Author Topic: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks  (Read 28026 times)

Offline rollo

  • Industry Participant
  • *
  • Posts: 6982
  • Rollo Audio - Home demo the only way to know
Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
« Reply #90 on: April 12, 2018, 07:48:34 AM »
Yeah -- really too bad.  I read that due to Netflix and streaming music, DVD's and CD's are really down in sales hence their potential decision to exit the market.

  Bang for the buck for sure however lots better out there. As an all in one player NONE better. Meaning movies and CD, SACD, transport.
  Oppo internal DAC VG however better out there.  Everything depends on budget, unfortunately.

charles
contact me  at rollo14@verizon.net or visit us on Facebook
Lamm Industries - Aqua Acoustic, Formula & La Scala DAC- INNUOS  - Rethm - Kuzma - QLN - Audio Hungary Qualiton - Fritz speakers -Gigawatt -Vinnie Rossi,TWL, Swiss Cables, Merason DAC.

Offline Nick B

  • Audio Neurotic
  • *****
  • Posts: 4093
Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
« Reply #91 on: April 12, 2018, 08:42:28 AM »
Improving the sound through these resonators is quite the interesting idea. I wonder if the longer sound waves at the very low frequencies act as a carrier of sorts to aid in the travel or distribution of the other sound waves.
Orchard Starkrimson Ultra amp
Supratek Chardonnay preamp
JMR Voce Grande speakers
Border Patrol SEi dac
Holo Red streamer
Hapa Aero digital coax
WyWires Silver cables
TWL Digital American II p cord
Audio Envy p cords
Roon, Tidal, Qobuz
PI Audio UberBUSS

Offline HAL

  • Audio Neurotic
  • *****
  • Posts: 1270
  • Audio Mad Scientist
    • Hollis Audio Labs
Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
« Reply #92 on: April 12, 2018, 09:13:02 AM »
Ok, got the cheap version of the resonator, but no power supply and no info other than 12VDC @0.5 amp.  The coaxial plug for DC power polarity is not marked. 

From some looking at similar units it takes a 5.5mmx2.1mm (hard to tell or measure) coaxial DC plug with the center +12VDC.  Found a wall wart with a 12VDC@1.7A output from an old backup drive I already have.  Coaxial connector fits and powers up with a green LED.

Probably need 2 as the info states one unit covers about 160sq-ft.  Will see if one does anything.




Offline gander

  • Seeking Help
  • **
  • Posts: 77
  • Insanity is doing the same Audio thing over & over
Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
« Reply #93 on: April 12, 2018, 06:09:48 PM »
Yeah -- really too bad.  I read that due to Netflix and streaming music, DVD's and CD's are really down in sales hence their potential decision to exit the market.

  Bang for the buck for sure however lots better out there. As an all in one player NONE better. Meaning movies and CD, SACD, transport.
  Oppo internal DAC VG however better out there.  Everything depends on budget, unfortunately.

charles

 Hi Charles, I use an Oppo 103 for playing discs with digital out to my dac, playing digital files from a solid-state drive plugged into a USB port, and watching things like Netflix online.  Plus I run my DirecTV cable box through HDMI into the Oppo.  I don’t care much about the analog output because my dac is better. But I would like the video output to be better which could be the Oppo 203 I believe. Any other suggestions if the analog output is not important?

Oppo 103, SSD drive
DIY ultra low capacitance power cords, ICs and speaker cables
Audio Note 2.1B DAC
Tortuga LDR passive pre
Primaluna Dialogue4 tube, Hegel H90 int amp
DIY speakers w/8” Rullit field coil FR drivers

Offline gander

  • Seeking Help
  • **
  • Posts: 77
  • Insanity is doing the same Audio thing over & over
Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
« Reply #94 on: April 12, 2018, 07:34:24 PM »
Improving the sound through these resonators is quite the interesting idea. I wonder if the longer sound waves at the very low frequencies act as a carrier of sorts to aid in the travel or distribution of the other sound waves.

Nobody really knows why it works, literally. But you will still see all sorts of conflicting theories that people make sound like facts. The thing that is true is that at least some people do notice a positive difference in the sound. And what’s nice about Amazon prime is that if you don’t notice a difference then you can just return the thing.

However I would highly suggest getting at least a cheap 12 V battery to start for the power source because a crappy wall wart may mess things up so that you might actually get a negative effect. Pure power is the way to go, if you can do it.   And since it is a steady current pull you won’t need a BatCap.

