In My Sweet Spot Chair Listening in Triode Mode

[mresseguie]

I almost never flip the normal/triode switches to triode mode on my D Sachs Kootenay 120 because I prefer the normal (65w) setting most of the time. However, for some reason, I decided to give the triode mode a listen today. I popped an XRCD "Best Audiophile Voices" in my Oppo-103 and hit play.

I'm gobsmacked! This XRCD has 14 titles of female singers accompanied by different instruments. The ladies are Eva Cassidy, Allison Kraus, Stacey Kent & Jim Tomlinson, Carol Kidd, Jheena Lodwick, Dave's True Story, Tish Hinojosa, Cheryl Wheeler, Salena Jones, Jeanette Lindstrom & Steve Dobrogosz, Karrin Allison, Monica Mancini, and Nnenna Freelon.

Wow.

Additionally, I've been experimenting with turning the gain dials way down (approximately at 30%) rather than having them at 100%. Music just sounds better at the lower gain setting.

[Folsom]

I'm rather surprised you had not tried it till now! I would have very early.

[mresseguie]

Hi, Jeremy.

If you're talking about the triode mode, I have tried it in the past, but it just didn't sound as good to me till now. Perhaps, my ears finally grok it. Perhaps, it's because my system and speaker placement are better. I dunno.

If you're referring to my turning the gain dials way down, then it was more an issue of my not understanding the advantages of less gain vs max gain. Until I bought this preamp, I had never owned gear that allowed for adjusting gain. No one else who came over or attended a G2G said anything about the gain setting.

I quite like this lower gain setting, though not all the time. It sometimes sounds too syrupy to me. I'll experiment with different low settings to try to find a sweet spot. I imagine the 'best' setting will vary depending on which kind of music I play, huh?

[Folsom]

Triode mode.

Synergy with triode's character is important. It isn't going to be great with everything.

[steve]

Hi, Jeremy.

If you're talking about the triode mode, I have tried it in the past, but it just didn't sound as good to me till now. Perhaps, my ears finally grok it. Perhaps, it's because my system and speaker placement are better. I dunno.

If you're referring to my turning the gain dials way down, then it was more an issue of my not understanding the advantages of less gain vs max gain. Until I bought this preamp, I had never owned gear that allowed for adjusting gain. No one else who came over or attended a G2G said anything about the gain setting.

I quite like this lower gain setting, though not all the time. It sometimes sounds too syrupy to me. I'll experiment with different low settings to try to find a sweet spot. I imagine the 'best' setting will vary depending on which kind of music I play, huh?

Hi Michael,

Do you happen to know what brand of coupling capacitors are in one or all of your components?

Secondly, do you have any performance specs I could see with any or all of your components?

What tubes are presently in the pre and amp(s)?

I can sometimes correlate performance through the responses of the questions.

Thanks
steve

[mresseguie]

Hello, Steve.

I'm visiting the California Redwoods this week, so I cannot open my gear for an inspection. However, I do know that the output caps being used on my Model 2 preamp are Jupiter copper caps. I'm afraid I don't know their values. Everything else will have to wait until I'm back home.

Michael