Group Therapy > Sharing Experiences

G2G at Richidoos

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bpape:
Sounds like you guys had a good time.

Rich - my mistake.  Thought Carl had a Bolder modded SB.  I really wasnt' aware that BS was doing any mods to the SB.

Bryan

shep:
Sounds like a good time was had by all! So that's where everyone disappeared to...meanwhile my cdp is in pieces on the table. I'm having withdrawal symptoms. I hope we get to hear more about all that lovely gear and especially Grover's wire.

Carlman:
More thoughts...

The amps we heard were definitely different 'flavors' of presentations.  None of the gear was disappointing.... all high-class.  The comparisons we did were mostly for fun, and to give Rich a taste of of what each amp can do for him.  I forgot music so I was introduced some really cool new music but I couldn't really disect what I heard... I could only surmise an overall impression of each amp's presentation.

The first (Cary) amp was a bit thin when pushed to do bass or fast and complex music... but otherwise had a semi-warm, textured sound that was very enjoyable.  The Snappers had a little 'dryer' sound, maybe they needed a little water? ;)  (going with the fish puns)  However, the Snappers had the power that Rich's speakers needed so the overall presentation was more detailed, more 'together'.  Then, the McIntosh... I felt a sense of comfort listening to my own amp and familiarity helped me enjoy what I was hearing even more than the Snappers.  Finally, towards the end we used the Butler monads.  Great amps, they deserve all the praise... but for me, they weren't $15,k better than what I have... I felt 'affimed' about my Mac after hearing all these amps.

During all the amp comparo's we did some cable-rolling... We had been using some wild-looking copper IC's that Rich had for the entire day... But we compared the Reality Cables to the Grover Huffman cables... it was just a quick test.  But, there was a pretty big difference.  The Huffman's are simply more resolving, and extract every detail of the signal between devices.  Good job, Grover. :)  I would say the Grover's are barely broken-in... with maybe 20 hours on them.... but I think they need a little more... they have a slight hard edge to them that the Reality's do not.  The Reality's in comparison were smoother, but lost resolution at the top and bottom comparitively.  I'll keep burning-in Grover's cables and see if I can get it all. ;)

The Squeezebox mods that John at BSC does are the real deal.  I will have a modified Transporter from him this week.  I'll try to do some comparo's with it soon.

Thanks again,
Carl

miklorsmith:
Very cool, fellas.

richidoo:
Nice writeup Carl. I agree with everything you said. But I have to add an addendum. Last night after the smoke had cleared and a few chores due before the meet were finally completed, I finally got to sit down and listen again to ther Snappers and the Monads, which were still visiting thanks to Shane's enviable lifestyle and lack of opportunity to return them.

SHane also loaned us a power conditioner and some black sands power cables. When listening to them by myself at length I was feeling funny about the Monads sound and also the Snappers. I had played the Snappers from new through 25 hours the previous week and was familiar with their sound and quirks. I had to agree with Carl's observation that they sounded bright and to me a little gritty and annoying. I knew they didn;t sound like this before. The Monads sounded big fat round and gooey tubey. Defitely not reference amplifier material. So I figured, let's simplify and observe. I took out the power cond. and went straight into the wall. BIngo! Both amps immeidately sounded 100%. The Snapper was back to how it sounded before, all the grit and harsh detail was gone. The opposite happened to the Monads, they tightened up, quickened up and that glorious sunshine of  deliberate 2nd order distortion of the 300B came pouring in like dawn. It was awesome.  

While I was  fiddling and swapping things, I also swapped in  the stock plastic molded power cords that came with the Snappers. They are thick, 12ga I think, but they were an obvious downgrade from the Silver Ref mk5. The tube amps were more detailed, clearer, much better projection, maybe even louder, and slightly sweeter. Compared to the power cond., the difference swapping cable was subtle but easily audible. To me, it is worth the price I paid in the group buy. I wish I bought two!

I was thinking I wish I could hear Carl's Mac without the power cond. but to be honest, it sounded best of all while connected to the cond. I know Mac has some extra parts in there for power conditioning, autoformers, secret bits, so maybe it just wasn't affected as much as the other amps without such special guts.

Next up, preamp shootout in a few months.
Rich

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