 I also installed a switch on the power line so it is more easily turned on and off.

Thanks, Gary

Gary
Oppo 103, SSD drive
DIY ultra low capacitance power cords, ICs and speaker cables
Audio Note 2.1B DAC
Tortuga LDR passive pre
Primaluna Dialogue4 tube, Hegel H90 int amp
DIY speakers w/8” Rullit field coil FR drivers

Offline rollo

  • Industry Participant
  • *
  • Posts: 6982
  • Rollo Audio - Home demo the only way to know
Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
« Reply #95 on: April 16, 2018, 07:44:33 AM »
   Gary we are using standalone linear 5A power supplies in lieu of wall wart. A big improvement. Do you think a battery is better and why ?
   Now have three in room. Two RR-888 and one RR-777. Adding the 777 was mind bending. Three for me . Besides the sonic benefits both my Wife and I are sleeping better after being in the treated room for hours.
  Installed RR-777 in bedroom after realizing the affect from listening room. Just so relaxed. Buy the cheap ones and get several. Just get some.


charles
contact me  at rollo14@verizon.net or visit us on Facebook
Lamm Industries - Aqua Acoustic, Formula & La Scala DAC- INNUOS  - Rethm - Kuzma - QLN - Audio Hungary Qualiton - Fritz speakers -Gigawatt -Vinnie Rossi,TWL, Swiss Cables, Merason DAC.

Offline gander

  • Seeking Help
  • **
  • Posts: 77
  • Insanity is doing the same Audio thing over & over
Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
« Reply #96 on: April 16, 2018, 11:50:12 AM »
   Gary we are using standalone linear 5A power supplies in lieu of wall wart. A big improvement. Do you think a battery is better and why ?
   Now have three in room. Two RR-888 and one RR-777. Adding the 777 was mind bending. Three for me . Besides the sonic benefits both my Wife and I are sleeping better after being in the treated room for hours.
  Installed RR-777 in bedroom after realizing the affect from listening room. Just so relaxed. Buy the cheap ones and get several. Just get some.


charles

 I have a bit of mixed feelings about that. In general a battery should be better since there is absolutely no conversion in the battery from AC and no chance to get any noise in there. However, I have a Tortuga LDR light dependent resistor preamp which I love, and it runs off of 12 V DC. I hooked it up to my battery/batcap and I thought it would be amazing but it actually had some noise, a bit of hiss. Which really blew my mind, where in the heck is that noise coming from?  When I hooked it up to my laboratory quality five amp 12 VDC power supply all of a sudden it was silent. Weird… You might just go buy a cheap 12 V battery (or to 6 V batteries and put them in series) and try it out for yourself to see. It may be that that power supply is better. 

 I have found the best thing usually is to try one way and try another way and just compare them. Forget about what you think it should be or what somebody else told you it should be.  Unless they are telling you not to jump off of the top floor of a skyscraper. You might listen to that one.

“It can’t get weird enough for me” – Dr. Hunter S Thompson

Gary
Oppo 103, SSD drive
DIY ultra low capacitance power cords, ICs and speaker cables
Audio Note 2.1B DAC
Tortuga LDR passive pre
Primaluna Dialogue4 tube, Hegel H90 int amp
DIY speakers w/8” Rullit field coil FR drivers

Offline dBe

  • Obsessively Audiophilic
  • ****
  • Posts: 318
Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
« Reply #97 on: April 17, 2018, 09:43:56 PM »
   Gary we are using standalone linear 5A power supplies in lieu of wall wart. A big improvement. Do you think a battery is better and why ?
   Now have three in room. Two RR-888 and one RR-777. Adding the 777 was mind bending. Three for me . Besides the sonic benefits both my Wife and I are sleeping better after being in the treated room for hours.
  Installed RR-777 in bedroom after realizing the affect from listening room. Just so relaxed. Buy the cheap ones and get several. Just get some.


charles

 I have a bit of mixed feelings about that. In general a battery should be better since there is absolutely no conversion in the battery from AC and no chance to get any noise in there. However, I have a Tortuga LDR light dependent resistor preamp which I love, and it runs off of 12 V DC. I hooked it up to my battery/batcap and I thought it would be amazing but it actually had some noise, a bit of hiss. Which really blew my mind, where in the heck is that noise coming from?  When I hooked it up to my laboratory quality five amp 12 VDC power supply all of a sudden it was silent. Weird… You might just go buy a cheap 12 V battery (or to 6 V batteries and put them in series) and try it out for yourself to see. It may be that that power supply is better. 

