Nightshade Beacon 2 Tour

[shep]

"I'm always amazed when a un-burned component goes on publicity tour. " Yes that's a really risky thing to do. Not everyone is either going to understand what's going on or have the patience to wait.

[lonewolfny42]

How is this unit "breaking in"....when it's been on tour for a few months now ? 

[rollo]

How is this unit "breaking in"....when it's been on tour for a few months now ? 

   And how many hours are actually on it, do you actually know or just assuming ? Did anyone run it in 24/7 ? I don't know. The unit was held up for quite some time and not much time was put on it for a while. I believe over a month or close to that. I could be wrong but I knows what I'm hearing. To me its breakinitis. It has gotten better each day.
    In my experience  it takes about 500 hours for the trannies to really settle in. The sound has changed since I started playing it. It just may be reaching that plateau. Who really knows. It just very well be the cables, some did not even try them.


charles

[JLM]

And some components need to be "rebroken" in after not being run for a few days/weeks.

[Bunky]

my friend dangerbird/George Daniel participated in the tour and seemed to think that the Beacon 2 was really something special and he said that his wife also confirmed to him how good she thought it sounded in his system . i now know from experience that Blair is very talented and seems to have a really good handle on making gear that sounds excellent across the musical spectrum. i am very happy with my Basis preamp so i am not in the market for another linestage, but i am considering having Blair build me a 20 or 30 wpc Class A SEP amplifier.Blair uses a bare minimum amount of parts in his circuits which contributes to shorter signal paths and in turn results in very good sound quality  

[richidoo]

How is this unit "breaking in"....when it's been on tour for a few months now ? 

Thanks for clarifying Chris...

[rollo]

 OK it was mostly the cables, after 50 hours the Pre has opened up much more. They are not fully broken in. burning away as we speak. Just had a buddy over for a listen. He owns a George Wright Pre and JC Morrison 211 SET amp Custom Orca speakers. [ to give you an idea of his taste]. He was very impressed. We installed the Harmonic IC and removed the LH-1. Night and day. Gone was the slight hardness and brightness.
   Before he left he insisted on checking out the Nightshade site. The nervosa is working on him as he drives home, poor guy. He he he.
   Next victim will be here shortly. He owns a Wytech 211 SET with the Stevens & Billington passive pre in a custom maple enclosure. VS VR-6 speakers.

charles
   

[etcarroll]

I thought I saw once that Blair posted on AC these were a well used pr. of tubes, but can't find it now.

[tmazz]

OK it was mostly the cables, after 50 hours the Pre has opened up much more. They are not fully broken in. burning away as we speak. Just had a buddy over for a listen. He owns a George Wright Pre and JC Morrison 211 SET amp Custom Orca speakers. [ to give you an idea of his taste]. He was very impressed. We installed the Harmonic IC and removed the LH-1. Night and day. Gone was the slight hardness and brightness.
   Before he left he insisted on checking out the Nightshade site. The nervosa is working on him as he drives home, poor guy. He he he.
   Next victim will be here shortly. He owns a Wytech 211 SET with the Stevens & Billington passive pre in a custom maple enclosure. VS VR-6 speakers.

charles
   

Charlie, you are the Typhoid Mary of Nervosa!   

[lonewolfny42]

How is this unit "breaking in"....when it's been on tour for a few months now ? 

Thanks for clarifying Chris...

Let's clarify some more....which Beacon Two .....???

This one....

Beacon Two Line Stage:




Or....this one ???

Beacon Two Streamlined Edition w/ Tube Rectification





The Beacon Two Line Stage ...first photo...started out here....

On AC...

So....by your photo Rich....I'm confused about which one Charles has now....

[Bunky]

How is this unit "breaking in"....when it's been on tour for a few months now ?  

Thanks for clarifying Chris...

Let's clarify some more....which Beacon Two .....???

This one....

Beacon Two Line Stage:




Or....this one ???

Beacon Two Streamlined Edition w/ Tube Rectification





The Beacon Two Line Stage ...first photo...started out here....

On AC...

So....by your photo Rich....I'm confused about which one Charles has now....

It's in da house. The crimson red [ maroon] is quite comforting with the blond wood side panels. Well it looks the part. Using two 6SN7 tubes and an external power supply, two inputs , one output. A IC named LH-1 was also included.
   First up the IC [ CDP to Preamp]. Neutral as neutral can be. No highlighting of any part of the spectrum. Excellent bass. So far so good. It replaced a Harmonix golden ratio , no slouch. MIA nuttin so far.
   Hooked up Beacon with JPS SC3 IC to amps and off to the races. DEAD QUIET. Played a CD and ? This is not a wannabe it is the real deal. Details to follow. Left it on all night no issues. Tonight the serious testing begins. Out of the box surprised to say the least. Blair is on to something here boys.  More to come.


charles

  

its the one with the wood side panels that toured over at AC

[richidoo]

Yup, Charles said it is SS rectification.   I like the shorty box that is shown with tube rectification on Blair's site.

[rollo]

   The issue of break-in after the preamp has settled in a few days appears to be the LH-1 IC. At the very least a synergy issue with my CDP.
   After inserting the Harmonix most of the upper glare or highlighting went bye bye. Using an ESP powercord which also has a tendency to accentuate the top. Tonight I'll try some other cords.
   All in all we were very impressed by the sound. We could nitpick but in the end this quite an accomplishment for the money asked.
   The RCA 6SN7 has a warm, rich character. with the many 6SN7s available especially the Shuguang Treasure series I believe there is no end to the flavor you can achieve. I would say the overall character is neutral with a slight warming with the RCA 6SN7s.
   The sound is growing on me. It is NOT the Loesch but the presence of this Pre is very addictive.

  Blair , go to the mirror say I'M VERY VERY GOOD and pat yourself on the back, well done sir.



charles

[rollo]

 Clarify this !!  This preamp is getting to me. The presence is so real. No it is not giving me all the info I get with the loesch but but its addictive. The jury is still out on the upper midrange lower treble in comparison to the Loesch
  This Pre is sensitive to PCs. Tried three. Three different sounds. Hmmm. So far the virtual reality PC synergy is quite good.
  I have yet to try the LH-1 IC between the amp and Pre as I'm using a SC-3. my common sense tells me the JPS is better however we know better. Synergy is the key. I've been resisting but in all fairness to the Beacon the LH-1 must be inserted.
  The Nervosa wants to know if the rectified [5AR4] model has a different presentation. The SS power supply provided although VG so far can be upgraded easily. It made a huge difference when we did it with the Art DIO. A powersupply with more amperage did the trick.  I'm thinking of using the Beacon as the linestage and the loesch dedicated to a phonostage only. The passive out for the Loesch was disconnected by Dr Frankenswartch[ former owner] now I cannot try that combo without using the volume pot or final output stage, bummer. Before the Beacon leaves [ If it does], I'll try it anyway.


charles
   

[richidoo]

The SS power supply provided although VG so far can be upgraded easily.

I can understand how the ART Dio power supply could be easily improved with $20 of parts because it wasn't designed for high end sound. But this preamp is already optimized for the low price. The preamp only needs 50-100mA max so current is not an issue. Impedance is, but tube audio circuit's output @ 100R is harder to achieve than a low impedance PS, especially with SS rectification.

A tube rectifier will have a gentler switching noise, but the latest high speed diodes are extremely quiet.

You're description is intriguing me too! Keep it coming Charles. Lots of nice new inexpensive tube preamps on the market now, since I auditioned a bunch back in 07 when the EE minimax won.