August 3 @ richidoo's

[stereofool]

As always, thanks to Rich & family for letting us 'invade'.
It was unusual, in that there was only  a few pieces of equipment. Mostly listened to some music...with occasional BS thrown in.
I've stopped in a local wateringhole to listen to some live acoustic music.I will post a few pics when I get home.

[richidoo]

Thanks for coming over guys. Fun meet, nice to do so much listening. Sol just left, keeping the tradition alive, it's not over til Sol leaves. Someone had to finish all those brownies!

We agreed that my DAC needs an output stage or something to make it fatter. I have been thinking that since I got more into vinyl. So Sol is helping me experiment with various options.

Special thanks to Steve for everything. Long drive, gear, wires, CDs, baking, tennis lesson, DJing, etc....

Thanks to Anand for bringing up some awesome vinyl. This one was a favorite, on 45RPM:

Also for bringing his Bent preamp, which sounded awesome, actually didn't sound at all, in a good way. I had wanted to hear one of those since even before Slagle version.

Thanks to Sol for rushing to finish the prototype of the i60. It sounded the best it has ever sounded, and dev. now supposedly finished. Congrats!

Thanks for the brownies Ken and Vera. Really glad you could make it!

[richidoo]

Pictures!    


The human is Sol. The machines are Butler 2250, Bent Preamp, Clearaudio TT, RaySonic 168 CDP, JPS everywhere. Sol also brought his i60 which won the amp wars. The Raysonic won the digital wars. The Bent stood alone, no takers.

[djdube525]

Is that a newer version of Sol's i60? All I remember was a knob, switch and a led on the faceplate... or am I thinking of something else.

If it is new(ish), I was wondering what other enhancements Sol added along the way.

Dave

[Bigfish8]

Is that a newer version of Sol's i60? All I remember was a knob, switch and a led on the faceplate... or am I thinking of something else.

If it is new(ish), I was wondering what other enhancements Sol added along the way.

Dave

Sol's I-60 is still housed in the same box but as of Saturday Night he said it is now complete.  He is ready to offer it as a commercial product with different box and possible remote control. 

Guys, I have heard this amp, with different tweaks, many times and it has always been very, very good.  Saturday night it was exceptional.  If he is able to offer the commercial version for the price he thinks he can it will be an incredible value.  An audiophile amp without the audiophile price.

[richidoo]

If it is new(ish), I was wondering what other enhancements Sol added along the way.

He recently added a preamp stage, which allowed him to change the output stage to virtually eliminate any crossing distortion at full power. It is a class A soul in a class AB body. The detail is unbelievable, the bass is unbelievable, using output transistors that are famous for great sound but tricky to work with, he finally tamed them with his new feedback design. Treble is as natural as any tube amp, but cleaner. No trace of metallic treble overtones as with typical budget SS amps. Class D type, rock-hard bass with very low output impedance, but none of that class D bat repellent screech, because it's linear.  It has come a long way in 5 years since I first heard it.

[mdconnelly]

I'm so sorry I couldn't be there.  I am quite interested in Sol's amp as well.  Since trading out my Aerial 10Ts for a pair of Von Schweikert VR-35s, the need for my high-powered McCormack DNA-500 is far less.  That and the fact that the DNA-500 is big and hot are reasons that I'm thinking it may be time to move on.

What's the final power specs on Sol's amp.  It seems like an early post indicated 60w/8ohm.   Is that still the case?  Not sure how that'll do on the Von Schweikerts (but I'll be Shane knows

[richidoo]

We'll have to consult together to pick a date for the next one.

The i60 is 60W>8R, and 120W>4. That's Sol Watts, which means both channels driven, continuously. Peak power is higher and there is output protection circuit.

PCBs are under way for i15 and i60. But he might build a p2p version for you in the meantime. You have his email?

You can probably borrow the prototype to see if it fits.

[mdconnelly]

We'll have to consult together to pick a date for the next one.

The i60 is 60W>8R, and 120W>4. That's Sol Watts, which means both channels driven, continuously. Peak power is higher and there is output protection circuit.

PCBs are under way for i15 and i60. But he might build a p2p version for you in the meantime. You have his email?

You can probably borrow the prototype to see if it fits.

Rich, my house is going through major remodeling so my nervosa is peaking with little way to satisfy.  I figure it'll be at least another month or more before I'm ready to give anything a serious listen but I'll be in touch and will track down Sol at that time.

It would be great to hear what it will do with the VR-35 speakers.  They're certainly more efficient than my Aerial 10Ts were but they seem to enjoy power to get moving.