 I have found the best thing usually is to try one way and try another way and just compare them. Forget about what you think it should be or what somebody else told you it should be.  Unless they are telling you not to jump off of the top floor of a skyscraper. You might listen to that one.

“It can’t get weird enough for me” – Dr. Hunter S Thompson

Gary
Battery noise is common.  Sulfation and other types of chemical noise are not subtle with a high resolution, high sensitivity system. That is why I came up with the BatteryBUSS years ago.  The noise is easily suppressed, but it is a problem unless it is addressed.  I like batteries, but they are not a panacea.  The output impedance of a battery is relatively high and it needs to be reduced in order to get the impulse/transient response we all crave.  Steep rise times are essential.

Offline gander

  • Seeking Help
  • **
  • Posts: 77
  • Insanity is doing the same Audio thing over & over
Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks; SPDIF iPurifier
« Reply #98 on: May 05, 2018, 01:44:01 PM »
Hi all,

I just tried something pretty remarkable. The iFi-Audio SPDIF iPurifier. What it does is take the spdif "digital" signal (which I didn't know is actually an analog signal that tries to mimic a digital signal), by first taking out noise from the analog, and then reclocking the signal with a femto clock. See the company's description.

https://ifi-audio.com/portfolio-view/accessory-spdif-ipurifier/

The reason this caught my eye is my Oppo 103 basic universal player. My Oppo is basically my digital streamer and more, and I have been thinking about upgrading but don't want to spend $1300 on the latest Oppo player, which they say reclocks the digital signal.

The reviews initially sounded too good to be true. Then I dug deeper and found reviews and reports that revealed mostly Pros and a few Cons. Depending on the system, it could make a big difference, or not, I'm assuming because of the quality of the digital signal.

digital source -> digital cable -> iPurifier (fed by the iPower wall wart, provided) directly into -> dac.

I found this $150 Amazon Prime, so I decided to try it and if it isn't worth it, return it.

https://www.amazon.com/iPurifier-Digital-Optical-Signal-Optimizer/dp/B01KKFTM5S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525551156&sr=8-1&keywords=ifi+spdif+ipurifier

I just got it today, hooked it up and immediately noticed a positive difference. I first listen for the feel I get from the music; I'm happily confused because I'm hearing new things, and in a good way. Then I listen for background music and non-musical sounds such as backup singers and especially hard-to-hear percussion. Then I listen for the main things, such as lead female singers and lead instrumentals. Without going into tons of audio stuff, I hear things are just more clear, detailed and musical. I'm finding my ears and mind moving out of analysis and more into just enjoying music. Even my girlfriend, who is a hard sell and usually says "I need to hear it more", said right away she liked the sound better; more natural and easy. I'm the mostly analytical one and she listens subjectively, so both sides are pleased.

What a great solution to upgrading the digital output from my Oppo.

And from what I read from more critical audiophiles it can take up to 3 weeks to really burn in. So this is only an initial, after a couple of hours impression review.

And anyone who streams digital in any way might want to look into this.

Happy listening!

Gary





Oppo 103, SSD drive
DIY ultra low capacitance power cords, ICs and speaker cables
Audio Note 2.1B DAC
Tortuga LDR passive pre
Primaluna Dialogue4 tube, Hegel H90 int amp
DIY speakers w/8” Rullit field coil FR drivers

Offline Nick B

  • Audio Neurotic
  • *****
  • Posts: 4093
Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
« Reply #99 on: May 05, 2018, 03:25:18 PM »
Glad you posted your results. I knew this sounded familiar, so a quick search found this link

http://www.audionervosa.com/index.php?topic=6752.msg85367#msg85367

It’s intriguing that I might be able to get better sound with it and it’s not expensive. But do I really want another “gizmo” right now, especially in light of my wife and I decluttering the garage today with great results!!
Orchard Starkrimson Ultra amp
Supratek Chardonnay preamp
JMR Voce Grande speakers
Border Patrol SEi dac
Holo Red streamer
Hapa Aero digital coax
WyWires Silver cables
TWL Digital American II p cord
Audio Envy p cords
Roon, Tidal, Qobuz
PI Audio UberBUSS

Offline gander

  • Seeking Help
  • **
  • Posts: 77
  • Insanity is doing the same Audio thing over & over
Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
« Reply #100 on: May 05, 2018, 05:19:45 PM »
Glad you posted your results. I knew this sounded familiar, so a quick search found this link

http://www.audionervosa.com/index.php?topic=6752.msg85367#msg85367

It’s intriguing that I might be able to get better sound with it and it’s not expensive. But do I really want another “gizmo” right now, especially in light of my wife and I decluttering the garage today with great results!!

