There I was, Mach III Razor in hand, when it struck me

[bill epstein]

Where the Mullard circuit was once distinct from the Williamson, Morgan Jones, Valve Amplifiers page 432 http://milas.spb.ru/~kmg/files/liter...rd_Edition.pdf has an excellent summary of both.

Over the years there has been an evolution that minimizes the differences to marry the positives of each.
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tube...pp-blocks.html

I built mine without negative feedback so wired the EF-86 in Triode Mode and used a lower Mu 12AT7 in place of the second stage 6DJ8 to deal with the increased, already high, sensitivity. 125k attenuation resistor on the inputs as well. Had a lot of help from a close friend, Steve Brown, and the rest of the real brainiacs at diyaudio. You may be seeing one of the two chokes in the very elegant, enormous power supply as an interstage transformer.

Your type 50 amp I'm sure was a good one. I had a UX-45 for a number of years with 1.8 lovely Watts but have come to agree that "there's no substitute for cubic inches". The 12 lb. motors in the JBL's really like Watts!

[Mike Allen1010]

You know your stuff.

That's one of a pair of push-pull Mono Blocks, 60 Watts per. Speakers are indeed high efficiency, 15" JBL 2226's with B&C DE-250 Horns. 97dB. The re-issue Gold Lion KT-88 is magical. The low end, being high efficiency, rolls off about 50 Hz but strong and real.

I was strictly a single ended, directly heated triode guy for many years with these speakers. Then this design, an update of the venerable Mullard 5-20 circuit came along. I built it and fell in love. Mahler Second is like sitting in the trombone section again and Who's Next at 90 dB+ is being there.

Bill and Jim,

As a tone deaf, would be musician/audiophile your post really caught my interest. I don’t have near the technical expertise of you guys so am forced to compensate with $: my college student loan went for a pair of Vandersteen model two speakers and I’ve slid downhill ever since then.

In the absence of any worthwhile knowledge, I’ve opted for all tubes as big as I can find; currently running giant Audio Research- mono block amps and AR all tube preamp, digital front end into the biggest MagnaPlaners ( which my wife hates “they’re so big it makes our living room look like a freak show”!

Just listen to BB King live at Cook County jail is still awesome every time! The inescapable irony for me is when I was young my hearing was good but I couldn’t afford the Hi Fi equipment I wanted, now that I can my hearing sucks – I guess it means my boys will inherit a sound system they can enjoy?

All the best, Mike

[Jim Matthews]

Drop me a PM, won't you?

If you're over 40 (like most of us in here) anything above 15 kHz is inaudible. Bill definitely has chops I lack - he makes his own amps, which my vision limits.

This is THE best time to be an audio consumer.
Quality and choice are abundant, at affordable cost.

[Derek Cohen]

Bill and Jim,

As a tone deaf, would be musician/audiophile your post really caught my interest. I don’t have near the technical expertise of you guys so am forced to compensate with $: my college student loan went for a pair of Vandersteen model two speakers and I’ve slid downhill ever since then.

In the absence of any worthwhile knowledge, I’ve opted for all tubes as big as I can find; currently running giant Audio Research- mono block amps and AR all tube preamp, digital front end into the biggest MagnaPlaners ( which my wife hates “they’re so big it makes our living room look like a freak show”!

Just listen to BB King live at Cook County jail is still awesome every time! The inescapable irony for me is when I was young my hearing was good but I couldn’t afford the Hi Fi equipment I wanted, now that I can my hearing sucks – I guess it means my boys will inherit a sound system they can enjoy?

All the best, Mike

Mike, I used to dream of that system 35 years ago!

We even have the same taste in music (and, unfortunately, the same ears)! I am open for adoption

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jim Matthews]

I am open for adoption

Regards from Perth

Derek

Beware such offers. "Tiny, adorable Puppy free to good home." Turns out to be a Great Pyrenees with an insatiable appetite for upholstered sofas.

As if Mdme. Cohen would permit early parole!

[Derek Cohen]

Regards from Perth

Derek

[ken hatch]

Another OF that can't hear and a wife less tolerant than Mike's but lives for the blues along with some "Red Dirt".

ken

[Jim Matthews]

Greatest American music is played right there in your backyard. Ifn you can pat your foot in time, you still hear just fine.

[bill epstein]

"I’ve opted for all tubes as big as I can find"

This big?
2.jpg

KR Audio Kronzilla with T-1610 tubes said to be derived from Allied WW II Battle Field Transceiver. The pic doesn't really show the scale, they're almost 12" tall. I had the pleasure years ago of living with these space heaters. They're mighty.

Wait, I found this one being held by my friend and mentor, The Wizard of Happy Valley"
Big Toob 001.jpg
I think Steve is saying something like, "mine's bigger".

[Ron Bontz]

Well, a classical and jazz person, myself. I see lots of vinyl in that pic. and this is way over my head, as I sit hear listening to Amstel Quartet play Phillp Glass "Mishima".

[bill epstein]

Well, a classical and jazz person, myself. I see lots of vinyl in that pic. and this is way over my head, as I sit hear listening to Amstel Quartet play Phillp Glass "Mishima".

Well, you blew up a mistaken pre-conception I had of Glass' works being 'cantata for three drowning cats'. Just listened to Mishima and Concerto for
Saxophone Quartet. Enjoyed both, thanks.

[Jim Matthews]

Well, you blew up a mistaken pre-conception I had of Glass' works being 'cantata for three drowning cats'.

I had the misfortune of sitting through a John Cage "performance" as a young man.

Conventional forms for me, please.

I'll give a listen to anything featuring Pacquito D'Rivera.