever, you'd have the general playing happening at a mean level. Then Roy's voice would take off, and at the same time Ron Tutt's drumming might drop down a couple of levels and all three aspects could clearly be heard with them existing in their own time and space.

It's easily the best amp I've had. Looking to try and get the best out of it. Thinking of some better caps and silver wire. Fitted some silver-plated copper RCAs and waiting for some silver-plated copper banana posts to arrive.

I take it the diodes are in parallel because of their power handling limitations?