Its worth it.

Gary
Oppo 103, SSD drive
DIY ultra low capacitance power cords, ICs and speaker cables
Audio Note 2.1B DAC
Tortuga LDR passive pre
Primaluna Dialogue4 tube, Hegel H90 int amp
DIY speakers w/8” Rullit field coil FR drivers

Offline gander

  • Seeking Help
  • **
  • Posts: 77
  • Insanity is doing the same Audio thing over & over
Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
« Reply #101 on: May 08, 2018, 12:26:53 PM »
   Gary we are using standalone linear 5A power supplies in lieu of wall wart. A big improvement. Do you think a battery is better and why ?
   Now have three in room. Two RR-888 and one RR-777. Adding the 777 was mind bending. Three for me . Besides the sonic benefits both my Wife and I are sleeping better after being in the treated room for hours.
  Installed RR-777 in bedroom after realizing the affect from listening room. Just so relaxed. Buy the cheap ones and get several. Just get some.


charles

 I have a bit of mixed feelings about that. In general a battery should be better since there is absolutely no conversion in the battery from AC and no chance to get any noise in there. However, I have a Tortuga LDR light dependent resistor preamp which I love, and it runs off of 12 V DC. I hooked it up to my battery/batcap and I thought it would be amazing but it actually had some noise, a bit of hiss. Which really blew my mind, where in the heck is that noise coming from?  When I hooked it up to my laboratory quality five amp 12 VDC power supply all of a sudden it was silent. Weird… You might just go buy a cheap 12 V battery (or to 6 V batteries and put them in series) and try it out for yourself to see. It may be that that power supply is better. 

 I have found the best thing usually is to try one way and try another way and just compare them. Forget about what you think it should be or what somebody else told you it should be.  Unless they are telling you not to jump off of the top floor of a skyscraper. You might listen to that one.

“It can’t get weird enough for me” – Dr. Hunter S Thompson

Gary
Battery noise is common.  Sulfation and other types of chemical noise are not subtle with a high resolution, high sensitivity system. That is why I came up with the BatteryBUSS years ago.  The noise is easily suppressed, but it is a problem unless it is addressed.  I like batteries, but they are not a panacea.  The output impedance of a battery is relatively high and it needs to be reduced in order to get the impulse/transient response we all crave.  Steep rise times are essential.

 I’m glad you pointed this out, that batteries can have noise. But $500 for the batteryBUSS is a bit much for me now. I was wondering what to do about that.

After finding the iFi audio Spdif iPurifier and having such good luck with it, I also found that they have a DC iPurifier which they say can cancel out noise on a DC source over a tremendous frequency range and give you very pure DC.  It is rated for 84 W, so at 12 V that is about 7 A. What I have hooked up to it is drawing about 2 1/2 A.

https://ifi-audio.com/portfolio-view/accessory-dcipurifier/

Very high self praise by the company but after doing some research, and since it is also offered Amazon prime at about $100 and can purify between 5 V and 24 V DC I thought I would just give it a try.

I was amazed that this little thing would make such a positive difference, especially after the good results I had putting in their spdif iPurifier.

I am powering my Tortuga LDR passive preamp, a little Temple Audio Bantam tripath amplifier and a small Schumann resonator that I recently got off of the Internet. The sound suddenly bloomed in a very good way, everything is  better balanced and it’s really hard for me to find anything wrong with the sound. A more involving sound to be sure.

My DC source is a 12 V DC BatCap battery, and I also have a 12 V DC linear power supply which I may try after a while.

Bottom line, based on my results I am thinking that if you power anything in your system between 5 V and 24 V DC you might want to try this little honey.

Dave I’m certain the batteryBUSS is better than this little unit, but all the battery hiss from my Tortuga preamp is completely gone now, in addition to all the other good aspects of the sound, and for now that is good enough for me.

Thanks, Gary

And Charles, about the linear power supply, you might try this little DC iPurifier with that and see what happens.




Oppo 103, SSD drive
DIY ultra low capacitance power cords, ICs and speaker cables
Audio Note 2.1B DAC
Tortuga LDR passive pre
Primaluna Dialogue4 tube, Hegel H90 int amp
DIY speakers w/8” Rullit field coil FR drivers

Offline gander

  • Seeking Help
  • **
  • Posts: 77
  • Insanity is doing the same Audio thing over & over
Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaksi
« Reply #102 on: May 09, 2018, 07:59:25 AM »
   Gary we are using standalone linear 5A power supplies in lieu of wall wart. A big improvement. Do you think a battery is better and why ?
   Now have three in room. Two RR-888 and one RR-777. Adding the 777 was mind bending. Three for me . Besides the sonic benefits both my Wife and I are sleeping better after being in the treated room for hours.
  Installed RR-777 in bedroom after realizing the affect from listening room. Just so relaxed. Buy the cheap ones and get several. Just get some.


charles

 I have a bit of mixed feelings about that. In general a battery should be better since there is absolutely no conversion in the battery from AC and no chance to get any noise in there. However, I have a Tortuga LDR light dependent resistor preamp which I love, and it runs off of 12 V DC. I hooked it up to my battery/batcap and I thought it would be amazing but it actually had some noise, a bit of hiss. Which really blew my mind, where in the heck is that noise coming from?  When I hooked it up to my laboratory quality five amp 12 VDC power supply all of a sudden it was silent. Weird… You might just go buy a cheap 12 V battery (or to 6 V batteries and put them in series) and try it out for yourself to see. It may be that that power supply is better. 

 I have found the best thing usually is to try one way and try another way and just compare them. Forget about what you think it should be or what somebody else told you it should be.  Unless they are telling you not to jump off of the top floor of a skyscraper. You might listen to that one.

“It can’t get weird enough for me” – Dr. Hunter S Thompson

Gary
Battery noise is common.  Sulfation and other types of chemical noise are not subtle with a high resolution, high sensitivity system. That is why I came up with the BatteryBUSS years ago.  The noise is easily suppressed, but it is a problem unless it is addressed.  I like batteries, but they are not a panacea.  The output impedance of a battery is relatively high and it needs to be reduced in order to get the impulse/transient response we all crave.  Steep rise times are essential.

 I’m glad you pointed this out, that batteries can have noise. But $500 for the batteryBUSS is a bit much for me now. I was wondering what to do about that.

After finding the iFi audio Spdif iPurifier and having such good luck with it, I also found that they have a DC iPurifier which they say can cancel out noise on a DC source over a tremendous frequency range and give you very pure DC.  It is rated for 84 W, so at 12 V that is about 7 A. What I have hooked up to it is drawing about 2 1/2 A.

https://ifi-audio.com/portfolio-view/accessory-dcipurifier/

Very high self praise by the company but after doing some research, and since it is also offered Amazon prime at about $100 and can purify between 5 V and 24 V DC I thought I would just give it a try.

I was amazed that this little thing would make such a positive difference, especially after the good results I had putting in their spdif iPurifier.

I am powering my Tortuga LDR passive preamp, a little Temple Audio Bantam tripath amplifier and a small Schumann resonator that I recently got off of the Internet. The sound suddenly bloomed in a very good way, everything is  better balanced and it’s really hard for me to find anything wrong with the sound. A more involving sound to be sure.

My DC source is a 12 V DC BatCap battery, and I also have a 12 V DC linear power supply which I may try after a while.

Bottom line, based on my results I am thinking that if you power anything in your system between 5 V and 24 V DC you might want to try this little honey.

Dave I’m certain the batteryBUSS is better than this little unit, but all the battery hiss from my Tortuga preamp is completely gone now, in addition to all the other good aspects of the sound, and for now that is good enough for me.

Thanks, Gary

And Charles, about the linear power supply, you might try this little DC iPurifier with that and see what happens.

 Hi Charles,

Update on using a linear power supply versus a battery. Based on my experience just last night I would highly suggest looking into getting a BatCap Battery and a good charger, and using that.  From what I have learned from the company owner himself and other research, a BatCap is much quicker discharging than a regular battery and so can help render transients better.  We listened for a while with all the DC from a BatCap, through the new DC iPurifier and then into my Tortuga LDR preamp, my temple audio Bantam amplifier, and the Schuhmann resonator.  Then I switched over to the linear power supply and the sound went kind of flat.  It was OK, but it seems the linear power supply did not  respond to the musical needs of the sound as well as the BatCap does.  Then I switched back to the BatCap and immediately there was much more good stuff there.

http://www.xstaticbatcap.com/
http://www.xstaticbatcap.com/products.html

 I have both the BatCap model 800 and the model 2000.  By the way, I have had these for a few years and before I pulled the trigger on them I called the company and chatted with the head man himself at length. Very easy to talk to and it was very informative. Quite a breath of fresh air from other companies.

Bottom line, for me, while batteries are probably not the perfect solution (of course nothing really is), BatCap batteries are steps ahead of my linear power supply, With the DC iPurifier.

 So there you have it Charles. My qualified answered, with “qualified” meaning I have actually done it myself. And of course that is my own experience.

Happy listening!


Gary

 By the way, the only reason I am using a solid-state amplifier at this point in time is that this is near Las Vegas and it is very hot here, over 100° in some places yesterday. So the heat from a big tube amp not only is uncomfortable, but the heat will turn on the air-conditioning which makes listening useless.  Or I can turn the AC off and roast while I listen.  Thus, the efficient solid-state amp is my summer amp.




Oppo 103, SSD drive
DIY ultra low capacitance power cords, ICs and speaker cables
Audio Note 2.1B DAC
Tortuga LDR passive pre
Primaluna Dialogue4 tube, Hegel H90 int amp
DIY speakers w/8” Rullit field coil FR drivers

Offline tmazz

  • Out Of My Speaker Cabinet
  • ******
  • Posts: 12088
  • Just basking in the glow of my tubes.....
Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaksi
« Reply #103 on: May 09, 2018, 10:23:28 AM »
By the way, the only reason I am using a solid-state amplifier at this point in time is that this is near Las Vegas and it is very hot here, over 100° in some places yesterday. So the heat from a big tube amp not only is uncomfortable, but the heat will turn on the air-conditioning which makes listening useless.  Or I can turn the AC off and roast while I listen.  Thus, the efficient solid-state amp is my summer amp.

Been there, done that. The ARC VT-200, with its 16 power and 10 small signal tubes was quite a space heater.  :roll:

Sounds great, but it fills the room with BTUs as fast as it does SPLsNot good in the summer time (which lucky for me is much shorter on Long Island than it is in Las Vegas.) :duh
Remember, it's all about the music........

• Nola Boxers
• Sunfire True SW Super Jr (2)
• McIntosh MC 275
• ARC SP-9
• VPI HW-19 Mk IV/SDS/SME IV/Soundsmith Carmen Mk II ES
• Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 DAC/Rasp Pi Roon Endpoint
• DigiBuss/TWL PC&USB/MIT Cables

Offline gander

  • Seeking Help
  • **
  • Posts: 77
  • Insanity is doing the same Audio thing over & over
Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaksi
« Reply #104 on: May 09, 2018, 12:07:18 PM »
By the way, the only reason I am using a solid-state amplifier at this point in time is that this is near Las Vegas and it is very hot here, over 100° in some places yesterday. So the heat from a big tube amp not only is uncomfortable, but the heat will turn on the air-conditioning which makes listening useless.  Or I can turn the AC off and roast while I listen.  Thus, the efficient solid-state amp is my summer amp.

Been there, done that. The ARC VT-200, with its 16 power and 10 small signal tubes was quite a space heater.  :roll:

Sounds great, but it fills the room with BTUs as fast as it does SPLsNot good in the summer time (which lucky for me is much shorter on Long Island than it is in Las Vegas.) :duh

 I used to live on Long Island, in Bayshore, on Maple Street I believe which went down to the fire Island ferry. I lived in a little cottage on a canal. Nice place until a hurricane comes over your head. Or until it’s really hot in the summer.  Where do you live?

Gary
Oppo 103, SSD drive
DIY ultra low capacitance power cords, ICs and speaker cables
Audio Note 2.1B DAC
Tortuga LDR passive pre
Primaluna Dialogue4 tube, Hegel H90 int amp
DIY speakers w/8” Rullit field coil FR drivers